Jane Watson | Talent Vanguard

Apr 29

Simple Rules for Life and Work

I’ve been breaking a lot of my rules lately, and I paid for it this week.

No coffee after 1pm

Log off Twitter an hour before bed

Only skip the gym if you’re sick or in (non-DOMS) pain

Bring your own lunch

These are small things. They sound pretty easy. Inconsequential even. Breaking one does not result in immediate calamity. But I know through trial and error that ignoring one or more of these for even a week or two leads to quick fraying of the cord that tethers me to my capacity as a functioning human being.

Apr 22

1 Comment

Context is Key

“He’s a rockstar” “She’s brilliant” “He’s a good guy”

Whether we’re dividing people into INTJs and ENFPs, High Ds or Cs, or placing them on a 9-box grid, we love our categories. I’ve been reflecting on this over the last week, sparked by a presentation delivered by Mathieu Baril of DDI at HR Leaders Summit West. Baril’s presentation challenged traditional thinking on High Potential programs, suggesting that we need to broaden our definition of potential and recognize the individual bias at work when we go about identifying so-called Hi-Pos:

“We tend to underestimate the role of context in performance. Performance is less portable then we think.”

Apr 8

2 Comments

What I Learned at WorkHuman 2018

I attended my second WorkHuman conference this week, and my brain and heart are full. This year’s event addressed relevant and substantial topics in a bold manner atypical for an HR industry conference, and reflected its theme of a more human workplace in the interactions between attendees, organizers, and speakers. It was also set in Austin, a lovely city dedicated to huge servings of excellent food, and home to the sexiest public library I’ve ever seen, which is where this post was written.

Jan 14

1 Comment

How Being a Bad Manager Made Me a Better HR Person

This week I read that about 70% of US managers are afraid to talk to their employees. This produced a series of conflicting thoughts:

I sort of sympathize. I want to avoid talking to anyone about 70% of the time, so #twinsies, you know?
It also deserves a big eye roll because REALLY? WHAT DID THEY THINK BEING A MANAGER WAS ABOUT??
But really, so what? They’ll mostly be replaced by AI soon anyway.
Also, I’m not really surprised since like most HR people, I’ve had an otherwise capable person physically deposit a crying employee in my office as though they were a mogwai that got fed after midnight (Google it, Millennials!)

Jan 7

2 Comments

Tell Me About It…

It’s a bright, shiny new year, and the world has been given a fresh start. Good thing too, since we really need a do-over after 2017. But underneath the flurry of optimistic resolutions and ardent promises to eat better and exercise, we’d be wise to remember the lessons that we hadn’t quite yet absorbed from 2017 before the holidays began and forcibly turned over a new page for us all.

The HR profession seems to have found its voice on sexual harassment, and if the slew of upcoming events and panels are any indication, lots of us want to use it. I hope we will remember that the voices we need to hear from most are those who have experienced harassment in our organizations.

Dec 27

3 Comments

What the People I Learned From in 2017 Learned in 2017

I learned a lot this year, even if you don’t count all the things I learned for a second or even third time (sigh). I’d been vaguely thinking that I should write something about these lessons, when I had a flash of inspiration. Instead of sharing what I learned this year I realized that it would be much, much more interesting to ask the people I learned from this year what they learned in 2017.

I didn’t expect all of them to answer my request. When they all did, I didn’t expect them all to take time to share a thoughtful contribution. When they all did, I got a teeny bit emotional. I’m very grateful for the generosity of the people on this list and many others who I learned from this year. I invite you to immerse yourself in their thoughts, shared below in no particular order. Best wishes to all for a learning-filled 2018.

Dec 3

4 Comments

How We Get Corporate Wellness Wrong

December is upon us, and with it come admonitions to enjoy a season filled with peace, joy, and reflection. In reality, it’s also a mad scramble to finish projects and see people before the arbitrary temporal landmark that is December 31^st. Prevailing corporate wellness wisdom tells managers and HR to be especially mindful of employee stress during this period, and there is a tidal wave of articles aimed at individuals with tips to “survive the holidays”.

I have mixed feelings about wellness programs at work, and the holiday season reminds me why. Too often, these programs add things to employees already long list of tasks, rather than consider what might be removed or changed in the work environment.

Nov 26

A Season of Bright and Shiny Things

This week I finally made it to Social HR Camp (after scheduling conflicts in past years) and got to hear about all kinds of cutting-edge HR/People tech making its way onto the market. It was an exciting and interesting event. Also this week, I had dinner with a friend who shared that her 600 person organization still does payroll manually. She had the carbon paper pay slip to prove it. Reader, I nearly choked on my focaccia bread.

Aug 27

2 Comments

Psychic Entropy, Deep Work, and the Post-Knowledge Economy

Being a knowledge worker is so 2016. At a recent event, a speaker described our economy as being on the threshold of the ‘post knowledge era‘ – a period in which companies will achieve competitive advantage not by accruing the most data, but by honing the ability to focus on the most salient information, and coax relevant insights and analysis from it. While AI will increasingly be used for routine, repeatable tasks which can be governed by rules, our human intelligence is still unmatched at using context and intuition to reach non-linear insights, and in a world awash in information our attention (rather than knowledge) will become the scarce resource.

Jun 4

2 Comments

What I Learned at WorkHuman 2017

When several of the smartest people in your network all tell you to do the same thing...well, you do it. Which is how I found myself in Phoenix, Arizona this week at WorkHuman 2017