THE KEY TO MANAGING PEOPLE YOU DON\’T LIKE

When you get promoted to a managerial position, you don\’t automatically gain managerial skills that allow you to easily treat people fairly. You\’re still the same person you were the day before, and let\’s face that—that probably means you don\’t like everyone equally.

In fact, you may have direct reports that you really can\’t stand. How are you supposed to treat those people fairly when everything they do makes you cringe? How can you ensure you aren\’t playing favorites because you really do like other people better? It\’s not easy, but there is one key thing to do: Take a step back.

Personalities can often get in the way of evaluating someone purely based on talent. It\’s in our nature to think someone with whom you have a great rapport is doing a better job than someone who grates on you. But stepping back will help you to avoid this problem.

Make Evaluations Based on Results

When you step back, you make evaluations based on results instead of face-to-face interactions. Look at the numbers. Did Bob really handle clients better than Steve? Who has gotten more sales? Who has resolved more issues? It may mean asking someone else to look at work products to help you evaluate your employees\’ abilities more objectively.

Doing these things can help you take the personality out of your assessments, and assign work fairly. If someone complains that you are treating some people better than others, take it seriously. You may be. This person may be a whiner and a slacker but they might not be, and you need to evaluate that. Stepping back from the situation can help you determine that.

Get to the Root of Your Feelings

One thing that can help you clear your head is figuring out why you dislike this person. It could be strictly a personality thing, and it could be that your subconscious is picking up on habits that will negatively affect their career. So, take the time to sit down and figure out what bothers you.

If it\’s that you don\’t care for their sense of humor, but they aren\’t necessarily rude or inappropriate, then you need just to let it go. But if you don\’t care for their humor because the jokes actually are inappropriate, that\’s something you should address. \”Bob, your jokes push the limit of appropriateness for the office. I need you to stop telling race or gender-based jokes. Can you do that for me?\”

If it\’s that the person seems bossy, what makes the person seem that way? Is it that Sally cuts people off in meetings? Takes credit for things she didn\’t do? Again, if you figure out that\’s what causing your unkind feelings, you can address that with her.

Consider That You May Be the Problem

But, here\’s a caution: The problem may be you. You may not like Sally because she\’s smarter than you are. Don\’t punish her for that. You may not like Bob because he\’s a conservative and you\’re a liberal. As long as you\’re not an office manager for a senator, that doesn\’t matter. Just focus on the work.

Remember, your goal at work isn\’t to make friends, but to accomplish things. Step back from your own emotions, and you\’ll find that to be easier than you once thought.

THE KEY TO MANAGING PEOPLE YOU DON\’T LIKE

Make Evaluations Based on Results

Get to the Root of Your Feelings

Consider That You May Be the Problem

Remember, your goal at work isn\’t to make friends, but to accomplish things. Step back from your own emotions, and you\’ll find that to be easier than you once thought.

Beginning a Career in Human Resources

When you enroll in the AAS in Human Resources program at Bryant & Stratton College, you’re taking an important step towards an exciting and versatile human resources career. Immediately after graduation from our program, students are eligible to apply for a variety of entry level HR positions, and are well on their way towards higher earnings and career advancement.

The first thing you want to do is learn a little more about the types of careers available as a new HR professional. Some of the jobs you will be qualified for include:

Human Resources Assistant – HR assistants work directly with their HR managers creating and managing confidential employee records. They are responsible for tracking wages, benefits, and retirement earnings, as well as keeping records on employee performance evaluations and reviews.
Human Resources Specialist – In addition to managing employee records, HR specialists have the opportunity to recruit and head hunt for future employees. This can take them all across the county, state, or even the country, attending job fairs and other career seminars on the lookout for good candidates.
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks – This is a specialized area of HR. In addition to compiling and recording employee time sheet and payroll data, you may also record production and commission, deductions, and print the paychecks.
Office or personnel supervisors – Many of the most efficient office or personnel supervisors have a background in HR, giving them the skills they need to hire new employees, facilitate an efficient and healthy workplace dynamic, and conduct employee reviews.

Obtaining your AAS in human resources is a strong first step to a new career but there are other things you can do to jumpstart your career in human resources. These include:

Attending job fairs. Make it a point to attend job and career fairs. In addition to seeing what you might do if you end up choosing a human resources career, you will also begin making contacts with others in the profession, which can help you later on when you are ready to apply for jobs.
Honing your social networks. There are several reasons why honing your social networks is important. The first: there’s a good chance your prospective employers will use your social media accounts as a screening device. Secondly, your social media accounts provide a means for you to network. Make sure your LinkedIn account is up to date as this is one of the leading social media sites for professionals.
Obtaining a relevant job. We understand that many of our students are already full-time employees, and looking for a change; it’s the reason they’re applying to Bryant & Stratton. If you have the opportunity, try to get an entry-level support job working with HR or an internship even before graduating. In addition to exposing yourself to a variety of different positions, you may be able to use your experience to fulfill some of your educational requirements.
Getting certified. There are several professional certifications that can increase your appeal to future employers, in addition to boosting your knowledge and skill sets. These include certifications in:

Human Resources Management
Accounting
Microsoft, QuickBooks or other computer skills-oriented certificates

If you are interested in learning more about how you can prepare for a human resources career, contact the Admissions Office at Bryant & Stratton College. We offer degree programs and certifications in HR that will help you prepare for your dream job

Following Tragedy, One Mother Finds the Courage to Continue Her Education Online at Bryant & Stratton College Online

On April 1, 2011, The LA Times ran a special Online Education section produced by MediaPlanet. We are very proud to have online student Marlena Unz, featured. In April, Marlena Unz will be a college graduate at age 46, earning her associate’s degree online from Bryant & Stratton College Online as a medical administrative assistant. While for many of her classmates a college education was a way to gain the skills and training required to get a job, for Unz it was also an opportunity to prove something to herself and her children. A stay-at-home mother, who ran a small in-home daycare, Marlena lost her husband just a few months shy of their 25th wedding anniversary unexpectedly. Since her husband worked to provide for the family, it was now her sole responsibility to create a financially secure future for her family. Click on the thumbnail below to read more about Marlena\’s courage.

Why We Love Church Street Marketplace

Church Street in the heart of Burlington is one of the most popular destinations in Vermont. Visitors to the city’s brick and cobblestone pedestrian marketplace will find dozens of locally-owned restaurants, food cart vendors, shops, and cafes, as well as a variety of outdoor entertainment.

A perfect place to visit anytime of year, Church Street has something for everyone. Whether you’re a foodie, shopping enthusiast, fan of architecture or music lover, Church Street is a place worth visiting.

What makes Church Street so unique is its universal popularity among locals, students, and visitors. Established in 1981, Church Street draws 3 million visitors a year to shop, dine, and stroll.

Here are just a few of our favorite spots in the Church Street Marketplace:

Leunig’s Bistro & Café

115 Church Street
One of the oldest continually operating restaurants in downtown Burlington, Leunig’s offers ambiance, delicious local food, Vermont cheeses and more. Serving lunch, brunch and dinner. Visit leunigsbistro.com

Uncommon Grounds

42 Church Street
A comfortable place to enjoy coffee, tea and conversation, Uncommon Grounds is Vermont’s answer to Starbucks. Visit ugvermont.com.

Sweet Lady Jane

40 Church Street

Looking for high fashion in a rural state? Sweet Lady Jane offers stylish women’s clothing and accessories. Visit sweetladyjane.biz.

Ben & Jerry’s

36 Church Street

When you’re in Vermont, indulging on some Ben & Jerry’s is a must. Who can resist Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Therapy or Phish Food? So good. Visit benandjerry.com.

Eat well, shop, wander, and enjoy!

WANT TO DIVERSIFY YOUR WORKFORCE? YOU MAY NEED TO RETHINK THE INTERVIEW

The data is clear: When an organization hires a diverse workforce—people who represent different races, income levels, nationalities and genders—it performs better. Bringing these varied perspectives to the table results in more creative thinking. According to a Boston Consulting Group report, diversity is a key driver of innovation, and companies with diverse teams produce 19% more revenue than their competition.

When it comes to increasing diversity at their organization, many HR teams look to diversify their candidate pool. But while this is an important step, it’s only part of the solution. Actually hiring those diverse candidates means adjusting the interview to make sure that it’s not putting them at a disadvantage.

Beyond determining who is most qualified, here are some ways companies can encourage diversity—and guarantee a quality hire.

Pay Attention to the Time

Traditionally, recruiters conduct interviews during times when they are in the office. For most companies, that tends to be between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm.

There is a problem with this timing—it’s also when most of your candidates are working at their current job. Many senior executives with flexible schedules, they can say “I’m working from home” and disappear or shut their office door and instruct their administrative assistants to tell people they are busy. Easy enough.

But employees that are more junior have much less flexibility. So many of them end up calling in “sick” or lying to their current employer about having a doctor appointment, to make it to the interview. This increases a candidates stress level and detract from their ability to interview confidently.

These challenges are intensified when applied to candidates who belong to marginalized communities, including people of color, disabled workers and women. WayUp, a company that specializes in recruiting and screening, found that when they offered candidates the chance to interview as late as 11:00 pm, historically underrepresented groups took them up on this offer. Ninety percent of candidates who choose to do phone screens between 7 pm and midnight are Black, Hispanic or women. If you’re looking to make your workforce more diverse, those are probably some of the main groups you’re trying to target.

Reducing Unconscious Bias In the Interview Process

Another problem that can arise during the interview process is unconscious bias. While many companies have invested in unconscious bias training and are generally becoming more open-minded, these incidents still occur. Mitigating unconscious bias in the interview process could be as easy as changing up your technology. Instead of one-on-one, in-person interviews, asynchronous video interviews (where the manager records the questions and candidates can answer them at their own convenience) are a worthy alternative.

According to Sonru, one of the leading developers of automated video interviewing software, this technology helps decrease unconscious bias. As Adam Gretton, Regional Development Manager at Sonru, explains, every candidate gets the same experience. “Can you truly claim that with telephone or face-to-face interviews? Does each candidate get treated exactly the same? If someone has a different culture or background to the assessor, will they get as warm an experience as someone who is ‘just like them’? They may not consciously be aware of treating people differently, but it will be felt by the candidate, and they may not perform as well, as a result.”

Sometimes just changing a few things about how you conduct your interviews can have a significant impact on who you hire. You want to hire the best person for the job, but that person may not be able to get time off work to take your phone screen during the day. The best person may be someone who you would have subconsciously discouraged in a face to face interview.

This is not to say that you should conduct all interviews at 11:00 pm via video. People can feel awkward recording an interview, and daytime interviews are more convenient for many people. But giving candidates the option can be a gamechanger.

The key here is consistency and flexibility. Remember, the point of interviewing someone is to fill the position. If you can make it easier for the candidate to succeed, why wouldn’t you?

Where to Find Career Information and Advice

Information about career management is everywhere. But, what information can you trust and what\’s best to pass over?

You can think, getting advice from your mom, brother, aunt, friend or neighbor might seem like a good idea but these well-meaning, \”inner circle\” confidants may lead you astray. If you\’re looking for sound advice, it\’s probably best to trust experts. The career services department at your college can be a useful resource but you can supplement the information they give you in other ways. Reading blogs or following the tweets of career experts is a great way to get resume help, interview tips and other career management advice. A few great places to start are the CareerRookie blog managed by CareerBuilder, the \”News\” section of LinkedIn, Evil HR Lady or the blog at FlexJobs.com. Another avenue to try is visiting your local library (or Amazon.com) to check out career advice books. To get you started below are four of our favorites.

Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions – Matt DeLuca and Nanett DeLuca continue their popular series with this updated edition highlighting advice for interviews. The guide opens the door on the interview process to readers so they understand what is going to be asked and why the question is being asked.

Getting from College to Career – Career Expert and Global Spokesperson for LinkedIn, Lindsey Pollak packs in plenty of practical tips for anyone navigating the gap between graduation and that first job. She also answers that universal question of \”How do you get a job without experience and get experience without a job?\”

Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future – Author Dan Schawbel is a noted expert on Gen Y and creating a personal brand and in this book he teaches readers how to use social media tools to find a job, change careers or get ahead at their current position. The book walks readers through discovering, creating, communicating and maintaining a personal brand that is key to being successful in the modern workplace.

StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Written by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, this follow-up to Now, Discover Your Strengths, builds on the authors\’ idea that it is more valuable to build on an employees strengths rather than focus on an individual\’s weaknesses. The book includes a personal online assessment, which helps readers identify their own strengths as identified by the \”Clifton Strengths Finder\” and actionable ideas on how to build on these strengths

5 WAYS TO EVALUATE MOOCS ON A RESUME

Guillaume Dumas, a 28-year-old Canadian, made headlines recently when he announced that he had obtained an Ivy League education for free by sneaking in to classes at prestigious universities. His story — coupled with the skyrocketing costs of a college education — raised serious doubts about the value of a diploma. With tuition costs rising and more than a trillion dollars of student debt in America, alternate routes to achieving a top-tier education are increasingly attractive. The big question for HR: Should we start worrying less about an applicant’s degree and more about the knowledge an applicant brings to the company?

While a Dumas-style education is still an anomaly, hiring managers are likely to encounter candidates who have taken Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). According to Class Central, more than 2400 of these online lectures currently exist from more than 400 universities—including 22 of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 25 Universities.

The topics and structures of these courses vary widely. Students can sign up online to learn about anything from Roman Architecture to Web Application Architecture. Some MOOCs are free, some come at a cost. And some simply involve listening to lectures—with no way to verify that the student learned anything—while others provide assignments, tests and a certification for passing the course.

Here, 5 things to consider when a MOOC shows up on a resume:

1. MOOCs can be supplemental to traditional education.

Steve Petersen is a web developer in his early 30s, and most of his resume looks just like you’d expect. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, a Master’s degree from the University of Maryland and great experience in web development, marketing and strategy. But his education also includes 4 MOOC certifications from prestigious institutions—for instance, a Gamification class from the University of Pennsylvania.

“MOOCs allow me to explore something interesting with a bona fide expert as a guide,” shared Peterson. As a hiring manager, it’s easy to evaluate his supplemental courses as having value. He’s achieved a traditional four-year degree and sought out supplementary knowledge—in this case, you should count MOOCs as a bonus.

2. MOOCs can be a stand-alone education.

Some candidates may not have a college degree at all, instead racking up a range of MOOCs since graduating from high school. How do you evaluate a MOOC in that situation?

First, ask about the qualifications behind a certification. Is it simply a certificate of completion, meaning your candidate listened to all the lectures? Or does the certification indicate some evaluation by the professor? Coursera, for instance, has special features ensuring that people who take their courses get proper credit for their classes. Udacity offers a series of tests along the way that allow course participants to show they’ve gained knowledge.

3. Skills from a MOOC – just like a degree – need to be demonstrated.

Remember to ask hard questions and test candidates on their skills. We all know someone who skated through college, cramming before tests and immediately forgetting the information afterwards. Someone who said they learned how to program in Python via a course from Udemy shouldn’t just be handed the job. But someone who says they’ve learned Python from a top-tier university shouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt either.

Either way, be wary of automatically giving preference to the candidate with the brick and mortar diploma. Programming is a skill, and it doesn’t really matter how you gained that skill.

4. MOOCs demonstrate a thirst for knowledge in established workers.

If the resume on your desk is from a mid-career professional with great experience, a MOOC shows that the person is constantly working, learning and growing—qualities you certainly want in a candidate. While we all learn and grow through work in general, someone who has taken the time to seek out additional knowledge on her own is a bonus to your organization.

5. MOOCs offer opportunities to expand your own horizons.

As you see more and more MOOCs showing up on resumes, stop and consider if you should take one yourself. Want to learn about microeconomics? Check out Khan Academy. Want to learn more about organizational management? Coursera offers such a course from the University of Geneva.

When you’ve experienced a MOOC course yourself, you’ll start to understand the value of different kinds of online courses in the candidates you evaluate.

ASSESSING CLOUD VENDOR SECURITY? HERE ARE THE ACRONYMS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Security is obviously a top-of-mind concern for any business that wants to migrate data and processes to the cloud—especially when it comes to talent management, which requires protecting employees’ sensitive personal data. But what’s less clear is what to actually look for when evaluating vendors and assessing their security practices. It’s even more complicated when you encounter the many acronyms associated with security standards and certifications.

Here’s a quick overview of certifications that talent management cloud services providers should already have or be working to earn, what they mean and why they matter.

ISO/IEC 27001:2013

Published by ISO, an independent, nongovernmental international organization, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 is a standard that “specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system within the context of the organization.”

In short, it’s a set of rules and controls intended to guide the way a company manages information security. While ISO/IEC 27001:2013 began as a standard for companies in Europe, it is now embraced by businesses globally. Many companies now require cloud vendors to be ISO certified—and maintain that certification—throughout the life of a service contract.

Keep in mind that being “ISO certified” and “ISO compliant” are different things. ISO certification shows that a company either meets all the requirements of ISO/IEC 27001:2013, or a specific subset of controls, and the status of those controls has been reviewed by an independent auditor. Certification is an ongoing process; auditors check requirements annually and look for improvement. Be sure to ask cloud services providers for an SOA (Statement of Applicability), a document showing which controls were in scope when the vendor was audited.

“ISO compliant” means a company claims to follow the requirements of the ISO standard, but they have never been officially certified. This is acceptable practice. However, businesses should take time to review the provider’s security measures, especially if the provider will be handling sensitive data.

ISO/IEC 27018:2014

Many cloud vendors are in the process of adding the ISO/IEC 27018:2014 code of practice to their ISO/IEC 27001 certification. A newer standard, ISO/IEC 27018:2014 “establishes commonly accepted control objectives, controls and guidelines for implementing measures to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in accordance with the privacy principles in ISO/IEC 29100 for the public cloud computing environment.”

Like ISO/IEC 27001:2013, ISO/IEC 27018:2014 will probably become a specific requirement outlined in many cloud service provider contracts in the future.

SSAE 16 SOC 1 and SOC 2

The Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE 16), also known as SOC 1, (SOC is “Service Organization Control”) was finalized by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in 2010. SSAE 16 describes service provider defined controls and is intended to help companies better understand the processes and procedures in place which helps build trust and confidence in the cloud providers service delivery process.

SOC 2, based on AICPA Trust Services Principles and Criteria, outlines very specific controls for security and privacy amongst others, and is another compliance standard more companies are adding to service contracts for cloud providers.

To demonstrate they are compliant with SSAE 16 and AICPA Trust Services Principles and Criteria, companies must present SOC 1 and/or SOC 2 reports. Request a cloud vendor to specifically present a “SOC 1, Type II” and/or “SOC 2, Type II” report, which confirms that controls have been tested. (Type I is simply a description of how a company runs controls.) Pay special attention to who audited the report; larger firms are generally more thorough with these types of audits. It’s important to read the report carefully to evaluate any control failures or exceptions the auditors may have noted.

ISAE 3402 Type II

This is the European version of SSAE 16 SOC 1, Type II. Cloud vendors don’t typically need to have both attestations, but if they do it’s a positive.

FedRAMP

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, “is a U.S. government-wide program based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST ) Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4 that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services.”

The FedRAMP certification process is arduous, and it can take years for a vendor to achieve the “Authority to Operate” (ATO). So, if a cloud services provider is FedRAMP certified, it means their security practices and controls met a very high bar.

To see which cloud providers are FedRAMP certified, see this list on the program’s website.

CSA CCM

An emerging standard, the Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Controls Matrix (CSA CCM) is “specifically designed to provide fundamental security principles to guide cloud vendors and to assist prospective cloud customers in assessing the overall security risk of a cloud provider.” The matrix (available for download here) is a control framework designed by the CSA; controls are mapped to other leading security standards, such as those described above.

Cloud services providers are not required to use this framework. But if they do, or are working to adopt it, it suggests they have a very strong commitment to security. Ask cloud services providers if they have completed the CSA Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) or check the CSA STAR Registry to see if they have submitted.

PCI

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that companies who process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. In order to become certified, cloud providers who fall into this category must implement and maintain the standard. More on PCI can be found at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org.

The security requirements a cloud vendor should meet to protect a customer’s data depends largely on the type of information they will be asked to handle. The more sensitive the data, the more important adherence to industry standards becomes. Regardless, all cloud services providers should be able to demonstrate to their customers exactly what they are doing to ensure security.

JASON CORSELLO: HOW TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES THE EMPLOYEE ‘USER EXPERIENCE’

Companies are fanatical about the customer experience (see Apple). Why aren’t companies equally committed to the employee experience?, asks Jason Corsello, vice president of corporate strategy and marketing for Cornerstone OnDemand. Corsello, in his article The Employee ‘User Experience’ Needs an Upgrade. Corsello isn’t talking about office space or company culture here; he’s talking about employees’ experience with portals, collaborative tools and platforms.

“For many successful companies, creating that great bricks-and-mortar ‘UX’ is a core competency of HR,” writes Corsello. “Creating an equally optimal digital user experience for valued employees is a critically important challenge that relatively few businesses have mastered, let alone understood.”

Let HR Design the Employee UX

“[A]s HR tech moves higher and higher into the cloud — and as employees become socialized and accustomed to having Apple-like elegance and simplicity with anything they interact with digitally, at home or at the office — HR departments need to be designing user experience, not the IT managers who ruled the roost for so many years before them.”

Borrow the Look & Feel of Social Media

“Sounds like a no-brainer. But ease of use gets lost quickly in the excitement to offer new features and functions in HR software. Success — and mass adoption — tends to happen when you mirror something cool that people already know. Steal a page from Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn when developing user experience that will click with your employees.”

Prioritize Engagement — not Record-Keeping

“[C}reating or investing in a system of engagement over a system of record is important for the future of HR tech….There’s a reason the annual performance review is dying.”

Make Mobile Useful & Fun

“Employees will use HR technology on their phones if they can use it as a helpful tool. Whether that means syncing calendar updates with teammates to submitting peer reviews while waiting to take off for a business trip.”

Common Workplace Mistakes Made by Newbies

If you are stepping into your first “real” job after college you probably have a mixed bag of feelings about it. It’s exciting to meet new people, have new responsibilities and contribute to your new company’s goals. And it’s also little scary. That’s just how it goes when you’re a newbie, but that’s a bad thing. Some mistakes are expected and they are easy to avoid or correct as long as you are aware of them. Here are a few:

Flying Solo

“Although you’re new to the company, you’ll need the support of others to succeed in your career,” said Ericka Spradley, career coach and author. “Oftentimes, new employees fail because they don’t have a success team. As you partner with your leader, discuss mentoring options; as you progress in your role, identify those who have succeeded where you see yourself,” she added. And remember, employers hire a diverse workforce on purpose. Interact with people who have diverse thoughts, ideas and perspectives, not only with other recent grads.

Staying in the dark

New employees often have to do a lot of reading and that can get quite boring and confusing. Mix things up a little to show interest in learning all you can. Jot down questions that come up while reading and use them as conversation starters that help enlighten you about things that are unwritten or not so obvious. “The beginning of your job is the time to ask questions. Your new co-workers expect you to be curious and are willing to help if you ask them. Plus, this will help you build professional relationships,” said Deborah Brown-Volkman, career coach and president of Surpass Your Dreams (www.surpassyourdreams.com).

Not understanding your value

You don’t have to be a know-it-all or expert when you walk in the door, but know that you were hired for a reason: your employer is making an investment to fill a need. That investment in you is evidence that you bring something of value to the table. It may be hard skills, like computer programming or dental hygiene techniques, or equally valuable soft skills that newbies often bring: energy, enthusiasm, passion and new ideas.

Mismanaging time

“Because you’re new and may not be able to function independently for the first 90 days or so, you may have “breaks” in your day. These breaks occur because tasks are completed sooner than anticipated but employers still expect productivity,” said Spradley. “New grads may use these breaks to surf the internet or share social media updates, but a better use of this time may be: navigating the company’s intranet to understand policy, relevant news, employer updates; asking for more tasks or staying abreast of training,” she added. Brown-Volkman believes being a newbie is a state of mind. “If you feel bad about it, then it will be harder for you to adjust. Hold you head up high, put your shoulders back and watch how you carry yourself,” she said.

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: WHAT IF YOU COULDN’T EASILY FIRE PEOPLE?

The recent publication of Buckingham and Goodall’s Nine Lies About Work brought home some painful facts about people management for me. First, the state of people management remains poor. Gallup recently reported, for instance, that the U.S. quit rate is at an all-time high; 67% of employees are disengaged at work; and more than half say they are actively looking for a new job. Second, HR lacks a commitment to evidence-based people management (evaluating a decision or policy with evidence such as data and peer-reviewed scientific research to ensure the desired result is achieved).

As I thought about the HR practices that remain in use, notwithstanding the evidence against them—things like forced curve performance evaluations—it occurred to me that many of these practices stem from one root cause: the ability to fire employees at will. Because organizations can easily terminate people (and are very willing to do so), workplaces often use counterproductive management approaches that evaluate, rather than invest in and develop, employees.

Adopting a Growth Mindset

The U.S. is the only country in the industrialized world that has at-will employment, where people can be fired for any (or no) reason at all. In the rest of the world, you can only be fired for cause. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 1.5% of the workforce is fired or laid off each month, which means that almost 20% of the workforce will involuntarily lose their jobs each year.

And there is evidence that being fired is not a signal of incompetence, but possibly an organizational mistake. One 10-year study of some 2,600 executives found that of those who were fired, 91% found a job as good or better than the one they lost, and 78% eventually rose to become CEO. The idea that the solution to poor performance is termination produces numerous unproductive approaches to managing people.

Research by psychology professor Carol Dweck and her colleagues has consistently shown the benefits of adopting a growth mindset over an evaluating one. An evaluating mindset implies that, for instance, if a salesperson is not making their quota, that person can’t sell—is not a natural—and should be either fired or moved into a different job. A growth mindset, on the other hand, implies that if a salesperson is currently ineffective, that individual might benefit from training in sales techniques and coaching from sales leadership on what they are doing that could be improved.

As Dweck argues, implementing a growth mindset is easier said than done. There’s a great deal of effort required to develop talent through hard work, coaching and learning. If people are readily replaced, the temptation to fire them and find someone else can be overwhelming. In an ideal world, public policy would make it more difficult and costlier to remove people from their workplaces. But until that happens, if employers at least think of firing as a last resort, they’ll be more likely to work more diligently to develop everyone to their full potential.

Performance Reviews Perpetuate the Evaluation Mindset

Performance reviews (which managers don’t like giving and few employees want to receive) may be, in my opinion, the most detrimental HR practice when it comes to developing a growth mindset.

Evaluations presumably identify who needs to go on “performance improvement plans” and are used to rank people against each other. If firing people weren’t at the forefront of these reviews, HR managers might still want to provide developmental information, but it almost certainly would take a very different form. The conversation would focus on how the employee could improve and what the employer and employee could jointly do to develop that individual’s competencies, not the person’s “grade.” And instead of being performed annually or every six months, developmental conversations would occur all the time.

An Argument Against Firing

Does firing even work? Consider this logic. Unless the company is downsizing, every person that’s fired needs to be replaced. Unless the company has somehow improved its selection process, or done something to become a more attractive place to work, the organization will just return to the same labor pool from which it drew the now-fired individual, with the same “deal,” and draw again. What are the odds it will do better? That is why companies that fire people—and those that downsize—tend to do it again and again, because these actions do not solve anything.

Here\’s a useful analogy. Almost no parent has ever “fired” their child. When the child misbehaves or does not live up to their potential, great parents provide love, attention, guidance and high expectations, and work hard to ensure the best possible outcome for the kid. Wouldn’t it be nice if companies did the same? Instead of disposing of people, give them second, third, maybe even fourth chances. Invest in them. Provide them the social support necessary for physical and mental health, and the opportunity to do better.

We live in a world of untapped human potential. Fulfilling people’s promise requires a commitment to their development that the opportunity to simply get rid of them renders unlikely.

SUCCESSION PLANNING IS A CHALLENGE, BUT WELL WITHIN REACH

When it comes to talent, it’s all about the pipeline. That is, keeping it pulsing along with the best possible employee bench strength to fill critical positions as business conditions change, new products are launched, etc. To get there takes a proactive and intelligence-driven internal succession planning strategy, though for many employers this is easier said than done.

In fact, the challenge of selecting and developing future managers is keeping many HR leaders and business line executives up at night. A study by the Corporate Leadership Council found that 72 percent of companies surveyed predict they\’ll have an increasing number of leadership vacancies over the next three to five years. At the same time, 76 percent are \”less than confident\” in their abilities to adequately fill these positions.

That is the harsh reality. High unemployment rates notwithstanding, top talent can still be very scarce, so looking inward and developing a smart succession management process is table stakes in today’s talent challenge. It all comes down to identifying top performers and closing existing knowledge gaps to create a high-performance culture.

One step in the right direction that I recently blogged about is utilizing today’s talent management software solutions and creating processes to expand your succession planning model throughout organizational ranks, one that both sides of the equation can embrace. Employers who can proactively engage the workforce in career management and development create a clear win-win. For employees, added career development opportunities ensure that people are moving up, not out.

For example, when workforce management services firm Kelly Services launched self-service career management tools to its global employee base, the company’s HR executives were pleasantly surprised by the level of participation. Creation of career profiles was voluntary, but the tools had a 72 percent participation rate in its initial launch. Kelly’s management saw this as a clear indicator of the interest their people have in not only managing their careers, but also in other opportunities within the company.

Why critical roles and competencies matter

It is clear that a workforce needs to be aligned with the overall business strategy and business objective achievement. Yet, you would be amazed at how many organizations lack awareness of the critical roles and key competencies that drive business success.

Simply defined, critical roles are the positions that an organization relies on most to meet its key business objectives. Competencies are the knowledge, behavior and skills that correlate with organizational success and performance. For example, customer satisfaction may be a leading business driver in a retail organization, and as a result, key competencies may include customer responsiveness, relationship building, account management experience and other areas.

Naturally, critical roles and competencies are tightly interrelated. A business can define its critical roles with job profiles, then use competencies to measure success and replicate the qualities of a successful employee in others throughout the workforce.

External factors

Organizations certainly face a number of external factors that make it difficult to acquire and retain top talent. For example, as Baby Boomers retire, Generations X and Y don’t have the sheer numbers or job experience to fill the gaps. Also, the ongoing “doing more with less” business mantra has left companies with the burden of developing key talent now to prevent a mass exodus of top performing employees in the next 12 to 24 months.

Not to pile on, but there also is a global shortage of technical and leadership skills in such areas as engineering, accounting, skilled trades and sales and executive/management functions, which has the potential to slow the economic engine.

With these hurdles, organizations need to get the succession planning ball rolling. Helping talent flourish within the organization takes time; it also requires a razor-sharp focus. Having a solid system in place to identify and develop top talent and critical roles allows an organization to reap the rewards of a healthy, flowing talent-laden pipeline.

To read more about my thoughts on using career management technology solutions to expand succession planning throughout organizational ranks and foster career mobility, check out my blog post, “A New Poseidon Adventure: Flipping Succession Planning Upside Down.”

To read more about succession management and career management best practices, download the white paper, “Two Sides of the Same Coin: Using Succession Management and Career Development to Improve Talent Mobility.”

Is Criminal Justice Studies Right For You?

The field of criminal justice can be attractive to anyone interested in how justice is dispensed in the US and around the world. Earning a degree in Criminal Justice Studies from Bryant & Stratton College is the perfect way to pursue a career in the field of criminal justice.

The right program is a mix of finding the right fit for your personality, academic habits and needs, qualified instructors, and the flexibility and structure needed for your unique situation. To help you think through some important characteristics for a degree program, we’ve identified four questions for you to answer.

What degree level is best?
There are a lot of career paths that start with earning a criminal justice studies degree. But, there are differences depending on what degree-level you choose. An associate degree in criminal justice studies will give you a broad understanding of the U.S. criminal justice system by studying its aspects including law enforcement, courts, corrections and private security. A diploma in Criminal Justice and Security Services provides the key foundation for students to pursue jobs in security while also having the opportunity to continue their education with an associate degree if they so choose.

What is your best learning environment?
Some people like to learn on their own and to set their own schedule to work around an existing job, raising a family or other responsibilities. Others like to very structured environments and sitting in a classroom with a teacher and other students. If the first scenario appeals to you then earning a criminal justice studies degree online might make sense. Online degrees offer flexibility to choose set your own schedule, as there is not set class to attend each week. To figure out whether an online classroom or a traditional environment is best for you, spend some time thinking about your life, your weekly schedule and your learning habits.

Is there balance in what skills are being taught?
A good criminal justice studies degree will offer a balance between theoretical training, practical knowledge and soft skills development. The first two types of knowledge in that list may be assumed but don’t underestimate the value of the last category. Employers across all field are increasingly looking for new hires with strong soft skills. In field related to criminal justice the ability to work with people of diverse backgrounds, curiosity, analytical skills and good problem solving are all important. Be sure to think about what kind of soft skills are being cultivated in the programs you are considering.

How much field experience do the instructors have?
There are a lot of changes taking place in the domestic justice, legal and security systems. Instructors who have spent time teaching as well as working in the field can offer unique insights the most current information and best practices in criminal justice. Seasoned professionals can also be helpful in building a job search network when you get closer to graduation.

If you’d like to learn more about earning a degree in Criminal Justice Studies at Bryant & Stratton College, call 866-948-0571 today!

HUMAN CAPITALIST: WHEN PERFORMANCE IS THE PROBLEM, TRAINING ISN\’T THE ANSWER

Just about any time an issue arises in the workplace, the first thing managers ask HR for is more training. Sales teams not reaching their goals? Let\’s add some training modules. Call center employees not efficiently embracing the new software platform? Perhaps they need some extra training. But as learning and development author and consultant Bill Cushard explains this week on Cornerstone OnDemand\’s Human Capitalist blog, job performance is often at the root of the problem. Says Cushard: \”Training is often — and mistakenly — assumed to be the silver bullet that can solve performance issues, and training managers are usually the ones charged with delivering the solution.\”

But, Cushard points out, training sometimes isn\’t the answer, and training managers can do their employers a valuable service by taking a step back and assessing whether it\’s training, or some other approach, that will solve the problem at hand.

What Factors Most Into Job Performance?

According to Thomas Gilbert\’s Behavioral Engineer Model, Cushard adds, five key factors in addition to training (or knowledge) weigh into overall job performance:

Data
Instruments
Incentives
Capacity
Motives

So it\’s not always necessarily the case that employees don\’t know how to do the task at hand, sometimes they just don\’t know what\’s expected of them, or they\’re not motivated to do it, or they aren\’t given the tools to properly execute the job.

Rather than training, sometimes it\’s a matter of providing resources more readily or adjusting IT to meet the practical needs of employees that will do the trick. By assessing the true nature of the problem, and the elements that will fix it, training managers can provide their companies with a whole new level of service.

Make Evaluations Based on Results

Get to the Root of Your Feelings

Consider That You May Be the Problem

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Make Evaluations Based on Results

Get to the Root of Your Feelings

Consider That You May Be the Problem

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Here are just a few of our favorite spots in the Church Street Marketplace:

Leunig’s Bistro & Café

Uncommon Grounds

Sweet Lady Jane

Ben & Jerry’s

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Pay Attention to the Time

Reducing Unconscious Bias In the Interview Process

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1. MOOCs can be supplemental to traditional education.

2. MOOCs can be a stand-alone education.

3. Skills from a MOOC – just like a degree – need to be demonstrated.

4. MOOCs demonstrate a thirst for knowledge in established workers.

5. MOOCs offer opportunities to expand your own horizons.

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ISO/IEC 27001:2013

ISO/IEC 27018:2014

SSAE 16 SOC 1 and SOC 2

ISAE 3402 Type II

FedRAMP

CSA CCM

PCI

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Let HR Design the Employee UX

Borrow the Look & Feel of Social Media

Prioritize Engagement — not Record-Keeping

Make Mobile Useful & Fun

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Adopting a Growth Mindset

Performance Reviews Perpetuate the Evaluation Mindset

An Argument Against Firing

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Why critical roles and competencies matter

External factors

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What Factors Most Into Job Performance?

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