Category: Give Back Stories

Making HR Better- One Pro at a Time is Ben Eubank’s mission.   Ben, who started his career in Human Resources in 2008, has a passion for his field that gets him up at 5 AM on the weekends to blog and develop other content to help HR professionals become better at what they do. He does this in addition to holding down a full-time HR role himself and raising three young children with his wife (and he runs quite a bit too!).

The results of Ben’s efforts have led to national speaking opportunities, recognition for his efforts in global publications and an audience of over 15,000 monthly readers. “I firmly believe that without this deep passion to help my audience succeed,” Ben says, “I would have given up long ago!”

As an HR professional, Ben is a believer in assessing candidate’s passion for the field. “Passion is one of the most telling things in an interview,” he says. “If it is lacking, I discard the candidate immediately. I can teach you HR law, how to recruit, or what to do if an employee is misbehaving. I can’t teach you how to be excited about your job. People who are passionate are typically doing things outside work to keep them plugged into the community, from volunteering to side jobs and other activities.”

Ben exemplifies this. He is engaged in the HR professional community and is a connector with people in person and through his blog. I’ve never once asked Ben to do something or to explore an idea with me when he hasn’t been more than willing and excited to do so. His passion for the field is contagious and therefore his advice and guidance is desirable and readily used.

Ben sees how passion drives productivity (and profits) in business. “Aligning personal passions with organizational mission is a critical need in the business world today, and it’s a key differentiator for those that due it well.”

As an leader in HR strategic thinking, Ben does this by using corporate culture built on shared values to help drive behaviors in people. “I create behavioral targets I expect to see with regard to culture/values. For example, instead of saying ‘We have integrity,’ I’ll tell them (a candidate) an example of a time when someone exhibited integrity, even when it was painful. That helps to make values real to our employees and not just a sheet of paper with words on it.”

Why does been give back tirelessly? Because he is so appreciative of those who have given back to him. “When I was studying to pass the HR certification exam back in 2008, I was completely in over my head. I reached out to a few random strangers for advice. The help they offered was invaluable, and I passed the exam a few short months later. I promised myself that no matter how busy I got or what I ended up doing, I would always and forever help those that were preparing for the exams. That led me to create several courses for the PHR and SPHR that have both been very helpful and popular in the HR community.

Whether you are an HR professional or not, we all should be in the business of helping develop people and the organizations in which we work. Ben’s blog and his resources can help us all do just that. Check him out at:

-Website link http://upstarthr.com

-Twitter http://twitter.com/beneubanks

-LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/beneubanks

-Others YouTube http://youtube.com/upstarthr

Education Elements, an organization that helps school districts personalize learning, embodies the saying “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand” in their approach to education. Because of their belief that learning can be customized for every student, powerful results are being seen across the nation in student outcomes.

Their story demonstrates how passion + productivity for the work that they do and for improving K-12 education leads to students who are better prepared by their education for college and career so that they can give back to their communities as they get older.

Here is their story:

When Education Elements was founded in 2010, “blended learning” was just an idea with little traction and no real proof points.  Anthony Kim, a longtime education technologist, wanted to help schools rethink the structure of schooling and the way technology could strengthen instruction and streamline operations. Anthony founded Education Elements on the belief that learning could be personalized for every student.

Our work started with a single charter school in Los Angeles and grew from there.    KIPP Empower, our first school, had a specific problem to solve – creating a high-quality education with excellent academic outcomes in the face of limited per pupil allocations. The station rotation model developed at KIPP Empower is one we have seen replicated again and again across the country because it works, KIPP Empower is now one of the highest performing schools in the state of California.

We hire people who are amazing at what they do and want to use their talents to make a difference. We are all driven to have a positive impact on student outcomes and look for new team members who feel the same. We look for people who get excited about the opportunity to work with districts and schools. We want to get people fired up and demanding that every student have a fundamentally different educational experience that focuses on their individual needs. Our teams volunteer in after school programs and on weekends. They give back constantly.

With this, we all take on a whatever-it-takes approach to supporting the districts with whom we work. Our team works tirelessly to make sure that districts and schools have what they needs to help students succeed. The passion of our team leads to great results in public schools. Those results are measured in several ways: accelerated growth in reading and math; deeper learning in reading and math; higher student engagement; and higher teacher satisfaction.

We now serve over 100 schools across the country including large school districts such as Houston ISD, Newark Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools and Horry County Schools (the 2^nd largest district in the state of South Carolina) and small districts like Piedmont, AL.

As the list of schools, districts, and networks we have worked with has grown, so has the set of challenges and the diversity of solutions.  Our design-thinking process, which starts with an articulation of goals and assessment of school and district readiness, enables us to facilitate models that meet the needs of every school, just as the personalized environments we develop meet the needs of every student.  We work with a range of proven blended models, ranging from a lab rotation model with Rocketship, to flex models at Career Path, to station rotation at the District of Columbia Public Schools. We often see iterations of all of these models within a single building in order to best meet student needs.  Our 100 schools therefore represent 100 cases of developing a right-sized model, and thoughtfully and holistically supporting its implementation.

Fundamentally, we believe students should love learning and that we can bring that joy back through our individualize approach. This empowers us to demonstrate passion + productivity = give back in our work so that students have the chance to do the same.

Want to learn more about Education Elements?

Visit their website, or follow them on Facebook and LinkedIn

As January comes to a close, many of us are saddled with the potential reality that our new years resolutions, many of them fitness and health related, are falling by the wayside.

Susan Ozier, a Health and Fitness Coach, knows how many of us feel when it comes to this reality and is using her personal experience to fuel passion and productivity to give back to others in a way that helps them achieve their goals.

She is passionate about helping other women learn how to eat healthy and in turn feed their family healthy foods because when a person gets healthy it affects every aspect of their lives. They have energy and confidence they didn’t previously have and that transfers into their family life, their job, and even their friendships.  Susan loves to see how, through her help, mothers are able to regain energy to play with their kids and then become an example to their children of what a healthy lifestyle looks like.

Here is Susan’s story:

Last winter, I felt like I had not hit my groove as a mom of two kids under three and still had about 10 lbs of baby weight to lose.  I wasn’t happy with the way I was feeling about myself and decided to make some “real” New Years’ resolutions.  For the first time, I decided to write them down with specific goals and accomplishments I wanted to achieve in 2014.  I went on a date with my husband and shared them all with him so he could help hold me accountable to the spiritual, financial, marital/parental, and physical goals I made.  For the first time, my physical goals weren’t dictated by a number on the scale.  Instead, I wanted to feel comfortable in my clothes and confident in a swimsuit by that summer with a focus on being healthy, not just being skinny.

I started researching and looking into different diets, nutrition plans, and workouts, using my background knowledge and experiences from my exercise science and nursing degrees to help inform my new plan.  I did a lot of research on clean eating and weight lifting which were both new ideas for me at the time.  I had previously stuck to more traditional diets that deprive particular food groups and added massive amounts of cardio for exercise because I wrongly believed I would bulk up if I lifted weights.  I lost weight quickly at first as I dove into this new nutrition plan of eating mostly clean foods and kicking my Diet Mountain Dew habit. Heavier weights than I was used to along with high intensity interval training totally transformed my body even when the number on the scale quit moving I was seeing progress in the way my clothes fit and the new strength and confidence that I felt.  I felt healthy, strong, and more confident than I had ever felt before I had kids because I had taken control and implemented real change in my life.

As people started asking me what I was doing to lose weight I decided I wanted to share with people what I had learned over the past year.  I became a Beachbody coach to help others reach their health and wellness goals because I know what a difference being healthy and learning to take care of my body has made in all aspects of my life, and I wanted to do the same thing for other women.

As a coach, I hold monthly challenge groups that provide specific workouts, nutrition plans, and most importantly, accountability and encouragement from me and the others participating in the group. You can have great nutrition and workouts, but without the accountability it is a lot easier to fall off track.  I love helping others learn how to be fit and healthy which doesn’t have a thing to do with weight, but focuses more on eating clean, staying active, and feeling good about yourself.

It isn’t easy to live a healthy lifestyle in today’s world of convenience and fast food, but I have found it to be easier with accountability and support from a network of like-minded people, and I want to provide that for others.  I want to be honest and real and show people that living a healthy life is doable and worth the hard work.

Even with my background in Exercise Science and Nursing I never had anyone to hold my hand and walk me through the little changes I could make.  I had to learn them myself over time and now I think it is important to share my knowledge and passion with others so that they can get healthy and in turn get their families healthy.

To learn more about Susan and the work she is doing, check out www.SusanOzier.weebly.com or visit her Facebook page.

As I walk into Micor to talk with their Vice President, Dave Ponegalek, about how they demonstrate passion + productivity = give back in the work that they do, there are signs on every door in the building that say “Thank you Ms. Lydia for your 5 years of service.”   When I arrived, I saw “Ms. Lydia” as most affectionately call her, walking over from the other building with a huge cake in her hand.  Her anniversary cake.  Everyone in the company has been over at the building celebrating her five years of contribution to the company.

Although Dave never mentions celebrating employee anniversaries as a way the company demonstrates a give back mindset (it is just so ingrained in who they are and what they do it doesn’t seem noteworthy to him), it is just one example of the passion, leading to productivity and giving that runs through Micor Industries.

Micor was established in Union Grove, Alabama, by Mike Heath in 2000.  In 2002, the company moved to its first location in Decatur, Alabama, and since that time has grown to be a go-to provider of machined parts for a variety of customers.  In addition, the company has won the Alabama Emerging Manufacturer of the Year and has grown to 70 employees.

When asked about Micor’s focus on passion, it is obvious the focus is on being a valued partner to customers by being the best in their business. Micor hires and retains individuals who are passionate about machining quality parts and meeting customer needs.

What strikes me the most, though, in the way that Micor achieves its results is through a relentless focus on tracking and measuring performance.  In 2013, a focus on establishing an accountability culture was created.  Every important factor in the business was set and measured in the form of a dashboard. It is visual, it is reviewed weekly, everyone sees it and everyone knows where things stand.  The next step in this accountability culture is driving the visual reminder of the results that need to monitored and achieved through TV screens throughout the company’s two facilities.  This focus on the productivity measures that drive profitability lead to increased rewards for all at Micor.

Because Micor knows the focus on passion and productivity is driven by it’s people,  the accountability culture is a part of all the team. “If everyone cares about what they are doing, they are going to give more than their all everyday. They will care if the part ships today instead of tomorrow, and care about if the product is right, packed right, etc.,” says Dave Ponegalek.”

This leads to a focus on continuous professional development, rewards in the form of bonuses when profitability goals are met, gift cards given out at random for a job well done and, yes, anniversary cakes.

The focus on being a valued partner extends beyond customer and employee partnerships.  Micor sees itself as a partner in the community.  This creates a “ripple effect” as owner Mike Heath emphasizes that being involved in the community leads to better results for everyone.

One example of Micor’s focus on giving back comes through their partnership with Decatur Heritage Christian Academy.    Each year, Micor holds a contest for high school seniors at the school.   The students are required to write about what they want to be when they grow up and are then interviewed by a team.  The winner(s) get to job shadow with Micor, which includes a trip to Houston to meet with Micor customers.

“We want to spark interest in our industry and create more people with a passion for what we do,” say Dave.  The value of seeing first-hand what an industry and a job is like is, unfortunately, not an experience many high school students get to have or try to pursue.   When a passion for what you do leads to giving back in ways that allow others to spark a passion, we all win- individuals, companies and communities.

You can learn more about Micor by visiting their website at:

http://www.micorind.com/

And by following them on Facebook.

Making a transition back into the workplace can be challenging for a stay-at-home mom or dad that has been out of the workplace for quite some time, but with a focus on discerning what your passionate about, how that can make you productive and how that leads to you giving back to a cause, community or purpose that you love, the transition is not quite as hard as it seems.

Whitney Clemons, a realtor with Ben Porter ERA did just that.   Trained as an Accountant at the University of Alabama, Whitney spent time in her twenties working as an accountant and auditor at what was, at that time, a big eight accounting firm and then Intergraph. Although she learned a lot in these roles, she wasn’t passionate about the work.

After her first child turned one and another one soon on the way (followed by a third several years later) Whitney and her husband made the decision for her to stay at home with their children.   It was the best thing for a family and a decision she doesn’t regret, but when her oldest turned 15, she began to realize that she didn’t want to be sitting at home when all of her kids were off at college without a plan and a passion.

“I love properties and houses and helping people with major life decisions,” she says. In addition, although the experience she had as an accountant and auditor didn’t lead her to love either of those roles, the components of those positions in reviewing legal contracts, multi-tasking and organizing were all things she enjoyed. She found that real estate was an avenue to weld these things together.

Although not certain this was a full-time route she wanted to take, she pursued and got her real estate license anyway. “Act.” she says, “Even if you aren’t 100% sure it is what you want to do, move forward and see.”

And with this advice, what was part-time became full-time within 12 months and what has lead Whitney to be a $7 million producer annually, coming in as the number two producer for all five North Alabama offices including offices that serve a much bigger market than the one she primarily serves.

But her focus is not on the production number, but the passion behind the productivity and the focus on giving back. “My first and really only measure of productivity is a satisfied customer,” she says.

These continual satisfied customers have led to referrals, repeat business and even an appearance on House Hunters for Whitney, but the revenue and the TV appearance never were the goal. Satisfied people were and continue to be.

 

 

In addition, giving back to her community is a focus. Throughout her adult life Whitney volunteered with the schools in her community and the hospital, among other things. She realized that she could continue to promote the community through marketing and selling homes, and in fact, this could potentially be the best way for her to give back and make the most impact to promote her community.

She said, “The hospital is important for the vitality of the community, the schools are important, beautification is important, but so is getting young families to live in the community in order to support and grow all of these things.”

Your passion doesn’t have to be separate from the way you are giving back, and neither should your vocation or career.   All should be interwoven.   Thanks to Whitney for reminding us to weave them all together and focus on productivity through people not numbers or dollars.