I teach at a local college and was teaching this morning on Effective Feedback.  This is such an important concept in the workplace both as someone who is the receiver of feedback and the one giving the feedback.  Quite often managers tend to want to be liked by their team members and are therefore afraid to give any constructive feedback…they stick to positive feedback.  This does nothing to assist the organization or the individual to improve and grow.  People are also reluctant to ask for feedback when they have not received it, but this too is important.  It shows our managers that we are keen, we are interested and we want to give back and contribute effectively to the company.

Feedback is essential in our performance reviews…telling someone that they “did very well on the XYZ project” is great, but how they did well, providing them with examples and giving some constructive feedback on what to work on for the next time takes things to a whole different level!

Here is a video that helps hit on some of the points above…enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnSE-Cuxp40

As I sit in my newly renovated office and look out at the sun shine (it’s about time!), I feel happy for all that I have and for a business that I truly love.  I can truly say that I love what I am doing.  How about you?  Can you say this?  Why or why not?  What would you change to make it better?  What is holding you back?

If you find yourself sitting in a dead end job or a job that isn’t making you happy, I challenge you to look at why that is.  What is it that needs to change?  Do you need to upgrade your skill set?  Is your boss driving you crazy?  Have you told him/her about your feelings?  Is it time to move on?

Many of us get comfortable in our jobs – or let me say “uncomfortable” but we are afraid of what might be on the “other side”.  So instead of doing something about it, we sit and sit and sit.  At some point our unhappiness starts to impact our health.  I can tell you from experience – it is not worth it!

BE the change you want to be!  Life is too short to be unhappy!  Own the change you are looking for – don’t expect that it will just come to you because if it ever does, it may be too late.

Happiness is in your hands….go get it!

So often HR struggles to prove the value of the service the department provides.  I was talking with my students last night in a Recruitment and Selection course and we were talking about all of the different things that impact how we recruit and select our candidates.  In our profession it is critical to monitor things like the legislative environment, the vision, mission and values of a company, the social and economic environment as all of these items directly feed into a companies strategic objectives and organizational requirements which directly impact who and how we recruit.  When we bring in candidates that reflect these items, we are bringing in the talent that will allow our company to be successful.  A company will not be successful without the talent needed to achieve the objectives.

Successful recruitment and selection is only one piece of the list of services that HR provides and yet, very quickly we see how critical it is to company success.  As a profession, we are always looking for more ways to show our ROI to a company – the above comments -even without listing “numbers” very quickly indicates the criticalness of success and value to a company.

The next time you are gathering at the boardroom table, I challenge you to look around the room, if you don’t have an HR presence, ask yourself why?