Category: PKM

Career, PKM, Reflective practice

I’m a hypocritical so-and-so…

@ReneeRoberz

Because I’m always going on to others about the importance of self-reflection and have seen huge benefit in using the practice myself.

Usually my morning ritual looks like:

  1. Wake up earlier than my alarm (99% due to my child-like bedtime on weeknights).
  2. Reflect on my learning in a journal. Possibly translate some of these into a blog post – some for sharing, some not.
  3. Catch up on business news. Schedule my Buffer account to share my top finds on Twitter.
  4. Wake my evening-owl partner up so we take take the dog for his morning walk. This is both good for our health and helps ensure there are no tantrums during the day resulting in suspiciously wet ripped up cardboard on our return from work.
  5. Get ready for said work.

Lately though I’ve been slack. Oh I’m full of excuses (“It’s cold this winter!” “We’ve just moved” “It’s hard acclimatising on return from holidays”… whine whine whine) but I don’t have any excuses that stick.

Along with the demise of my morning routine I’ve noticed:

  • It takes me longer for my brain to ‘switch on’ once I’m at work, and a lot more caffeine.
  • My lack of exercise is meaning I’m more sluggish  and far more inclined to pig out on junk food during the day.
  • I’m finding excuses to get out of other good habits – mainly exercise related although my study schedule is also suffering.

What to do? Well I could continue to whine about it and be a hypocrite when stressing to others the importance of self-led learning. Or I could reflect on a conversation I had with a skateboard-riding pirate last week and not ignore the importance of my own learning journey.

Challenge accepted.

Leadership, Personal brand, PKM, Uncategorized

2016: Year of the Rocket

@ReneeRoberz

Well, I’ve been slack – at least when it comes to posting regularly here. But now it’s officially 2016 I guess it’s time to make a whole lot of resolutions I’ve got no intention of keeping and kick off on an unsustainable eating/excercise regime?
In all seriousness though, I am going to take the bull by the horns (or should that be red monkey?) when it comes to 2016. Oh yeah, 2015 was pretty great – in fact the reason I was so slack on the blogging front was because I started a new job (with the same awesome people). But 2016 is going to be even better!
Last year I was inundated with opportunity – so much so that I really had to take stock of what I value and want my life to be full with. I decided that a new job with the same organisation was where it was at, the #PeoplePeopleCU was a great way to connect with likeminded people in Melbourne, I was more active and sought out more professional development both in person and online and I also was lucky enough to meet some really great people along the way.
So how do I improve on 2015?
I’m going to take Dr Jason Fox’s advice and pick a word for the year, last year I picked ‘Build’ and didn’t really tell anyone about it. This year I’m going to go with ‘Rocket’.
Rocket (for me at least) = the year of launching some amazing things and seeing them fly. (Side note: if you don’t know of Dr Jason Fox and his writing/speaking you need to google him. Now.)
I’m really exciting about 2016 and what it holds. This year I’m off to the SHRM Conference in Washington D.C., there are some massive projects at work that are going to require a lot of time and energy and I’m looking forward to more People People Catch Ups and learning from some cool people.
Just before I sign out on my first (hopefully of many) blogs for the year I’d like to say a big thanks to all the amazing people that made my world better last year – there are just too many to mention but I’m so grateful for all of your sharing, caring and general excellence.

#SoMe, Brand, Personal brand, PKM, Social Media & Learning

What No-one is Telling You About Navigating Your Company’s Employment Brand Online

@ReneeRoberz

Are you hearing this a lot?: “future of work…blah blah blah…. millennial… blah… technological shift”?

Yes yes, it is true, it’s real, and we do need to prepare for change in the world of work. But something I’ve noticed is that we aren’t so great at preparing for is what’s just around the corner.

No I’m not talking about Generation Z – I’m talking about the critical role of social and new media in how we manage our employment brand.

You’re reading this – so I know you can use LinkedIn, Google… maybe even Twitter? I love social media for professional development (and those that know me hear me wax lyrical about it all. the. time.) – but social media for PD is an option for business folk. You might use it, you might not, but it won’t really impact on your ability to do your job (yet).

Something that is right around the corner (and already here if you’re in a big market like the U.S.) – the proliferation of employer review websites and apps. The potential impact on employment brand from social and new media is huge.

You might have heard of some of these review and information sharing platforms: Glassdoor, Vault & JobAdvisor, and apps like Whisper and Canary. If you haven’t, you will.

The likelihood of your organisation getting reviewed or spoken about on one of these platforms in the next year? Growing exponentially.

The likelihood of most HR professionals and business owners knowing how to navigate this tricky topic? Not great.

These sites are to the world of work what TripAdvisor is to the travel industry: an incredible opportunity, but a force to be reckoned with. Just one negative review might dictate 100% of your organisation’s rating on such a platform.

So wait… what?

The platforms I’m speaking about are already common in the USA… and due to the global nature of technology and it’s impact on trends in the workplace it won’t be long until your CEO or investors are asking you why weren’t you on top of this?!

A bit of a rundown on the kinds of platforms I’m referring to:

Glassdoor         
One of the most well-known of these sites, Glassdoor is a US-based site where employees (and former employees) anonymously review companies and their management and can post salary data. Glassdoor includes options for employers to pay for an enhanced profile.

Vault 
Vault is all about ranking and reviewing companies, internships and schools. With a wider scope than Glassdoor it seems to be more focused on the graduate market.

JobAdvisor 
This Australian based site is similar to Glassdoor (except I like the interface better) and has a few more Australian employers listed – similar to Glassdoor & Vault it uses a ratings system and gives you information from individual reviewers based on ‘pros’ and ‘cons’.

Whisper 
Whisper wasn’t originally billed as a site to review employers – but it is increasingly being used in reference to user’s jobs, the base concept being it is an anonymous secret sharer where users post their secrets online. It is possible for workplaces to feel the heat from this app (as there’s nothing stopping users naming their workplace in their confessions).

Canary 
Billed as ‘anonymous company chatter’ this app allows users to ‘share insider news, thoughts and rumours with your co-workers’. Aside from the potential intellectual property and privacy concerns Canary is designed to facilitate gossip, which, when it’s anonymous, is potentially an HR  (and PR) nightmare.

Don’t panic:

Just start by getting familiar with these platforms, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook along with any other collaboration systems your organisation uses if you aren’t already comfortable with them.
Conversations are going to happen, disgruntled employees are going to post damaging things online. We can write all the policies and procedures we want, but the idea of completely mitigating the risk in this space? Impossible.

What do I need to do?

  • Get familiar with these platforms yourself.
  • Asses whether your organisation is already being talked about.
  • Get out ahead: encourage your star staff to engage in this space – next to 20 stand out reviews, 1 negative review won’t look so bad. But if potential employees, stakeholders or customers just see the 1 negative one? Not good.

wordcloud future of work

Repost from LinkedIn article published 6 September 2015

Leadership, PKM

ARHI National Convention Wrap Up

@ReneeRoberz

Wow!
What an incredible week at the 2015 AHRI National Convention – three days of non-stop learning, collaborating, meeting new people, hearing new ideas and being challenged on what is happening in the world of HR and how we need to rise to respond to it. A strong theme that came through many sessions was the changing world of work – due to globalisation, technological shifts and generational changes – and how the business world, and HR professionals in particular, are, and need to, respond. 
A real highlight for me was Julia Gillard who, on top of having a great tale of becoming a laundry expert at school due to her ‘electives’, had an incredibly interesting perspective on the changing world of work and HR’s great opportunity in adapting to the new environment. The global rise of the Asian economies and the massive technological disruptors are becoming an increasingly important driver in the world of work. Julia challenged the attendees as HR professionals to take advantage of the opportunities and changes being presented to us and lead the way in how Australia responds to this change. Our economy is going to have to change in response to traditional sources of employment changing, and we have an excellent opportunity to help ensure that business is ready to adapt. 

Dave Ulrich was an absolute star – I can see why he has been named as the #1 Management Educator & Guru by Business Week (along with a host of other awards and recognition). The message of relationships being much more important than structure hit home for many in the audience (it resulted in a flurry of tweets). 

Speaking of tweeting – social media interactions at the convention were huge. A massive number of attendees were tweeting, sharing and collaborating online – being able to see what was happening in other sessions was great. There is also an incredibly nerdy part of me that loves it when a speaker I idolise retweets or responds to something I’ve shared online. Given the focus on the changing world of work, this was proof that HR professionals are leading the way with engaging online, expanding their personal learning networks and seeing the possibilities of interacting with employees and future employees was fantastic. Many conversations were had with both people I’d met online and those curious about the tweeting. Due to Twitter (and spotting the Soceroos account giving a happy birthday shout out to Ange Postecoglou) we managed to arrange Richard Morecroft lead the hall in singing Happy Birthday to Ange for his 50th. What a legend for turning up to give a keynote!

A summary article cannot be written without reference to my personal highlight of the Expo which was HROnboard’s genius decision to bring in Guide Dogs Victoria ambassadors Ariel and Sparky on Thursday. Many a photograph was taken with the honorary HR pros, who seemed more interested in cuddling attendees than engaging in strategic discussions. 

Many speakers were really active on social media which was fantastic (loved Jon Ingram’s selfie with the crowd after the New HR session). I’m really interested to see how we increase the opportunities for this at next year’s #AHRINC to encourage more HR professionals onto social media and collaborative tools. It is going to become more and more critical for HR professionals to lead the way in engaging with employees (and potential employees) through social media, organisations are looking to us for leadership in this space and we need to take the bull by the horns and own our brand.
I attended the AHRI National Convention as a guest blogger. The post was originally published on the Official AHRI National Convention Blog. 

Leadership, Personal brand, PKM, Thinking differently

Psych Assessments and Personality Profiles: Worth It?

@ReneeRoberz


This week’s post is a result of a question submitted through Engage Learn Build. It’s a question I get asked frequently in various forms – from executives looking to evaluate their team or a new hire, managers who feel they should be using psych assessments but don’t know where to start, right through to friends who are wondering what on earth the correlation is between a seemingly random request for a psych assessment midway through the recruitment process.

My response to these questions varies greatly on the why:

  • Why is the decision maker wanting to engage in a psychological assessment or personality profile?
  • Will the tool that is being suggested actually help answer that question? (Quite often the answer is no…)
  • And finally, does the decision maker actually know how to interpret the results, or do they have someone on hand to walk them through the process? (Again, quite often the answer is no).

Question:

Hey Renée, as a leader, the most valuable learning I’ve done has been about myself. Tools like MBTI,  360 feedback mechanisms and TMI profiles (IE creator / innovator, concluder / producer etc) have all made me much more aware about how to get the best out of others, but most importantly made me much more self aware of my own strengths and weaknesses and helped me out plans in place to compensate.

How do you rate the different tools out there for leaders looking to be more mature and self aware in their approach to leading others and what traps and pitfalls should they look out for using those tools?

– Damo

Answer:

I totally agree, I think there is a time and place for these tools (which I geekily love) and I get heaps out of them too. I think for me the key is context. If you’re someone who can go out and take what they need from these types of tools, apply it etc. then it is less important, but I often see people engaging with tools (either themselves or with their teams/organisations) and then not contextualizing it and making it mean something for the individual/group.

Most people don’t naturally do this (it is a skill highly related to EQ) – but as a leader, when engaging others in this space, the context is everything. Ideally these tools should help inform a broader plan rather than be the plan. As for preference I personally have gotten the most out of 360’s, especially when it is a goodie. The Human Synergistics LSI tool is pretty decent and I really like Facet5. Although if you’re looking at team dynamics rather than individual development I’d lean more towards personality trait profiles (MBTI, DISC are all much of a muchness in my opinion) because they’re easy to understand and focus people on understanding how they relate to others – and others relate to them, which when you’re trying to get a team to work together is pretty critical.

The big trap is the idea that any one tool (or often, consultant selling that tool) has all the answers. While most tools are supported by good theory there is a lot of room for error and an element of subjectivity in analyzing results. Some assessments have been developed with sales people in mind for example, where extroversion is an asset – where someone who is trying to cultivate a collaborative leadership style might rate badly but actually still be really effective in their substantive.

My readers might have differences of opinion when it comes to some of the psych and personality tools I’ve listed. But I maintain the most critical part of the equation is the ‘why’, and if the organisation or the manager concerned hasn’t got that figured out then I’d suggest that any of these tools are next to useless.

Personal brand, PKM

Just Do It

@ReneeRoberz

Just Do ItWell, it’s been ages since I’ve actually sat down to write; far too long in fact. And I know that for my own development, personal and professional, that blogging really helps me clarify my thoughts and cements my plan of action.
I could list one million reasons here why I’ve been a bit slack, I’ve been on leave, work has been incredibly busy, life got in the way in general. But none of those reasons outweigh the importance of my goals and development – but they so easily get in the way.
Via Twitter a little bird said to me; “Just start writing, do it every day, even if it’s just a sentence”. And you know what? She’s right. I just need to get off my butt and do it, because no one else is driving my career, my development, that’s my responsibility. And, like many people, I often put my development in the backseat, instead focusing on immediate priorities – like a heavy workload and a busy life. But when I think about what I want to be doing and where I want to be in 5, 10, 20 years – I need to make sure I take responsibility every day.
So often, as is the life of someone who works in L&D/HR, I have colleagues, friends and acquaintances who come to me to ask how do they make the next career move; how do they move into that management job, that senior consulting position. The advice I give is just this; decide exactly what it is you want, figure out the steps it will take to get there, break them down to achievable chunks and Just Do It. (Oh yeah, I totally have no shame when it comes to ripping off great slogans from major corporations.)
And this is exactly the advice I’m giving myself right now.
Just Do It.