Disclaimer: as I write, I fear coming across as bashing employees. That is not my intent. I love my employees; I like spending time with them and I really do want to help them with their work issues. I’ve been told [as recently as yesterday] they think I’m a good listener. That said, sometimes the process of figuring out what employees need can be frustrating. Following some of the suggestions in this post may help.

At various points in your career, you’ll probably have reason to visit your organization’s HR department.
As an HR veteran, I’d like to share some pointers to make the most of your meeting.

1. Understand what HR is and isn’t. At the risk of sounding unkind, HR is not your personal counseling service: that’s what your best friend, sister, EAP, spiritual advisor or therapist is for. Your HR department is designed to solve business needs and to remove any obstacles so that you as an employee can be as engaged and productive as possible. In my opinion, a good HR pro will see and communicate and live this belief: that happy, thriving employees drive the organization to levels of success otherwise unattainable. And that a successful, thriving organization enriches and benefits employees. And that it's all synergistic and two sides of the coin are interrelated, inseparable. So the bar is set pretty high...but I'm still not your life coach, financial planner, concierge or therapist.

2. Make an appointment with a beginning and expected end time.

3. When you set up the meeting, give a quick summary of your situation, e.g. “I’ll be going out on maternity leave in October and need to know how FMLA and disability work,”  or “I’m wondering what opportunities for advancement exist” or “I feel like my supervisor is treating me unfairly and I don’t know what to do.”  Giving the HR person some context will help prepare them for your meeting and make the most of your time together.

4. Plan your conversation. I.e., summary, supporting points, summary or query.

5. Execute.

As you reading, you’re probably wondering why I take the time to share advice that may seem quite basic. Why do I write this? Because the majority of employees and managers who seek me out have followed (or would follow, without my intervention) a very different path, more like:

1. Drop by the HR department.

2. Ask either, “Are you busy?” or “Do you have a minute?”

3. Launch into 45 minutes of backstory without offering a single clue where the conversation is going, or what the myriad plot twists mean.

I must confess that as a young HR pro, I fell for the “Do you have a minute?” line repeatedly while inside I seethed as employees asked for a minute and took 60.  I had to learn to set boundaries without appearing unfeeling. Now when they say, “Do you have a minute?” I’ll answer “I have five minutes before I need to leave for my next meeting. Is that enough time? If not, we can set something up for later.” Or, “I’m kind of in a crunch here. Can we meet on Monday? Tell me what we’ll be talking about so I can be prepared.”  I’ve also learned to be more structured in my meetings with employees without making them feel rushed, e.g. holding up my hand and saying, “Wait, I really want to help. But I’m getting bogged down in some of these details. Can we back up? If you had to summarize your situation in one sentence, what would that be?”

Most HR people really do want to help you with your issue. You can help them--and more importantly yourself--by giving the conversation a little more planning ahead of time. Good luck!

photo by5150fantast