The League of Uniform Nomenclature

All organizations, companies, associations, teams, and even groups of friends have a shared language, terminology, and ways of describing, defining, classifying, and organizing their worlds.

American football teams and coaches are notorious for their own unique and often complex sets of terminology used to describe standard formations and plays.  A recent article in Sports Illustrated about the progress of Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow's adjustment to professional football emphasizes the complex terminology in the team's offensive schemes. The article notes that even an experienced player coming from a different team has to undergo a process of 're-learning' the new terms and language of the new team.

This is certainly important, the shared language has to be understood by all eleven members of the team, as the success of a given play is largely incumbent upon each player understanding not only their responsibilities on the play, but also awareness of the other ten player's assignments. In an environment like football, where a premium is placed on consistent and reliable execution of actions and reaction, the shared language is essential.  New players to the team, be they rookies like Tebow, or experienced veterans simply must adopt the language, the 'uniform nomenclature' if you will.

All workplaces have their shared languages as well.  Anyone who joins a new organization has to spend the first days/weeks/months learning the lingo - terms, definitions, acronyms, etc. Larger organizations may even have an entire manual dedicated to housing all the 'official' definitions and acronyms.  Most onboarding programs spend at least some time making sure that new employees start coming up to speed with the language, as certainly an important influencer of time to productivity is the ability to communicate inside the organization in ways that the organization understands.

But I wonder if in the rush to explain, to inform, even to indoctrinate people into the organization's shared language that it is easy to go a bit too far, too focus almost entirely on our system, our rules, our process, our methods, and our language.  Sure, it is important that the essential information about the organization structure and essential bits of terminology are shared and understood, but 

New employees come into the organization with an entire history of their own, and if you lived up to your stated (you know you have stated this somewhere) goals of hiring the best and brightest, then there stands a pretty good chance that there are element of process, organization, and yes even basic nomenclature that are better/faster/smarter than what you have been using all along.

So perhaps instead of taking the new rookie on the team and handing them the 527 page playbook to memorize before they get a chance to take the field, give them the essentials, and then give them some room, time, and encouragement to contribute to and improve upon the 'uniform nomenclature'. Because if all that was really needed to sustain organizational success was the need to 'learn the language', then you really wouldn't need to hire the best, just the best at memorizing. 

First Impressions

I was talking to a friend that works in HR for a fairly large organization about how his group was being temporarily relocated to some makeshift office space (think Trailer Park HR) while the 'proper' HR offices are being remodeled.

As I recalled their HR offices to be fairly normal, a bit non-descript, but certainly not awful, I asked what was the impetus for the remodel, particularly in a time of tight budgets, moderate to zero salary increases, etc.  The answer was, 'Our leadership is concerned about the impression that our offices make to candidates and new employees.  This is their first impression of us as a place to work, and we need to enhance the experience if we want to be an employer of choice.'

While having a welcoming office, with a pleasant and helpful person at reception, and a comfortable place to sit and wait for an interview are all important, and certainly can support the new employee or candidate experience, they are far, far from being where 'first impressions' are forged I think.Flickr - sammo371

So where are 'first impressions' formed today? Here are just some I came up with, I am sure there are many more

Google searches of the company name, or the 'Company Name Jobs' string - For many candidates, and ones that eventually get hired, this is the very first interaction with your company and brand.  Assuming you are not a major consumer brand, or a retail organization that is well known in your local market, Googling the company is Step 1. Have you checked recently to be sure that 'Company Name Sucks' is not on the top of the list for this search?

Corporate Web Site - still relevant, but increasingly less so.  Most folks realize that the corporate web site is basically marketing material, and thus maybe only about 10% of the message really sinks in.  My view is a really amateur looking corporate site could turn a candidate away, but for the most part it probably is not as important as the actual 'job' or 'career' sections of the site.

Corporate Job Site - important, a bad experience here starts the candidate relationship on the wrong foot, a horrible experience will end the relationship right there.  Almost all organizations require applicants to run through an online application process that can vary in unpleasantness from root canal all the way through a day at the spa.  Making the candidate experience better is probably 100 times more important than making the tough call of 'eggshell' or 'off-white' for the paint in the HR lobby.

Official presence on major social networks and company blogs - probably not as important in many industries and segments, but for some a very critical source of content and relationship building. Just like every company had to create a website a few years ago, most every company these days has established some kind of social networking presence.  But the effectiveness and impact of these efforts varies widely, and not all candidates and new employees care, but in time this will definitely increase.

Unofficial presence on major social networks - Think Facebook pages and groups created by employees and community members, or simply Twitter searches mentioning your company or brand name. Candidates and new employees see these.  How important they are is certainly debatable, but how many organizations actually consider the effect on the employer reputation of these activities.

Rating sites - sites like Glassdoor and Vault that contain unvarnished reviews of your company as a place to work from current and former employees.  The veracity of these ratings is certainly subject to debate, but the fact is they are out there, and there is some chance that candidates and new employees are reading them way before they get the opportunity to admire that new Ficus tree in the HR reception area.

What their friends say - This is likely more imporant that all the other individual factors above, but certainly is infliuencesd by them all.  We trust our friends.  We want to find out as much as we can about potential employers.  What our friends say about the company is shaped by all the various encounters they have had with the organization in the areas above, and by direct experience.  You can't control what people will say about your organization as a place to work, but by honest assessment of your efforts (web, social, community, etc.) you can take steps to influence what is said.

A final thought, the last time someone asked you, 'What is it like to work there?' have you ever mentioned the decor of the HR offices?

My first day on the job (involves numerous beers)

It's the weekend, and I don't have the focus to craft a detailed, thoughtful post on HR Technology, so I thought I would tell the story of my first day on my first 'professional' job that I got after graduating college.

I was a recent Business/Finance graduate and after graduating landed a job at AT&T as one of what seemed like at least 5,000 folks trying to keep track of the giant corporations finances.

I'd rather not say the exact year, let's just say we were all still trying to get used to it being 'the 90s'.

So on the first day, I turned up to the offices of the division that I was to be supporting in beautiful downtown Newark, NJ.  The offices were fairly modern for the time, all the necessary amenities were present, and it was altogether a normal and sort of boring corporate office environment.

After a few hours of being introduced around the office, learning where the bathrooms and cafeteria were, it was about noon, and I was thinking about grabbing some lunch. Right about that time, two of the mid-level managers came by my desk to invite me to go to lunch with them. Ron and Frank were two 50 or so year old guys, with probably 25 years apiece in the company.  As I was brand new on the job, I did not hesitate to accept the offer and gladly went along.

We exited the building and hit the streets of Newark for the short two or three block walk to the place these two guys liked to regularly have lunch. The place was called Murphy's Tavern.

It was about as dive as dive bars could be.  Sort of tired looking, small, dimly lit, and with a nice, fragrant scent of about five million Marlboros and Lucky Strikes that had been smoked in there over the years.

But I was just out of college, and had spent more time that I should admit in similar looking bars while in school, so at first, the place did not phase me at all. I was feeling pretty good to get invited out to lunch by the leaders in the department on my first day.

As I said, this was a dive bar, not a restaurant, so the three of us took seats at the bar and were greeted by the bartender, a 60ish year old man named Jim. Jim greeted Ron and Frank (not much of a greeting really, the kind of hello that indicates it had not been a long time since they had last been in the bar), was introduced to me, and then immediately placed a bottle of Budweiser in front of all three of us.

That's ok I thought, it was summer, it was pretty hot that day, a cold Bud seemed like a good idea.  Besides, the two managers who brought me to lunch were having one as well, so I better to go along, try to fit in and all that.

After about five minutes of small talk and a few sips of the Bud, Jim the bartender puts a second Bud in front of each of us.  I had finished maybe half of my first beer, and number two was already there, queued up and waiting. Man, I thought, these guys aren't fooling around.  But I was ok with it, I was fresh out of school, and I did not have any problem tossing back a few beers, so I wasn't stressed. Ron and Frank seemed to make nothing of the fact that no actual 'ordering' had been done, the beers just simply appeared with not a word exchanged between us and Jim the bartender.

So 10 or so minutes pass, I am now working on beer number two, when Jim puts a third beer down in front of all three of us.  To this point no one has seen or asked for a menu (I was actually wondering if the place even served food), and I thought to myself, 'Dang, these guys don't even eat, they just go to lunch and get bombed'. Finally, a minute later Jim comes back over with a pad to take our lunch orders.  I don't remember what I ordered, but I imagine it was the same thing as Ron or Frank had, as I had never been in the place before and apparently there were no menus. While we were waiting for our food, I excused myself to use the restroom, and on the way to the back of the bar where the restrooms were, I finally got a chance to look around a bit more.

The walls of the bar were covered in large poster-size photographs, all black and white, of various celebrities and athletes.  James Dean, Joe DiMaggio, Robert DeNiro, Clark Gable, (Clark Gable?, that's pretty random), were some that I remember. Again, nothing too strange, just an old, dingy dive bar where these two old-timers seemed to eat lunch in all the time.

The lunch finally came, along with beer number four, and three of us finished up, paid the bill (the guys, or Jim or some combination paid for my tab), and we headed back to the office. After four beers and a greasy lunch, I was pretty much ready for a nap, and I don't really recall anything else about the afternoon.  At about 4:00, Ron and Frank came by my desk to let me know they were stopping for a 'quick one' before heading home, and that a few of the higher-ups in the finance department were planning on meeting them, and I should probably come along and get introduced to these 'important' colleagues.

So we headed back over to Murphy's, which was at this point pretty empty. Jim the bartender was still there, we had more Bud (I was fairly confident at this point Bud was the only beer served there), and made some small talk.  I was feeling really glad to be commuting via public transportation at this point as well, as were Ron and Frank.

About an hour passed, and the 'important' colleagues turned up, more middle-aged dudes who liked to drink Bud, and we proceeded to hang out for maybe another hour.  I am now about seven or eight beers in on the day, but even in that condition I was able to notice that the bar was getting more crowded, and the clientele was exclusively male.  And the folks who were coming in to the place were not the middle-aged office worker types that I was with.  No, the new crowd was much younger, more racially diverse, and not dressed in white shirts and ties like we were.  Soon, disco music started to play and some of the patrons started dancing in a small area near the back of the bar. About this point I had to make my way to the restrooms in the back and as I walked past the posters of Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, etc, and through and around the small crowd of guys dancing with each other, it finally hit me: Murphy's Tavern is a gay bar! I did not have a problem with that aspect really, but it is the kind of thing you typically mention to someone when taking them the first time, don't you think? I had maybe one more beer, and left, somehow making it to the train station for the train back home, still sort of amazed about the day and night.

So my very first day as a 'finance professional' was spent filling out a few forms in the morning, getting loaded at lunch with two of the managers, then returning to the bar with these same managers and some of the executives in our group, and finally realizing we were in (what I later learned) was a famous 'office worker' bar by day, and 'Newark's primary gay bar' by night.

I am not an expert on employee onboarding, but I do know this, it is probably not a good idea to take your new employee out for a four-drink lunch in a dive bar, then bring them back to the same dive bar/gay bar after work to 'network' with the execs, all the while not letting them know the 'unique' aspects of the place.

Note: If you have read this ridiculously long post, thanks for indulging me.  The story is 100% true. I changed the names of the specific individuals mentioned in the post, although I am pretty sure there is a zero chance any of them will ever see this.