WT: That’s a perfect segue into the next question. What are some
things that the HR profession and the professionals can just stop
doing? There has to be a list of things that you think could be
stopped and it would improve the profession.
JC: I work with many HR folks because of what I do. Some are
just exemplary. They have regular conversations with their
CEO, which I call slide-by meetings, where you have a couple of
minutes and you say, ‘Hey, I want to toss out an idea,’ or ‘I have a
suggestion.’ Because they’re comfortable having conversations on
an executive level, it’s easy for them to bring new concepts into
the workplace. Those people are very good at what they do. They
need to keep doing that and train others to do it as well. The ones
who bother me are those who love HR only because they’re ‘in
the know.’ They feel as if they know everything about everybody
who works there and all the prurient details about employees and
their personal lives. That motivates them and keeps them going.
That behavior gives our profession a bad reputation, because
they’re in it for the information that they are getting instead of
the information they can share. They’re not trying to add content
to the organization. They’re trying to suck in all the information
that they can about employees and their lives. Those people are
also very compliant-hungry. They want to have a conversation
with a manager because an employee broke a rule. That is not
going to advance our profession. CEOs don’t have any tolerance
for that kind of behavior.
BW: Let me ask about conferences and what you believe their
future will be — the relation between our wonderful profession
and conferences in the future.
JC: I love the interaction, but employees are going to want to work
more remotely, from wherever. People are going to want more
information available to them online, either for a subscription
kind of conference or a onetime conference for one hour or over
an extended time. Webcasts have to be interactive in order to
keep people’s attention. They can’t just be something recorded.
People are going to seek out interactive webcasts more and
more. I don’t think conferences will ever go away, but they’ll be
supplemented by other options.
NR: Share your words of wisdom with young and upcoming HR
professionals.
JC: Learn as much as you can. Read everything you can get your
hands on. I do not like to be caught not knowing an answer, and
if I’m in the workplace and a manager or another executive asks
me a question that is related to my profession, I want to know
the answer. If I have to say ‘I’ll research that and get back to you,’
I feel as if I’ve lost credibility with that person. I read books on
upcoming trends. I’m in the car a lot, so sometimes I listen to
audiobooks. That’s critical to maintaining optimum performance,
especially in this profession, where things are evolving and
changing rapidly. My advice to anybody just starting in this
profession is to read everything you can on business trends and
stay abreast of them. That might mean paying attention to court
cases and following legislation. I get phone calls from lawmakers
asking me to weigh in on how a particular piece of legislation
might have an impact on the workplace. I love that I have the
opportunity to affect public policy.
BW: Joyce, thank you so much for joining us in this absolutely
fantastic lunch conversation. ■
Bryan Wempen, co-host of DriveThruHR, is chief strategy
officer at PeopleClues and co-founder of ceVoke, a
boutique speaker agency that specializes in representing
keynote speakers who are leading thinkers about culture,
people, human resources and innovation. He currently
speaks on social media and entrepreneurship. He is a
board member of the Oklahoma State HR Conference and past president of
the Tulsa Society for Human Resource Management chapter. Connect with
him on LinkedIn and Facebook and follow him on Twitter @bryanwempen.
Nisha Raghavan, co-host of DriveThruHR, is an HR
professional with extensive global experience in handling
talent management, employee engagement and cultural
diversity. She is the founder and host of India HR LIVE, a
LIVE internet TV channel for HR professionals. Nisha
blogs about her HR experience at Your HR Buddy and
contributes to several other HR –related blogs. She was recently listed as
one of the Top 100 Most Social HR Experts on Twitter by Huffington Post.
Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook and on Twitter @TheHRbuddy.
William Tincup, SPHR, o-host of DriveThruHR, is the chief
c
executive officer of HR Consultancy at Tincup & Co. He
is a leading thinker on social media application fo