Getting Paid to Grow the Bottom Line

Getting Paid to Grow the Bottom Line    

with Don Phin, Esq.

Here are some of the points I made in this powerful program:

1. If you claim that you do, what risks are you willing to take on behalf of that belief? Asked another way, what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Do you have a deep faith in yourself and what you are capable of? Are you demanding that you get the opportunity to make a difference? Or does that belief wallow in silence?
2. This is the “story” of HR. But it doesn’t have to be your story! I’ve gone so far as to suggest HR executives call themselves anything other than HR! Queen for the Day is better. Or Chief People Officer, Chief Relationship Officer, etc. Fact is, no matter what you get paid or what you can accomplish the very term “HR” makes an emotional connection which says “administrative”.
3. In large part because it has been so under-valued HR is a real opportunity! Most of the competition leaves this opportunity on the table very day. In large part because HR executives don’t know how to make a case for Strategic HR. When I speak to CEO groups I go over the math and ROI of HR so they get the investment opportunity. Fact is in most companies the opportunity is worth at least 10% of annual payroll. So in a $2,000,000 total payroll company that means the opportunity is worth at least $200,000…or the equivalent of more than 3 or 4 times that amount in new revenue.
4. The number one excuse of those in attendance why they don’t engage in more strategic activity is TIME. Yet few of them have ever taken a time management course (PS there’s a book on it I wrote). When I coach HR and other executives the first thing I do is have them get crystal clear as to where their time is going and then get them to STOP doing 5 hrs of low value the first month (the low hanging fruit of wasted time). Then every month after that we shoot for one more hour per week. By the end of one year you have now freed up 16 hrs./wk of opportunity time. Do you know where your times goes?
5. If we want to get paid we have to understand business and money. One of the great Catch -22’s is the fact that many people in HR are terrible with numbers! Especially if they did not migrate into the role from accounting, etc. In addition we have to learn how to talk to business owners in a way that gets their attention. Meaning we have to understand revenue and activity equivalents of HR costs. Then we make a financial case, not an emotion alone.
6. When you think of HR do the words creativity, innovation and fun jump to mind? Or do you agree that 99.9% of HR is boring? Which implies…you may be boring?? (I dread the thought.) Again, it doesn’t have to be that way. Where’s your creative edge? What tests and experiments are you running? How robust is your suggestion system? How out of the box are ya? If you haven’t already done so, do yourself a super-big favor and read Gordon McKenzie’s Orbiting the Giant Hairball (PS “hairball” means the policies and procedures people like HR create that can stifle organizations.)
7. Do you have an HR plan? Unfortunately most small and mid-sized companies don’t for HR. Do you have a plan for your HR career? Most HR executives fail that test too. As the beautiful May Kay so accurately stated “Most people plan their vacations better than their careers”. There is no substitute for good planning. Try building a house without one. Or an HR department or career. I am a big fan of “rolling” 90 day game plans that focus on one strategic objective a month. I also coach my clients to have daily game plans so that they “make their day” as opposed to everyone else doing it for them.
8. Are you fired up? Why not? What are you waiting for…a next lifetime? It is important to rediscover your BIG WHY”S and make a commitment to attaining them. Whether it be for the company, yourself, your family, your dream adventure or anyone else you can make a difference with. Being fired up is an inside out job. Don’t expect others to do it for you.
9. Last, be prepared to ask for a raise. Not because you want one or need one but because you’ve added so much value that you deserve one. I know that many HR executives are intimidated by money and intimidated by asking for more of it. If you believe in yourself and know you can and have made a difference then get paid what are worth or work someplace where you can be fully and financially actualized.
   

Here’s wishing you great HR success!

PS Here’s what attendees said about this program:

• “Best session I’ve ever attended at any conference in my 15 years in the industry.”
• “Don Phin’s presentation style and content was excellent.”
• “Don was captivating and very knowledgeable. He also challenged me to be better. I was highly motivated after listening to what he had to say. Great use of the slides plus he put a good bit of humor into the session.”
• “Don was so passionate and committed to reaching out to the HR community and help us to do better. I really appreciate his approach and honestly about how HR typically behaves and we would serve ourselves better. He was a breath of fresh air and know-how.”
• “Enjoyed this discussion about how to brand ourselves as HR professionals.”
• “Great presenter, informative, fun, and entertaining.”
• “GREAT program! Honest – hard-hitting – concise! “
• “He’s definitely a character. For me, it added to the draw. But then again, I’m a New Yorker too.”
• “Loved his honest look at the role of HR—we need to accept folks and policies for what they truly are and if they don’t work, stop trying to make them work because we want them to and find a new way! Great sense of humor!”
•  “One of the best sessions I’ve attended! Very interesting speaker and held my attention during the entire presentation. Very much appreciated the open discussion throughout the presentation with the speaker and the audience. Inspiring—I left the session wanting to do more and be more! Thank you for the gut check.”
• “Phin went straight to the heart of the matter when he challenged HR professionals to link revenue-generating activities to HR actions.”
• “Please have him come back next year—we need more strategic content like this that makes us think.”
• “Should win ‘Best of Conference’ in my opinion. Phin was tough on us as a profession but I didn’t get the sense he was bashing us, but that he was for us, that he wanted us to do better because we can do better. His content was great, too. I’ll definitely file his name in my mental Rolodex.”
• “Very different approach…picked up momentum as the session moved along. Smart guy.”
• “Very provocative speaker.”