The company, in fifteen months, went from 69 employees to nearly 120. Two dozen transfers due to assimilation, plus three dozen new hires, minus a smattering of mostly voluntary terminations filled the time between payroll, benefits, open enrollment, recruitment and the typical humdrum of Human Resources Services Requests.

My well intentioned plans of efficiency first then hire second was not feasible. By mid December, the strategic plan was modified to deal with reality. The job was announced at a job fair, followed by an online posting, then an announcement at the monthly HR chapter meeting. Publicly, I’m looking for pick of the litter. Privately, I’m torn between protege or partner. What I don’t want is a positional competitor. The interview process will reveal the path.

The first rush through the six dozen resumes was completed this evening yielding three dozen that met the blended requirements of HR experience, college degree and/or S/PHR certification. Ambition and potential were read into and between the lines. Some cover letters were succinct, others elaborative, some were blank. Too many resumes we’re job description litanies, others were strengthened wapiti supportable results.

Now that this first rush through is complete, I will pause to reflect on what the company truly needs. And the on boarding process needs to be mapped out.

Human resources, through development, coaching and accountability creates & encourages engaged employees.

Human services enables legacy entitlementality and has no true core incentive to elevate humanature through and to its fullest potential

At some point in time, there should be, could be, No Line On The Horizon.

Credit cards have become the crack cocaine of addictive financial convenience. There is no reason for Sony, Amazon, iTunes, You.Name.It.com et al, to store customer credit cards after completion of the currentransaction. No more one-click and you now own it. No More. I’m heading back to the world of cash and let the store owners recover their profits while denying the credit card crack dealers more of their share of the profit pie. I’m a recovering financial addict from crack plastic.

Privacy Matters.

Too often, employees will come in with an absolute last minute request for some support they need right now, that they have been meaning to get too. The urgency of yesterday becomes the emergency of today. With the final consequence that today’s tasks now becomes tomorrow’s.

And tomorrrow is always one day away.

I am benchmarking this theme off of The Cynical Girl – Laurie Ruettimann’s weekly Sunday post titled The Week Ahead. (Benchmarking is acknowledged idea plagiarism.)

Per the weather forecast, at least Monday & Friday are carpool days. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursdays will become extended work hour days to catch-up or at least not fall further behind.

Monday/Tuesday equals weekly attendance review blended into payroll processing on Tuesday. Midday Tuesday is the HRASMaine monthly meeting with the topic being Best Places to Work. Wednesday afternoon is to be spent at the division in the next town over doing Safety, miscellaneous HR and an employee meeting. Thursday/Friday remain yet to be revealed and discovered. The time in between is for project tasks.

Projects @ work:
1. Affirmative Action Plan
1.5 Archive 2010 files
2. Annual group insurance renewal – set-up
2.5 Implement 2011 File Plan
3. Best places to work planning
4. That state report that floated down from the ether

Projects @ Public/HRASMaine:
1. Wild Apricot 30-day test, stress and trial
2. HRASM Treasurer – really a series of weekly, monthly and annual transactional tasks
2.1. Post weekly transactions
2.2. Prep signature card supporting correspondence
2.3. Renewal write-offs
2.4. Reconcile February
2.5. Report February

Projects @ Personal:
1. Phippsburg September 2011: Continue LightRoom 30-day trial
2. Built-in closet

I have learned over time to divide projects into unique and discrete tasks. This is a major component of my Strategic Time Leadership model that remains under reflective development.

For example:
• Built-in closet, yesterday, I made three pedestal feet out of white birch lumber – measured and cut width and length, cut the round ‘toes’, sanded to same size, routed the rabbit joint and finished with the ogee bit to add a flair/profile.
• Wild Apricot – I drafted and emailed a comprehensive 30-day test, stress and trial plan to the working group members.
• AAP, I am populating the testing spreadsheet one column at a time while concurrently building up the HRIS tables for future repeatability.

This week ahead I expect to
• Built-in closet: Buy, cut and mill the front pieces for the uprights.
• HRASM Treasurer: Get the new officers on as checking account signers
• AAP spreadsheet completed and turned in the service provider.

Show Nothing to your Friend that may affright him.

Affright – middle English afyrht – for frightened. With strong similarities and tendencies towards terror.

When one becomes suddenly frightened, visceral emotional responses ensue. The resultant emotional storm, bypassing the cognitive brain,thrives on the primitive brain/amygdala fright/freeze/flight response. The cognitive brain is bypassed and irrationality thrives.

So I ask you this – Why would anyone intentionally instigate this situation? Only to be badger, belittle and and be deliberately belligerent.

And that is simply uncivil and indecent behavior.

Especially to a friend, colleague, or peer?

First of One Hundred Ten:

Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those who are present.

This is a new path for me. The form, format and direction will remain a work in progress. The intent is to explore each of GW’s one hundred & ten rules on civility. I expect there will be some contextual overlap.

Why think down this path? The rhetoric of public discourse, my own included, is frequently harsher than the situation, and its participants, may warrant. Spin, condemnation through labeling, and aggressive advocacy all are preventing our culture and society from advancing forward together. Civility should start from the top, come up from the bottom and be present at each level of leadership. The four Ps – Private, Personal, Public & Professional. Across the Time, Space & Place continuum

The foundation is civility and rules that lead to decent behavior.

Civility is currently defined as: polite, courteous & respectful conduct in manners, speech – both listening and speaking, and writing.

Rules are defined as: prescribed guide for conduct or action.

Note: Merriam-Webster is my preferred on-line dictionary resource and is the primary source for all definitions explored. Sometimes the source is used intact. Other times, the source may be revised to the context.

Every action done in company speaks to our conduct along the domains of verbal, nonverbal and tone.

I was writing to the negative and now have deleted those thoughts. Reflections will meet the titled positive intent & expectations of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.

• Verbal: words that heal and elevate without pretension. Listen fully to the other person’s words, all the way through and to the period.

• Nonverbal: Eye contact. Arms open

• Tone: Deliberate and measured calmness.

Civility & Decent Behavior (C&DB) requires emotional resilience when presented with frustrations, discord & crude/rude behavior. Take a deep breath and the moment wash beneath you.

Then comes the once-a-year extraordinary week – bonus payroll. Cautious planning and vigilance is required. Two payrolls in one week require the touch of human minds to ensure full data flow to conclusion. The 401k contribution is required to be posted by 4 PM – a firm market driven deadline.

Even though I reached out to the PSP with questions and concerns. Accurate answers and required action were avoided. The PSP remained mired in the docile complacency of ordinary. Despite my interventions, I got only enough of answer to go away thinking that all was well, and no follow-up action to ensure that the market driven deadline was met. (I had employee meetings scheduled) So it was missed, by 98 minutes, untouched by human minds. This 98 minute miss resulted in a four day delay of contributions posting.

I was furious to learn the consequences of not being uber-vigilant. I rampaged through the 401k TPA and then the PSP to determine the root cause as to why this had to happen. The 401k TPA is innocent. The PSP offered apologies without action.

I would rather have affirmative action than any apology.

That would be the right touch of the human mind.

Fussy netbook makes prcise typing difficult.

Second time to the premier HR Leadership Conference. Good annual refresher on what it means and takes to be and remain a voluntary leader. Hope to have some time on the further end to scamper around the National Mall between the Washington and Lincoln monuments.

There is an undercurrent of reasonable dissension this year. Some issues require the stark illumination of light. As an aware spectator, judgement is reserved. The optimstic view is a case study in the leadership of doing the right things the right way. I sense that some positons, from both sides, are being overstated.

But the real event is leadership, netw0rking, comraderie, and deepening & new professional friendships. After all, properly serving the HR community is what it is all about.