Sunstone HR (HR Consulting)

By: Rod Lacey,  Sunstone HR I have always been convinced that hard work wins . I believe that each of us falls short of perfection, even in our areas of specialty, but generally speaking, he who works the hardest tends to come out ahead. It's the will, not the skill . Having had accountabilities for large employee bases throughout my career, I’ve had countless discussions with company leaders about talent. Without exception, effort and energy (aka ‘hard work’) is a critical point of differentiation between ‘champs’ and ‘chumps’. Even if there’s a gap in an employee’s current performance, having a reputation as a hard worker seems to magically fill that void. WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT ARE GIFTED? Given the choice to be regarded as ‘gifted’ or a ‘hard worker’, my preference would be known as the latter. That may be because I’m not a natural, or gifted at much and have had to work hard for everything I’ve achieved. It may also be because that’s the example my father set f...

When things go wrong in an organization, people see very quickly what the leader is made of. Leaders are generally given the benefit of the doubt when things are going well and the assumption is that the leader created those successes. There’s an interesting change in mindset of the organization when things are going poorly. The organization often doesn’t immediately fault the leader, but looks to the leader to proclaim what the source of the problem might be. How a leader responds when results are poor is a great test of her character. A good leader will remember that accountability flows uphill, while credit flows downhill. Judge Smails, from the classic golf movie Caddyshack shared a witty poem about this leadership attitude: “ It's easy to grin When your ship comes in And you've got the stock market beat. But the man worthwhile, Is the man who can smile, When his shorts are too tight in the seat .” ACCOUNTABILITY FLOWS UPHILL Here’s a few stor...