Believe it or not, there is a HR comic book. You can find it at apecmx and it is titled “Super Human Resources.”

Thanks to Bryan Baldwin’s fabulous blog for this tip.

You can check it out on Youtube also.

Not that I expect people to feel bad for consultants, seems highly unlikely possibility, but this video from Linda Brown of orgsuccess demonstrates what it feels like to be a consultant some days.

This is a genius idea. As this article describes, a teacher started selling advertising space on his tests. To think of all the money I could have made.

Not only that, this is a great idea for an HR Department. Of course, I can see an employment lawyer asking to place an ad at the bottom of a test.

I am going to use this book as a textbook for one of my classes this year – Business the Orange County Chopper Way.

Who needs a:

• PhD
• MBA from Harvard
• Consultants
• Flying Fish

OK, I have not read the book yet, but I have caught the tv show. My guess, it probably does make a good read.

Ask HR Lite: What is the potential for HRM to assist in the strategic development of the business? From Seat at the Table

HRLite Responds: Great question. Once again demonstrating my complete inability to give a simple answer to a question, I thought I would answer this question in a couple of parts. Today, I will start with the general question of how HR can help to drive strategy or strategic development. But to demonstrate I am trying, I have made this answer a top 10 list. (For anyone interested in strategy and HR, I would suggest starting with the classic book by Ulrich, Human Resource Champions).

10. I believe the recent economic crisis illustrates three fundamental problem areas: leadership, decision making, and ethics. These are all areas where HR should have advanced knowledge, expertise and a lot to contribute. Unfortunately, HR often gives up the leadership roles in these competency areas. Demonstrate your leadership in these areas.

9. Start with your own department and area. Make sure HR functions in a maximally effective manner and follows the principles that you espouse. The old actions speak louder than words.

8. Develop your own employees. Encourage your managers to rotate through other functional areas so as to gain knowledge and so as to be prepared for promotion.

7. Make sure HR functions are integrated rather than split across line areas and different staff departments. Takes the lead in the recruitment, assessment, training and development of all employees. Make sure areas such as assessment and training are integrated. Complain loudly when a line manager gets $50,000 to bring in a comedic motivational speaker and you cannot get a budget to support responses to real needs.

6. Take a leadership role in succession planning, executive leadership, and management of the culture of the management team.

5. Be an expert in culture – especially global management. For global companies, this is a real sore spot and a sure way for HR to show its value. By the way, my experience has been that companies that are owned by firms outside of the US often have a greater appreciation for HR, and their role in managing culture, than do US firms.

4. One of the best ways to gain power is to have access to critical data. Outside of customer satisfaction, probably no piece of data is more important than employee satisfaction. Make sure you do regular employee surveys and take actions to keep employees satisfied. Be an employee champion.

3. Demand a seat at the executive table. Traditional advice is to get a seat at the table. That usually does not work, demand one and have the arguments prepared for why you have to be at the table.

2. Be prepared when you get to the table. Learn to speak the language of other business partners, not just HR. Be prepared to address their problems, not just yours. Once you are there, show you belong.

1. Show you can do it. Go out and take over a company, or start your own company, and demonstrate that through the effective management of people, your company can be the best.

Tomorrow, what about assessment professionals specifically?

I received a number of personal responses to my “Why Do Companies Crash.” One could basically be paraphrased as “You should see what they teach in Business Schools.”

However, today the Wall Street Journal ran a special section on top business schools Executive MBA version (the winner was Northwestern). They also had an article on unique courses. This was my favorite:

“HORSE FARM VISIT

WHERE: University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School.

WHAT: Participants work with the horses, first by grooming them to form a rapport and gain their trust. Groups of three or four executives then work collectively or individually with one horse for about four hours to persuade it to perform specific activities, such as walking in a particular formation.

WHAT THEY LEARN: To consider how their behavior affects the horse’s response. Students who are aggressive and impatient don’t fare as well as those who use gentler approaches.”

Calls were left with Mr. Ed for comment, but no replies were received.

HR professionals tend to have a negative image in the media, and not sexy negative, like lawyers, but boring sexy. In honor of this distinction, last week I started naming top 5 HR people in the media. Number 5 was Frank & Lillian Gilbreth, 4 was Catbert, 3 was Toby Flenderson (The Office), 2 was Drew Carey.

And #1 – the Bobs from Office Space

In the end, the Bobs are probably #1 by a long shot. They are the perfect prototype of human resource consultants. Anyone who has served as an HR consultant, knows that when an employee is scheduled to meet for an interview with a consultant, the employee believes it will unfold exactly as it does in Office Space.

The Bobs jump to the head of the class because they are the people version of Catbert. They happily fix glitches and go about downsizing personnel in the company. When employees are told, you will be meeting with the HR consultants, they hear, your job is being eliminated and you are being downsized. People must have a primal fear of snakes, sharks, and HR consultants. 

In addition, as the clip below demonstrates, the Bobs are engaged in a classic version of job analysis aimed at simplifying work processes. Simply put – the Bobs are classic and easily #1.

A few years ago, SHRM magazine commented that HR professionals had a negative image in the media. Unfortunately, the negative image was not sexy negative, like lawyers, but boring sexy. In honor of this distinction, I have decided to name my top 5 HR people in the media. Number 5 was Frank & Lillian Gilbreth. 4 was Catbert, 3 was Toby Flenderson (The Office).

And at #2 – Drew Carey from the Drew Carey Show. For most of the television show of the same name, Drew Carey worked in the human resources department of Winfred-Louder (the real Winfred-Louder shares a name with a famous actress). Personally, I would have put Drew Carey first on my list, but then I would have been doing that out of my general support for anything linked to Cleveland (making me a real homer). Drew was somewhat unique among our other human resource people as portrayed on television in that he was popular, cool, and hip – of course, he was hip because he was basically a loser. For example, although generally single, he married multiple times on the show, including once to Mr. Wick, his boss. Marrying your boss is a behavior that Toby Flenderson would caution against. One could make a strong argument for Drew Carey as #1, as it is hard to think of another show that had as its lead a human resource manager.

A few years ago, SHRM magazine commented that HR professionals had a negative image in the media. Unfortunately, the negative image was not sexy negative, like lawyers, but boring sexy. In honor of this distinction, I have decided to name my top 5 HR people in the media.

I decided to start with Number 5 and work to Number 1. Number 5 was Frank & Lillian Gilbreth. 4 was Catbert. 

Number 3 may not be well known by name, but is a member of a show that has a big influence in terms of current culture. In other words, if you just started watching television this year, you might know this character.

Coming in at 3, the subject of Michael’s abuse on the Office, Dundler Mifflin’s contribution to the image of the field of human resources, Toby Flenderson.

A few years ago, SHRM magazine commented that HR professionals had a negative image in the media. Unfortunately, the negative image was not sexy negative, like lawyers, but boring sexy. In honor of this distinction, I have decided to name my top 5 HR people in the media.

I decided to start with Number 5 and work to Number 1. Number 5 was Frank & Lillian Gilbreth.

I wrestled with 4 because it is not really a person, not even a fictitious person. However, there was no way to ignore the influence of Scott Adams and Dilbert. 

So, #4 is Catbert. In the words of Scott Adams “I decided to make Catbert the Director of Human Resources at Dilbert’s company…Like H.R. directors, cats don’t care if you live or die. And they enjoy playing with you before downsizing you.