HR BESTIES - Finding Success in HR

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Today’s agenda:  Jamie catches a coffee creamer thief  Cringe corporate speak: Above and Beyond Hot topic: Being successful in HR How the Besties got into HR Certifications  Finding a mentor can be a game changer Every journey into HR is different. Otherwise, it would be boring. Questions/Comments  Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you’re the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at https://www.hrbesties.com. Check out CourseCareers to Get Into HR – including their free intro course: https://coursecareers.com/a/hrbesties?course=hr Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: https://www.hrbesties.com/about.  This episode is sponsored by SixFifty - https://www.sixfifty.com/ and head to sixfifty.com/besties for more information. We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don’t worry, we’ll have a hard stop! Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,  Leigh, Jamie & Ashley Follow Bestie Leigh! https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto https://www.hrmanifesto.com Follow Bestie Ashley! https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod  https://www.instagram.com/managermethod https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/ https://managermethod.com Follow Bestie Jamie! https://www.millennialmisery.com/ Humorous Resources: Instagram • YouTube • Threads • Facebook • X Millennial Misery: Instagram • Threads • Facebook • X Horrendous HR: Instagram • Threads • Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did I ever tell you guys about that time I had to talk to a little old lady about stealing my coffee creamer? God. Sadness. It was the worst. Okay. So savage. I know.

And I, and it's truthfully, it's not like I cared. But – Well, sounds like you did. Well, let me tell you the story. So this was where I was sitting on the exec floor. And you know, the key fob to get in, there's a certain people, only the people that actually sat on that floor. And of course, the little old lady who was the receptionist.

And so a lot of us had coffee creamer. And there wasn't a whole bunch of us on the floor. So I didn't care who used my coffee creamer. But most of the time people would be like, hey, Jamie, I ran out. I used yours. I'm like, cool, no, no, no issue. Well one day I brought in a fresh new coffee creamer. I haven't even opened it.

And I actually had orientation that morning, got busy, didn't have my cup. So after orientation, I stroll down to the kitchen and I go and I pick up my coffee creamer and I untwist the cap thinking I have to take off the foil, right? Well, the foil's gone and I was like, oh, God, I'm fucking tripping. I really thought that I brought a new one this morning. I have had a busy morning. And then I realized it's more than half gone. Half gone. In a morning? Yes, and I had just brought in that morning.

So I strolled down to my work bestie and I'm like, girl, what did you do? Cause she, a lot of times she would use it. And she was like, what do you mean? I haven't even had coffee this morning. And I was like, half of my creamer is missing. Half of the bottle of a brand new jug of creamer. And she was like, I didn't even use it.

What are you talking about? Why are you accusing me? Oh my God. So anyway, I see in our fridge this water bottle. She had taken an empty water bottle and filled it like a 16.9 ounce fluid ounce water bottle and filled it with my creamer. Half of my creamer. I'm not exaggerating Yes, and so I saw it and I was like no, so I opened it. I smelled it

Oh, yeah, I love the sweet cream. I'm a sweet cream girly. So I smelled it I'm like, oh it smells like some cream and then I opened my like little detective and I opened my actual Creamer and I smell it and I'm like and then I do a little taste test yep I sure did I did a little taste test. Yeah. Finger. Well. Lips of finger. I actually dipped a knife because I couldn't find a stirrer. Plastic knife you know whatever and I dipped it in hers, licked it, dipped it in mine, I'm like sure fucking enough can you believe though that I just dipped a knife and licked it into a mystery substance in a water bottle? Like that's sketch. What was I thinking? Anyway.

But at least you did a dignity to her by dipping hers first and then yours. You could have done the opposites. I could have. But you were on the search for the truth. Oh yeah. That's a quest. Nothing will stop you. I was like, okay, well I feel bad. This little old lady, she only worked like 10 hours a week.

She sat at our receptionist desk, really just sat there. She didn't even know how to turn on the computer. She was in her 80s. And she was the sweetest could be. And I'm like, it's just some creamer. I'm not going to say anything. And then the HR in me was like, actually, I need to say something. So I went up there and threw our little receptionist desk and I was like, hey, hey girl, you know that creamer back there? And hold on, fucked up enough is why wasn't the company providing us creamer? Well, I was thinking that there was a really easy solve to this by everybody bringing their own creamers.

Let's make it efficient. They didn't. They didn't even provide the coffee. They're like, let's make it efficient. Just provide it. They didn't even provide the coffee. They didn't even provide the like. I actually brought coffee in a grinder and I would make it for our whole floor. Cause I'm kind of like a coffee snob. Anyway, she wouldn't admit it.

She would not admit it. But how did you know to go to her? Because there was only four of us who would drink drip coffee. You are a detective. I was. And me, my work bestie who had not drank that morning, the other person who happened to have her scheduled mammogram, and then it was this little old lady.

So she wouldn't admit it. And I was like, and that's the thing is like, did I really care? No, because we constantly were like, what threw me off was like that you filled up a fucking. She went shopping. Yeah. And I was like, hey, just use it if you need it. No need to pour it in a separate.

Short sighted. And that's, I guess that's my thing is just like, just ask ask but did she ever admit it or were you just like no she never admitted it Did she ever did she use it? Did you look at it and it go well, so it's funny. So the the creamer disappeared Shortly after that conversation like your creamer. No the creamer in the water bottle disappeared left that in there I would have confiscated it. So the creamer in the water bottle disappeared. Because I wasn't going to like pour it back into my creamer.

I don't want to make it even weirder. And then I noticed that she no longer was getting coffee from our kitchen. She was going down to the downstairs break room and getting coffee. So then I felt really bad. But I'm like, fuck it. And this was happening over months that I just didn't put it together until my brand new creamer. Because I would like go in on a Friday and I'm like, God, that feels light. Did I drink this much coffee? That's how most corporate theft gets, I mean, normally it's not of creamer, it's of money,

but it's the little and then people go excessive and they get too greedy. God bless her. You know, funny story about this lady is she worked a year and then a whole year passed and then that following January she called me to ask for her W-2 from her prior year that she did not work in. So. I love that lady. Yeah. She was... She sounds like a nice co-worker, aside from the theater.

Yeah. Oh, I know. She was fine. I mean, I'm like, screw her. She was fine. Y'all are so nice. I'm like, that person is a thief. Yeah. Because it reminds me of dirty dancing.

And the old people that were stealing all the wallets and stuff, you know? But no one ever suspected it. Right. You know what I mean? Right. That's true. Hungry eyes.

OK. That's such a good... Well, let's also say... Shout out to Patrick Swayze and his hips. But let's talk about the executive kitchen versus the break room. Don't even get me started. There are very few things visually between the break room, the fridge, you open the fridge and no one's cleaned it out in seven months. Because whose job is it to clean it out?

That's always an open question. I was the girl that would clean it out because I's always an open question. I was the girl that would clean it out. Yeah, I get so fucking annoyed. Like I'd go in there and there's like literally things growing. Clean your shit. It's nasty. But then the executive that has like the nice coffee, the nice. Everything.

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Kraken, see what crypto can be. Not investment advice, crypto trading evolves risk of loss. Kraken's registration details at kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer. Time to kick off this meeting besties. Thank you so much for joining us for our staff today. Let's run through the agenda briefly. So we are going to start this meeting with our cringe corporate speak and that's going

to be brought to you all by me today. So I've got one for you. Then we're going to pivot and do a deep dive into our hot topic today, which is all about being successful in HR. How do you get into HR and some HR best practices, right? So all things HR. And so we look forward to sharing our thoughts and opinions with you on that. And then, of course, as always, we'll end our meeting by going around the horn with some

questions and comments. All right. So let's jump into our cringe corporate speak. And I hope you all enjoy this one. Oh my gosh. Talk about major ick factor. But above and beyond. Don't we just love that term?

Above and beyond. I had a previous employer and that was like one of the main jargons there. That was the oh yeah, literally. And so that was a big thing. And unfortunately, I do say this. But I try not to say it in the cringey way in the sense that hey, I need you going above and beyond. I don't I don't do that. You know, it's more the have we gone above and beyond, right? It don't do that. It's more the, have we gone above and beyond? It's more like that, oh, but I should really cut it out because even me personally, I don't want to go above and beyond. I just want to go level and near. So that's how I am. You

know what I mean? I'm hashtag over it. But yeah, above and beyond thoughts. Is that something that happens in your workplace, in your career? Of course. And I, of course, always go above and beyond. You do. I know that. thoughts. Is that something that happens in your workplace and your career? Of course. And I, of course, always go above and beyond. You do. I know that. Because I'm a fucking overachiever and it's exhausting. Masochist. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think the challenge I have is when above and beyond is the expectation. And as we talked about performance reviews previously, sometimes people's performance, do you consistently go above and beyond? And I think that's not realistic and it's not sustainable. I think compensating people for their job, sharing those. And if there are instances where someone has done that, it should really be an isolated instance and it should not be an expectation. And so I think for managers, rather than having this consistent, like, are you exceeding expectations? Well, that's fucking exhausting. But when you see someone, I mean, honestly, I think,

whether it's like, like Jamie's a perfect example, consistently Jamie's like, I got this, I got this, I can see it in the workplace. But what that's like is, you know, probably sacrificing aspects of your personal life and your energy. And so to tell someone, if you see someone as a manager that is like

trying to do these things and make you like really happy is talking to them saying you know but I want you to know your performance expectation isn't that you're consistently doing this and if you're gonna do it you may look back years from now and regret what you sacrificed and given just to like make others lives easier and so I think proactively encouraging that and saying from time to time, like, there are things where someone does like, God, that was a really good idea.

We should do that. Compensate them. Give them that real recognition and bonus. But proactively remind people it's not sustainable to go above and beyond, and you can't have the consistent expectation. Yeah, and you're right. It does play out a lot in the workplace

that that is the expectation. Like this continuous hustle culture, this continuous above and beyonding that just really physically isn't possible. Yeah, and you know, the common phrase is, the more good work you do, the more work you will have. More pie. That's your curse. The pie eating competition is my damn fault. I know. Your problem is that you've made above and beyond your baseline. Yeah. And so even though you're probably like, I know you're like probably the hardest worker,

but they're just like, well, that's just Jamie though. Right? So then it's like her excellence now is like, you know what I mean? You don't have people do that because it's so expected. She's such a badass. you know what I mean? And I think if you're in a workplace, think of how it would feel if your manager were to say, when you're doing things, stop and think,

is this going to make others' lives easier and my life easier? And think about the things that you can do that will help you to actually work less over time. To say, you know, if you're an hourly, it can be different and you are compensated for your time, but when people are salaried, meaning you're paid this amount no matter how much you work, you should be encouraging your teams to say, if you find ways of working more efficient, don't shy away from that because you're afraid you're just going to end up

with more. This expectation is to get the work done and if you find ways to do that and then you can cut out at three o'clock, we will have you teach others on how you've done that. That should be celebrated. Very few employees would do that because they'd be afraid of it. And so if you can proactively celebrate that and say, think about, does this make others' lives easier? Is this your life easier?

Is this, how can this make work more efficient? And flip it that way, then the above and beyond, short term, it should play out into long term, near and close. And level and near people. Level and near. Level and near should play out into long term, near and close. Level and near people. Level and near. I just want to be level and near.

That should be a new goal for me. Unless you're paying me. But I love that chart that talks about what people think matters, salary, title. And that's what people for a lot of time, people go their whole career thing, that's what matters. I need to make as much money as possible and have this title and growth

because that's what people want. But if you think about autonomy and free time, there's so much that can come into things and having that reward of being able to actually work less and not be afraid of you're just gonna get more dumped on you. How freeing is that? And how much of a good reward is that for people as well? And some people want, oh, I will work more, pay me more.

Okay, you then have the option. If you're gonna work more efficiently, then like, keep it up. If you want more work and we'll pay you more, okay. That also, whatever, that's that I that you talk about with like the inclusion and thinking about people, different people's perspectives. Yeah, so level and near people, screw above and beyond. That's out for 2024 for me.

Yeah. But sometimes it does come across a little cringe in the workplace depending on its application. That's out for 2024 for me. But sometimes it does come across a little cringe in the workplace depending on its application. So level in there. What if you could have an employment law sidekick, there to answer questions about the laws in every state in an instant, all created by a team of lawyers that's always available without an eye popping legal bill? You can have it. It's 650. state in an instant, all created by a team of lawyers that's always available without an eye-popping legal bill.

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about HR, all of us receive so many questions, so many DMs, so many comments about things like, how can I get into HR? How can I be successful in HR? What are some of the things you do as an HR best practice? And so that's what this hot topic of the staff meeting is all about. And so how do we get into HR, people? Should we share how we got into HR?

Would that be helpful, you think? Yeah. I'm always amazed when people ask that too. Again, when people listen to us. Yeah. I mean, my DMs, I swear, I have people always like, I want to know how to get into HR. I'm like, do you? Are you sure?

Are you feeling okay? No, because you have an HR degree. We love HR. Yes, I do have an HR degree. So I actually fell into HR. And I might have told this story on season one, so I apologize if I did. But I was working at Sears in college. I was a business major, but I was undeclared.

I was working in the fine jewelry department at Sears. I was actually the fine jewelry manager. My boss, who was like, I don't remember a soft something wear manager. Soft lines. Yeah, soft lines. Yeah, she got promoted to the HR manager in the back office. She asked me if I wanted to come with her and be the HR assistant. So that was my first taste and I truly loved it. I loved helping the fellow employees and I did minimal things. Like I wasn't, you know, I helped her with investigations and stuff, but I really, as an assistant, I helped with

time cards, pass out checks, very minimal things. But I really, I enjoyed it and I thought, I love helping people. And I took the Myers-Briggs when I was like 19. Matter of fact, I found it the other night and it said I should be a lawyer on it. Oh my God. Hell no. Well, but it's funny because I thought, you know, it's similar.

I mean, to a point, because law is black and white and HR is very gray, but they try to black and white it. So anyway, I literally fell into it. I decided to declare human resources at the University of Tennessee Go Vols, and I've literally been in it ever since, and that was truly in 2003. But did you ever get certified, like, SHRM?

No, I never was certified. Now, not to say that's not a bad thing, but I can tell you that the three of us, I'm going to speak for all of us, are not certified. I would recommend the PHR. We're certifiable. Yeah. There you go. There you go. I always recommend the PHR if We're certifiable. Yeah. There you go.

There you go. I always recommend the PHR if you really want to get it. But I've spent the last almost 21 years now at this point in this profession, and I don't feel like it's a nice thing to have on your resume. I see a lot more jobs now saying, you know, sure, PHR preferred. I don't think it's a bad thing. It's just not something that I ever wanted to concentrate on because it is a very lengthy process.

The test not itself, but you know, it's like a six book series and I've bought the books before. It's very rigorous and it's all the different facets of HR that are under the umbrella. So comp, benefits, laws, and it's just not something I personally ever wanted to do. Yeah. I mean, I took the bar exam and had plenty of books. I didn't want to do that. But I've worked, I've talked about it, I worked for two years between college and law school

in, in sales, in B2B, meaning business to business. I was cold calling businesses first, chief financial officers, and then I was promoted and met with him, and was the person that people would schedule meetings for with heads of HR at Fortune 1000 companies across US and Canada. And they were doing research at that time, the company I worked for, on employee engagement. And because me, thinking of HR was always like pay, you know, payroll. Like a lot of people, I mean, like a lot of,

I always, when people in the workplace that are like, HR, I get it because I certainly thought the same thing. So that really opened my eyes. And so I had become a lawyer only because I thought it would be a good idea to go to law school. I love student debt and masochism. And I'd say the law is like a dark gray. It's, you know, it's enough that there's still people

you have to pay a lot of money to, to try to get a nebulous answer but I What I didn't like about the law was again, it's win-loss It's these disputes the power dynamics in the US are really skewed against a Blois It's and so what I liked a lot more is when I went in-house meaning not working for law firms, but working for companies That's when I realized what my job was, was to help solve problems as a lawyer. And there was not like a robust strategic HR department.

And so we, even though we were a small legal team, but for a really big company, we did that. And that's what opened my eyes. And I had, I remember, you know, I had to terminate someone's employment. I said, oh, we'll do it on Friday. And there was like a, you know like a HR kind of coordinator person. And she said, no, no, people say that, but you don't need to do that because then that person wakes up the next day

and it's a Saturday, and at this point in time, you would go in person to the unemployment office. And she said, you know, do it that day. Give them time so that they can go to the unemployment office. Contact a recruiter. Do these things during the week, don't hold off for this end of day Friday. And that opened my eyes to all of the ways of thinking about people. And again, that's one of those situations that you hate going through. But it opened my eyes to thinking about people.

And so that's how I got into HR. But I say, yeah, while I was a lawyer, I was becoming head of HR of one of the largest companies, North American HR, one of the largest companies in the world and had no certifications whatsoever, had just been a lawyer, I was becoming head of HR of one of the largest companies, North American HR, one of the largest companies in the world and had no certifications whatsoever, had just been a lawyer. So it's not necessary. But Lee, talk about your background and then we can kind of talk about a couple of the tools

that we have to help to answer that question. Yeah, so I have always been just intrinsically passionate about understanding people. I'm absolutely fascinated by people. And so I was actually going into psychiatry. I was pre-med. Wow. And then I realized that I don't like blood.

So I didn't want to go to medical school. And the residency for psychiatry is 10 plus years. And so thankfully, when I learned that, I also discovered industrial organizational psychology. And that's really just the psychology of people within the workplace, a lot of org behavior stuff. I'm a huge nerd, y'all. And so then I was after undergrad going to get my PhD in IO psychology at Penn State. And I pivoted and I said, you know what, I really do not want to be a theorist, I want to be a practitioner.

And so I went to business school, I have a couple of grad degrees, and I went into an HR leadership development program right out of graduate school with Lockheed Martin, where you do kind of all those rotations and multiple geographies and all of this and tried on a lot of HR specialties and really fell in love with client support. And so for the most part, besides a couple stints doing HR strategy,

I've been an HR client support person. It's all I've ever done and all I've ever known. And so some days it's hard to like people. You know, it really, really is hard to like people. But I absolutely adore striving to understand them. And it's just my life's mission to, you know, to coach and help people maximize their success in the workplace. I mean, that is my success. Other people's success is my success.

That's really how I gauge my success, and I always have professionally. And so I adore HR, and I love working in this function. But to Jamie speaking on our behalf earlier, I don't have any certifications in HR, but that's because I multiply-degraded in HR, went into an HR LDP, and I've only ever done HR, right? And so, is it the end-all, be-all? No, it's not, right? It's a certain path people can take,

and I highly recommend certifications for those that perhaps are doing a career change into HR, right? Because you do need that information and knowledge to have the credibility within your workplace. You absolutely do. And so absolutely pro certifications, anything and everything that you can find out of there that of course is reputable. If you don't have the background or the degree or the experience or whatever,

it's a wonderful way to equip yourself. Well, and I think sometimes people, I love your point about a second career. I love a second career, a third career. Like your career quilt is yours. And if you're doing something and you wanna try something else, and again, listen to what we talk about with HR.

What we do in HR a lot is more of that strategic or even tactical support of like an HR business partner, dealing with people. But HR also includes things like benefits training learning and development and so Every role people say how can I get into that? And so sometimes like a teacher if you're a teacher you can you maybe you'll get into Instructional design and training and that you can work into it if you're in sales and you've done cold-calling

Then you can deal with people you have a sense about people But we have we I mean we, we got this question after season one about how can I get into it? What are these certifications? And again, there's nothing that's gonna teach you all the things that you're gonna learn when you're working. And we'll say I've seen it all

until I wake up that next day and I've not. Yeah, I mean, I texted you guys last week that I had an incident with an animal, a particular animal, and Lee had an experience with this particular animal too. It's like every day I don't think I'm going to be shocked. And basically every day, at least once a week, I'm like, holy shit, this is a new one. It's wild.

But we did. So we have, we'll put it in the show notes because one thing that we went around and like, what can we recommend? Again, certain things, any type of food product or drink pretty much, we'd love to try it out. But for things like professional development, it's important for us to be confident. And so there's a program called Course Careers

we'll have in the show notes. We have now like an HR besties promo code through them. We had calls with them, but so they have a program that's a lot more affordable than the certification program. But why we like it is it teaches you a lot of the fundamentals. It's like hours of content, but you learn it and then they have programs to like help to get get and place you into these really cool companies that that, you know, recruit them and they have it for HR and customer success and sales.

And so we say that, but we can, you know, stand behind it. And so we'll have it in the show notes. So definitely check that out if you're interested or if you have people that are interested because I had not heard of that previously and it's a very cool program. I wish there was something like that years ago. I get a lot of questions, really mostly on my TikTok, not so much on Humorous Resources main page,

but like how, where do you, I start, what do I apply to? And I suggest those lower-level HR positions, those entry-level HR assistant, coordinator, benefits assistant. I started off as a benefits assistant, and I actually really enjoyed benefits. I'm a math nerd. I love a spreadsheet. I love some Excel.

Shout out to Ms. Excel. Yes, spreadsheet. I love some Excel. Shout out to Miss Excel. Yes, shout out to Miss Excel. I loved benefits, but I didn't want to be pigeonholed in benefits for the rest of my career, so that's why I wanted to have a more generalist background. But there are entry-level HR positions, and those are available.

And even if you just want to test it out, to know if you like it, I was lucky enough that I had an internship in college with Denso Manufacturing out of Maryville, Tennessee, and it was in the Employee Relations Department in manufacturing. And it was so enlightening for me, but it also solidified why I wanted to be in HR and why I wanted to do what I'm doing right now today. And so there are programs, internships, you know, getting a mentor. I don't want to sell any of us as mentors just because of our schedule, but you know,

there are people out there willing to help you. But you are a more reliable, time-reliable mentor. Yeah. But, okay, so let's say you're an HR or you're an HR professional and you're trying to figure things out. What are some of the things that you think are really important that HR professionals should know, either new or existing about like best practices in HR? Yeah, well, I'll tell you, Jamie makes a very important point

because I've had a number of people reach out to me for coaching and wanting to do the second career thing, right? And come into HR and how can I do that? But they have the expectation of coming in at the same level that they are in finance or engineering or whatever their current job is. And it's like, you know, you got to eat some humble pie because you will not have that credibility within HR without equipping yourself with

the tools you need to lead one day, right? So you really have to fill that, you know, tool belt, that HR tool belt, I say, you know, and you really do though, you know, if you want to have any credibility because what I love about great leaders is that when you when you go to them and you have some sort of unique thing going on or drama, they've been there, right? They've lived that. They know, right? And they're like, ah, well, what do you think? Ah, here's what I've experienced before. Ah, and you're able to have that real dialogue. you know what I mean? So if you are making some sort of transition, just be cognizant that you really do need to learn by doing. You need to get in there and roll your sleeves up

and do it because that's what really HR is. You know what I mean? And so it's really being with the people, it's walking the floor, it's having all of those cringy, hard conversations, it's learning all the HR specialties to at least be dangerous. You don't have to be a subject matter expert,

but you got to have some sort of understanding so that people want to come to you. You have got to be approachable in that way and accessible in that way. That is so key. And so you have to know something. You really do. I love your point there because I think a lot of times, again, at whatever level you're

at in HR people, you're going to get the same question from people and it can be really frustrating. How do they not know this? Well, you know what? They don't and they're coming to you. So stopping yourself from sighing heavily. Jamie. Jamie.

But I know, but so just remembering that they're bringing that to you and the people issues are so personal and they matter. That person may be hearing something from their partner, their spouse. It may be important for their kids, just for them personally. And so having that, that's more so than any other department.

The biggest complaint that we get is that you have a cold HR or people team. And the biggest benefit is that sometimes in the people team, you know how important that is. And so it can be hard to try to teach that to other leaders. But so just having that for your team and having a culture within your HR or people team of being approachable and meeting people where they are and non-judgmental. I love that point, Lee. Yeah, well, I have always been and am always very focused on customer service.

Well, yeah. Because the employees are our customers. And I think a lot of times people forget that. They forget that. We are literally serving that customer and it's an internal one. You know what I mean? And so you should always have that customer service hat on. And to your point, even though you've been asked that question a thousand times, that's the first time that employee has asked you that question. And they deserve to have a positive employee experience as well. Just like those other thousand people that ask you that same question. And so, yes, it's frustrating for you as an HR professional.

You've made a previous point, Ashley, in a previous episode that, hey, if you keep getting the same questions, put a sheet together, please. Help me help you. Please, please. How do I view my pay stub? Oh, I have a guide for that. Exactly. Here you go.

I mean, there's, of course, things you can do to help you manage your time a little better and be there for your workforce. But just remember that people are always going to remember how you made them feel. Right? That's the number one thing. And that because think about yourself, you that that's your those are your core memories or feelings and situations, you may forget exactly what was said or what was done or whatever, but you remember the feeling you walk

the way with, you know what I mean? And so again, you know, as stewards of the employee experience and culture, as we all are responsible for culture, not just HR, but just remember that how people feel matters. And so there's a lot that you can do in HR to help protect that and promote the employee experience. One thing I think is helpful, sometimes we'll talk about this in HR besties,

of what can you do if you're in HR listening, if you're not in HR, what can I do in this leadership team meeting? So here's another idea, is in the leadership team meeting, whether it's as chief or otherwise, when it's cross-functional, have teams and have them rotate, don't try to do this all at once, it'll take you hours, unless maybe you have an offsite, this is helpful, but talk to your team and your function and say, what are things that you wish other people knew about our team?

And you get your input of your team. Because you may have an idea, but I guarantee you, your team will as well. But have functions go around and talk about that. If you do have like a leadership offsite, have those colleagues that don't often have that voice, that don't always appear at the leadership team meetings, and have them, you know, talk to them about how to speak for two to three minutes, you know, 10 minutes,

about that, that you wish that others knew about your function, and give people that opportunity. And in HR, talking about that and saying how important it is to be approachable, no matter what function that is, but I think that's an idea that you can do as a leadership team that can really generate some really good cross-functional relationships and enlighten people about what that experience is like

for others who you haven't walked in their shoes. Yeah, when I think about HR best practices, right, which is of course part of this hot topic conversation, I've always been fascinated that I will enter a workplace, a workforce, a new organization, company, whatever. And I always make the assumption that people know what HR is. And that they know what we do for them, what we do for the organization. And I have always been disappointed that that was a misconception. I was operated

under a misconception. And so, you know, as HR, I think that we do ourselves a disservice by not promoting our function more and not educating the workplace, our employees, our leaders, our clients on what HR does and what it doesn't do, right? What responsibilities are theirs as the manager? Because, oh my gosh, you know, I've been in jobs and people think I own finance randomly,

or, you know, finance sort of functions, or workforce planning from like a manufacturer operational standpoint, not a strategic workforce plan. We're partners, we're strategic partners. Yes, yeah, and we have input, but I don't own like, who comes on the line or not. What are you talking about? Right? I mean, just crazy stuff, you know? And so definitely an HR best practice for me is that continuous education

to our clients in the workplace on what we can do for you. You know, really that marketing and that promotion for HR, right? Yeah. In today's economy, saving money is like an extreme sport. Coupon clipping! Romo code searching! Hip-tick skill! Speed! Sweat! Unless we're talking KUDO's new phone, internet, and streaming bundle.

With the HappyStack, you can sit back and stack up the savings on KUDO Internet, a sweet phone plan, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime, all starting at just $99 a month. Stack more, spend less. The Happy Stack, only at Tudor. Conditions apply. I have a question for you, Jamie, maybe as we wrap this one up, because of your hard stop, which we always have, is if you're going to find a mentor, I actually got that question

from a few people, is how do you find a mentor? I actually got that question from a few people. How do you find a mentor? And so maybe how have you found mentors or how can people find those? And is it asking someone, will you be my mentor? Yeah, I think absolutely you can. I think for me and how I've had mentors is early in my career, I had a boss and she kind of took me under her wing. And she really was helping me with the ins and outs. So, you know, sure, could you reach out to someone on LinkedIn that you randomly find?

Yeah, I would always suggest going to someone who's around you, right? So if you're in the field and you have a boss or even just like a director or like a senior level person that's willing to kind of take under, you know, you under their wing and show them the ways, I think that's really important. And I actually just remembered my other thoughts. This is exciting. And it was the same person that actually was like a mentor to me.

She told me something that I kind of never forgot and it has stuck with me for a very long time. And I think it's very important that anyone who wants to get into HR knows that in HR, you're on a stage. You are performing. And I mean that in the sense that you are put under the microscope. Everything you do, say, email, is being looked at differently because you're HR.

And so if you want to get into this profession, just know that. That doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, but people are definitely gonna hold you to a different standard as they're gonna hold everyone else. And when she said that, it felt like I was probably three years in HR at this point and it really, I was like, oh, yeah, I was like, oh, that's right. And it has stuck with me ever since. And I just think that's important to remember.

But yeah, that's how I would get a mentor. So that's really fascinating that you say that because I receive very similar feedback, right? And it is true that when you are working in HR, people read in to things that you say, read in to things that you email. They are observing your behaviors in a way that they don't observe other people's behaviors, right? And again, they're really, they're making assumptions about things constantly. That's why the importance of effective and clear communications and transparency, you know, but I had a mentor tell me once that you walk too fastly. And I was like,

well, I have long legs. I know I was going to say, well, I'm, you know, I'm 5'11", you know what I mean? And so yeah, you know, sometimes I get there a little faster. But the whole point that they were making was that you have to slow down. You can't walk so fast as HR, because that is a signal of urgency. That is a signal of something bad is going to happen. Like think about just the body language. At law firms, I remember seeing people run in the office. I worked in employment law. Like it is not that serious. Right, but I would be like, literally in my mind,

I'd be like, what's possibly happening? Oh my gosh. And like literally running. And so if you see HR shuffling fast down the hallway, right? That's a great point. And so now I'm slow as hell. Yeah, you are, you are. Yesterday, Lee was getting ready, or two nights ago.

I'm slow. I know. I sent her the meme from Delva Wars Prada. By all means, I love when you move at a glacial pace. But no, it's a good... That's why I'm slow, y'all. Well, that's important. Well, I think the mentor aspect, it's really important to have mentors. And I agree with Jamie.

From a mentor, from an ongoing, reliable perspective, finding people that are close to you and work internally. If you have a formal mentor program, fantastic. Know that it can also be hard at times for people to reliably have that time, so make sure that they can invest that time in you. Organizations, if you're in HR, give people tools. I've got toolkits for organizations to set that up,

to set expectations, because a mentor really shouldn't be involved in your performance assessment, really having that thought partnership. But sometimes I will have people reach out, can you be my mentor? And I would not suggest saying that. I mean, and I say to sometimes people,

I will have things going on that I don't want to say yes. And then be like, cancel, cancel, cancel. This is why we have things like HR Besties, to give general tips and then have no accountability if it doesn't work out but I but is is Finding either internally or networking programs where that's what where people often are signing up for those things and industry-wide There's some really good ones for that but but I I do think is

recognizing it's a time investment and I do think is recognizing it's a time investment and asking people instead just for one conversation. Hey, I'd love to understand your career path and anything that's helpful. And if you're in HR, having someone from another function come present to your team, sometimes those are ways that you can do things at scale.

And so, but I think to Lise that I really like is this idea of communication is, as she said earlier, I've talked about how if you get a lot of the same questions, make it easier by having a one page document, but make it easier to find. So as in HR, having an email signature that includes a link to your intranet or to where that page is and saying, if you have a question, you know, here it is. And that communication can be really, really helpful.

And it's because it's also a privilege. And we had said that in one of our first episodes is about leadership and HR being a privilege. And so just like there's a responsibility and people will look to you away, sometimes people also assume that you're not truly going to give a shit about them. And you only care about the CEO's interests and protecting the company.

So when you can show them, you care about them as an individual and you actually wanna help them succeed. Like that can be huge impact as well. Yeah, those reach out conversations that you're talking about, I call those get to knows. And it's a wonderful just casual way to see if you do have a connection with somebody instead of saying, you want to be my mentor and all of this. But you know, just have a conversation and, you know, to your point, Ashley, ask them about their career journey.

But for me, and perhaps it's because of where I am in my career or, you know, maybe I'm more senior. Oh, my gosh, I'm getting old. But you know, it's really not this focus on mentorship as much as it is sponsorship and champions in the workplace. Yeah. And so that's what I've been very focused on the last decade is having these sponsors or these champions.

How would you differentiate that? I think that's really important. I think a lot of people will not know what that means. How would you differentiate a mentor from a sponsor or champion internally? Yeah, so mentoring, coaching, something totally different, right? But having sponsors are those connections, those valuable connections in the workplace or in your network or in your community that have your freaking back, right?

So, if you are not in a room, they are representing you in that room, right? And how do you get sponsors or champions? To me, it's through those get-to-knows, right? It's the self-promotion to the one-over-one. It's the sharing of work. It's being on the special projects and having exposure and making connections with the key stakeholders or sponsors of that project. Or, you know, there's all these avenues to get it.

But, you know, it's really this community that you're creating of people that just freaking have your back, right? So that when someone does throw you under the bus or stab your back, they're like, you know what, that doesn't sound like Lee, right? Lee's never done anything like that, really what? And then more importantly, most importantly, perhaps for some of us, when they, when they are having the, you know, the talent discussions, right, or they're doing calibration, you know,

for performance reviews, who's up next for promotion, you want that whole room of those decision makers to know you. You just do, right, and to be sponsors and champions of you and your work. The last thing I think I'd add is this really goes back to me to going above and beyond. Ah, there you go. But as I think about this is you want people to think about you not going above and beyond, but adding unique value. Because above and beyond, what frequently can mean

for people to interpret and for people to expect is you working more hours. And your value, no matter your job, should not be the number one value, the number of hours you are, or your responsiveness. Over your career, building your subject matter knowledge and your ability to see and think things. So if you are on a project,

adding that value and thinking about things differently, that's what those champions are looking for, of like bringing your voice and bringing some of that common sense. And so those are ways that you can stand out That's what those champions are looking for, of like bringing your voice and bringing some of that common sense. And so those are ways that you can stand out without just like working till midnight. And that's what sponsors and champions are really looking for.

Is this a person I'd want to work with? When I go and say their name out loud in that room, what are they going to bring and others going to be like, oh, I don't know them, but tell me. And giving them examples. So arming your champions and sponsors with the ways that you're adding that value. I love that. And what I'd just love to add is, you know, again,

practical advice for success in HR, establishing healthy boundaries. Please, HR establish those healthy boundaries because when you're burned out, it shows. And again, to Jamie's excellent point, whether we like it or not, HR is under a microscope and we are on a stage, right, representing that company and representing those employees, you know, and so it's important to have those healthy boundaries so that you can be successful at work. All right. So, as you well know, we do have a hard stop. So, let's jump into our questions and comments. Any questions or comments?

I actually have a comment and a question. My comment refers to something actually you just said, which was there's no real HR emergency. Either call the police, the fire department, or an ambulance. That's right. Or the IRS. Thank you department, or an ambulance. That's right. Or the IRS. Thank you.

Yeah. There's no real HR emergency. There's emergencies. They're just not HR related. You can update me later. Monday morning, if it happens, yeah. And then my question is also related to our topic today. What resources do you guys use,. What resources do you guys use,

like HR resources do you guys use currently? Or what would you recommend? I was like, I can go first too. Go for it, you do it. I recommend just having a group like the besties, the community to bounce things off each other. Staying in touch with those old coworkers from old departments,

and just having a community, your besties, the HR besties, and having people to bounce things off of. Yeah, I agree fully with the people. But also for me, having a subscription to Harvard Business Review, I used to say it was 99. At this point, I think it's like 129. Inflation's gone up a bit. But what I like about it, and I'm also a total magazine, I love the feeling.

But you get the issues. But you also then get access. I do a print and digital. And so it's like you get access to their backlog and so And they do a really good job despite it being Harvard Business Review And you think what they do a great job of having articles like there's a really good one a few months ago about like frontline workers and like how that's like missing if they bring this like easy to read scientific data to show Everything we talk about like treating people like humans

And so when you're trying to make a case for things Finding that data and I say why it's important as well It's because the sea level will tend to pay attention to that and so it's kind of a win-win where you tend to get people's Attention not that common sense shouldn't prevail but but I found that to really help to develop me and to think about different topics So I'm a huge proponent of an HBR subscription. I think organizations should ideally pay for those. Mm-hmm. I get that too. Okay.

So plug on that. To be honest with you, I get all of my best HR advice and resources from Manager Method and Humorous Resources on the social. Okay. All right. So it's true though. manager method and humorous resources on the social. All right. So, it's true though. Ever since I started the content creation stuff, passion, you

know, June 2021, my how time flies, a lot now of the material, the insights that I get are from the socials. And all of our peers and our friends, other influencers and content creators, and boy, they just spark so many just thoughts and feelings for me. It really does. I agree.

I'm a very inspired dude. Yeah, yeah. So I've shifted from the business books to fricking the TikToks. Yeah, and I think it's good. I mean, I love that. I love that. think it's good. I mean, I love that. I love that. But it's true.

I mean, I said when I first had seen, oh, I love H.R. Manafis, so I follow her because it resonates. First it resonates because you're like, ha ha, but then you see the value and it makes you think differently in how you can approach situations. And so those are my favorite kind of accounts.

Yeah. I love that. Yeah, yeah. Any questions or comments, Ashley? Well, I wonder if, as you think about like a mentor, if there's someone that maybe you'd cheers that has influenced, whether you name them or not, has influenced how you've thought about things

or has paved your path at work. Yeah, well, I'll tell you, I actually just lost, may he rest in peace, my favorite mentor of all time. Shout out to Mark Guthrie and our time together at GE and then I hired him as a consultant. But he gave me advice that still sticks with me today and it has changed how I work, it's changed how I've lived. And he told me very early in my career, you can have it all, but you can't have it all at one time. You can have it all, but you just can't have it all at one time. And how I interpreted that, in that moment, it took all the weight of perfectionism off of me, all of the weight

of being everything for everyone at all times, and it caused me to be more intent and deliberate in my conversations, meaning when I'm working, I'm working and I'm gonna be the best at that. When I'm being a friend, I'm gonna be a friend and I'm gonna try to be the best of that. I'm not gonna be on my work phone or whatever, right? Yeah. And so it made me just recognize that you know what? I can define success different. I don't have to be a 100% in every one of my roles at all times. I'm going to be fantastic when I'm doing this, and I'm going to be fantastic when I'm doing that.

And I'm going to give people the privilege and the opportunity, whatever you want to call it, of my attention, the respect of my attention. And I'm going to try and be as present as possible. And I have Mark to thank for that. And the world's a little darker place without him. Great guy. I already mentioned my mentor earlier and RSG, I'll just say.

That's, you know, Jamie's hard to stop. She's not going to repeat. I'll say mine is Melanie Boots, who was the chief legal officer of KFC. She was a senior counsel when I first met her when I was interviewing at KFC for a lawyer position. We were looking to move from Atlanta to Louisville, my hometown, be close to family. And when I went to the interview,

I had just had second child. I was literally triple spanked. I did not think my suit would fit me. And I was beat down. I'm surprised nobody gossiped about me in the workplace. But I was meeting with... Fupa. Fupa's. You were going above and beyond.

With that tripless fit. I'm uncomfortable. I hadn't slept and, you know, big life choice. And I was interviewing with her and she said, you know, where do you see yourself, you know, growing or whatever? And I said, you know, honestly, I want to come in this role and just work it and see how I like it and maybe I just want to stay in it. And whatever, it was a little bit of a milquetoast answer, which isn't me. And she said, you know, I'm going to stop you right there.

And she said, because I like you and I want to give you this advice no matter how this process goes. And she said, and I will not like this, that answer will not affect my consideration, but I want to give you this advice no matter how this process goes." And she said, and I will not, like this, that answer will not affect my consideration, but I want to give you advice. And it's that when you answer something like that, you want it to be confident. I want to hear you tell me you want my job one day. And a lot of people are going to hear that, that you want to grow and you want, and so answering that with a level of confidence, you can always change your mind. And she said, again, I will not, but there are people that they want to

hear that. And so as you, whether you're in here, other places, think about that and project that level of confidence. And so I did end up, you know, epilogue, I got the job. But to this day, Melanie has been a source of support personally, professionally. I mean, I get texts from her all of the time. And she will proactively text me to tell me how she cares about me or that I am kicking ass. She will listen to the podcast. She is so always about celebrating the success of people that worked with her,

no matter what their roles are. And to have somebody in my life that has, is there for me without any expectation and just a source of support has transformed my career and it's made me want to provide that level to other people. I'm accepting resumes for new mentor, thank you. I'll tell Melanie, I'll tell Melanie. Actually, Lee would really like her

because Melanie has probably the best shoe collection in the world, which is unlike me, who's currently wearing raggedy sneakers. But she's very, very, very she-she. See, and I think like what you said right there, Ashley, that is the biggest impact a mentor can have, is that they encourage you, without even directly doing it, to give back and be a mentor as well. I mean, what a gift, right? I mean, that is a lifelong legacy right there. Yeah, and actually, I don't know if you saw my face, but the shocked look, because I've had

not mentors, obviously, but like supervisors, managers, leaders that have literally been threatened by me. So when you said that, I was like, God, that's amazing. Oh, yeah. It was constant. Ditto, girl. Oh, constant. Right. And she wanted that for very much for real.

I love that. And that speaks volumes of her. I know. She's the best. Shout out to Melanie. Shout out. All right. Well, not a question, but a comment from me. I hope that, you know, as you were listening, you heard three very different stories on people getting into HR.

And that is because there is no one path into HR. Nor is there any one path really into any function. There really, really isn't, right? And so we are all on unique career journeys, and that's awesome. So there is no cookie cutter, there is no this. I get asked a lot, you know, I want to get into HR. I want to copy-paste what you did.

And I'm like, why would you want to do that? How boring. Don't do that. Do your own unique badass thing, you know what I mean? And so again, there's no one right way to get into any field or function. These are just some suggestions and our personal examples that we love to have, vulnerably and transparently share with you on how we got into HR.

But I hope that especially for those that are perhaps in school or thinking of a career change into HR, this kind of opens your eyes that, hey, you own your career and you're going to do an awesome job. And God, just go with that flow and have an awesome career journey, right? It doesn't have to look like anybody else's, and it shouldn't look like anybody else's. How freaking boring is that?

Well, on that note, thank you so much, HR Besties, for joining us on this episode. We hope you got a lot of value and we hope you go above and beyond in your HR journeys and careers, or perhaps level and near, whatever you're feeling like. But gosh, we appreciate you and we hope you enjoy this episode.

We totally look forward to seeing you in a future staff meeting.