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Friendships at work – the key to engagement?

Steph K — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:41:18 GMT

Who would have thought Bear Grylls – the rugged individual star of “Man vs. Wild” – identifies friendship as one of the most important keys to life?

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Bear’s telling of his Everest summit and a bit about his experience with the show. He was a great, engaging speaker and has one of the best attitudes a person can have. His story of climbing Everest was fascinating, and he’s the kind of guy you could listen to for hours.

But the really surprising piece of his presentation came when we talked about success.

Here’s a guy who was the youngest at the time to summit Everest, he wrote a book about it, he was in the British Special Forces parachuting out of airplanes, and he is filmed solo in the wild overcoming unbelievable challenges. If anyone has a right to believe in himself over the team, it’s him.

Yet, without a hint of ego, he says success is all about having friendships.

I think he’s on to something. Think about the best teams you’ve been a part of.

HR professionals across corporations are looking for the keys to increasing employee engagement. When I used to do exit interviews, people continually said the one thing that made them reluctant to leave was the people they work with. Think about the allure of the dot coms in the late 1990’s, the Silicon Valley beer bashes, and the team outings.

It’s all about developing friendships and bonds at work.

When you think about the jobs you’ve liked the most, what impact did your coworkers have on your connection to that company? Can friendships be the key to engagement?

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Advance your career by changing jobs

Steph K — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:39:04 GMT

Is it better to stay put in a job you like, or take on something new? There’s a Sheryl Crow lyric stuck in my head – a change will do you good. True in life, true in careers.

I had the pleasure of talking with Charlie Judy over at HR Fishbowl recently and we talked about how taking on new opportunities grows your career. We spoke from experience, having moved through various HR roles in our careers including my recent change rotating back into a “business HR” leader role.

The interesting thing is, not everyone is that convinced about the value of stepping out of a perfectly good role. They commonly wonder two things – what’s in it for me, or why should I take that risk.

What’s in it for me?

Are you turning away opportunities because they don’t have an immediate payoff (i.e. more money, better title, more prestige, etc.)? You may be short-changing your future. It’s important to think of careers as a long-term path. One of the most effective approaches is to figure out what skills you want to develop and take on rolls that help you develop those skills. Don’t worry so much if it’s not a straight, classic ,up-the-ladder approach. Today’s careers are made through a series of experiences, and whether it’s up, down, or sideways, you can increase your capabilities and build your network, which ultimately opens more doors.

Why take the risk when you like what you’re doing?

I’m not saying you need to walk away from your dream job, just that that path to taking your career to the next level may be by taking on something you haven’t done before. Sure, you’re comfortable where you are – you work hard, you get good results, people know you and you’ve built a great reputation. Why start over? I’ve been there, I get it.

But if you step back and take a good look, are you really building new skills, learning new things, and working with different people? The single biggest advantage I’ve found in people changing roles is that it develops the ability to look at things from a different angle, through a new lens. In moving from a program manager role into one where you’re the customer of those programs, you bring perspective that others on the team without that experience don’t have. If you later go back to a program manager role, your experience as a customer changes your lens again, and it improves the way you create, deliver and communicate programs now that you’ve seen it from another angle.

You just can’t beat that experience.

It’s also not a bad idea in this ever-changing world to have a blend of broad and deep experience in your toolkit. It’s that breadth and depth that will position you for more opportunities in the future.

What’s your experience? Is it better to stay put or move around?

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

The Not-So-Back-Office: a Mile Wide and Deep

Steph K — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:15:03 GMT

Want to hear more from HR Execs outside of HP? Check out Charlie Judy on HR Fishbowl, who is proud to be a Top 10 Talent Management Blog according to Fistful of Talent, and a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce advisory board. Great resources for HR knowledge!

Charlie interviewed me last week on his blog - I'm reprinting, here we go...

This (relatively) regular feature is designed to expose the “Trench HR” community (HR people practicing in a corporate environment – private or public) to leaders who have found success in our profession. This interview with Stephanie Kempa, Senior HR Director with Hewlett-Packard (HP), was conducted, condensed, and in some cases paraphrased by Charlie Judy. Stephanie is responsible for the full-suite of HR products and services delivered to the employees of one of HP’s largest business units – a multi-billion dollar operation with tens of thousands of employees. She has done business in India, China, Singapore, Poland, Costa Rica, the U.K., Switzerland, and Mexico. She knows what’s up…

Q. How did you get into HR?

A. I had a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Michigan State and knew I really wanted to go to grad school. One of my fellow social work mentors told me that if she had to do it all over again, she would have pursued a program with Michigan State’s School of HR and Labor Relations. I looked into it and decided it was right for me. I jumped into Labor Relations with Philip Morris right out of school and have touched pretty much every aspect of HR since then.

Q. How did you get the chance to “touch pretty much every aspect of HR” in your career?

A. I worked for a couple of HR leaders who were really good at challenging me to try new things – and who were willing to give me the opportunity to do so. Labor Relations was a great foundation for other HR competencies; it taught me how to be agile, think on my feet, and frame solutions for complex issues. That experience gave me a confidence that I could transfer my skills to other areas.

Q. Having mentors who are willing to push you in new directions is a theme I’ve heard before. Is that all it really takes, or is there something else?

A. Having that mentor is certainly a crucial factor in the equation. But you also need to have demonstrated success and you need to have tremendous initiative. Leaders don’t typically tap employees on the shoulder for new opportunities unless those employees have proven themselves in some form or fashion. That means you have to focus on doing what you’re there to do really well before moving on to the next thing. Don’t get out ahead of yourself. Once you’ve grown comfortable in your current role, it’s unfortunately easy to stay there…and it’s even easier for others to want to keep you there. That’s where your initiative comes in. You should make it known that you’re not only willing, but also excited to go do something new. Don’t be shy about that.

Q. Do you think it’s better to be a mile wide or a mile deep in HR?

A. I hate to say it, but you have to be both. I’ve built my career by focusing not so much on the roles I wanted, but rather on the skills I wanted to acquire along the way. I looked for opportunities that would help me diversify my skills portfolio. I’ve been able to develop some “specialties” along the way, but those specialties were an outcome – an end, not a means.

Q. Is there any piece of advice you’d give the HR profession as a whole?

A. Listen. Listen. Then listen some more. We need to get better at not just hearing what our clients are saying, but also interpreting what they are really telling us. In order to do this, we not only need to understand their business, but we need to understand the things that influence their business – internally and externally. We’re getting better at this, but I would encourage my colleagues to consider this as important as anything else they do. It has broad implications to the value they bring the business and to their long-term career potential in the HR space.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Follow Charlie on Twitter @HRFishbowl

Good Communication is the antidote to shortage of time

Steph K — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:59:43 GMT

Billy Joel once sang “If my silence made you leave, then that would be my first mistake”. Think about situations at work that could have been avoided or resolved with better communications. Improving your communications is a great way to save time and is one of the key skills you can develop to take your job performance to the next level.

Communications is a pretty broad area, so I’ll focus this post on improving by making sure your communications are well-planned. To take a simple approach, you can improve your communications by applying the same concept you learned if you’ve taken any basic presentation/ public speaking skills class. In public speaking, the classic advice is that the speech has 3 parts – 1) tell them what you’re going to tell them; 2) tell them; 3) tell them what you’ve told them. If you apply this same concept to project management, you’ll find that you can instantly improve the implementation of the project and improve others’ perceptions of how you manage the project. If you think about strong project managers you know, I’m betting they’re good at this.

Throughout my career I’ve seen examples of really great communications and some not-so-great. Take the example of two project teams who worked on similar projects – one was really well received, the other – well, not so much.

This is what the effective team did:

Planned communications as part of their work from the very beginning of the project
Determined key stakeholders and briefed them on what was changing and when to expect it (applying the skill of “tell them what you’re going to tell them”)
As each major milestone approached, briefed the stakeholders
Anticipated and wrote FAQs
Implemented the change (applied skill of “tell them”)
Followed up – considered what the impact of the changes would be, and proactively sent follow up communications, i.e. this is what changed, here’s how you’ll see it show up, here’s what to do if there’s a problem, etc. (applied skill of “tell them what you told them”)

For most people, it comes down to a matter of time. We’re busy people – do we really have time to communicate everything to the nth degree? As you might suspect, I’d argue that you really don’t have time to skimp on communications.

In the spirit of taking my own advice, my blogging is a good example of where the silence in communications could lead people to the wrong conclusions. After my last post, I changed roles within HP, and I haven’t had a chance to blog as I shifted blogging down in priorities to pick up the extra responsibilities involved in changing roles. It’s been a really busy 2 months. Even though it’s been a conscious reprioritization, if I were coaching myself, I’d say you should keep people informed rather than go silent. Otherwise you’re just leaving questions and speculation and leaving people guessing on what happened. The same holds true with projects. If you run into delays, tell people. If there’s an action coming up, tell them. If you did what you said you’d do, let them know, so they know it’s complete.

What do you think? What advice would you give about using communications effectively?

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Mother's Day: Balancing Work and Family

Steph K — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:22:27 GMT

This past Sunday was Mother’s Day in the U.S. and I was on an airplane heading out for a business trip, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about the ongoing juggle of work and family. There was an interesting discussion over on the Wall Street Journal’s The Juggle column a couple of months ago that really stuck with me. It was about a question they received from a working mom who was clearly struggling with how to balance it all. In the comments, readers debated over the mom’s concern that she had missed 5 major pre-school events, as an example of the challenges she was facing. You can read that debate here: http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/03/08/on-the-tradeoffs-and-choices-we-make-to-juggle/

In my experience, the solution to any work-life challenge sits in two places: the employee (and by extension, the family), and the company. And it all comes down to one basic principle: flexibility.

Companies need to be more flexible

While companies have made huge strides in flexibility over the years, there’s still significant reluctance to offer the kind of flexibility that would enable more moms to combine families with successful careers. Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, and others have highlighted flexible work places, but it’s still more the exception than the rule. While some companies are going full scale on flexibility and moving to ROWE – Results Only Work Environments – others resist any kind of deviation from a standard work day and place.

I’d rate HP better than most. I’ve seen a wide range of flex, depending on things like the business and the job, from roles that require a very specific work schedule and location, to teams that are distributed across the world and flex their schedules and work place as needed.

Recently I had a fascinating discussion with a senior HR leader whose company (not HP) had recently put a “prohibition” on any kind of flexible work schedule. He said they had tried allowing a few people to come in later or leave earlier than the standard time, and it hadn’t worked, they put a stop to it. He went on to say that one of the things they needed to change in their culture was to get employees to understand that they need to be available to the company pretty much 24/7, because the company was becoming more global, and they need to improve their productivity and speed. It’s a family owned company and in their market the consumer buying decision for the products the company makes and sells is typically made by women. Does anyone else see the problem here? When I talked to a friend who works at the company – high performing senior manager, female, no kids – and I asked her how she likes her job, she said she’d like to find something else because they’re old school on flexibility. She loved everything else about the company but she still hopes to leave.

Employees need to be more flexible

In return for flexibility on things like schedule and location of work, employees have to make trade-offs. Do you go into the office later than most people so you can get your kids on the bus? Return that favor to the company by ending the work day later, or getting started on your work before the kids get up, or after everyone else goes to bed. Willingly take on those late night calls to the region across the world from yours and take the business trip when you need to. Do you have flexibility in where you work? Repay that by being accessible and easy to find. Technology is your friend – make sure you’re easy to reach and responsive. With smart use of instant messaging, my team has shared information across multiple sites and countries faster than you could walk down a hallway or place the phone calls.

As a working parent, you learn that you need to compromise. The mom from the WSJ article may need to decide if a different job would be better for her, or if she can be ok with missing a few school events or cover them in a different way (this is part of why I choose to make tradeoffs to live close to grandparents). Mother’s Day on the airplane was ok with me, because I chose that flight as part of my balancing act.

The payoff

The tradeoffs are not always easy choices, and balance doesn’t mean that work and family are in complete equilibrium at all times. The person who feels good overall about their work-life balance has enough flexibility on both sides to make it all work. What’s the benefit to the flexible company? Employees who are more engaged and committed to their companies, willing to go the extra mile and give their discretionary effort.

Companies that offer flexibility are going to have the competitive advantage in talent. How do you go about turning old school into new school on flexibility? I’ll save that for a future post.

In the meantime, what do you think? Share in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

note: this is a re-post due to blog migration clean up

Mother’s Day: Balancing Work and Family

Steph K — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:37:00 GMT

In my experience, the solution to any work-life challenge sits in two places: the employee (and by extension, the family), and the company. And it all comes down to one basic principle: flexibility.

Companies need to be more flexible

Employees need to be more flexible

The payoff

Companies that offer flexibility are going to have the competitive advantage in talent. How do you go about turning old school into new school on flexibility? I’ll save that for a future post.

In the meantime, what do you think? Share in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Beginner 5K: Final leg - weeks 6-8

Steph K — Sat, 01 May 2010 22:24:00 GMT

It's time for the last section of our beginner training for a 5K race. If you've been training so far, you're almost ready for a race day.

As with the earlier parts of the schedule, all Tuesdays and Thursdays are "rest or cross train" - all Sundays are rest. You can flex the days if you need to - I've been traveling on business for the past couple of weeks and found it pretty challenging to keep the exact schedule.

How do you stay on track when you're traveling? Add to the comments.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Week 6:

Monday - run 20 mins

Wednesday - run 12 mins/ walk 2 mins, 3 times, for a total of 42 mins

Friday - walk 30 mins

Saturday - run 15 mins

Week 7:

Monday - run 25 mins

Weds - run 30 mins

Fri - walk 30 mins

Week 8: (The final week before your 5K)

Monday - Run 25 mins

Weds - run 30 mins

Fri - rest of walk 30 mins

Saturday - race day!

Good luck with your race - remember, this is a beginner program... it's fine to combine running with walking on race day - it's better to pace yourself, stay injury-free, and enjoy yourself so you'll look forward to signing up for the next race.

Let me know how you do, and how you stay on track when starting - and sticking with - a running program.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Who are you?

Steph K — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:04:00 GMT

Today's post is a guest blog, where we'll hear from Michelle Stillman, VP of Enterprise Financial Reporting at HP.

At a recent forum for International Women’s Day, a group of amazing women shared their insights on career development and how to overcome not only the obstacles others put in front of us, but the obstacles we put in front of ourselves. We structured our discussion on the principles of Rebecca Shambaugh’s book “It’s Not a Glass Ceiling; It’s a Sticky Floor.” I was fortunate to be on a panel with this talented group, and share some of my personal thoughts about how we need to learn to market ourselves well in order to advance our careers.

Market ourselves? I know. You’re thinking “I’m not in marketing – I’m in _______ (substitute “finance”, “product development”, “supply chain” or other random careers not related to marketing)!” But it’s not an option these days – it’s a necessity. We can’t rely on just putting our heads down and doing a good job. In an organization our size, the work does not always speak for itself – at least not always loud enough for the right people to hear, at the right time.

* * * * *

One of the best self-marketers I’ve ever known was one of the people you’d think was the least likely candidates to be able to market himself – my late father-in-law.

If I were to describe him in objective terms, I probably couldn’t sell him to you as a ticket-taker at your local movie-theater. He was legally blind, going deaf, overweight, diabetic, with numerous other health problems, and had zero fashion-sense. He didn’t have a college degree, held a variety of jobs over his lifetime (including a less than monumental stint as a self-employed upholsterer), and had been laid off from a lower management position at Home Depot seven years ago. I loved him dearly; I don’t know that I’d hire him with those qualifications.

But he was a gregarious, outgoing optimist, and he went to work at marketing himself. He wrote a book and paid to self-publish it. He sat in local bookstores with a folding table and tri-fold display with his marketing “collateral” printed with an inkjet printer and taped to the board, signing the four books he sold. He then offered to speak at the senior center in their retirement community for free – and marketed himself as a “published author”. He went around applying for public speaking opportunities that paid nominal honorariums, using the senior center engagements to market himself as a “public speaker”. He did a free internet radio talk show for the visually-impaired and . . . you guessed it: he sold himself to bigger speaking engagements as “a published author, public-speaker, and radio personality.” By the end of his life, he’d self-published another book, he was being asked to be a “guest lecturer” for several major cruise lines and taking all-expense paid trips around the world in exchange for a few lectures per cruise. He had friends from coast to coast and around the world who knew him by his pseudonym “Hunter” – a renowned author, lecturer, guest speaker, radio personality and humorist. When I met one of his gushing fans, I sometimes had to suppress a giggle. But when he passed away, the outpouring of sympathy and touching memorials from around the globe made me feel nothing but pride for the man who’d woven a larger than life tapestry of a persona out of sheer determination and the smallest threads of accomplishments.

* * * * *

We can do that too. We can take the small threads of our everyday accomplishments and ordinary skills and turn them into an extraordinary package to sell to our next career opportunity. All it takes is a little creativity and a little practice.

One of the best pieces of advice in Rebecca Shambaugh’s book on marketing yourself was to develop your elevator pitch. Imagine that you had a brief elevator ride with a very important person to explain your job, your accomplishments, and yourself. How would you sell . . . you?

* * * * *

I’m Michelle Stillman, and I’m a vice-president in charge of a group of 100 world-class finance professionals responsible for the consolidated worldwide financial reporting and compliance functions of the world’s largest IT company.

Who are you?

Cool Things: Women in Technology

Steph K — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:27:00 GMT

In celebration of International Women's Day recently, the Americas Women's Employee Network Group at HP held a great webcast for HP employees, where women leaders from across the company shared their tips and secrets of success. They talked about everything from effective networking to balancing work-life responsibilities to taking on even more responsibilities.

This was such a great session, I've invited the speakers to do a guest blog to share their tips with the readers of this blog, so look for those posts coming soon. First up: VP of Enterprise Financial Reporting.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Beginner 5K: Week 3 - 5 of training

Steph K — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:12:00 GMT

This is the third week of the walk/run program to run a 5K on May 8th. It's still early in the program, you can still join in. The running group is virtual -- you're running along with us wherever you live by running on the same schedule and sharing through the comments. The schedule was developed by a local store by me that sponsors several running clubs. Be sure to check with a doctor as appropriate to make sure you're ok to run.

Here's the schedule for the next 3 weeks, since I know a lot of you in the U.S. have Spring Break plans this time of year, so I'm . The best thing about being on a schedule is the obligation to fit it in -- when you're on vacation without a workout schedule, it's really easy to skip days. If you're following a running schedule, you've got that "assignment" to take care of.

Week 3:

Monday (3/29) - Run 6 mins / walk 2 mins, 4 times = 32 mins

Tuesday - Rest or cross train

Wednesday - Run 6 mins/ walk 2 mins, 4 times = 32 mins

Thursday - Rest or cross train

Friday - Walk 30 mins

Saturday - Run 4 mins / walk 2 mins, 6 times = 36 mins

Sunday - Rest

Week 4 (starts Monday April 5th)

Monday - Run 8 mins/ walk 2 mins, 4 times = 40 mins

Tuesday - Rest or cross train

Wednesday - Run 8 mins / walk 2 mins, 4 times = 40 mins

Thursday - Rest or cross train

Friday - Walk 30 mins

Saturday - Run 6 mins / walk 2 mins, 4 times = 36 mins

Sunday - Rest

Week 5: (week of April 12th)

Monday: Run 10 mins / walk 2 mins, 3 times = 36 mins

Tuesday: Rest or cross train

Wednesday: Run 12 mins / walk 2 mins, 3 times = 42 mins

Thursday: Rest or cross train

Friday: Walk 30 mins

Saturday: Run 8 mins / walk 2 mins, 4 times = 40 minutes

Sunday: Rest

After this, just 3 weeks of training left, then we'll be ready for the race on May 8th!

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Halo video conference - NO NEED TO YELL! and what is the future of work?

Steph K — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:02:00 GMT

Last week I participated in my first Halo video conference for an internal meeting at HP. Normally my meetings are by conference call and headset, or in person, and the last video conference I participated in was years ago at a different company when you still had to pause after you spoke to let the audio catch up with you and the video looked like stop-motion.

All I can say is - WOW, has it changed! Halo rooms are special video conference rooms fully equipped with video, audio, tech hook ups and lighting - it's really amazing how much it's like being in a face to face meeting. Why is this so important? It saved me from an overnight trip, giving me more time with my family, and still enabled me to have a very important meeting in a very effective way.

The main difference between the video conference and face to face was this: you know how when you're on a speaker phone and you raise your voice a little more than normal, to make sure they can hear you on the other side of the phone? Yeah. One word of advice: in a Halo conference, don't do that. I learned this the hard way when the person I was talking to started to look at their control panel, and said "I'm looking for how to turn the volume down". Oops. When I switched to a normal speaking voice -- the same volume that I would use if the person was in the room with me -- I learned that the person at the other end of the conference could hear me just fine.

So, I learned there's no need to yell. Other than that, the meeting ran just like it would if we were face to face. This brings me to our discussion point for this post - as the world of work becomes more global and therefore more virtual, how do you envision getting your work done? Will it be via more face-to-face (increasing travel), by video conference, or by audio conference? And what's the impact?

Add your comments below.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Beginner 5K virtual running group: Week 2

Steph K — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:10:00 GMT

Last week we started training with a walk/run program to run a 5K on May 8th. It's still early in the program, you can still join in. The running group is virtual -- you're running along with us wherever you live by running on the same schedule and sharing through the comments. Here's that post if you missed week 1, followed by the plan for this week.

http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/employment-at-hp/archive/2010/03/18/want-to-run-a-5k-join-my-virtual-running-group.aspx

Here's the plan for this week:

Sunday (yesterday) was a Rest day.

Monday (today) we're scheduled to Run 4 mins/ Walk 2 mins, 4X, for a total of 24 minutes. Not bad, we can do this.

Tuesday: rest or cross train

Wednesday: we're going to Run 5 mins/ walk 2 mins, 4X, for a total of 28 minutes

Thursday: rest or cross train

Friday: Walk 30 mins

Saturday: Run 4 mins/walk 1 min, 5X, for a total of 25 minutes

Sunday: Rest

Follow me on Twitter at @StephKinHR

Want to run a 5K? Join my virtual running group

Steph K — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:32:00 GMT

If you're a regular reader, you know I'm a busy working mom and I like to be active. I'm taking on two new challenges and invite you to join me.

First, I signed up as one of HP's Wellness Ambassadors. Not sure what's in store yet, but I figure I can be an ambassador in this virtual community, especially since I'm not based at a traditional HP site. More to come as I learn more. This is a program that's internal to HP, but I'm going to look for how I can give you an inside look.

Second, I signed up for a beginning running group to prepare for a 5K race on May 8th. Find a similar-timed race in your area, and I'll keep you posted on the training schedule. This isn't my first attempt at running - I'm definately an off-again, on-again runner, with lots of different activities in between, and way too much going on to find time to run.

One of my favorite ads was at the Nike store in the Stanford Shopping Center a few years ago -- it said: "Someone busier than you is running right now". For some reason, I find that really inspirational. No excuses, just find the time.

This program is a nice gradual ramp up, considering it's only an 8 week plan. The group is running every Monday and Wednesday and Saturday, with optional rest or cross training on the off days. I'll share the plan with you every week for the next 8 weeks. Give it a try! It's even better if you can find a non-virtual friend to run with you, since we won't actually be running together.

Here's the schedule this week -- join me now...you can still catch up:

Started on Monday - we walked or jogged for 20 mins. no problem.

Tues - rest or cross train (biking, swimming, walking, elliptical, etc.

Wednesday - run 3 mins/ walk 2 mins, 5 times (25 mins)

Saturday - run 4 min/ walk 1 min, 5 times (25 mins)

Part 2: Tablet PCs and Smart Web Printing trump smartphones for cooking

Steph K — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:15:00 GMT

You’re not really using your smartphone as a cookbook, are you? I came across a post that was a discussion about how to use your iphone in the kitchen for cooking. This reminds me of the old adage, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.

Smartphones are great, but you’ve got to use the right tools for the job. I don’t want to try to read a recipe on a tiny screen and deal with scrolling and problems with screens blanking out. This is part 2 of my explanation of how a kitchen PC can make your life easier, especially for busy parents. As I explained in this related post, http://bit.ly/a6NqNI , I’m using a Tablet PC for my home computer (HP Touchsmart tx2) and I absolutely love it.

Here’s a real-life example of how a busy working mom -- that would be me – uses technology to get things done.

I bought some country-style ribs from Schwan’s, based on an easy slow cooker stew recipe I saw in their catalog. We’re always trying to manage clutter in our house, so unfortunately the catalog was thrown away before I had a chance to cut out the recipe. My technology-based solution saved the day:

1. Using my tablet PC, I found the recipe on Schwan’s website, www.schwans.com – the Southwestern BBQ Pork Chili

2. Used HP’s Smart Web Printing software to clip out the recipe from the website. I did the same thing to get Emeril’s Southwest Seasoning recipe from another website.

3. Saved them to Dropbox (download this third-party software from: www.dropbox.com )

4. Went to the grocery store, pulled up the recipes on my smartphone via Dropbox, bought the rest of the ingredients

5. Went home and made the recipes using my Tablet. The screen is easy to read and the touch interface made it really easy to scroll, and the screen doesn’t black out

Of course, I could have stopped at step 1 and started cooking once I had the recipe pulled up on the tablet PC – swivel the PC screen into Tablet form, put it in the notebook stand, and you’ve got your recipe handy just like when you use a cookbook. Or I could have printed the recipe right from the Smart Web Printing software, and taken that to the store rather than using Dropbox and the smartphone.

Either way, you’ve got to check out the Smart Web Printing software. It started on HP’s website as a beta from HP Labs, and I’ve found that it’s the best way to capture just the information you need from a webpage, without having to print out ads, extra pages, or having sections of what you’re trying to print get cut off on the sides. You can save as a pdf file or print just what you need. This is some seriously great software, really easy to download and use, even if you’re not technically inclined.

This is the cool thing about using technology: the next time I went to the store, I needed a dinner idea. Thanks to the Smart Web Printing software and Dropbox, I realized I still had the recipe so I picked up the ingredients to make it again. If I would have just written the ingredients on paper or only printed the recipe the last time, I wouldn’t have had it with me.

How are you using technology in your kitchen and rest of your home? Share your favorite methods in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter @StephKinHR

Smart Web Printing:

http://www.hp.com/global/us/en/consumer/digital_photography/free/software/smart-web-printing.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

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How real people use Tablet PCs

Steph K — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:42:00 GMT

After CES, the web started buzzing about slates and tablet PCs, with reactions ranging anywhere from ho-hum, to great anticipation about what’s next to come. In the meantime, people everywhere are already using Tablet PCs, and HP has had them for years, as CNET points out: http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10423946-269.html?tag=mncol;txt .

One question that has come up - how are real people using them?

My favorite Christmas present this year was my HP TouchSmart tx2. We’re a tech-loving family and the new TouchSmart PCs had caught my eye. I debated over whether I had room in the kitchen for a desktop PC and a monitor. I hadn’t considered a tablet, but I wanted a computer that was easy to access and I was intrigued by the touch technology and the software. I have a laptop for work, but I wanted my own system instead of using my kids’ computers for my personal stuff. The Tablet has been a great answer and the TouchSmart aspect has been more useful than I expected. (Techie husband scores big points for choosing the tablet). Here are just a few things that I’ve enjoyed about it:

Kid-friendly

Prying my tablet out of the hands of my kids was the first challenge. This is MOM’s computer, remember? Besides the normal PC or laptop games, the kids really enjoy the webcam software. It’s really easy for them to find, it’s in a group of apps that are loaded as icons. They spent hours using the distortion features and the tools to capture themselves on camera via video and snapshots, creating very bizarre pictures that they absolutely love. They surfed the web and used the tablet a lot like they would a PC. We played Tug of Words, where we touched the screen to form words from tiles – switching between using the screen and using the keyboard. We used the touchscreen to flip through pictures that I had transferred over from another PC.

TouchSmart technology makes things easier all around. As I type this blog post, I can jump around my document by just touching where I want to go. The other very cool thing that happens when you touch the screen is you see a tab appear off to the side. Touch and flip the tab and you can pull out a handwriting recognition space or screen-based keyboard. This is especially helpful when you are working in the flat tablet position. The other input device is a stylus that fits into the side of the tablet. The handwriting recognition is excellent, and the stylus gives you a higher level of precision. For a lot of writing, I prefer the stylus or the physical keyboard.

Productive

Once I distracted the kids and got my computer back, I used the same apps screen to go to Hulu. One of the accessories techie hubbie ordered (more bonus points here) was the notebook stand, so I flipped the screen around to lie it flat, tablet-style, and set it in the stand. Now it looks almost like a flat screen TV. Nice. I made dinner while I watched Glee. When the kids came in the room, I could pause the show to pay attention to them, and start the program again by touching the screen. As a mom, the opportunities to just enjoy a show don’t come along very often, unless you like iCarly.

Oops, I was supposed to be talking about productivity – multitasking while making dinner doesn’t really count.

One thing I’ve learned after 12 years and counting as a working parent is that you have to use momentum in your favor. For example, (I learned this tip from a friend whose husband is a dentist), we have toothbrushes and toothpaste in a kitchen drawer, because after breakfast on a school day, we have a lot of momentum going in getting the kids off to school. The last thing you want is for the kids to head back upstairs when they’re so close to being ready to leave the house! Too many tempting distractions. The PC in the kitchen works for me on the same principle. As the kids are eating breakfast, I can do a quick check of the school lunch menu online and check the weather, without leaving the room.

I really like using my tablet for cooking. Unfortunately the tx2 didn’t come with HP’s Recipe Box software (hello? A little help here…), but it doesn’t matter – there are countless opportunities to find and use an online recipe. While some folks are apparently trying to use their iPhone for this, my Tablet is a much better solution, with the larger screen and no issues of the screen blanking out mid-recipe. Again, combine it with the stand, and you’ve got a really readable recipe. The monitor is the perfect size, bigger than a netbook, but smaller than a laptop. Touch the screen to scroll if needed. For those times when I wanted to print the recipe instead, the tx2 found my network home printer in the setup easier than any other machine I’ve had. And, if you use Weight Watchers online, having your PC in the kitchen gives you easy access to their recipes and the program where you track your points to record what you’ve eaten.

If you really want to be productive, you need a good mashup. HP has software called Smart Web Printing, which anyone can download free from HP’s website. http://www.hp.com/global/us/en/consumer/digital_photography/free/software/smart-web-printing.html

You don’t a tablet or a TouchSmart to use it, it’s PC software that allows you to clip anything from the web and print or paste just that section into someplace else. In my next post I’ll walk through an example of how you can combine the tablet PC, HP’s software, third party software and your smartphone, to get dinner on the table.

It goes without saying that one of the best things about a tablet is the portability. It’s my kitchen PC, but so much more.

Style

I love the way the TouchSmart tablet looks, with the dark silver/gray/swirly/circle designs, and the silver/black stand, it blends in well with the kitchen and has a really modern feel.

Are you a working parent? How are you using your TouchSmart? I’d also love to hear from people who bought the model after mine, the tm2.

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Keeping yourself motivated in a tough economy

Steph K — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:40:00 GMT

One of the fallouts of a tough economy is employee engagement. Reports show that an increasing number of employees across industries are planning to look for a new job when the economy turns around. If you’re one of them, how do you keep yourself motivated?

After years of HR experience, my conclusion is that the highest performing employees are intrinsically motivated. (There’s a good definition of intrinsic motivation in this article about gifted kids, and the same concept applies to employees).

What does that have to do with the economy? Plenty. People who are motivated by their own internal goals are at a significant advantage in this economy. Here’s why – remember gym class in school? Some of us were not big fans of gym class. The teacher would call for jumping jacks and we’d stand in the back of the class, moving our arms up and down to create the appearance of effort. Now as adults, we go to the gym. When you go to the gym, you notice that no one is sitting back and waving their arms pretending to exercise. They’re motivated to get fit, or at least to not waste their time and money.

While walking the dog before work this morning, I was thinking about discretionary effort. Like many people, I have a New Year’s resolution of better health, which of course includes increasing exercise. I live in a snowy climate, so that’s not an easy task. This morning I had to choose between walking on the plowed street, or along the sidewalks, where some were plowed and some were covered in snow. I chose the snow, figuring I’d get more exercise.

What is it that makes some people put forth discretionary effort while other people hold back? It’s intrinsic motivation.

In both of these examples, the person who is going to get better results – get more fit, in this case – is the person who is putting in the extra effort. Yet, in this economy, a lot of people will reduce their discretionary effort. If they’re not getting external rewards, i.e. big bonuses and perks, pay increases, etc. that they’ve become accustomed to in years past, their logic is “why even try”. You worked hard, you didn’t get the big rewards, so you reduce your discretionary effort.

This is a bad approach. Why? Because all of the people who are intrinsically motivated keep performing, keep achieving, and keep growing. Before long, they’ve increased their fitness and you’ve just increased your arm flapping.

To keep yourself motivated, find your inner motivation rather than holding out for external rewards. Use your current projects to build your skills and your resume. Volunteer for new projects that will expose you to new areas or new things you haven’t done before. Look for ways to take your project deliverables to a whole new level and exceed what is asked of you. Before you know it, you will have improved your skills as well as your contributions to your company, leaving you better positioned for rewards in the future.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

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Do corporations #fail at Twitter and Blogs?

Steph K — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:15:00 GMT

On CNET recently, there was an interesting article about a study on the Fortune 100’s use of social media, citing that social media is still a “missed opportunity”. I’d say that’s true, but rapidly changing. As an HR pro, I believe we have an important responsibility in keeping that progress moving forward.

HP is a great example of a company that’s learning and emerging in social media, and really a leading example of how you can allow social media in the workplace without it becoming an HR, IT or PR nightmare. Is the company 100% there in terms of ideal use? I’d say not yet, but I’ve seen real improvement and progress, and comparing to a lot of other companies, I’d rate it “not bad; emerging”. Please keep in mind that these are my own opinions, not the opinions of HP. Which brings me to my first point…

Permission to speak freely – as an HP blogger, I’m encouraged to speak about topics I know about, giving my own point of view. No one is reading and approving my blog posts before I post them, my colleagues and I are trusted to not say stupid things or share confidential information, and we’re encouraged to be authentic and open. As a Human Resources professional, does that worry me? No, and the reason is a really well-defined set of guidelines and training that we get when we sign up to blog. Given good guidelines, most people will do the right thing. When they don’t make good decisions, you hold them responsible for their actions. The era of Trust and Accountability is here.

Skillfully moving into new areas – the unique thing about social media is individual contribution being different than the corporate contribution. The companies that are strongly represented on Twitter have established specific Twitter accounts for a specific purpose. For example, some of the corporate Twitter accounts I’ve seen from HP are: @HPNews, @Snapfish, @hpConway, @hpRioRancho, @hpLinux, @hpStudio, @HPSupport and @HPListens, and more. Those seem to be on official business – i.e., @Snapfish tweets about how people are using snapfish and gives coupon codes; @hpConway and @hpRioRancho tweet about their new facilities and job opportunities; @HPNews tweets about HP in the press, etc. Companies have a lot of opportunity to use those official accounts to further their brands, including their employment brand.

The real interesting piece will be the individual tweeters, which is the part that scares some HR and IT pros. I cringe every time I read an HR or IT person saying that they block access to social media at their company, rather than trying to figure out how to make it work. Like blogging, people need to tweet responsibly. Whether you’re tweeting with your company name or just thinking about your own personal brand, you’re having an effect on people’s perceptions of the company you work for. I believe that from a candidate perspective, more bloggers and tweeters are better – the more people are blogging and tweeting about their company, the more they are able to form an impression of what that company is really like. The more the company blogs and tweets, the more interest they can generate in their company as an employer. The more you know about a company, the better you can decide whether it’s a match for you.

Trust that people will do their jobs – when people are allowed and encouraged to participate in social technology, they can help you get your company into the forefront. I went to a really informative internal webcast this week by HP Labs, where we talked about WaterCooler the very cool internal collaboration technology we’re using, and there is so much potential for knowledge management – this is key in Fortune 100 companies. When employees get familiar with collaboration technology within and external to the company, they can tap into the potential.

It’s important that companies let go of the idea of micromanaging every moment of every employee’s day. Google is a great example of allowing some freedom through employee blogs, and their 20% time; Microsoft is another company that blogs well from my HR point of view. Managers are going to have to learn how to manage by results, not the timeclock, and not through worrying about whether someone is checking their twitter stream. Measure them by their productivity and everything will be good.

For more on HP Labs’ work on social technology, check out:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Mike_Brzozowski/

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Bringing technology into printing your photos

Steph K — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:42:00 GMT

I don’t mean to sound like an advertisement for HP, but like everything else in our lives, this is pretty fast-evolving so I thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the technology my friends and I use, as well as one I want to try. Admittedly, I’m a geek about having fun with technology.

A lot of photos these days sit on cell phones and media cards sitting in a camera, but I’ve found that HP can help me get those photos out in some pretty cool ways.

1) Your iphone and your wireless networked printer. This one is cool. Download the free “iprint” app from the iphone apps store. Make sure you are on your wireless network and that your printer is set up for wireless. Put photo paper in your printer. Then, this is the cool part – stand near your printer. The app will recognize it and you can select and print photos from your iphone camera roll, printing them without hooking anything up.

2) The portable printer. Also very cool, and fun for the kids. I met the engineer at HP who led the team that created that product and I really like the vision they put behind this. I have the HP Photosmart A626. Hand the kids a camera and this printer and it’s great entertainment for them. So simple, a 5 year old was printing out pictures.

3) The all-in-one. Shoeboxes full of photos? Use your scanner to get those onto your computer and upload to Snapfish, Facebook, and make some photo books for gifts. My home all-in-one is a HP Officejet Pro L7780.

4) This is the one I still want to try: MagCloud. If you try it first, let me know how it turns out. I’ll post more on this once I get a chance to try it. Make your own magazine with pictures from an event or a club or even a family get-together, which people can print on demand. Tons of potential here.

5) Snapfish. HP bought Snapfish several years ago, and to me, this was a match made in heaven. In Snapfish, you can do all of the traditional things like upload and share photos, and make holiday cards. But there is a lot more if you know where to look.

Some of the unique features are group rooms, photo books, and social media linkage.

You can set up free group rooms – you send that link to the people you want, and you can all upload and order prints of photos from anything your group members upload into the room. It’s like a collective photo album, and you don’t have to wait for someone to make a print for you, you can order that yourself. Our extended family has done this, and it works great.

I’ve made photo books for gifts, which is a great way to give a unique gift to grandparents, and I always order two so I have a copy for myself, saving me from having to create scrapbook pages. And try the Flip Books – they are inexpensive and great to have your kids make as gifts to their friends.

If you’re on Twitter, follow @snapfishbyhp, so you can get coupon codes and updates on new functionality.

What are other ways you’re having fun with your photos?

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Tips for lowering the stress of travel

Steph K — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:32:00 GMT

I went to Palo Alto on business recently and as a formerly frequent traveler, I really value a stress-free trip. Whether you’re a university student going on interviews, or an experienced business traveler, I’m betting that you do too. Here are tips on things I do to make my life a little easier when I travel. Share your tips in the comments!

Check in for your flight online 24 hours ahead of time, check and update your seat selections, using www.seatguru.com to make sure you have a decent seat. Print your boarding passes and your itinerary. Put both in a clear plastic file folder, back to back, in a designated spot in your laptop case. This will give you easy access at the ticket counter and through security. Always put it in the same place; searching for things is annoying.

Print maps to where you’re going, and your schedule/calendar for the duration of the trip. Even if you have your info on a PDA, the paper will save you if you run into issues. I’ve had hours-long flight delays that burn through PDA batteries, and that can leave you without your online maps and details.

I don’t carry-on my suitcase, don’t want to stress out about limited overhead storage space. I fly regional planes, which are smaller, so I have a tall and narrow briefcase, which is narrow enough to roll through airplane aisles, and small enough to fit under the seat in front of me.

When you check your bag at the airport, take the luggage sticker and stick it onto your itinerary that you’ve printed. Most people absent-mindedly stuff that sticker somewhere with their boarding pass. Not a big deal, until you need it due to misrouted luggage. If that happens, it’s frustrating enough without having to search for your luggage receipt. And know ahead of time what brand and size your luggage is.

Wear short sleeves and bring a cardigan-type light jacket. Airplane temperature is unpredictable. Bring a snack (almonds, energy bar, etc.), so you have something to eat if you run into delays. Bring a bottle of water, but buy it after you pass through airport security.

Speaking of security, wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off, empty your pockets of any loose change before you even get near the security area. Don’t wear metal belt buckles, take off your outer jacket, and take your laptop out of your bag while you’re in line. Grab 2 bins - your laptop goes in a bin by itself, your other stuff goes in a second bin. If you don’t do these things, please let me go in front of you.

Wear clothes that are comfortable, but would be appropriate to show up in wherever you are going, if your luggage gets lost. No one wants to show up to an important meeting in a t-shirt and sweatpants, because of lost luggage.

Ever spend too much time trying to straighten a dollar bill to go into an airport or hotel vending machine? It’s usually not the wrinkled bill causing the problem, it’s dirt on the bill, making it hard to read with the reader. Instead of standing there and trying to smooth out every wrinkle, take the bill, and clean off the surface by rubbing it on your pants leg. Seriously, try it, it works.

Build in extra time. I had a flight to India that was delayed for a full 24 hours; the guy next to me missed the majority of the meeting he was going there to attend. For domestic flights, go the day before, and never on the last flight of the day. For international flights, build in more time. That will also give you time to rest before your meetings.

If you do build in time, try to visit at least a little of the place you’re going, at your own expense. One of the best things I’ve ever done was stayed over a weekend in Beijing and went on a tour arranged through the international hotel. This gave me a much better understanding of the country and the people, and was an incredible experience on top of it.

Along the same lines, don’t skip meals and activities that are planned with the local team. Yes, you’ve got a lot of work to do and email to catch up on, but you can really enjoy and get more from your trip by spending time with your hosts.

How do you reduce the stress of your travel?

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Jobs website - error issue resolved? Help me test it.

Steph K — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:20:00 GMT

A few people have run into an error code when they search jobs on HP's website, and I've been sending those over to my friends in Staffing/IT to investigate. It's been challenging to troubleshoot because it doesn't happen often and has been hard to replicate. Are you running into the error issue where you can't get to the jobs website? Help me test it. Go to www.hp.com and select the "Jobs" link from the home page, and/or go to www.hp.com/go/jobs , and search for a job.

If you run into the error issue, submit it via the website. That will enable IT to see how many people are having the issue.

Here's the URL to Contact HP, where you can submit the issue:

http://h10055.www1.hp.com/jobsathp/content/assistance/feedback.asp?Lang=ENen

Is it fixed? Be sure to submit it via the website, so it will "count' as an issue, but let me know here too via the comments.

Thanks for helping test it!

Steph K