I came to an HR career after about 12 years in Engineering and Operations. I had been on the periphery, trying to learn how to make operations better through better people-related decisions. As anyone who has spent a significant time in HR will tell you, there comes a time where nothing about people will surprise you. That's people in general, of course. There are specific ... Read Full Article
About sfrenchsphr@aol.com
Mistakes Were Made – Know How To Correct the Course
The way news moves today (both real and #fakenews) I could write a post a day about how one U.S. company or another screwed up regarding public relations, customer relations, or employee relations. It could be United Airlines - pick one of many reasons - or Pepsi, or Chick-Fil-A. Every day, something. This is not one of those posts. I've been there on more than one occasion, ... Read Full Article
Your Lack of Motivation is Your Problem – Now Do Something About It
I have always had an open-door policy. Except now, I work in an open office and have no door - or desk - so it's now more of a "grab-a-chair-and-sit-here" policy. It works for me. People know where to find me or they send an IM asking where I am today. Sometimes it's about a situation they are dealing with and they want to discuss options, other times it's to ask me about ... Read Full Article
Is My Bias Showing? (Moving from Woke-ish to Woke)
That part of my career spent in HR has been filled with new learning about people. All kinds of people. One thing I have come to learn is that there is a huge difference between understanding something about another person's experience and feeling what they feel. I can't know how they feel about certain things because I am not them. I do not have the experiences that they have ... Read Full Article
Diversity and Inclusion – Time For HR To Step Up Its Game
With all the emphasis on fake news recently, it is good to see that when someone posts something that doesn't sound quite right, someone else does the research and adds information to the post. I ran into this last week when someone posted something from 2013 regarding Barilla pasta, and it was quickly researched and updated. The short story - the Barilla CEO stated, in 2013, ... Read Full Article
Blue Lights, White Privilege
Let me start this by acknowledging that it represents a single data point. There is just not sufficient information to determine why the officer involved did what he did. I believe that many white Americans can simply not comprehend what is referred to as white privilege, and I hope maybe this will help in at least a small way as we continue to try and understand the situations ... Read Full Article
The Trust Equation (A Two-Way Street)
I am pretty much logic-based, so when someone presents a formula or equation for something, I start to look for the proof. An equation, or an equality, is an assertion that the information shown on one side of the equal sign is fully the same as the information on the other side. Doing algebra problems, there are one or more "unknowns" that we have to solve for so that ... Read Full Article
Are You “D.E.P.P.” Certified?
Have you earned your DEPP™? I have read enough LinkedIn profiles and resumes to realize that adjectives have taken over. There is an adjective-based claim that many people are making that I believe needs some sort of certification. It seems there are growing numbers of DEPPs in every profession. Dedicated, Engaged, Passionate Professional. All I need to do is find a way to ... Read Full Article