Podcast for HR execs

Here's a podcast I did for anyone interested in Human Resources.

Three ideas for good HR

Integrity has huge applications throughout a firm but it is particularly critical for anyone working in the field of human resources. After all, the whole essence of managing human resources boils down to relationships between people. If those relationships are strong and trusting you create a very valuable asset. Here are three simple ideas based on the DNA of integrity—disclosure, norms and accountability—to help HR execs create value in their organization.
1. Absolute honesty
There’s no such thing as secrets within an organization anymore. If you try and keep secrets you’ll look untrustworthy. It’s a tough message for managers to hear but it’s essential to take on board.
2. Simplify norms
Companies do pretty well on norms. In fact, maybe a little too well! Most companies have plenty of established rules and procedures that are integrated throughout the organization. But to build relationships of trust you need people to internalize simple rules that make sense.
3. Hold everyone accountable to the same standards
The recent case at HP where the board dismissed the CEO for bad behavior is a great point in case. But this is by far the exception rather than the rule. It’s not uncommon to give senior management far more leeway with the rules than everyone else. Yet that doesn’t inspire trust in the organization.

Watch Out for Sticky Relationships

Some of the largest companies around today actively build sticky relationships with their customers. That means companies try to ‘lock in’ customers in relationships for certain periods and penalize them if they try to ‘get out’. Cell phones and banking come to mind here. It’s a particular type of mentality that wants to lock in short term business but isn’t thinking about building long term value. Quite often, companies ask customers to make a significant investment in the business relationship but do they care whether the customer is having a good experience or not? For any business it comes down to this: are you treating your relationship with customers as an asset that you are actively trying to increase? Or are you feeding off your customer base and essentially dissipating your asset? A kind of churn and burn strategy where you focus on numbers not relationships. If customers have a good experience with your business, why would you need to lock them in? They will keep coming back, again and again and again!