Meet Cindy Elizabeth

I like to challenge opinions at work. Probably more than I should. I often play devil’s advocate just to play devil’s advocate. I’ve become crazy about creating a 360-degree vision in business. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Regardless, I manage to learn something every time. Whether someone tells me my point of view is absolutely ridiculous or attempting to create that shared vision ends up being the solution.

The 360-degree vision is something I’ve learned to do very well. And respectfully, mind you. I don’t think I’ve ever uttered the words, “You’re wrong.” If there is anything I’ve learned when pushing back, it’s that we have to do it respecfully and probably with a little bit of tact. I like to say, “Let me offer you a different point of view” or “Let me build on what you just said.” It isn’t disrespectful and it’s not saying that the original thought is terrible.

Probably more than half my posts are about culture & inclusion. It’s a passion point for me. However, all that links right back to that topic. I certainly don’t always get this right. Sometimes I’m just frustrated and want to say, “Here’s what we’re going to do. THE END.” But that’s also part of my job; enforce policy.

I love when I get to challenge, learn and create a better vision and future for the organization. I also love when doing so makes someone else’s job easier. Creating the shared vision ultimately means I’ve learned something and so has someone else. Additionally, it means we are working together to reach a goal or solve a problem.

It’s 2012, and as it turns out, nothing has changed. So far. I am sure there will be changes, but as far as I am concerned, I have changes for myself to make. Personally and professionally.

I’ve always been told that I am relatable, easy to work with and many of my colleagues prefer to work with me with their HR issues. In fact, I’ve had folks call someone else, but say they want to work me on ____. It’s quite nice. And while genuine and easy to work with is great in the HR world, I’m afraid I have to scale back on my laid back attitude this year. Good, bad, ugly, I’m not sure. Every year I scale back a little each time. It’s actually ironic since I am heading the team in charge of the culture & inclusion strategy for HR this year. I mean – I should be able to be myself when I come to work. But my problem is this:

I take many situations much too lightly. I make jokes about everything. I try not to take life too seriously.

What’s wrong with that?

I work in HR, yo. It’s my job to take things seriously, solve issues and enforce policy. Sounds like loads of fun, doesn’t it? I actually enjoy it a lot. It keeps me on my toes and I am constantly learning.

So this is going to be the year of taking:

• things more seriously
• the bull by its horns
• finding processes that aren’t great and making them better
• making my mark

I have been off work since December 23 and go back on Tuesday. I am rested, and ready to take on 2012.

What do you hope to accomplish this year?

I attended a session recently at a development day conference at work. This development day was part of an affinity group that caters to women (which, is another blog post in itself.) But, back to the session. The session was about career planning. I was really excited since I don’t think about my career much, so I’m certainly not planning for it. I am a, “just live life and let’s see what happens!” kind of woman. There are pros and cons to this method. I had a moment in the session when we were talking about how we tend to move people too fast through organizations. Generally before they are truly ready to move and we don’t necessarily always set up our talent for success by doing this.

So here is my theory. And this is what I think; take it or leave it. We spend a lot of years of our life learning. Soaking in information, working on projects, research. We are really excited to put this great knowledge to work. Quite frankly, I don’t really go back to any of this school knowledge. Except maybe my Spanish skills, because well, you can’t speak Spanish without using what you learned.

So, let’s talk about moving young talent through organizations. The amount of time one spends in a certain role can vary. Sometimes it’s 6 months, sometimes a year or two, or more depending on the role. What is the motivator of moving someone into a new role before they are ready? To keep them engaged? To overwhelm? They say they are bored? Well, what happens when they are 35 years old and a Controller for an organization? Now what? How do we keep them engaged?

About two years ago, I was constantly in a tizzy trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. What was my 5 year or 10 year plan? How would I execute this? Then, I started comparing myself to all my college buddies and the people around me. Eventually, I had to talk myself off a ledge. I was stressing myself out trying to figure out how I was going to get from point A to point B and be really successful by the age of 25.

Give me a break.

When I finally took a step back and started listing off my accomplishments and looking at how much I had grown personally and professionally, I was really proud of myself. People that I respect very much call me for HR advice. I finally figured out that my job title doesn’t tell me what I do. But while in a current role, I’m working towards my next one. I am becoming an expert at what I am doing to prepare for my next step.

Hell, never in a million years did I think I would be 28 and developing a strategy to educate our entire HR organization on culture & inclusion. This came because I saw what I wanted and went after it. Just because I wake up tomorrow and say, “Hey, I want to be an HR Manager now” doesn’t mean it will happen. Timing is also everything. Oh, that and headcount and budget and all that good stuff.

My message in all of this is just to slow down and enjoy the present. It’s important to be happy and satisfied in what you are doing, but it isn’t going to happen the way you want it. Take the time to learn and educate yourself in what you are doing now. Stop stressing about the “I wants” and the “I wish” and the “OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE S/HE GOT PROMOTED AND I DIDN’T.”

As my mom would say, “Just worry about Cindy.”

I have a very relaxed personality. In most situations this is okay; but not in the working environment. I tend to build great relationships with my managers (who are my customers) by being this way and making jokes and being, well, I don’t know, human. Weird concept, I know. This works with my customers because that is how they operate out in the field. I support a sales force, it’s just a different apple than what I deal with when I hang up the phone or press “send” on an e-mail.

At the end of the day, I work in a corporate environment and sometimes (in my experience) it does not lend itself to the same laid back attitude that I work so well with.

That being said, I’ve started leading a team. YIKES, right? I have to find my balance between being myself, but being more decisive and willing to be more serious and set goals. Now, it’s not to say that I haven’t done these things before. I mean, come on, I work in HR. I have to enforce policy and keep people in line. Leading a team feels different.

I’ve spent the last four years learning from the best and observing the best. There are people in my life (and they know who they are) who have been a constant ear and have given me great advice in terms of the HR world. And my community of HR pros on twitter has leant itself greatly in learning, too. What I actually find interesting is that I am more of the norm versus not. People want to work with people who are like them. Not to get cocky or pretend I am the best thing since sliced bread, but my customers like to work with me because they trust me and they know I will do what I say I will do. And if I can’t, I also tell them.

Now that I’ve sufficiently gone off track – back to what I was talking about before. I was really nervous about leading a team because of the fact that I am naturally laid back. Maybe a middle child thing? Regardless, I’m using this opportunity to lead an endeavor that is important in every aspect of the organization (culture and inclusion) to redesign myself in a way. What I am leading is visible to the entire HR organization and I’m really excited to see the results because it will be a huge success and could lead to bigger things.

Emotions in the workplace can be a funny thing. I absolutely grew up where at my part-time high school and college jobs, it was “leave your emotions at the door” policy. It was easy. I wasn’t spending 40-50 hours a week at this place. Even when I started my working at my current employer as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed college graduate it was easy to follow that same policy. However, I find that the older I get, the more I am biting my tongue at my desk to fight back emotions. And to be completely honest, I usually lose. The number of times over the last six months I’ve been sniffling and unable to control what was going on emotionally in my life enough to concentrate on work is astounding.

Now, I don’t think there is anything wrong with what I mentioned above. But what is the right balance? We spend so much time at work during the week that it is hard to be so black and white all the time. And by black and white, I guess I really mean emotionless. Things happen to us in life that we can’t control and often we can’t control the way our hearts decide to react.

I started thinking about this recently as I had my dainty, little heart broken. (ah, yes, this is full disclosure.) For whatever reason, I was unable to keep my emotions at bay at work. Walking to coffee with my best friend at work (holla, gallup!) I burst into an incredible amount of tears out in front of the building. Sitting in my cube, I’d cry. In meetings, I could feel it coming on. I just couldn’t control it. I know this is highly personal and different for every person.

But I’m more curious to know how people handle the emotional parts of our lives that come up while at work. Has this changed over the last few years? I have my own thoughts, but I’d love to hear yours, too.

A candle does not lose its flame when it lights another candle – Akinyi

If there is anything I have learned in life, it is that we are always fighting against each other to be number one.

Whether it is witholding information so we can seem smarter than our colleague or not truly listening in meetings because we need to be ready to refute what our teammate is saying because we have a better idea and need to look better than s/he, it’s all still the same. When we try to outsmart each other, not truly listen or, in essence, not be a true teammate - we are missing out.

If  I interrupt someone in a meeting to give my idea (which maybe have been what my colleague was going to get to before I rudely interrupted), that person will feel small. If I do everything I can to withhold information (lack of knowledge transfer), my team loses out.

I absolutely struggled with this my first few years out of college. I was trying to prove myself; my team needed to know I had a brain and that I could use it appropriately. In doing this, I created a monster: me.

I always felt like someone was trying to make me feel small. I thought it was the culture so,in turn, I did it to people who were hired after me. And guess what that got me? You betcha – absolutely nothing.

What did it create? A walking-on-eggshells sort of relationship with my cohorts. I was always on edge, wanting to be the first to have the answer, to have the new and innovative idea and to be the best. I’m a middle child so, of course, I wanted to be the best. It’s who I am, it’s in my blood.

But what if my TEAM is the best?

When I look at work teams that are strong, I see cohesiveness and team members working and learning together as one. I learn a lot more from others than from trying to be the best me on my own.  The more I allow myself to accept the flames of others, the brighter I’ll be. If I take my flame, turn to my colleague and light his/her candle, the brighter we will burn together.

Originally posted at Women of HR.

I’ve spent my whole life following. I mean, literally. I am the second-born in my family and spent much of my childhood following my sister and wanting to be just like her. We are polar opposites now, by the way. And then there was grade school, following all the “cool kids” so I could just be one with the system. The same really went for high school.

When I think about the first time I was a leader and probably had no idea, I was an awkward teenager kicking butt on the soccer team. There is massive amount of work that goes into having a successful sports team. You have to communicate, not let emotions get in the way of the goal and trust each other. I was always a shy kid (insecurity at its best,) but the second I found myself on that soccer field, I was yelling and screaming (sometimes to cheer on my teammates and sometimes as part of the game.) I don’t think it was until recently that I realized that was the first time I was a leader.

As a young professional in my career, I get excited over leading teams, or implementing new processes and ideas. As many of you may (or may not know and now you do) know I have done a lot of work around culture & inclusion in my organization and now I am working through the strategy to implement in the HR. ME. Okay, just to be clear, I am what algae feeds on in my organization if I am going to be completely honest. I am not a leader in the traditional sense.

There was an article written about me that was posted on my work’s internal intranet site. It was called, “Leading from any chair.” It talks about my journey from feeling small to feeling like it was okay to be who I am and step outside the box I had been put in at work. And being able to step outside that box has led me to greater things.

I am working on an overall strategy to start the culture shift that is necessary for HR as a whole to be successful in the future. The changes that will be the outcome are going to be amazing and I could not be more excited. A year down the road, when I can take a step back and look at what I have led the entire HR organization to do, it’s going to give me goosebumps.

Leadership to me, isn’t just about leading teams in which we have direct reports anymore. Being a leader is about setting an example, being a role model and allowing others to learn from you.

I continue to be surprised by the things people do in the workplace. I am sure I will continue to be surprised throughout my career. I sometimes spend time reflecting on the week and the employee issues that were solved and quite frankly, sometimes it is mind blowing the things that go on out in the field and away from “corporate.”

I often am curious and find myself wondering why people choose to do the things they do. I am unsure if it is because they simply do not care and are in all honesty that stupid or they think they won’t get caught (manager reports to HR, customer complains, etc.)

More days than not, I find myself saying, “What were they thinking?” From the hours of 7am-4pm, I am ripping my hair out trying to work through issues, but from 4-10pm, I find myself laughing and saying, “They did WHAT?”

Obviously, sharing details would probably go against many laws so my favorite HR stories are generally saved for happy hour or lunch conversations. Do you ever find yourself scratching your head and saying, “What were they thinking?” and then laughing about it later like I do? I’m pretty sure it is the only way I can keep my sanity day in and day out.

I am obsessed with organizational culture. I am pretty sure that using the word obsessed is putting it too lightly. Regardless, I love the work that I do around culture and inclusion at my employer. I currently lead a team discussing topics around inclusion in the workplace. These topics range from setting the foundation of what the 12 inclusive behaviors are and goes so far as to discuss homosexuality in the workplace. We get deep. We sit in a circle and sing songs while holding hands. Okay, fine, we don’t do that last piece.

In any case, we’ve been meeting for a year now and we’re about to expand and it only seemed natural to celebrate our successes up until this point. It was really a fun celebration of lunch, discussing “ah ha!” moments and me giving my team a little gift that they would always have as a reminder of our time and progress together.

But, I think there was something they loved the most: Appreciation Wall. I cut up large pieces of paper and wrote everyone’s name on the top of their sheet of paper. I taped these pieces of paper on the wall in the conference room and handed everyone a stack of post-it notes. “We’re going to write appreciations for each other.” I went on to explain that we did this in another group of mine and everyone just loved it. I always hang mine up in my lovely cubicle and when I’m having a bad day, I just look around at my reminders. “I love your energy.” “Your passion is contagious” and so forth. You can’t help but smile and be reenergized.

Everyone had so much fun with it! And I think the best thing is, you can never appreciate your co-workers, teammates or friends enough.

Recognition and appreciation in the workplace could quite possibly be the tipping point for a more engaged workplace.