Let me start with a plug for our local SHRM organization, IndySHRM. If you are not yet a member and you are a local HR professional in any capacity at all, this is a network of people and resources that you need to engage. OK, end of commercial.

Recently I attended one of the several monthly program offerings that IndySHRM has on the agenda for 2011. The speaker, much to my excitement, was China Gorman. China was the COO for the Society of Human Resource Management for several years and is a known expert as a Global Business Leader. Her topic was focused on employee engagement and this was one of those sessions that really gets you thinking.

It seems that more often than not, I walk away from presentations like this one, where they showcase an awesome company (like Zappos) who do awesome things and you are all pumped up to do things exactly the same way….but then reality hits and you end up simply feeling deflated and defeated when you realize you do not yet have the same power and influence as, say Tony H., CEO of Zappos.

This time, however, China’s presentation really got me thinking about how folks like me can take the cool example of a company like Zappos and apply it in a realistic fashion to our business at hand.  The timing on this one was perfect, as we all know that this is the typical time of year for performance evaluations and the creation of development plans for the coming year.  There are all kinds of great studies, stats and stories about employee engagement from resources such as Gallup, BlessingWhite and as China suggested, Dilbert. The sheer amount of information out there on this topic is overwhelming and would intimidate even….well, me. You have to boil it down to what is most relevant to your customer needs and your employee needs and how to best engage your employee to meet and exceed those customer needs.

For example, for a small locally owned and operated Indianapolis staffing company like That’s Good HR, we have neither the time nor the financial resources to engage an outside consultant to help us work through all of the fine details of how to engage our small workforce. The cool part about being small, however, is that as long as you are keeping your finger on the pulse of what is going on around you with your staff and your customers, you likely have a good idea of where you stand and what needs to be done.

This is where the critical part comes in. Take this information that is at your fingertips and do nothing with it and you fail…you fall out of the boat, no life raft. Take this information and expand upon it in a useful forum with each staff member and custom design a development plan for each person based on this and you win. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Well, it is. A development plan does not have to be (and should not be) complicated. It can and should be 1 page, focused on the strengths and interests of the individual and how they can be best applied to the goals and the mission of the organization.

Development plans…what a concept. So often we stop with the performance evaluation. A look at the PAST, not the future. What you DID do right or wrong, not what you WANT to do better in the future. In my opinion, if you have to choose, dump the performance evaluation and create a development plan the incorporates the strengths demonstrated in the previous year.  Engage your employees by knowing them and listening to them well enough to be able to create opportunities for development that are custom to them.  Give it a try and if I am wrong on this one, drop me a line and tell me about it.

I really enjoyed the five (05) weeks I worked at a That’s Good HR customer. The folks there were all very friendly and helpful. While there was no permanent place for me to sit, I was able to work around that to their satisfaction. Thanks again for a wonderful and productive five weeks.

Someone told me a story once that I now frequently share with leaders when discussing the importance of feedback – even in it’s most simple form.

This story emphasizes the fact that in the absence of feedback, it is human nature to make your own deductions about how you are performing, be it at work, in school, at home or anywhere.  This story was about a professor who never gave grades or feedback in his class until the end of the term when he would give you a grade based on your overall performance that semester.  The students were basically starving for updates or input of any kind to have a sense of what path they were on – good, bad or indifferent.  This professor had a hobby on the side where he tended his own vegetable garden.  He was very proud of his garden and it produced an ample supply of vegetation.  One season he ended up with an abundance of zucchini, which he decided to bring into the classroom and distribute to his students as a gift.  As the students came into the classroom and saw the zucchini on each of their desks, they immediately compared the size of their squash with that of the student next to them.  It was their deduction that the size of the zucchini they received was a direct reflection of how they were doing in the class.  Even though the zucchini had nothing at all to do with their individual performance, in the absence of any other feedback, the deduction was a natural one.  It was all they had to go on, so they did.

This is what I tell other leaders and managers I have worked with in a number of capacities in Indianapolis staffing.  In the absence of feedback of substance, your employees will make their own assessments on how they are doing based on the most random situations.  It could be in the way that you greet them in the morning or maybe something even more random as how often you talk to one person vs. another.  How about deductions made based on HOW you look at one person vs. another?  This is happening all the time in the workplace.

I had the opportunity to participate in my own performance review last week with my boss where he dedicated a full afternoon to the task.  Makes you wonder what I did wrong to deserve that much time, right?  The truth is that this was an opportunity to really dive deep over happenings of the past year and review the good, bad and ugly from both of our perspectives.  Instead of a one-sided performance review where I sit and listen (or read) about his opinion about how the past 12 months went, it was a dialog where we ended up with a stronger commitment to the future at the end.  I did not leave confused about where I stood or how my performance was viewed in his eyes.  I knew exactly what my impact had been in the organization and he knew exactly how I viewed my performance as well.

We had the chance to agree, to debate and to learn from each others perspectives.  This was much more than a zucchini.  The result?  My dedication to the company is solidified and propels me into year #2 energized and enthusiastic with clarity around where I came from and where I am going.  ROI from your human capital investments (which, by the way, are the largest investments on your P/L if you have not noticed) go through the roof when you engage your employees along the journey and you actually TELL them now and again how they are doing. 

The best part?  This does not really have to be a complicated, overwhelming experience.  Don’t sanitize it too much in our current litigious society.  At the very least, take a minute now and then to thank your employees for something specific they have done or to provide constructive feedback when things are not going quite as planned.  You will not regret it and you will save the time and aggravation of having to sort out a misunderstanding over zucchini.

Last year I became one of the many casualties of the economy. I was downsized from an Indianapolis Staffing company where I had spent the last 17 years. This was not only a blow to my ego but also stressful to be searching for HR jobs in Indianapolis in a very bleak economy.

After feeling sorry for myself and spending a short amount of time being the youngest snowbird on the Gulf Coast (this was actually a boost to my bruised ego!), I decided to practice what I had been preaching for the last 17 years in my staffing and HR roles:

1)  Do not solely rely on job boards to find your new career. While sites such as CareerBuilder and Monster are valuable, do not assume that only submitting your resume through these sites will land you your dream job.

2)  Network, Network, Network!

o     Reach out to any and all personal and professional contacts. Referrals are a very valuable tool in searching for positions. Your neighbor may know of a position opening up within his company or your former employer may be hiring. People who know you want to help.

o     Contact your college placement department.

o        Contact your former employer’s competitors. You have the industry experience and knowledge they are looking for and you can add new insight to their business.

o        Join professional organizations in your area. There are organizations for HR , Accounting and many other professionals in Indianapolis. There is also the Business Network International Organization (BNI) which is the largest business networking organization in the world and The Network of Women in Business. There are also website groups for Administrative professionals and "virtually" any other type of professional on websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace.  These organizations enable you to network yourself directly to hiring officials.

o       Many churches in the Indianapolis area have networking groups which is another great way to market yourself.

o         Volunteer. This is a great way to not only network but to also turn the negative of finding yourself with too much time on your hands into making a positive impact in your community.

3)   Follow the news. Know what companies are coming to your area. While they may not have jobs posted yet, you can proactively market yourself ahead of the pack!

4)  Contact Indianapolis staffing companies. I know of a really GREAT staffing company, called That’s Good HR! Indianapolis Staffing companies work for you. Whether you are looking for Federal Government Contract jobs, Accounting jobs, Administrative jobs or Six Figure jobs in Indianapolis, Indianapolis staffing companies have many contacts within many companies. While you are networking yourself to one company at a time, Indianapolis staffing companies are networking you to many direct hiring sources.

5)  Above all else, stay positive and open-minded. What may appear to be a less than ideal job opportunity could end up being a better career fit for you.  For example, you may start at a more entry-level position than where you previously were.  This may enable you to learn about the company from the ground up. You may have employment offers that are “temporary to hire”. This is an opportunity for you to try out a new company or industry.