Got a problem! News flash: Just about everybody does.

• April 2012 Harvard Business Review: The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

• Influencer by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillian & Al Switzler

• Drive by Daniel Pink

• Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google by William Poundstone

• HR Magazine May 2012 – Modern-Day Slavery

What are you reading and writing about?

The traditional use of time cards is the creation of a tasks  done list with beginning and ending times.  These are then entered into  time & attendance and data collection systems for payroll and enterprise costs accounting systems.

My alternative use is the creation of a task ToDo list on a 4×6 index, one for the week, and one for Saturday & Sunday. These are then posted on a recipe card holder on my at-home desk in my study as a reminder of options, opportunities and obligations.   IF this isn’t done, circumstances, distractions and boredoms lazily erode time away.

So far, everything on the last weeks list is done or scheduled for completion today. There are a few incomplete tasks due to the discovery that they were not either truly necessary or should be deferred forward to allow for more efficient completion.

One of the tasks deferred forward is the reorganization of the HRASM Chapter website. The concept was proposed to and endorsed by the Board of Directors.  However, there are only two meetings left until the summer meeting break. The thought was, why tinker with it now and possibly disrupt current utilization. Better change management is to announce the change and use summer downtime for testing and implementation.  Without that task sitting in front of me, for silent & subconscious reflection, this better idea may not have occurred.

Why is this technique valuable?  Visibility.  We need the reminders to stay focused and on task. Otherwise, we wander through the day from beginning until end and wonder what happened in between.

This works for me. What works for you?

Adam & Eve had the first job. That job was to not sin. Along came the apple and they were fired from the Garden of Eden.

Jobs are created by dividing labor. Scottish philosopher Adam Smith coined the “division of labor” in his seminal work Wealth of Nations. And this is why we go to work, to create our personal wealth.

Parents have highest hopes for their newborn children, proclaiming that they will be doctors, lawyers, or even President of the United States.

As children, a frequent question we all heard was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Answers range from the hero worship of becoming firefighters, policeman, fighter pilots & astronauts, or following in the footprints of our parents, to blazing our own path.

As students, the question becomes “What are you going to do after high school?” Answers range from go to work, enlist in the military, or go to college. A few drop out before they finish.

Jobs define us. In social settings, the questions become, “What do you do for work?” Another common question, “IF you weren’t doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing?” The answers now range from our professions to our passions, from our obligations to our opportunities.

After 40 -50 years of work, IF/WHEN we have accumulated adequate wealth, we hope to retire and relax. Now the question goes past tense, “What did you do for work?”

Then, that last day comes, followed by a celebration of life. A stable theme in the obituary is the jobs held.

So where am I going with this? I think I’m heading down the path going somewhere between becoming a job wonk to a job philosopher. Jobs are always present in our lives. Jobs are like the sky, look up, the sky is always there.

Jobs are existential.

I’m on a new kick using my iPhone to take pictures of Help Wanted/ Now Hiring signs and cross posting them into my twitter & instagram streams. Each posting will be hashtagged as follows, #NowHiring, #Jobs,& #HR. The location of the opportunity will be the city/town name, #state

Huh? What did I just say?

Twitter is the 140 character per posting micro-blogging site. Membership is free. Coverage is global. Hashtags are used to identify and follow themes. FMI: visit twitter.com. Pictures can also be attached to postings.

Instagram is similar to twitter with a twist. Pictures are the main message and text is the ‘attachment’. Instagram has a feature that simultaneously cross posts to Twitter. Instagram is a smartphone app. FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram

The process is simple, as a Job Finder:
See a Now Hiring / Help Wanted sign
Snap a picture with your smartphone
Post the picture on to Instagram with the Twitter feed enabled.
Be sure to include the Hashtags and Job Location.

Job Seekers: Monitor Instagram and Twitter for job opportunities in your area.

Spread the world and let’s get this viral. After all, each good job leads to the next great job.

From my twitter feed. Jobs are the number ONE thing that HR professionals should be talking & thinking about. Everything else is either overhead or a distraction.

How does this make you feel? Better? Worse? Defiant? Indifferent?

Realization is the firstep to recovery.

Now breathe and think through why you are in this absurd situation.

1. The twin evil intentions of Best Intentions and Benefit of the Doubt.

2. The myth of multitasking. The cerebral brain processes thoughts & actions sequentially. At best, strengthened mental agility may allow for rapid fire task swapping. The truth remains, you can only really do one thing at a time.

3. Life’s many persistent distractions, disturbances and intrusions. Starting with that voice in your head along with cacophony of the phone ringing, an open door policy – coworkers bringing in their agenda, email & text alerts, cell phone ringing and that glaring pile of paper that you promised would be vanquished today (see Best Intentions).

Paths to a better today and improved tomorrow

1. Develop a deliberate sense of resiliency. Pause to let fears and frustration wash through your mind untouched by your imagination.

2. Utilized the metaphor of putting the big rocks in first (Google hits – 114,000,000). See: http://zenhabits.net/big-rocks-first-double-your-productivity-this-week/ These are the important things in your life that get trumped and stomped upon by the imposed urgencies of others.
2.1. The first big rock in your life is yourself. Being self-first is not being selfish. (yes, there are times for being selfless – but those are moments, not your lifestyle) At least one hour a day, every day of every week. Seven hours to exercise, reflect, think, meditate, read, and write your way to a more resilient future.
2.2. Other big rocks include activities create a better future – thorough planning – education – training – certifications.
3. Love & Laughter.

Take this moment and make a list of your big rocks.

Well, what are you waiting for?

It took awhile for my eager heart and confident head to engage. The first year, I was nearly only doing the bare essentials.  Sometime during that first year, the following daily horoscope emerged through a subscription in my Twitter stream. I printed it out. It has been under the plexiglass on my desk, and is now in my personal journal.  The remindering is poignant.

“You may not want to retreat from a position you recently took. But you might realize today that you were too eager or overly confident. Finally, reality is starting to set in and you might see the consequences of your undelivered promises and unfinished work. Don’t waste any energy being mad at yourself. The best thing to do is apologize if necessary and move on.”

 I resented every moment early on.  Publicly, I remained polite to my predecessor while becoming aware of critical gaps and lapses in the transition.  Overtime, one full business cycle, until the task became less burdensome. There were other issues that first year that eroded political capital, created distress that emerged as difficult public intransigence.  Not to mention a needy laptop computer.

Now, the end is behind me.

My legacy became a better way to share the workload. Also, informally, I stayed on through the annual transactional surge, not wanting to deal my successor the same hand that was dealt me.

It feels awkward to leave this position now that I finally have the needed experience and confidence for success. I remain available as a mentor, informal alternate and future opportunities.

The moral of this story: Don’t start without your head and heart.

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.