Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Personal Development

We all need a little personal development mixed in with our professional and career development. Read blogs in this category for stories and best practices for personal wellness and wellbeing, skills improvement, and  more.

  • Women in Business Need Male Mentors

    Women in Business Need Male Mentors

    My first professional mentor was a man.  In college, I helped him with his research and he helped me grow as a human being in too many ways to count.  It was no big deal for us to have one-on-one discussions in his office with the door closed.  I never thought anything of it.  I suspect he didn’t either.  Nor were my parents concerned.  They are as grateful to him for the positive influence he had on me as I am.

    This mentor often spoke truth with directness to the situations I was dealing with that I found myself getting too emotional about.  He also commended me when I acted in ways that showed I was capable and confident.  Characteristics a woman is often chided for. This was invaluable.

    My best boss was a man.  He gave me the freedom to run with my ideas and got out of my way when I did so.   It was not uncommon for us to travel in the car to places for work related events, just the two of us.  I never thought anything of it.  I doubt he, his wife, or my husband did either.

    This boss didn’t make me feel like an idiot when I cried in his office to him about something, that in hindsight, was stupid.  Nor did he get condescending when we joked and left a positive pregnancy test on his desk as an April Fool’s joke.  Pregnant I was not then, but a month later I was. Oops.  He was also so proud when both my kids were born and gave me more flexibility than most after the first was born and I was also trying to finish my Masters thesis.  He also spoke truth to my emotion and taught me to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.  He praised me for behavior that is also often uncommon for a woman to demonstrate.

    I’m often at lunch one-on-one with men.   They are typically clients or perspective clients.  I think nothing of asking a man to lunch.  I don’t think anything of asking anyone to lunch, male or female. Mealtime is natural way to build dialogue and relationships.

    But the last time I was in a restaurant with a male client (in my hometown) an acquaintance-friend I know saw me sitting there with him.  She looked away.  When I saw her later on, she asked me who he was and why I was there with him.   It was obvious she thought it was weird.  She seemed to disapprove.  I was confused.

    But in this #metoo world we are living in, if people find it strange for a female to be at lunch with a male that is anyone other than her spouse or possibly father, how can we expect it to be okay for both women and men to feel comfortable in one-on-one situations that often help to build strong business relationships, healthy dialogue and positive results?

    At #SHRM18, Sheryl Sandberg spoke about, among other things, the need for women to have male mentors.   She related this to helping women model behaviors, more often demonstrated in males, that help women achieve business success.  I know my male mentors and colleagues have helped me with this (not to mention my dad and my husband, both of whom have probably had more of an influence on this than my professional male relationships.)

    Sheryl didn’t give a lot of advice on how to make men mentoring women totally acceptable despite the #metoo challenges.

    The one direct thing she said to men fearful of establishing these relationships was, “If you don’t feel comfortable having dinner with a woman, don’t have dinner with a man.  Group meals for everyone.”

    I struggle with this though.  The value I gained from the men in my life who have shaped me almost always came in the form of one-on-one, direct feedback.  This just doesn’t take place in a group settings.

    So, like Sheryl, while I don’t have a lot of direct advice to give on how to help this situation, maybe this quote I just came across by Bob Goff can speak the greatest truth:

     

    I have two lunch meetings on my calendar for this week.  Both are with men.   I won’t be afraid, and I pray that for all the great men out there, the world and the media won’t harden or scare you to the point that you are uncomfortable alone with a woman that you can help become the business person and woman she needs to be.

     

  • How can we best help? 5 Insights from Sheryl Sandberg at #SHRM18

    How can we best help? 5 Insights from Sheryl Sandberg at #SHRM18

    2018 for me has been a year of providing support for both professional and personal friends and family that have been experiencing tremendous situations of stress, pain and loss.  As I count today, there are half a dozen people that I’m actively engaged in providing support and encouragement for. If I think about it objectively, I could say that most people, every year, are actively providing support for at least this many people who dealing with some type of life struggle. Struggle is just a part of life.

    I am humbled to have the opportunity to be a small part of helping people through their pain and problems.  If you are doing the same thing, I’m sure you are too.  But if you’re like me, I’m often not sure what helps and what may possibly hurt when it comes to the words and behavior I use when trying to provide the right support.

    Sheryl Sandberg spoke about a variety of things at #SHRM18, most of which came from her personal experience of being a female business executive, a mother and widow. Her insights on the best way we can help each other in the workplace integrated with Adam Grant’s comments on creating an organization of givers.  Like Adam, she was also diligent in stating facts and citing research to back up her points.

     

    When people are dealing with difficult situations, Sheryl noted:

    1. Realize people feel like they are a burden when they are hurting.  Often, they will apologize or say they are sorry when they share their thoughts or feelings. Make sure you assure people that they are not a burden. Validate for them that their thoughts and feelings are okay and that vocalizing them is a good thing.
    2. Don’t assume people have enough help or support from family and close friends.  They often don’t and need you. Oftentimes people that aren’t as close to the situation are the best people for providing support.
    3. You are never reminding people of their pain.  It is always there. When you realize this, it is always best to ask about and acknowledge the elephant in the room.
    4. When you don’t ask, you aren’t protecting people you are making them feel isolated.
    5. Our natural tendency is to ask, “How can I help.”  This is not bad, but people often don’t know what to tell you.  Sheryl suggested just showing up.  Show up in the waiting room at the hospital and just let them know you are there if and when needed.   Show up with a meal or a gift or with their dry cleaning you’ve already picked up and paid for them.  Don’t ask, just do.

     

    What are the best ways you know to help people who are hurting?

  • Marketing Your Core Values and Culture

    Marketing Your Core Values and Culture

    How does your company market your core values and culture? What do candidates see when they look at your website? Are your values and culture emphasized during the hiring process?

    • 76% of candidates want details on what makes the company an attractive place to work. (Glassdoor survey, October 2014)
    • Nearly 80% of Millennials look for people and culture fit with employers, followed by career potential. (Collegefeed, March 2014)
    • 77% of job seekers go to Company Websites to look for jobs. (Gallup State of the American Workplace Report 2017)

    If you’re not marketing your core values and culture, you may be losing out on attracting top talent. According to the 2017 LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends, 61% of those surveyed said that the best channel to build an employer brand is through the company’s career site, followed by LinkedIn at 55%, and Third-party websites or job boards at 40%.

    Try to look at your company’s career site through the eyes of an applicant. What sets you apart from other potential employers? What benefits does your organization offer that might attract potential candidates? Is your company culture reflected on the career site?

    Next, make sure your organization has a solid LinkedIn profile and post regularly. Ask current employees to follow your company page and share posts. Do the same with other social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter. Share pictures from company events that show the camaraderie outside of the office.

    And then look at third-party sites and job boards such as Glassdoor. Many candidates look to sites like Glassdoor to get a true feeling of what it’s like to work at a company. Employees and candidates can review organizations, share salary information & interview questions, rate the CEO, and much more. What does your Glassdoor profile say about your organization? Does your organization respond to reviews that are posted on Glassdoor and other sites? While you can’t control the reviews that are posted to Glassdoor, you can control their impact based on how you manage your profile and respond to negative feedback.

    • Employer branding has a significant impact on hiring talent according to 80% of recruiters. (LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends 2017)

    What message does your current employer branding send to potential candidates?

    For more on employer branding, read our blog post The Candidate Experience Influences the Brand.

  • Consider Cultural Contribution when Hiring

    Consider Cultural Contribution when Hiring

    “Don’t let your organization become a cultural museum. Stop emphasizing culture fit; start valuing culture contribution.” – Adam Grant, author of Originals

    During a recent phone interview I had a candidate ask me how the organization I was recruiting for (who is currently going through a rapid growth period) planned to keep their culture intact as they grow. I explained that the company goes to great lengths to ensure that they are not only hiring the candidate with the right skills, but also the candidate who will best help to carry their culture forward as they grow.

    Most job interviews revolve around a candidate’s experience, skill set, and ability to apply that to the role they are seeking. While the candidate’s behavior during the interview is also evaluated, most candidates put their best foot forward during the interview. So how can organizations truly assess cultural contribution?

    The Zappos hiring strategy is a great example of an organization that goes the extra mile to assess cultural contribution of candidates. Zappos has developed a hiring process that includes:

    • Requiring candidates to attend company social events to evaluate how they interact with employees at all levels.
    • Having team members interview the candidate in an unformal setting such as meeting for coffee.
    • Talking to company drivers who pick up candidates from the airport to see how they were treated by the candidate.
    • Requiring new hires to spend their first four weeks manning the phones and responding to customer service calls.
    • Offering new hires $3,000 to quit after their first week in the customer service call center.

    While many companies can’t go to the extensive length that Zappos goes to when evaluating candidates, there are strategies that organizations can implement to evaluate candidates’ culture contribution. I spent almost two years managing human resources in a long-term care facility. When interviewing candidates from Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) all the way up to Directors, there were two strategies I used to evaluate the candidate for cultural contribution. First, I would wait behind the reception desk and watch the candidate before going out to the lobby to introduce myself. I would evaluate how they interacted with visitors, staff, and patients. Sometimes I would ask the receptionist how she was approached when the candidate arrived. Second, if they passed the interview, I would take them on a tour of the facility. Again, I was watching to see how they interacted with other staff members and patients. There were many instances when I chose not to hire a candidate based on their interactions, or lack thereof.

    The interview doesn’t start when the candidate is standing in front of you, it starts when they get out of their car at your facility, or in Zappos’ case, when the driver picks them up at the airport. The true test for cultural contribution is how the candidate presents themselves when they think no one is paying attention.

    To read more about the Zappos hiring strategy, click here.

  • Top Takeaways (so far) from #SHRM18

    Top Takeaways (so far) from #SHRM18

    So far, #SHRM18 has proven to be an inspiration of ideas and people.  My top takeaways from the Windy City include:

    “Drama is emotional waste.”  @CyWakeman

    I love Cy Wakeman and her book, Reality Based Leadership.  In her presentation, Cy described how our brains are binary.  We toggle between the lower order brain, our ego, where drama exists and our higher order brain.  Our higher order brain allows us to focus on reality in order to respond in creative, innovative ways.   Cy’s message is that a leader’s main job is to toggle people up to the higher order brain by focusing on facts and eliminating drama that comes from gossip, venting and assumptions.  We toggle people up by getting them to self-reflect.

     

    Jeb Bush was the opening general session keynote.  He challenged the audience to consider what you would focus on if you were the head of HR for the United States.   His three key focus areas, which I agree with are:

    1. Comprehensive immigration reform and policy as an economic development strategy.
    2. A change in how we see learning and education to focus on career readiness, personalized learning and reform in higher education costs.
    3. A second chance society where people who have made mistakes (like having a criminal record) can contribute meaningfully through work. SHRM is focused on this.  A great white paper to read on this from SHRM can be found here.

     

    Key takeaways from my session on ROI as seen through the live tweets activity were:

     

    Shared by Coretha M. Rushing, SHRM Board Chair, CHRO at Equifax:

     

    From Paul Endress @paulendress about Reflective Listening:

    “The less you talk and the more you seek to understand meaning from others, the better communicator you will be.”

    The key thing I took away to set yourself up for reflective listening is body posture/physiology.  Don’t cross your hands across your chest or put them back above your head.  That is not setting yourself up to listen.  Instead nod your head, put your hands on your desk or on your knees in a neutral position or have a reflective posture where one hand is on your chin and the other propping up your elbow. Maintaining these postures while you speak is just as important when you are listening.

     

    The session I have been the most excited about is Neuroscience in HR. Led by David Rock @davidrock, Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, his biggest reminder for me was something we often ignore when it comes to connecting brain science to individual and organizational behavior and that is the issue of capacity.

    Capacity of the brain is the first issue that people ignore. For example, how many numbers can you add in your head?  Once you get past adding three numbers at once, most people reach their capacity.  Following this rule in the workplace is important.  If you try to get people to focus on more than three things you lose them.  Identify the fewest possible paths to drive individual change (through habit creation) that can drive organizational change.

     

    What are your Top Takeways (so far) from #SHRM18? Have you been inspired too?