Month: March 2011

Safe at Home

It’s HR Carnival time, and a really interesting experiment. Dwane Lay is hosting, and he’s given us one title – Safe at Home – which we all have to use. Can’t wait to read the range and variety of blogs…here’s mine!

Safe at Home was the debut album from International Submarine Band, released in 1968. It was their one and only album.

Who?? I hear you say.

How about Gram Parsons? Ah, now there’s some recognition.

International Submarine Band was a group that Gram Parsons formed in 1966. They worked though 1967 on their debut album, Safe at Home. It was recorded and a release date was set in early 1968, but before the release, Parsons left.

Headhunted by The Byrds.

Now if you were a highly talented, pioneering folk/country rock artist in 1967 there was really only one gig in town. The Byrds! And when they came calling, Parsons joined…and immediately started recording a new album with them (Sweetheart of the Rodeo).

Legal wrangling ensued, the remaining ISB members tried to stop Parsons’ vocals appearing on the new Byrds album, whilst their own album remained unreleased. Eventually a deal was struck…Parsons’ vocals only appeared on three tracks on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and Safe at Home was released.

The Byrds album is seen as a landmark in country rock and ISB’s flopped (though music revisionism being what it is, Safe at Home is now regarded as a cult classic and the first real country rock album).

Parsons left The Byrds after only one album to form The Flying Burrito Brothers after which he pursued a (very sadly) short lived but highly influential solo career.

A 43 year old story of squabbling rock musicians, giving us three timeless insights into talent management…

  1. The best talent will always be on the radar of other, higher profile employers, and will often want the opportunity to prove themselves on a bigger stage.
  2. If your best talent goes, make it as amicable as possible. There really is little to be gained from legal action, restraint clauses and bad feeling. What they contributed whilst they were with you should stand on its own merits and not be sullied by bitterness.
  3. The best creative talent is usually restless and mercurial, and you never know when they may cross your path again.

I’m sure you’d prefer your business to be a successful landmark rather than wait 30 years to be a cult classic!

 

Goddamn Right Its a Beautiful Day!

‘You’re a law unto yourself and we don’t suffer dreamers / But neither should you walk the earth alone

We’ve got open arms for broken hearts / Like yours my boy, come home again’ (Open Arms, Elbow 2011)

Anyone with a passing knowledge of the band Elbow will know that towards the end of each album you get an anthem full of hope, pride, dignity, optimism, redemption and love – Grace Under Pressure, One Day Like This – and the new CD is no different, giving us Open Arms from which the above lyrics are taken.

Without getting too mawkish, I sometime run out of superlatives to describe the online community of which I am part. I’ve often referred to it as being like family, but then I think it’s deeper than that. The depth of connections, the sharing, openness, inclusion, collaboration makes it seem so much more. And it is the strength of these bonds that continue to amaze me.

Almost every day is an Elbow-like anthem in which we support, confide, encourage and inspire each other through the highs, lows, achievements and frustrations…sharing the joy and feeling the pain. Open our arms and offer comfort to all.

It really is the community that keeps on giving.

And if you want to smile, then there are always random acts of kindness.

Take Friday morning. Continue reading “Goddamn Right Its a Beautiful Day!” →

Interview #fail

Not so long ago I attended a second interview. I was there to meet the owner of a small group of recruitment companies. When I arrived I was told that he was running late.

No problem.

He arrived about 5 minutes late, shook my hand, sat down and said…

‘Sorry I’m a bit late, I’ve just had to go to one of the other offices and make a couple of redundancies. Bit if a shame, they’ve worked with me for a few years, but I’ve got to look at the bottom line and I can outsource what they do. Found someone who can do it from home so it’ll be cheaper. Was a bit messy though, a few tears, they weren’t expecting it, in fact when I’ve finished with you I’ll have to go back and sort it out.’

This is an opening statement before any rapport has been established and whilst he’s talking, I’m thinking why is he telling me this?…what is he expecting me to say?

During the recruitment process we spend ages on interviews. Setting them up, preparing for them, worrying about them, doing them and chasing feedback on them. Both the interviewer and interviewee invest quite a bit of time and effort in this.

Invariably most of this time is spent on questions. What to ask, how to answer. 

But what about the small talk? The spontaneous things we say, sometimes without thinking. How many interviews go wrong, not because of the questions and answers, but the chat in between? The stuff that isn’t prepared.

The guy I met that morning didn’t need to tell me what he did. On the one hand you can admire his honesty, but then again why start with it? And why start with a statement that shows you are autocratic, unprepared, maverick and cost cutting?

How many interviews #fail not from the questions and answers but from the small talk and from honesty that becomes confessional.

The Carnival of HR – Digging the New Breed and Learning from Old Friends

It’s time for the Carnival of HR and I’m really honoured to have my first go at hosting!

The Carnival doesn’t often pitch its big top on this side of the pond, so I’ve taken to opportunity to introduce you to a whole host of UK HR Bloggers who may or may not be known to you. There’s some really great talent developing here  a real New Breed.

But I’m not biased! My buddies and old friends from the US and Australia have also come up trumps with some really strong and varied posts too. So read on…

Digging the New Breed….

Leading off  is Michael Carty (XpertHR) not least because he is also known as the politest man on Twitter so it would be rude not to! His economic commentaries are a must read for many of us and this March 2011 Edition is no exception

Emma P aka @onatrainagain has only been blogging a short while and has already built a big following with her very personal and honest style. This post is called What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Alison Chisnell is our very own HR Juggler! How she also finds time to blog is beyond me, but she does! Always interesting, here she talks about New Experiences, Pyjama Parties and Comfort Zones

Katie Davis is the HR Hopeful and writes a newer blog called They’re Only Humans. ..here she’s musing on the Pull of Community

Doug Shaw is the Johnny Cash of the #ConnectingHR community, with a guitar and a song at every tweetup and unconference! And he writes a blog called Stop Doing Dumb Things To Customers – how cool is that? In this post he even gives us a poem! Phantom HR

What can I tell you about Flip Chart Fairy Tales? Well, its written by an affable and knowledgeable beer expert called Rick and he writes an informative, well researched and extremely readable blog about politics and business. This post is about Confident Leadership in an Uncertain World

Ailsa Suttie is an HR Director who I’m sure only embraced Twitter and blogging to stop me nagging her to do so! She is about to move in to a CEO role in a new business venture, which may be why she’s called her blog HR Metamorphosis. She raises an interesting point in A Monopoly Does Not an Expert Make…

Some of you may already know Felix Wetzel. He’s charming, intelligent, insightful…OK, he hired me recently…what else am I going to say?! He does write a really interesting and thoughtful blog about people, brands, creativity and growth. In this post he writes about The Future of Work

Janet Parkinson has a background in social media, recruitment and personal branding. She brings a really fresh approach to her technology oriented blog Technotropolis, as you can read here in her post on Digital Nomads – The Rise of the Independent Worker Continue reading “The Carnival of HR – Digging the New Breed and Learning from Old Friends” →