HRComatrix

Global August Back to school and to business. In August ? © 2013 AR_HRCom _ARPic_ AugustGlobal If you are from the European part of the world , or a country that has embraced European business culture, August means summer. Meaning: relaxation, beach house, vacation, getting rid of the metro-boulot-dodo pattern, being free, regenerating, refueling, getting that beautiful tan....FREE and  HAPPY!... for longer than two weeks ... If you are where Europeans would call "Outre-Atlantique," (understand USA) , August is back to business and back to school. Questionable timing in these times of globalization as even Saudi Arabia adjusted its business timetable to better meet non-Muslim nations opportunities by changing its week-end to Friday/Saturday versus the previously, traditional Thursday/Friday one? However, if you talk to some people, many will tell you that years ago, they did not go back to school until "past labor day," at least in some parts of the c...

http://www.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr W hen is it time to celebrate? Many moments deserve celebration: from success to retiring through self-assessing. If you loose your ability to celebrate, then you loose sight of the values of things. It always feels good to indulge on chocolate, cake, or a nice meal, or maybe a glass of bubbly. And, well, it is the month of July, time for celebration in the US on the Fourth, and soon on the 14th in France . It is time for that BBQ or pool party, or parade, and of course fireworks! I t is amazing how my interactions since last week have converged to, and evolved around that theme. Fireworks come in so many beautiful colors...and lots of noise! Good or bad? Well, you celebrate the good, the bad and the ugly, because that's what make you what you are now. F or that I love Hillary Clinton's personal observation as you could read in my previous post on fallibility. A major leadership quality is the ability to constantly assess one...

I have to admit that I missed SHRM13: the meeting of course , and Chicago ....and sadly, I missed a great opportunity to see Hillary Clinton talking to SHRM people! Among other things, I like this part of her speech: ... " Secondly, it’s important to take criticism seriously but not personally. If you’re in the public eye or even the HR department, you get a lot of challenges and questions and conflicts you have to resolve. You are going to be criticized. I learned you do need to listen to the criticism; you might very well learn to get better. But it can’t be so personally absorbed that you can’t get out of bed the next day." ( Bill Leonard & Kathy Gurchiek, in Clinton Feels at Home in Chicago and with HR , SHRM, 6/16/2013 ) How true! You cannot be better if you are too self-absorbed, too focused on "doing well," and ridiculously badly (poorly) doing what is supposed to be your job...In other terms you are underperforming. So You Know That Yo...

© 2013 AR_HRCom _ARPic_ HumanHR A few weeks ago, I came across a quite refreshing post from Everyday People . Steve was talking about the rewards of field work, of being close to and exposed to everyday people who often commute to walk into your office, people that you interview, those that you hire and dismiss. Do you " Remember When " it last happened to you? It could have been yesterday if you are still in operations, or a year or two ago, or even more if you have evolved to another position. Have you forgotten what makes you a "people person"? Do you think that you are less of a professional in your chosen field now? Think again. Meet "Lisa" , an incredibly vibrant professional. She is one of those people who get to be on and off the field. She is the heart of the company . Well, she can make things positively happen for the company. She makes the best out of bad situations, mitigates risks. She listens to everyday people whenever needed and co...

© 2013 AR_HRCom _TedPic_ Engagement Have you ever seen negative people? They are not fun-loving.  I LOVE positive people. They make me feel good, they enlighten my day, and they bring me some fresh air. I just love them! I admire the inspiration that they are able to instill, just because they are beautifully positive! They find ways of bringing warmth out of cold days. Positive people are beautiful. There is something about them that is different, special. I have met a few of them. And its seems that, more and more, quite a few of us, older and younger, have redefined what matters most to us.  The latest Gallup survey shows that out of all employees, the category of service workers is the only one that shows a drop in engagement from 2009 to 2012. This marks a 3%  decrease versus a 6% increase for manufacturing and production workers. Interesting enough however, transportation and manufacturing workers are the most " actively disengaged " at 28% and 26%...

Why is it that any time somebody presents a situation you think that they are complaining and are upset? Why on earth does the word "upset" come to you so easily?   © 2013 AR_HRCom Insights You - any lucky, blessed manager or leader who escaped any upheaval of any sort despite low morale -  have not lived what the word "upset" would mean to employees. By the way, they are too scared of retaliation to show you that they are upset. Sad thing. And, no, you have not seen a large group of employees coming to your office to complaint about the leadership style in the organization. You have not lived one single meeting with unhappy union representatives. You have not seen one single senior executive walking out of the board meeting. You have neither seen nor heard some of your employees telling a corporate leader that your favorite partner is "worthless." You have always defused any attempts of complaints by giving empty promises and counting on fear o...

I love sleek designs. I love Apple. So I couldn’t help but notice the changes at JC Penney, even without mention of its then new CEO. That is now old news . They were exciting changes! JCP looked cleaner, more avant-garde should I say, definitely closer to my taste of design. Then I got excited about the new check-out system. I was a little bit concerned about the idea that by 2014 all human check-out points were to disappear…but I could have been totally misinformed. However, I am no unconditional JC Penney customer who defected to a less favored store. In fact, I am not what one would call a loyal customer of any store in particular. I am just an “observer”. So I could tell that as the aisles got neater and wider, signs clearer, prices more defined, customers made themselves less visible. Products didn’t seem to have changed drastically however, beside the new Martha Steward addition. (that is also old news by now ). But again, I probably missed something and tradition...