My New Rules for Professional Travel

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HR professionals must invest in learning to be relevant.

An investment in learning means "learning how HR professionals in other organizations address problems similar to yours, how they are innovating on behalf of the organization . . . " HR From the Outside In

And that involves an investment in travel.

I love to travel. The almost-four years I was stationed in Germany, I utilized my 4-day passes, Federal holidays and 30 days of leave a year to see the highs and lows of Europe. Save my salary for future? Not me. I returned to the states with very little in the bank but a ton of memories. My husband and I share a love of travel with the kid as we embark on trips that have included the continental United States, Alaska and the Caribbean. Personal travel rocks!

Then, there's professional travel.

I don't travel for business often, but when I do, it seems to come in rushes. The next 4 weeks or so have me in Des Moines, Minneapolis, Chicago and Rochester, MN. I'll be away from home more than I am at home.

Driving to the airport early one morning after leaving a sleeping family behind, I've come up with a few rules for my travel from this day forth:

  • No back-to-back trips for me and the husband. At least a full 24 hours together is required.
  • Combine professional and family travel together when we can. What's a missed school day here or there when Washington D.C. is the destination?
  • Leave in the light of day vs. stealing away in the dark. (Having a private jet would eliminate the 2 hour drive to the airport. Just saying)
  • Upgrade the home technology to support FaceTime, Skype or something more than a quick text or hurried call in the midst of group dinners.

Above all, always tell each other you were missed. I enjoy being with my family. Our time together is already absorbed with the what not's of the day and, when you add in travel away from home, our time is reduced even more.

What rules do you have for your professional travel?

Photo credit: iStockphoto

HR Pros: Get Out and Go Make A Difference

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HR Florida in my rearview mirror, I have had some time to reflect on my few days in the company of 1600 HR professionals. The place was hopping!

Sessions aside, the best part of being there was meeting or reconnecting with friends and colleagues face to face. Nothing beats meeting someone new or sitting across from someone you haven't seen in months - or years - and reconnecting like it's only been a few days. That's what social media does.

Go Granular

Every conference needs a catch phrase and I found mine Sunday morning at the pre-conference Hack Lab session with Talent Anarchy. Want to innovate? Make a small change. Innovation is a series of small changes that happen over time - not over night - and small changes make the biggest difference.

The message was pointed and the challenge for the HR professionals in the room was thinking small. Do you want to improve the use of individual development plans in your company? Creating a new career development program is big and overwhelming but creating a guide for mentor/mentee meetings that incudes review of the the IDP is not.

Got an idea for change? Break it down. Now, break it down again. Break it down to it's smallest component. In other words, go granular.

Start Helping

Another session I enjoyed was Reality-Based Leadership by Cy Wakeman. One quote from CY sums up this session for me, "When you are judging, you are not helping, serving or leading."

So, stop judging and start helping. As leaders, we spend too much time negotiating the non-negotiable. It is the role of a leader to change mindsets by eliminating triangular conversations:

  • "Wow, good to know you have a problem with Sally. Have you talked to Sally about that?"
  • "Joe has a problem with submitting the info you need timely. How can you help?"
  • "What can you do to help Karen with XYZ? "Can you commit to that?"

Facing a moment of panic or overreaction? Ask, "What do you know for sure?" and "What can you do about that?"

Take Aways

From Trish McFarlane and Steve Boese's session, How Social Tools Can Empower a Global Organization to John Nykolaiszyn's session, Let’s Occupy: Building a Sustainable College Recruitment Plan and Talent Pipeline! and many sessions in between, there was strategic HR knowledge for the taking.

The take away I have from the conference is that HR pros have access to the same tools resources and opportunities and what they choose to do (or not) with them determines their success. This is not rocket science people.

HR pros, get out and go make a difference.

Photo credit: Dave (the HRCzar) Ryan