{HR} Leadership Is Not For The Weak

Essential competencies for high performing HR professionals include being a cultural steward, talent manager, operational executor . . . and having a thick skin.

Listen, let me just save you some time and <wasted> energy. If you are not pleased with a decision I've made or frustrated because I don't see things your way and get the urge to call me names, you'll have to do better than "obtuse and obstructionist."

Really, professionals should be able to communicate without name calling but in those cases where that doesn't happen, you have got to know . . . "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never harm me." They used to, like when I was 4 and the big girls came up to me and taunted, "Mona Lisa, are you going to cry? Are you going to cry?" Yup, I cried, but no more.

Big girls, big words, artistic taunts and ridiculous slams aside, there is something that does catch my attention: questions about my motives, my intentions or my credibility. 

Credibility. It's the thing that keeps me up at night, has me second guessing my actions and replying my conversations. And at times, it is the thing I insert into situations where it has no place being.

What else do I know about credibility?

Well, a lot actually and I am going to be talking credibility and leadership today at the 22nd Annual ALAMN Educational Conference and Exposition Leadership Boot Camp. All very fitting because I've stepped foot in a boot camp or two back in the day.

ALAMN members and guests, welcome to the blog and I look forward to speaking with and learning from you today.

The Right Way to Transition to a New Career

Is there a right way to transition to a new career?

No, there is not. Oh, everyone will have an opinion on what you should do and how you should do it but the only "right" way is the way that works for you and your family.

Here's how the husband is going about it . . . 

He is exercising more, reconnecting with family and friends on Facebook, planning a mid-week winter fishing trip and preparing to return the favor of care he received during his heart surgery as a volunteer with Mended Hearts.

But, it's not all fun and games.

He's writing resumes, reaching out to references and tweaking his LinkedIn profile. He's attending classes with the Minnesota Workforce Center where he is developing a Career Performance Portfolio, completing a vocational profile, taking the MBTI, and acing the assessments for a top-graded National Career Readiness Certificate.

His confidence is building and he's got his feet firmly planted on the ground as he is unwinding, relaxing and preparing himself for his next career move. It's interesting to watch.

I never had a job loss of my own but, if I did, this is not how I would have gone about it.

I would have had my resume out there the day I received the layoff notice and would have been doing anything and everything I could to find a job. I would have went with a job I know because it would have been a sure bet and I would have found a position before my last day ever came.

And it would have been a mistake.

When in our adult lives do we ever give ourselves permission to step off the hamster wheel? To assess where we've been and to reassess where we want to go? To stop and actually see what we have and to appreciate it for what it is - nothing more and nothing less?

When I make my next career move, I am taking a page from my husband's book and am going to take the time to stop and smell the roses.

It's the right way to transition to a new career.

<It's my blog, I can say that. I can also tell the husband to can the roses for Valentines Day and pocket the cash for our vacation to the lands of butter beer and quirky boutiques>

Photo credit iStockphoto