DISQUS

A possible cousin to "static evaluation" is "pidgeon-holing." I've seen this phenomenon at work for a long time. Someone makes a mistake and from then on, they are placed in that particular "pidgeon hole." Sometimes, the employee has to leave the company to get another chance. Almost everyone can be put in a pidgeon hole as in, "Oh, that Frank, you know him..." or "Ron always..." Like you say, people can grow, change and learn from their mistakes, but the misperception can carry on anyway.

Some restaurants train their wait staff to make decisions on the spot in favor of the customers. Great companies do the same thing - those employees dealing directly with the customer have the authority within reasonable bounds to make sure that the customers' needs are met. Your recommendations re HR are good now as they have always been. Now is the time for real HR people to stand tall.

Frank, that's what it is all about - people need a sense of purpose at the place that they work. As an HR pro' I always reinforced the vision of the company. If they didn't have one, I helped orchestrate it.

Because this weekend always meant that summer was over, I always hated it. I miss those carefree days of summer to this day. My dad was a teacher and we had 3 months off at our cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains. I feel sorry for kids today in California who have different schedules and don't get the summer off. Summer meant, "No more classes, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!"

It was never the same after I grew up and entered the world of work. My mini-vacations have never been that carefree (especially when I take my cell phone with me). Frank, your grunt of "ugh" about winter coming mirrors my feeling exactly.

Frank,

You and I both learned from the Democratic Convention (see my blog).

Anyway, leading by example is a powerful tool. This is especially true in the parenting role. Studies have shown that children learn much more by your example, than by what you say.

I also think leadership is coining cool phrases like politicians do. We remember them - like "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Funny, we might remember this one, but we have seemed to have forgotten the message,,,

Knowing you, Frank, I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not - plant or planet? Because, I think that we should be trying to save the plant (the company). Forget the knucklehead and his expense report . A lot of the people were attracted to HR because of their great intentions and then got bogged down trying to control the knuckleheads.

No matter what you meant, thanks for the new mantra - Go save the Company!

Stop bragging, you young-un! When I saw Dobbie Gillis, they weren't reruns!

I am chagrined - I didn't get the snap thing until you brought up Dobie Gillis. The beatnik, of course, was Maynard G. Crebs (sp?). "Work???"

Now, that we are playing trivia, who played the cute blond?

Frank, I had a boss who told me that he would fire me if I didn't get out of my office more. He was right then and you are right now.

What a wonderful plug for HR, Joanne! You must have contributed a lot to our profession. I, too, have spent over 30 years in the field. My passion today is to help others overcome the issue that you bring up. I really believe that the professionals in HR have to be and act like business people to erase the perception (which is mostly true) about Human Resources. Like I've said before, I always took it as a compliment when someone outside HR said,"You're not like those other HR types."

Yeah, we sometime forget about the "welcome" part. We recruit them, lure them in, and, then, we forget about them once they are in the bag. I once knew a Manager who refused to go to "going away parties." He would say, "We should have parties for them when they come onboard!" He was so right.

OK,Frank, I don't know have much of an opinion about the quote, I just want to know how you read 250 blogs/magazines a week. I teach a time management course and don't know how I could squeeze all that reading in and have a life too.

Awwww. Frank, you have a soft side! I like that. I'm glad you like working in HR; I think you bring a lot to the party.

Oh, and I also like your edgy side.

I hear you Frank. It puzzles me that when people say you have an "attitude" it means you have a bad attitude.

I have hired people just because of their good attitude. I then got to train them in "Ron's way" and didn't have to retrain them out of their way. I have also counseled managers for years not to just hire on experience alone. They almost always regretted it.