Last week, I ripped HR a new one.
Yesterday, Laurie Ruettimann reminded me that if you’re going to criticize, you should have a solution ready to go.
She’s right, and I do have a solution. It goes like this:
Find out how your company makes money.
Once a week for the next four weeks, take one of your lunch hours and go talk with people in various parts of your company who can explain to you, in plain English, exactly how raw materials become finished goods (or how ideas become service offerings), and how sales happen, from initial contact to cash in the bank. Take them to lunch. Buy lunch for both of you. Tell them it’s your way of compensating them for answering what you’re certain will be an hour’s worth of rudimentary questions, and for helping you out.
Some topics you might want to ask about:
- Marketing decisions: who are your target markets? Why?
- What’s the plan moving forward?
- How does the company generate prospecting lists?
- How is sales organized?
- Who builds sales demos?
- Incentive programs for customers… and incentive programs for the salespeople… motivate what behaviors?
- Are products discounted?
- Who responds to RFPs? Who finds out about them?
- Invoicing & collections: how quickly do your clients pay?
- How tight are the daily delivery routes?
- How well is the warehouse managed? What does it look like? How disciplined are the workers there?
- What’s the real impact of unionization on the floor workers?
- Real estate: does your company own or lease? Why?
- Who owns purchasing decisions?
- Does the company hedge fuel purchases?
- Major client accounts: how much of the overall revenue do they represent?
- What does the company do with its cash? Does it have a huge checking account? Does it invest in 1-year bonds?
- Who is on the Board of Directors, and why?
- What are the company’s loan obligations? What impact do those obligations have on the firm’s ability to take risks or make investments?
- What new strategic projects are planned for next year?
- What strategic projects are being considered?
- What does top management see as the number one obstacle to growth?
- What do the rank and file see as the number one obstacle to growth?
See where this is going?
Build an understanding of the business. Armed with that knowledge, you’ll automatically become more effective at your job.
And if you lack the curiosity or authenticity to ask these questions and genuinely care about the answer?
Then go back to your desk and take what’s coming to you, even if it’s a great big donkey nugget, because you have no right to complain.
Jason Seiden is CEO of Ajax Workforce Marketing. Ajax amplifies brands by aligning employees' online messaging.
I'm Jason. I run a brand agency with a specialization in workforce marketing.
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This assumes the company will be in favor of transparency. Conde Nast is so compartmentalized, we were asked to buy the rights to our own materials on several occasions! People are fixed in certain protocols, and that becomes their comfortable territory, which they will defend by figuratively pissing on it.
What’s accurate in your advice is that this discovery effort WILL require tireless persistance (and, might I say, a little moxy).
Wouldn’t this be common sense if you’ve got an MBA (or any form of higher ed that had a business focus like an MS in HR)?
OK, maybe I’m jaded, but when you’re in corporate HR handling multiple departments or recruiting for business facing positions, specifically accounting or finance these may be very direct questions candidates may ask. You’ll need to know the answer or find out pretty quick otherwise you’ll loose them to the competition.
Great advice!
That’s perfect Jason. In fact, I’m doing that right now. Over the last 2 months in my new position, I’ve met with every single employee and manager to learn all of these things. HR has to know these things so that all decisions and risks affecting the organization are consistent.
@Eric, with all due respect I don’t have an MBA or an MS in HR but this was common sense for me as a business partner to our CEO.
It is a common sense thing that I have done in every position I have held. I did not learn it as part of any my higher ed or even taught by anything SHRM has put out. It is part of MBWA and should be taught. Every person I have mentored has heard it and has hopefully taken it to heart.
Once again, it is Jason hitting the nail on the head.
Jason – I like how you’ve laid out actual questions in this post. HR would get more credibility if it built up business acumen, but I think that merely demonstrating that you’re curious or interested gets you least 50% of the way there. People will notice, so the goal may not need to be find out all the answers to the questions, but make the effort. Oh, and be genuine.
Looking to adapt this post for your particular group? Two things:
1. My site is protected under a Creative Commons attribution license… jump to the bottom of this page for a link to the details; it also includes the attribution link back.
2. I crafted a generic one to save you the headache of editing. Same rules apply about the license. Here you go.
@Michelle—Learned habits are sometimes the hardest to break. Which is why I advocate changing your regimen every now and now.
@John—Inquisitiveness is not taught in b-school. And having a question thrown at them doesn’t automatically make everyone itch to know the answer; some people are content to call the question-asker an annoying pest and pass them on to someone who cares.
@Kimberly—Right on!
@John—You are a man ahead of his time. Thank you for putting the footprints down for me to follow.
@Holly—Yes, starting the conversation is critical; even if you don’t get all the answers (and you won’t), you still put yourself in a position to get the answers later when you need them… and more importantly, to become part of the conversation when new answers are being formed!
@Laurie—Thanks for your note on Facebook. Donuts, yes. Nice. Hopefully with chocolate frosting.