How to level up your people connection skills

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

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  human resources and people operations are hard.

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  You certainly didn't get into this field for the glamour

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  of it and you most likely got into it because

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  you wanted to help people but are finding that you're

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  spending most of your time inundated with paperwork and tasks

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  I want to share today about a strategy to elevate

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  what I'm calling people connection skills or the skills formerly

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  known as employee relations and how to incorporate that into

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  your daily work and tasks.

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  My name is Andrew Wiedeman Powell and I'm the vice

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  president of People at Clear Company, a talent management platform.

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  Before we jump into today's content, I'd like to thank

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  Nava and the crew over at Prezi for inviting me

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  to share this presentation with you.

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  HR and people Ops are often under resourced and over

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  leveraged. This.

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  Oftentimes leaves you feeling like this, you just don't have

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  the energy to talk to.

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  One more person, answer one more question about somebody's check

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  what counts towards their deductible.

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  Help them troubleshoot that they can't log into some app

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  or they forgot their password.

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  The list is literally never ending and it leaves you

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  with little to no time left for actually connecting with

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  people. Which is like I said probably why you got

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  into HR in the first place.

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  So we're going to talk about a strategy to help

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  you connect with people while you do all those tasks

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  that I just mentioned.

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  So all you need to do is care kind of

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  lame. I know and it's another acronym to remember so

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  I hope that there's room in your brain for it.

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  But I will say it's helped me a lot with

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  the art of balancing compliance and compassion and it's pretty

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  simple to follow.

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  So next question, what does care actually mean?

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  I'm glad you asked.

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  First up is communicate.

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  There's tons of ways to communicate but to specific scenarios

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  I want to address today.

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  Our communication with groups and then communication with individuals.

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  So let's start with groups.

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  You want to be sure that you're speaking the language

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  of the people you're communicating with and what I mean

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  by this is tell them what they want to know

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  and in a way that they'll understand it.

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  Nobody wants to hear you come in and say according

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  to FLS A standards, your role is being reclassified from

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  nonexempt to exempt nobody knows what that means.

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  Tell them the responsibilities of your position have changed, which

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  means your job is now salary instead of hourly.

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  And here's what this means.

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  In terms of your work schedule and your benefits and

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  your compensation.

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  You make your communication consumable.

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  If you don't, they're just going to ask you a

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  bunch of questions about it anyways and then communicate with

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  people where they are and through multiple channels.

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  So maybe for your organization, that means in an all

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  staff meeting or your instant messaging, platform, email, if you

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  have an internet or even a bulletin board, just be

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  sure that you're putting vital communication in multiple places and

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  where people are checking frequently and communicate information that people

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  need to know well in advance of when they need

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  to know it.

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  So for the next scenario, communication with individuals, you want

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  to avoid making assumptions on what people may know.

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  Start with the approach of explaining something, assuming that they

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  don't know anything and add, if I'm telling you things,

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  you already know, let me know that and I'll move

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  along or just asking them how much detail do you

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  want me to go into on this?

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  I find that most people really appreciate this approach because

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  they oftentimes don't know.

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  For example, if I'm going through off boarding, I go

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  into a lot of detail about cobra just because people

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  don't know, they don't know what it is, they don't

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  know what it stands for, how to, how to use

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  it. Unless maybe they've been in the situation that they've

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  used it before and then following up, let people know

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  that you haven't forgotten about them.

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  Nothing is worse than waiting for somebody to get something

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  done on your behalf and wondering if they're even working

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  on it or if they've forgotten about it all together.

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  So give little reminders to people that you're still working

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  on something, you haven't forgotten about them and provide updates.

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  And then I think most importantly for individual communication, if

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  you need to meet with somebody provide contacts ahead of

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  time, it can be really stressful to have HR suddenly

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  put time on your calendar.

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  So be sensitive to that and let people know what

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  the meeting is about and what to prepare.

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  Next up in the care acronym is Advocate.

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  This is a tough one because as HR people operations,

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  we really walk a tightrope of being responsible for compliance

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  and the best interests of employees, but also protecting the

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  company. So there's really a delicate balance there.

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  Um, and I'm giving a few circumstances in which you

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  may be called upon or compelled to be an advocate.

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  First up is for an individual person.

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  Perhaps you found the need to advocate for advocate for

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  a candidate who you feel strongly would be a great

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  fit for the organization or somebody who has a has

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  a special set of circumstances that you need to deviate

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  from. A policy for next step is you may need

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  to advocate for group a segment or all of the

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  people in your entire organization.

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  So, um, for example, you might have some outdated policies

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  or practices that really need updating that would benefit the

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  entire company.

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  Or maybe you have an instance where a specific role

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  the compensation for that has slipped below market and you

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  need to advocate to get compensation back up to market

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  rate. So those would be a couple of examples of

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  advocating for groups or segments.

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  And then finally for your organization, People love the Grass

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  is greener syndrome and you may find that you need

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  to remind people while your organization isn't perfect.

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  Here's all the things that you're great at that people

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  have sort of forgotten about or just take for granted.

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  At this point, people truly do have short memories and

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  they can forget what companies, managers or mentors have done

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  for them and once in a while it's a good

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  thing and it might be necessary to revisit with people

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  why they work for your organization act.

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  So there's two ways in care.

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  Uh let's be honest no one comes to HR just

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  a chatter check in that never happens.

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  People come to you because they need you to do

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  something and I'm a strong advocate of automation and self

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  service but there are times when action needs to be

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  taken and doing so and doing it in a timely

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  manner will go a long way and elevating your people

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  connections. Even if the person isn't necessarily satisfied with the

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  outcome they'll likely appreciate and recognize your effort and that

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  you took action and then a helpful hint here is

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  taking action quickly.

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  Also makes it easier when you need to call in

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  a favor from somebody else.

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  Say for example you're having computer issues and you need

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  some help from I.

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  T. A little bit of the scratch my back, I'll

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  scratch your back respect.

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  So it sounds simple but as HR practitioners and people

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  leaders were often under resource and overwhelmed as I've already

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  mentioned. And it can be easy to not give someone

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  our full attention or postpone them because there is more

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  important, more important things we need to do or perhaps

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  someone has treated you uh not very respectfully.

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  So it's difficult to treat them respectfully in return.

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  Here's a couple quick tips on respect.

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  If someone treats you poorly, pause and say let's step

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  back for a minute and figure out what's going on

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  here. I'm trying to help you.

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  And in order for me to do that I need

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  blank from you.

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  I find this to be a really great way to

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  level set with somebody and then operate by ear the

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  platinum or the golden rule, the platinum rule being treat

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  others the way they want to be treated.

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  So if you know this specifically you can do it

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  um or you can ask, you know, how would you

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  like me to follow up with you?

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  Would you like an email or would you like an

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  instant message or would you like a phone call?

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  Um That's a good example of following the platinum rule

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  and if that doesn't apply, follow the golden rule of

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  treating others the way that you want to be treated

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  and last in the care acronym is expected and I

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  think this one is probably my favorite.

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  So clear expectations can prevent a lot of future misunderstandings

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  and frustrations let employees know what you expect of them.

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  For example, I need you to complete this by that

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  date and what they can expect from you as well.

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  I'll follow up on this item by this time everyone

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  is clear, and if someone doesn't follow through, you can

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  refer back to the expectations that were already set.

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  So those are the steps for caring for your people

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  and elevating your people connection skills.

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  I hope you found some valuable takeaways today.

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  Thank you so much for your time and thanks again

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  for the crew over at Prezi