George Sample 3/11/25 George Sample 3/11/25

Good Leave Management Is Good Business Strategy

Life is getting heavier. Our organizations need to do everything they can to relieve some of the weight. This is a business issue. Employee leave requests have risen for the third consecutive year as employees take more time off to deal with illnesses, mental health challenges, and caregiving responsibilities. The way we do (or do not) support our employees through their leaves factor into the weight of their overall load.

When employees have bad leave experiences, they eventually return to work unmotivated and they start job hunting. The best organizations are improving their approach to leave management. They're investing in new leave technology and properly training their managers to handle leave requests appropriately. I’ve seen so many places where our managers struggle with leaves because they don’t remember what they learned about leave in the 1-hour HR orientation they got when they became a manager 15 years ago.

When employees have good leave experiences, they eventually return to work motivated and productive. We all remember who showed up for us when we were in a tough spot, that especially includes our employer. I’m at the age now where many of my friends are juggling school aged kids and aging parents. I see the exasperation my friends have when their companies make the already difficult task of caring for aging parents more of a hassle from the administrative side. Please believe they will remember that friction the next time a recruiter sends them a note.

I’ve been fortunate to work for a number of organizations that have generous paid leave policies. Now that I consult with a wide array of organizations, I see firsthand that generous paid leave plans are far from ubiquitous. Minimal paid-leave benefits spell trouble: the employee’s financial resources will be constrained at the exact moment that they deal with critical issues for themselves or someone they are a caretaker for. This is struggle piled on top of struggle. Employers can ease the burden with more robust paid-leave policies.

Administration of leave can be challenging, especially as organizations work to manage FMLA and intermittent leave. There is a significant amount of gray area when it comes to leave. We also have to acknowledge that there are some people that will abuse leave policies to their advantage. I’m of the opinion that leave abusers are in the minority. I believe most people have pride in the work they do, and are eager to get back to it once the reason for their leave has subsided.

If you want your workforce to give 100% when they’re on the job, support them 100% when they need to temporarily step away from the job. This isn’t just being kind, this is good business.

Source: https://absencesoft.com/reports/report-2025/

George Sample 1/21/25 George Sample 1/21/25

State OF HR: The HR Pro as Coach and Consultant

Today’s best HR professionals are strategic partners who drive organizational success through effective coaching and consulting. Their ability to understand business operations allows them to create meaningful impact across all levels of the organization.

When I moved into my first HR Manager role in 2009, Lubrizol put me into my first coaching class. They knew the skill I would acquire through the class would enhance my effectiveness as I interacted with employees. Fast forward 16 years and tons of coaching clients later, I can say that my abilities as a coach have been the most important part of my skill set. I’ve been able to help employees unlock their potential through targeted interventions and development strategies. I’ve been able to help underperforming employees get their careers back on track (helping some folks to get all the way off the track). I’ve helped hesitant team members become confident leaders. Through coaching sessions, I’ve helped people refine communication styles, enhance emotional intelligence, and build trust among their team members.

The best HR Pros leverage coaching to drive improvements by addressing root causes rather than symptoms. So often a person comes to me with their stated problem definition, which we discover is not the core issue after I ask a few questions. The best HR Pros work with employees to cultivate essential skills like decision-making and resilience. They create safe spaces for honest dialogue while maintaining appropriate boundaries between confidentiality and organizational transparency. I’m happy to see that so many modern HR practitioners have worked to intentionally build their coaching skills to provide so much value to their organizations.

Today’s HR Pros are also strong as consultants. When it’s time to consult, the HR Pro is examining processes, market conditions, and team dynamics. The HR Pro is designing solutions to address organizational challenges. They are developing and implementing HR models and policies. They’re streamlining workflows and eliminating bottlenecks. They’re providing expert guidance on navigating organizational change. They're helping the businesses operate smoothly by ensuring compliance with regulations and policies. They establish control systems and develop strategic plans to address emerging HR matters while protecting the organization from potential risks.

Sometimes our HR Pros need to toggle back and forth between coaching and consulting to help guide their organizations through some of their biggest challenges. Change management is a significant responsibility for today’s HR Pro, as is cultural transformation. HR Pros are essential in fostering environments of continuous learning and development. They provide solutions to complex organizational challenges. They guide leadership development and succession planning. They create sustainable growth strategies.

Strong organizations need strong HR Pros that can function as coaches and consultants. Luckily for organizations, today’s HR Pro is more ready than ever to help accelerate the success of the business. The state of human resources looks promising.

This article is part of a 10 article series I’m doing in anticipation of the Cleveland SHRM State of Human Resources event. Please join us on January 22nd, as I discuss the state of Human Resources with Cleveland SHRM’s President, Jared Daly. Registration: https://www.clevelandshrm.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1890209

George Sample 1/14/25 George Sample 1/14/25

State of HR: Make Time for Learning and Development

Learning and Development people: what a time to be alive! The embarrassment of riches available to today’s L&D professional knows no bounds.

Today’s Learning Management Systems (LMS) are light years ahead of what we’ve used in the past. They serve as centralized hubs for content, progress tracking, and development. Platforms like Cornerstone, Skillsoft, and LearnUpon provide customizable learning paths that adapt to individual needs in real time. I’ve personally used Cornerstone and Skillsoft for years, it’s amazing to see how these platforms have continued to evolve! These systems can deliver microlearning modules that are perfect for busy professionals.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are no longer just for Mario Kart. Companies like Boeing and Waltmart have been using these tools, offering safe spaces for employees to practice complex skills through simulated scenarios. These immersive experiences accelerate skill acquisition while minimizing real-world risks and resources (it’s good to have a few realistic feeling flights before you put that Boeing in the air).

Despite these powerful resources, many organizations still treat learning and development as an afterthought. The excuse? "We can't afford to have people spending time learning when there's real work to be done." This is shortsighted.

Learning and development isn't a distraction from work - it's an essential investment in work quality and efficiency. When organizations neglect L&D, they create a cycle of inefficiencies and repeated errors that drain more resources than the training would have consumed. Without ongoing development, employees become stuck in outdated practices while competitors adapt and evolve. This leads to declining performance and competitiveness over time. Smaller organizations are usually the more egregious offenders. An organization that will go unnamed still has employees that eschew Microsoft Excel because they prefer their good old paper (this was a true story in 2024).

By trying to save time and maintain productivity, organizations actually create larger inefficiencies. Underdeveloped employees take longer to complete tasks, make more mistakes, and struggle to adapt to change. The "savings" from skipping training ultimately manifest as increased errors, higher turnover, reduced innovation, bad breath, declining customer satisfaction, lower employee engagement, and a grab bag of other undesirable treats that I don’t feel like typing out.

I’ll say it again: learning and development isn't a distraction from work - it's an essential investment in work quality and efficiency. Organizations must recognize that the time spent on employee development pays dividends through improved performance, reduced errors, and increased innovation. The tools and resources are readily available. What's needed is the wisdom to see beyond the immediate pressure of daily tasks to invest in long-term organizational capability. Because remember: every time your organization makes a choice about employee development, it is shaping its future.

George Sample 1/10/25 George Sample 1/10/25

State of HR: Strengthening Managers

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Alexander the Great

Corporate America is terrible at developing managers. Often, we don’t even try. We take someone that is a gifted individual contributor, promote them to manager, give them a one hour manager orientation with HR, then send them on their way.

The strength of our managers is one of the three key determinants for how strong our organization is (the other two are our Talent Acquisition Team and our Senior Leadership Team). Skilled managers amplify the strengths of their team and drive implementation of the company vision. Given that managers are so important, it stands as a criminal offense for the lack of resources we invest in developing our management ranks.

It’s hard to be a Manager. Really hard. Managers have to cultivate a shared team vision while simultaneously interacting with each team member on a personalized basis. The manager has to be adept at communicating up and down the organization’s hierarchy. The Manager has to advocate for their share of a limited pool of resources. The Manager has to hold people accountable for performance, while being cognizant of a myriad of factors beyond one’s control that impacts their performance. Effective management is running a gauntlet every day.

The situation is dire, but all is not lost. There are plenty of things an organization could do to develop its managers. Let’s focus on three things an organization can do no matter what their size or structure is.

Coaches: Whenever we want to be much better at something, we enlist a coach. Management should be no different. Every Manager should have a coach, be it internal or external. The role of a coach is different from the role that Manager’s boss plays. And quite honestly, many managers have bosses that are weak as coaches anyway (this is a chicken or egg problem).

Mentors: The “been there, done that” wisdom of a mentor is invaluable for the development of a manager.

Skill-Based Training Programs: Leadership and communication skills, strategic thinking and decision-making abilities, team development and engagement techniques. One can find a gaggle of courses on all of these topics. It’s vital that training programs are not one-offs. While one-offs are better than nothing, a defined cadence of learning paired with qualitative measurement of progress can pay significant dividends for managerial development (you can quantitatively measure management effectiveness at your own peril, measuring human interactions is quite complicated).

The runaway champion excuse for not developing our managers is a lack of time. Really? Terrible Managers consume plenty of time. When managers lack proper development, their teams operate below potential, decisions get delayed, and resources are squandered. Underdeveloped managers struggle with team engagement, accountability, and communication. We’ve all heard that people don’t quit their job, they quit their manager.

We can’t afford to not develop managers. The path to stronger organizations runs directly through manager development. By implementing coaches, mentors, and structured development programs with regular cadence, organizations can transform their management ranks from sheep into lions.

George Sample 1/7/25 George Sample 1/7/25

State of HR: Stop Posting and Praying

Everytime your organization makes a hire, it is shaping the future of the organization. So why are so many organizations satisfied with posting their jobs on Indeed and LinkedIn, then sifting through 400 lackluster resumes? The recruiter feels good when they say “we hired the best person out of a pool of 400 candidates, of course it’s a great hire!” The problem is that the right candidate for your role usually didn’t even apply for your role. They were too busy working on exciting projects at their current organization. That is why the best talent acquisition professionals (TAPs) are exceptionally valuable to their organizations.

TAPs build and maintain relationships with talented people in your company's industry long before the perfect opportunity to hire them into your organization is available. TAPs are on LinkedIn, connecting with people, commenting on conversations, congratulating people for their achievements. They’re at conferences and events connecting with people that are at the leading edge of their field. They have a system for tracking the folks they’ve engaged with and maintain contact with them, so that when that great opportunity is available at their organization, they can present that opportunity to a warm contact knowing it’s aligned with their desires and career trajectory. This relationship work is essential because the best TAPs look beyond immediate openings to build talent pipelines and anticipate future workforce needs.

The best TAPs leverage clear and consistent communication once candidates enter their recruitment process. Think about what it was like the last time you were excited about a position you applied for. You’re day-dreaming about all the cool new stuff you will work on. You’re salivating at the opportunity to never again see some of the slackers you currently work with. You’re mentally pre-spending that compensation bump you anticipate you would get. So when the TAP you’ve been communicating with goes quiet, it’s more than frustrating. Don’t be the TAP that goes dark. There are plenty of automated tools that can send personalized follow-up notes at whatever cadence you set, so capacity isn’t an excuse. Candidate experience directly impacts hiring success.

The best TAP leaders are evolving to prioritize competencies over credentials, using skills-based assessments and competency-based interviews to identify candidates with the right capabilities. TAPs understand that credentials are proxies to signal that the candidate has acquired certain competencies. We now have access to many tools to help us more accurately measure the actual competencies during our recruitment process.

Please stop posting and praying. It is impossible to overstate how valuable the right TAPs are to your organization, because remember: every time your organization makes a hire, it is shaping the future of the organization.

George Sample 1/3/25 George Sample 1/3/25

State of HR: DEI That Works For Everyone

When I am facilitating DEI workshops, I always start the session by asking people for their own definitions for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We go through each term by itself, pulling in multiple perspectives. The participants always start with a variety of definitions for each of the terms. We then work across the group to get to a shared definition of each of the terms that the group can buy into. These are sometimes challenging discussions, because the individual lived experiences influence how each participant sees each of the three terms.

I would like to go through this exercise with all 340 million USA residents (international DEI has its own challenges, we’ll just start with the easy stuff). That way, when somebody is setting DEI on fire, I at least have a general idea of where we might start the conversation.

For the record, I enjoy having conversations about how DEI is currently being challenged. The strawman arguments, revisionist history, and shallow positions are all welcomed with me. I like the fact that people finally feel comfortable enough to discuss their issues with DEI. It’s important to note that there have been plenty of missteps with DEI, but missteps happen in every field of work as the work evolves. It’s fair to acknowledge DEI missteps, then work to ensure our DEI work is even stronger.

Veteran DEI practitioners have been pushing the boulder up the hill for so long that this current pushback on DEI is just the flavor of the day. If we take a breath, step back, and look at DEI work from a broader context, we see the overall work continues to trend in the correct direction. There is still significant work to be done, and the work will not go away.

So yes, please bring forth every legal challenge. Let’s get all these issues out into the open and talk about them openly. This is a fantastic time to be a skilled DEI practitioner, because we have the opportunity to reconfigure our DEI efforts in a way that makes them stronger for everyone in our organizations. It’s time to create DEI That Works for Everyone.

George Sample 12/31/24 George Sample 12/31/24

Reconstructing The Workforce

“Work is not a place you come to; it’s something you do.” Katarina Berg - Spotify’s Chief Human Resources Officer

We will not arrive at a consensus regarding return to office. Each organization will make a decision that the leadership of the organization (yes the leadership, not the masses) feels is the best direction for their particular organization. This conversation goes beyond where a person does their work. The underlying elements of this situation signal a significant reconstruction of the workforce.

Companies that embrace hybrid work enjoy access to a significantly broader talent pool than other organizations. It’s different for Amazon to mandate employees to return to the office: they're a global, multi-billion dollar company with offices everywhere. Your 500 person company with one or two sites cannot expect to have the same talent outcomes with your return to office mandate.

Keeping remote workers engaged requires additional effort. When the world went remote during the pandemic, I was leading the HR Business Partner team at The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Each member of my team spent significant time everyday reaching out to employees to connect one on one. Our technology was fine, but the employees appreciated having a co-worker connect with them. Elements of remote work can feel isolating, so our organizations have to evolve to accommodate those needs.

Opening the Bank’s positions to a national talent pool was rewarding for us from a talent perspective. There were plenty of people that didn’t consider our organization as a career destination for them because they were unfamiliar with Cleveland as a place to live. Now those folks could work for our organization, visit Cleveland on a regular basis to connect with their teams, and learn the city for themselves.

Please don't go hybrid if your technology is trash. We had some excellent tools at the bank to keep hybrid teams connected. Microsoft Teams is a great tool for connection (I hear the naysayers snickering, but show me something better). Mural was an awesome tool to replicate the sticky note collaboration sessions for our hybrid teams.

Going hybrid also helps companies to utilize flexible staffing arrangements. It’s easier to hire people for 6-12 month contracts if you can hire talent from across the world. This is how we arrive at the reconstruction of the workforce.

Going forward we’re going to see a core of employees who are dedicated to each company and a significant number of contractors that are brought in or let go as projects/product demand ebb and flow. We have been shifting to a gig economy for a while, because if you really think about a person’s value to an organization, the key parts (technical skill, domain knowledge, relationships) are all portable. Especially as the legislative environment is moving against non-compete agreements, more talent will flow seamlessly from opportunity to opportunity.

The workforce is being reconstructed right before our eyes. It’s up to you to ensure your company is positioned to be a beneficiary of the reconstruction.

George Sample 12/20/24 George Sample 12/20/24

State of HR: Employer Branding

Today's HR teams are becoming the architects of how companies present themselves to both current and future employees.

Social media has completely changed how we search for jobs. According to recent data, 24% of consumers now use social platforms as their primary search engine, with Gen Z leading the charge at 46% choosing social media over traditional search engines. This shift means HR departments have had to become social media savvy whether they wanted to or not.

The best HR teams feature some serious marketing skills. They're crafting employee stories, managing social media presence, and building the employer brand. They're selling the company, they're selling careers they offer, and they’re selling their culture.

75% of Millennials and Gen Zs say they're more likely to work for a company that's socially engaged. That means HR teams can’t just post job openings anymore. They have to showcase company culture, highlight employee experiences, and manage the company's reputation on platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed.

The smartest HR departments are turning their employees into brand ambassadors because authentic stories from real employees carry way more weight than any corporate messaging ever could. Half of consumers believe brands should be more relatable on social media. Modern HR teams are getting creative, showing the human side of their companies, and engaging in real-time conversations with potential talent. They're analyzing applicant feedback, monitoring social media conversations, and adjusting their strategies in real-time

HR departments that don't evolve with these trends risk becoming irrelevant. Talent has more choices than ever, your employer brand might be the difference between landing that perfect candidate and watching them join your competitor.

So here's my challenge to my HR colleagues: embrace this evolution. Learn from your marketing teams. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because at the end of the day, we're not just building HR departments anymore - we're building brands that attract and retain the best talent out there. And remember, like any good brand, authenticity is key. You can polish your social media presence all you want, but if it doesn't reflect your true company culture, people will see right through it. Keep it real, keep it human, and keep evolving.

This article is part of a 12 article series I’m doing in anticipation of the Cleveland SHRM State of Human Resources event. Please join us on January 22nd, as I discuss the state of Human Resources with Cleveland SHRM’s President, Jared Daly. Registration: https://www.clevelandshrm.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1890209

Data From These Sources

https://www.thundertech.com/blog-news/december-2024/2025-social-media-field-guide-calendar

https://www.wiggli.io/blog/essential-employer-branding-trends-in-2024/

https://brandonhall.com/building-a-standout-employer-brandstrategies-for-hr-teams/

George Sample 12/17/24 George Sample 12/17/24

State of HR: Nobody Understands Health Insurance

Nobody understands their health insurance plan. So when it’s time for us to navigate the healthcare system, we are woefully unprepared. We hope for the best that we will be connected with customer service folks with enough patience and kindness to help us navigate our interaction with the healthcare system.

Health insurance is about as clear as mud. Most Americans don't understand basic health insurance terms. We're talking about words like deductible, coinsurance, copay, and out-of-pocket maximum. We're trying to decipher codewords that are directly tied to our health and our wallets.

And let's not even get started on the actual selection process of a plan. PPOs, HMOs, HDHPs, and enough acronyms to make your head spin. Most of us take an educated guess and hope for the best.

Even after we've selected a plan, many of us still don't know what we've signed up for. Plenty of employees don't have a general understanding of their health benefits or what plans their company offers. We just hope it works when we need it.

There’s plenty of documentation that comes with the plans, but are people reading it? The buried caveats that explain whether your favorite doctor is in-network, or if that medication you've been taking for years is suddenly not covered.

Human Resources departments across the country are stepping up their game to help employees navigate health insurance. They're hosting "lunch and learn" sessions, sending out "health insurance 101" emails, and offering one-on-one consultations.

Some companies are taking it a step further by partnering with health literacy experts. They're creating easy-to-read guides, interactive online tools, and even mobile apps to help employees make informed decisions. Some HR departments are gamifying the learning process, turning health insurance education into a fun experience. Some companies are sharing real-life examples of how different health plans work in various scenarios.

Understanding health insurance is a journey, not a destination. It's about asking questions, seeking clarification, and not being afraid to admit when we're confused. We're all in this together, trying to make the best decisions for our health and our wallets. It’s an opportunity for HR to support employees like never before.

George Sample 12/13/24 George Sample 12/13/24

The State of Human Resources: Skills-Based Hiring

"Candidate must have a four-year degree in whatever. Candidate's degree must come from a school that puts them in debt to the tune of five or six figures. Candidate must have two years of experience for the entry level version of this position (good luck, new graduates). Candidate must have 10 years of experience for the professional level of the position (those with eight years of proven results need not apply). Candidate must be flexible, adaptable, innovative, hostile, mobile, and agile."

How did we arrive here with job descriptions? To explore, let's walk through the genesis of a job description.

A business leader identifies that they need a person to achieve some part of the organization's strategic plan. The business leader works with human resources to outline the key responsibilities of the role, based on the outcomes the business leader desires the role to produce. They then work together to figure out what knowledge, skills and abilities a person would need to successfully execute the key responsibilities of the role.

The next part of this process is where it gets dicey. We attempt to match up each skill, ability or area of knowledge with how a person would acquire it. This part is difficult, because there are so many ways to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to do a job well. Most organizations just default to "X" level college degree with "X" years of experience as a proxy for the minimum needed to the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities.

Due to this process, job descriptions often end up as an arbitrary hurdle for candidates. I have lost track of how many candidates are the perfect fit for a role but don't have the required degree. In many cases, they're already doing the work! However, the title (and the corresponding pay raise) is unavailable to them due to the degree requirement.

This is why skills-based hiring has entered the chat. 81% of employers are now using skills-based hiring, up dramatically from 56% just two years ago. Companies using this approach are seeing improved diversity (90%), better retention (91%), and reduced mis-hires (90%).

When employers focus on degrees, they automatically eliminate 64% of working-age adults from consideration. But when organizations embrace skills-based hiring, they're seeing some impressive benefits as US employers hiring for roles salaried at $60,000 are saving between $7,800 and $22,500 by reducing mis-hires.

With 70 million workers in the United States skilled through alternative routes like community college, workforce training, bootcamps, certificate programs, military service, or on-the-job learning, we're leaving an enormous amount of talent on the sidelines by sticking to traditional hiring methods. According to McKinsey, hiring for skills is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring for education and more than two times more predictive than hiring for work experience.

The future of hiring isn't about where someone went to school or what their last job title was. It's about what they can do, how they can contribute, and their potential to grow. Skills-based hiring is a fundamental shift in how we think about talent and potential. Sometimes the most powerful changes come from challenging our traditional ways of thinking. Skills-based hiring is about finding better ways to identify and develop talent that will drive our organizations forward. Skills-based hiring teaches us to look beyond the traditional markers of success to find the true potential in every candidate. After all, in today's rapidly evolving workplace, it's not about where you've been - it's about what you can do and where you can go.

Stats are from the following sources:

https://www.testgorilla.com/skills-based-hiring/state-of-skills-based-hiring-2024/

https://standtogether.org/stories/future-of-work/skills-based-hiring-works-but-this-works-better

https://info.recruitics.com/blog/what-is-skills-based-hiring

George Sample 12/10/24 George Sample 12/10/24

The State of Human Resources: Attack of The Clones

AI has been present in Human Resources for a while now, and it is replacing repetitive HR tasks. So if the bulk of your HR role consists of mindless repetitive stuff, you need to reskill quickly.

Let’s start with talent acquisition. I talk to plenty of folks that are in the job search process, but are disheartened when they see a job posting on LinkedIn that they love, but see that 399 of their closest friends have already applied for the role. Most recruiters are not sifting through 399 resumes, they’re looking at maybe the top 20% that are a match to the job description based on the recommendation of AI. That AI is already baked into their applicant tracking system of their choice. For some companies like Amazon, they’re using AI to do initial candidate screens and recommend roles for potential employees. Even the job description you’re reading is likely a lightly edited version of an AI created document.

According to SHRM, half of organizations currently use AI tools in their Learning & Development (L&D) efforts. The other half of organizations are planning to go out of business. Cornerstone is a really well known L&D platform. Here is what they say: “Deliver the right content to your people for their unique tasks and career needs, because modern learners expect content in podcasts, videos, books, articles, videos, and more. Show your people their skill gaps, what skills are in demand, and how to move their careers forward.” These AI L&D tools adapt to the needs of your users, and provide you with a centralized place to understand the skills across your organization. There is so much happening with AI tools augmenting the HR professional’s ability to personalize development plans for every member of their workforce. If you’re not using these tools, you’re burning daylight.

Let’s talk about money. Total rewards teams are leveraging AI to analyze skills-based compensation and salary data. The teams are also using AI to propose automated compensation adjustments.

And yes, my weary Employee Relations friends, if you’re tired of answering the same employee questions over and over again, you can be like Walmart and roll out AI chatbots to handle any non-private questions.

One of the biggest question marks around AI is “can I trust the information it gives me?” Well, can you trust the information you get from humans? The information you receive from humans is only as good as the information that humans have access to. The same thing goes for AI tools. You can trust the information an AI tool gives you if its sources are focused on HR pertinent information. And for that, world-renowned Talent Expert Josh Bersin has you covered: https://joshbersin.com/galileo/

AI is rewriting the HR field at a much quicker clip that most folks anticipated. If you care to stay relevant as an HR practitioner, you must have a sense of urgency about adopting AI tools. Yes, there are issues when it comes to privacy, legality, and ethics but if we think back to any significant change in the way we work, those changes were accompanied with similar concerns. Those who drive forward while mitigating their risks will be the winners (as usual).

George Sample 12/3/24 George Sample 12/3/24

The Shape of Help

Sometimes it’s hard to help people that we think need help (emphasis on “we think”). Maybe it's the colleague that keeps making questionable career moves. Maybe it's the friend that can't seem to break free from bad relationships. Maybe it's the family member battling addiction. We see their situation so clearly from the outside, and we're certain we know exactly what they need to do to make everything better.

I have a friend that spent years trying to help her brother overcome his addiction. She researched treatment centers, arranged interventions, offered her home as a safe space, and did everything the experts suggested. But none of it worked because he wasn't ready to change. Her well-intentioned efforts, while coming from a place of love, couldn't override his complex relationship with addiction.

Then there's the career advice we love to dispense. "Just quit that terrible job!" we say, not considering their financial obligations, health insurance needs, or family dynamics. "Go back to school!" we suggest, forgetting that not everyone can afford to take on debt or has the luxury of time. We offer these pearls of wisdom from our perspective, through our lens, based on our experiences. But their story isn't our story.

Usually we don't even know what "better" looks like for someone else. We make assumptions based on our definition of success, our version of happiness, our interpretation of progress. But what if their vision of "better" is completely different from ours? What if the path we're trying to drag them down isn't actually where they want to go?

I've learned that the most powerful thing we can do is create space for people to help themselves. Instead of charging in with solutions, maybe we just listen. Instead of mapping out their escape route, maybe we just let them know we're here when they're ready. Instead of trying to be their hero, maybe we just be their friend.

Because at the end of the day, true change - the kind that sticks - has to come from within. We can support, we can encourage, we can be present, but we can't force someone to take steps they're not ready to take. Sometimes the best help we can offer is simply being there, without judgment, without an agenda, without our perfectly crafted solution.

And maybe that's enough.

George Sample 11/29/24 George Sample 11/29/24

Don’t Discard Yourself

The journey of personal growth often starts with a critical internal voice. We hold ourselves to impossible standards, becoming our harshest critics and most unforgiving judges. Just as we shouldn't discard others for not meeting arbitrary standards today, we must extend that same grace to ourselves.

Self-development is even more non-linear than the growth we observe in others. Our progress is complicated by our emotional attachment to outcomes, our fears, and our tendency to compare our behind-the-scenes struggles with everyone else's highlight reel. We experience moments of breakthrough followed by periods of doubt, which feel endless and exhausting.

Think about how you judge your own potential. Most of us carry around an internal talent evaluator far harsher than any professional sports scout. We make sweeping declarations about our capabilities based on single failures or temporary setbacks. "I bombed that presentation, so I must not be leadership material." "I couldn't figure out that problem quickly enough, so I'll never get the promotion." We write off our own future based on today's performance, forgetting that development isn't a straight line.

The danger of self-discardment extends beyond our careers. We abandon hobbies because we're not immediately good at them. We give up on fitness goals after one bad week. We stop writing because our first draft isn't perfect. We become experts at talking ourselves out of growth opportunities, convinced we're not ready or worthy.

Remember those patient, supportive people who invested in your early career? You need to become that person for yourself. The voice in your head should be your biggest advocate, not your harshest critic. When you struggle, treat yourself with the same patience you'd offer a junior colleague or a child learning a new skill.

Your potential isn't fixed by your current capabilities. Successful professionals come from all backgrounds, take varied paths, and bloom at different times. Your journey is uniquely yours, and comparing it to others' paths only serves to discourage and distract.

Instead of discarding yourself, focus on showing up each day with curiosity and compassion. Celebrate small wins. Learn from setbacks without letting them define you. Remember that today's struggles are building tomorrow's strengths, even if the path isn't clear yet.

The most important investment you'll ever make is in believing in yourself. Don't be so quick to discard that investment because it hasn't yielded immediate returns. Your future self will thank you for having the patience and courage to keep growing, especially on the days when growth feels impossible.

George Sample 11/26/24 George Sample 11/26/24

Stop Discarding People

Please stop discarding people because they don't live up to your standards today.

The first seven years of my career, I was an average programmer (I’m being generous to me). Luckily, the people that surrounded me were patient, supportive, and willing to invest their time into my development. If those people were not around me at the beginning of my career, you would not be reading this post now.

Helping people develop personally and professionally is an exceptionally non-linear task. Organizations of all types spend endless amounts of money and time to help folks grow. There are so many factors that impact a person’s development that it’s impossible to predict their future. It’s also impossible to predict the way that the environment around the person evolves. Industry, technology, science are all advancing at a dizzying pace and all these factors impact how an individual develops.

Let’s not anoint ourselves as expert talent evaluators. Professional sports leagues tell a cautionary tale when it comes to talent evaluation. Pro sports leagues have entire staffs dedicated to pouring through hours of game film to project how potential draft picks would perform in their league and on their team. Even after viewing hours of game footage from the athletes, they interview the athletes and put them through private workouts. All of this work is done by talent evaluators that understand their sport at the deepest levels. Even with that, more that half of professional sports draft picks are considered to under-perform based on the expectations those talent evaluators had of them.

But we still think we can make a definitive hiring decision about a person based on a 60 minute interview.

Don’t get me started on the dumpster fire that is youth sports. We especially don’t know how kids are going to develop. Some kids with amazing support systems and resources struggle, while other kids with meager resources and thin support systems find ways to thrive. How much yelling are you going to do at your seven year old that made a bad pass? Are we that intent on writing off athletes that haven't even hit puberty? Are we seriously discarding nine year olds because they don't live up to your standards today?

All of us play a role in the journeys of the people around us. Every interaction we have with another person holds the opportunity for us to have a positive impact on them. Let’s stop acting like we know what the future holds for a person. Instead, let’s focus on showing up for that person today in the best way we can.

George Sample 11/22/24 George Sample 11/22/24

Your Evolving Leadership Style

When I was at Lubrizol as the Manager of Diversity and Inclusion, I thought I had this leadership thing figured out. I had my MBA, my SHRM certification, and enough leadership training to fill a small library. Looking back now, I have to smile at how much I still had to learn.

The moment we think we've mastered leadership, the world shifts underneath our feet. When I joined the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, I went from having zero direct reports to eventually leading a team of nine people. The leadership playbook I had been using needed significant updates.

Traditional leadership advice attempts to put complex human beings into neat little boxes. I've learned through working with hundreds of leaders that leadership is constantly shifting based on the personality of the leader, the people being led, and whatever challenge the organization is facing that day.

When I was VP of Strategy at the Fed, I saw firsthand how the post-pandemic world demanded different kinds of leaders. The leaders who thrived were the ones who could adapt their style based on the moment - sometimes being directive, sometimes being collaborative, sometimes just getting out of the way.

Remember my story about bringing candy to work early in my career? That taught me that leadership is not about the formal authority or the fancy frameworks. It's about finding authentic ways to connect with people and build trust. But even that approach needs to evolve. What worked in a cubicle environment might need adjustments in today's hybrid world.

The trap many leaders fall into is thinking that once they find their leadership "voice," they can just stick with it. But that's like me trying to coach soccer using the same strategy for every opponent. Sometimes you need to press high, sometimes you need to counter-attack, and sometimes you need to pack the box and hide. Your leadership style has to have the same flexibility.

So here's my challenge to you: Look at your leadership style honestly. Are you still using the same approaches that worked five years ago? Are you relying too heavily on best practices instead of next practices? The speed with which you go from awareness to action determines how great a performer you are.

Because in leadership, just like in life, if you're not evolving, you're evaporating.

George Sample 11/8/24 George Sample 11/8/24

Veterans Day Should Be Everyday For Recruiters

You know what's better than thanking veterans for their service? Hiring them.

Veteran’s Day is coming up, so SHRM rolled out an obligatory article highlighting the barriers in hiring veterans. I’ve added some of the stats from that article to try to get this post approved for continuing education credits.

90% of companies say they want to hire veterans. That's great! But only 31% of companies say they're effective at doing it (not great).

Veterans come pre-loaded with skills that most companies desperately need: Leadership, Problem-solving, Technical expertise. Yet somehow we've created this disconnect where veterans struggle to find jobs that match their abilities, while companies struggle to find talented people. It's like two people standing back-to-back looking for each other. Veterans have led teams under pressure, managed million-dollar equipment, and solved complex problems in literal life or death situations. But we get stuck on whether their military experience "counts" for our organization.

The first person I ever hired was John Corn. John came with experience in two branches of the military. He was one of the most driven, effective people that I have ever worked with. He was one of those people that I could give a goal, go away, then come back to receive twice as much as I had asked for. I received plenty of credit for how good my team was, but much of that doesn’t happen without John transforming limited resources into absolute gold.

Companies need to be intentional about hiring all the veterans like John Corn that they possibly can. Companies with formal veteran hiring programs are three times more likely to be effective at hiring veterans than those without any program. That's not a small difference - that's a "why aren't we doing this already?" difference.

Too many companies treat veteran hiring like a game of telephone. The CEO says "we should hire more veterans," then that message gets passed down through five levels of management, and by the time it reaches the recruiter, it's become "post jobs on military job boards sometimes." That's not a strategy, that's posting and praying.

Actual Strategies: Give veterans a clear way to self-identify during the application process. Use military skills translation tools (according to the SHRM article only 2% of companies do this, is that a typo or just recruiting negligence). Partner with organizations like Hiring Our Heroes. These are must-haves if you want to be serious about veteran hiring.

The next time you're in a hiring meeting and someone says "we can't find qualified candidates," ask if they've considered veterans. Better yet, ask if they have a formal program to recruit veterans. Because at the end of the day, saying you support veterans is nice, but hiring them? That's where the real impact happens.

George Sample 11/5/24 George Sample 11/5/24

Chocolate Is Good For Your Career

My first Halloween as a suburban homeowner was 2005. I had just got married in September, we bought a relatively new home in a development in Broadview Heights. Since it was a new development, every house had 3.5 kids. Expecting a Halloween apocalypse, I bought a lot of candy. There was a decent amount of candy left over, so I decided to bring the candy to work. I brought a huge plastic plain white kitchen bowl to put the candy in.

Initially I was going to put the bowl in the kitchen area, but I like chocolate, so I decided the best location for this bowl would be my cubicle. I put the bowl on a small table at the entrance of my workspace.

The few folks that I worked on projects with would pop by to ask a quick question, then help themselves to some candy. Those folks started coming by a bit more frequently for candy, and since they had already asked their work questions, we started talking about non-work stuff. I learned things about my project mates that I had not heard in the three years that I had worked there. When I saw the bowl running low on candy, I bought more candy to keep the conversations going.

Apparently word got around that the bowl was now a regular fixture at my cube, because I started getting visits from people that I didn’t work with at all. Since it’s awkward to come to someone’s cube for the express purpose of eating their candy without saying anything, everyone that stopped by had to say something. Most of those trips were short interactions, but I got to meet people that I never interacted with during the course of my work. Sometimes they would be short “what are you working on” conversations that would give me better insight into projects across the department. Sometimes I would get invited to lunch or happy hour. One person (Valerie) would make fun of my huge plastic plain white kitchen bowl while she was eating my candy (the audacity).

The huge plastic plain white kitchen bowl helped me to get connected into the fabric of the organization in a way that I didn’t realize at the time. I became very active in one of our employee resources groups and was one of the founders for our young professional employee resource group. I joined our company’s United Way committee (I organized a Nintendo Wii Bowling Tournament as one of the United Way events, it was intense). This was all pre-kids, so I was at work a lot. The relationship building that I did across the organization was a major factor for me moving into my first manager position (a role that was way above my head). My new boss told me: “You’ll learn the ins and outs of the role, but the way you build relationships will be your strength.”

Moral of the story: if you want a promotion, put a bowl of candy on your desk.

Actual moral of the story: find your own personal way to connect with people at a deeper level. Of course my way involved chocolate.

George Sample 11/1/24 George Sample 11/1/24

Creating Shared Experiences with Co-workers

Early in my career, I decided that jumping out of a functioning plane sounded like a great idea. Since I'm always up for a get-together, I decided to recruit co-workers for this brilliant idea. I didn't think I would get any takers. Six co-workers came with me.

I left that organization more than ten years ago, but remain friends with all the folks that came on that adventure with me. Shared experiences build strong connections. The more intense the shared experience, the stronger the connection.

This wasn't just about skydiving. Connection isn't just about water cooler small talk or polite email exchanges, it's about creating moments that transform colleagues into lifelong allies.

I've seen countless professionals treat workplace relationships like transactional interactions. They network with a checklist mentality, collecting business cards and LinkedIn connections like merit badges. But real connection? That's not a numbers game. It's about vulnerability, shared risk, and genuine human engagement.

Think about the most memorable moments in your professional journey. I bet they're not about spreadsheets or presentations. They're about the times you and your team navigated something challenging together. The project that seemed impossible. The client presentation where everything could have gone wrong but didn't. The moments where you saw your colleagues not just as workers, but as complex, capable human beings.

When we share intense experiences – whether it's jumping out of a plane or jumping into a high-stakes project – we create a bond that transcends typical workplace dynamics. We see each other's true capabilities. We witness resilience, creativity, and character in ways that a performance review never could capture.

These experiences don't just happen. You must be intentional. Just like in my previous article about building work relationships, you can't passively wait for connection to find you. You have to create opportunities. You have to be willing to suggest the crazy idea. You have to invite people into experiences that go beyond the standard professional script.

This doesn't mean every team-building exercise needs to involve extreme sports. Sometimes it's about creating space for genuine conversation. Maybe it's organizing a lunch where work talk is off-limits. Perhaps it's proposing a group volunteer day. Or simply being the person who asks meaningful questions and truly listens to the answers.

The workplace is evolving. The most successful organizations understand that innovation doesn't happen in isolation. It happens in environments where people feel genuinely connected, where they trust each other enough to take creative risks, where they see their colleagues as collaborators, not just competition.

So the next time an unconventional opportunity presents itself, lean in. Say yes. Create those shared experiences. Because your next breakthrough might not come from a brilliant solo performance, but from the unexpected magic that happens when people truly connect.

Your career isn't just about what you know. It's about who you know – and more importantly, how well you know them.

George Sample 10/29/24 George Sample 10/29/24

The ROI of Work BFFs

I spend a lot of time talking to professionals that are struggling to advance in their careers. When I dig into their situation, I often find that they're doing excellent work, but they're doing it in isolation. They treat their job like it's a solo performance when it's a team sport.

If you're not actively building relationships at work, you're actively limiting your career progression. And I'm not talking about superficial connections, I'm talking about authentic relationships where you care about the success of the people around you.

I learned this lesson early in my career. My high school track coach connected me with my first internship. That internship led to my first real job, which happened to be at a Fortune 500 company. One relationship opened doors that I didn't even know existed. My track coach didn't just hand me an opportunity because I could run fast. He did it because we had built a relationship where he understood my character and potential.

I’m writing this post because I’m reading an article that states that over 60% of working adults consider themselves lonely in their workplace. When you're feeling disconnected, you're less creative, less engaged, and less likely to take the risks necessary to innovate. You're operating at half capacity.

People who have a best friend at work show engagement scores that are twice as high as those who don't (stats from same article). Simply having one person at work that you deeply connect with can double your engagement. That's not just good for your mental health – it's good for your career.

I know some of us think building relationships at work makes us less professional. We've bought into this myth that we need to keep our work life and personal life separate. That's nonsense. The most successful professionals I know are masters at building authentic connections while maintaining appropriate boundaries.

Want to level up your relationships at work? Here are three things you can do:

1. Take ownership of relationship building. Don't wait for someone else to make the first move. Be intentional about connecting with your colleagues beyond just work tasks.

2. Create value for others. The best relationships are built on mutual benefit. Find ways to make the people around you more successful.

3. Be authentic. People can smell fake a mile away. Share your real thoughts (professionally, of course), admit when you don't know something, and be willing to show that you're human.

Your career success is directly tied to your ability to build and maintain relationships. Technical skills might get you in the door, but relationships will determine how far you go once you're inside. Like any other skill, relationship building can be developed with intentional practice.

The next time you're tempted to eat lunch at your desk or skip that team social event, remember this: your next career breakthrough might just come through the relationship you haven't built yet. Don't let your career evaporate because you didn't evolve your relationship skills.

George Sample 10/24/24 George Sample 10/24/24

Ownership and love

Happy HR Like a Boss Day! Congratulations to my friend John Bernatovicz who is celebrating the one year release anniversary of his fantastic book about doing Human Resources in a phenomenal way! I have the honor of being mentioned in the book, and I’m in very good company as John connected with some excellent HR pros to include them in this adventure.

John didn’t just write a book, he has been working non-stop to build a community where HR professionals that want to have an outsized impact on their organizations can connect with like-minded people. The HR like a Boss community extends far beyond Northeast Ohio, with John serving as the ambassador that has done speaking engagements across the country. John’s Marketing Director, Bridgette Klein, has been remarkably creative in the way she has expanded the HR Like a Boss brand.

One of the things that John often asks people is “what does doing HR Like a Boss mean to you?” For me, it comes down to two things: Ownership and Love.

Ownership is working as hard as I can to impact everything that is within my control. It’s never throwing my hands up to say “that’s above my pay grade.” It’s working to influence decision makers even when I know my message may upset them. It’s sharing an honest unpopular opinion when it would be easier to go along with the crowd. Ownership is being accountable, even in the toughest of times.

Love is having significant passion for the work I do. My purpose in the universe is to have a positive impact on as many careers as possible. So when I’m talking to somebody that’s submitted 100 job applications, receiving not so much as a call back, I know that my guidance can have a tremendous impact on their career. When I’m pushing my coaching clients out of their comfort zone, it’s because I care about getting them to be the best version of themselves. Pushing people to learn, grow, and evolve is hard. Having love for the work, and care for the people that I have the privilege of interacting with makes the effort worth it.

There are plenty of HR books that will give you the ins and outs of HR best practice, but HR like a Boss goes beyond that. HR Like a Boss invites us all to shift the way we think about our profession and step into our true abilities as we magnify our impact on our organizations. Thank you to John and Bridgette for turning this book project into an experience and community!