<p>On this episode of <em>Honest HR</em>, Callie's guests are HR pros Jon Thurmond and Wendy Dailey, from <em>The HR Social Hour Podcast</em> to discuss networking and communication. People react differently to who you are as a person vs. who you are as a professional. They may be intertwined, but sometimes you resonate more as a person than a professional. Some people connect with puppies and others with comic books. How important—and what does it mean—to define your voice as a professional and as a whole person?<br /><br />Your brand is your reputation, you can blend your personal and professional interests. You're a person <em>and</em> a person who does HR. </p><p><b>Key episode takeaway:</b> "You need to be OK with your voice evolving. Who you start out as sharing can be difficult, but when you know where you want to be, and you find what you're comfortable talking about that's when you start to become successful." <br /><br />----<br /><br />Head over to<b> </b><a href="https://hrsocialhourpodcast.podbean.com/"><b>The HR Social Hour Half Hour Podcast</b></a> with Jon and Wendy and listen to Callie's crossover episode, also recorded live from the <a href="https://annual.shrm.org/"><b>SHRM Annual Conference</b></a><b>,</b> the Largest HR Conference for HR Professionals!<br /><br />---<br /><b>EARN SHRM RECERTIFICATION PDCs FOR LISTENING</b><br />Honest HR podcast episodes will help you build your competencies while you earn professional development credits (PDCs) toward your SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP recertification! All you have to do is listen to a full mini-series to earn PDCs! All relevant details, including the Activity IDs, are provided during the podcast recording itself.<br /><br />The Honest HR podcast is only one of SHRM's podcast offerings. And currently, it is the only one approved for recertification PDCs.<br />---<br /><b>This episode is Part 1 of a two-part series. </b>When you listen to all parts of the series, you are eligible to receive PDCs for your participation.</p>
On this episode of Honest HR, Callie's guests are HR pros Jon Thurmond and Wendy Dailey, from The HR Social Hour Podcast to discuss networking and communication. People react differently to who you are as a person vs. who you are as a professional. They may be intertwined, but sometimes you resonate more as a person than a professional. Some people connect with puppies and others with comic books. How important—and what does it mean—to define your voice as a professional and as a whole person?
Your brand is your reputation, you can blend your personal and professional interests. You're a person and a person who does HR.
Key episode takeaway: "You need to be OK with your voice evolving. Who you start out as sharing can be difficult, but when you know where you want to be, and you find what you're comfortable talking about that's when you start to become successful."
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Head over to The HR Social Hour Half Hour Podcast with Jon and Wendy and listen to Callie's crossover episode, also recorded live from the SHRM Annual Conference, the Largest HR Conference for HR Professionals!
---
EARN SHRM RECERTIFICATION PDCs FOR LISTENING
Honest HR podcast episodes will help you build your competencies while you earn professional development credits (PDCs) toward your SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP recertification! All you have to do is listen to a full mini-series to earn PDCs! All relevant details, including the Activity IDs, are provided during the podcast recording itself.
The Honest HR podcast is only one of SHRM's podcast offerings. And currently, it is the only one approved for recertification PDCs.
---
This episode is Part 1 of a two-part series. When you listen to all parts of the series, you are eligible to receive PDCs for your participation.
Callie Zipple:
All right. Welcome back to Honest HR. This is Callie Zipple, your host. I am a Field Service Director with SHRM, and I'm excited to be back again with another episode of, like I said, Honest HR. Today, we are going to be recording the first part of miniseries three, which is a miniseries on communication and networking. And this is actually my first episode with two guests. So I'm really excited about that. And I'll tell you who they are in a second. But what I also want to tell you is that we are live from SHRM 19. It's the largest conference for HR professionals on the planet. And like I said, this is communication and networking. And what better place to record this than the largest HR education and networking conference literally on the globe. So I'm pumped about it. I'm excited to have my two guests.
I'll tell you now who they are. It's Jon and Wendy from the HR Social Hour Half Hour podcast. So I'm pumped to have them here. Jon, Wendy, Wendy, Jon, if you guys could introduce yourself a little bit. Tell our listeners who you are, why you like HR. Tell us a little bit about your podcast and then we'll get started on the topic here today.
Wendy Dailey:
Awesome. Well, thanks for having us Callie. We're excited to be here and it always feels a little awkward to be on the other side of the conversation, answering questions rather than asking them. But I am Wendy Dailey. I am a certified HR professional in South Dakota. I work for Sanford health as a talent advisor recruiter. I've been in recruiting for 20 plus years. Started writing, blogging about two years ago, tweeting very actively part of the Next Chat group, and got to know Jon that way, doing that. But I am out of Brookings, South Dakota, where I live with my family, two kids, husband, and a dog. So that's the short and sweet version.
Callie Zipple:
Good. Thank you for being here. Jon, tell us a little about you.
Jon Thurmond:
Yes, thanks Callie. My name is Jon Thurmond, Human Resources Manager with Team Fishel. We're a utility construction company and I'm actually the Regional HR Manager for Virginia and Pennsylvania for the company. Been in the industry for almost 20 years. Started as a public school teacher. Figured out quickly it was not for me. Became a recruiter, went into HR leadership. Spent a time in labor relations and now in a job that's really more of a generalist manager type. Started tweeting years ago and got into social media for comic book stuff and doing fun things. When I got laid off six years ago from my previous employer, got very active in the HR community especially on Twitter. That's how I met Wendy through Next Chat.
Been podcasting for a long time for fun. I do an eighties podcast with some friends of mine and wanted to do a podcast. And we tried to figure out what was going to be different about ours because there are a lot of great HR podcasts already. There continue to be more amazing content produced all the time. You've come on board since we launched about a year and a half ago, and we found that what worked for us is finding people that we thought were really cool and that we wanted to boost their signal and show people who we knew and why they ought to know him. And really talking about connecting, giving back, and building your network.
Callie Zipple:
Yeah, and what's cool about this episode is that I'm actually going to be guessing on their episode as well, or their podcast as well. So it's kind of a crossover of two HR podcasts and I'm really excited about it. So thank you both again for being here. As I mentioned, this miniseries is on connecting with others, communicating with others, and networking with others. And I think it fits very well with what you guys are trying to do with your podcast. And we actually had you keynote our student and YP event, and you talked a lot about finding your voice. And so that's what this topic or this episode is going to be about, right? Networking, finding your voice, bringing your whole authentic self to conversations.
And so where I want to start with this is a big part of how we communicate with others is "who" we're bringing to that conversation. And I say, "who," in quotations, but I know the listeners can't see me. But I'm thrilled to have a couple of authentic and real HR pros who are from my network here in the room with me. And I'm excited to hear about your stories about finding your own true voices. My first question is how important is it to define "who," again in quotes, we are as professionals?
Wendy Dailey:
People talk about making sure you define that and make sure it is. And one thing I think to start with is we need to be sure you're okay with your voice evolving. Because who you start out as sharing can be difficult, but you need to know who you are as far as sharing so you know what you're going to share and what are you going to talk about. Because we may be a lot of Jack of all trades, we may do a lot of different things, but we're not experts on everything. So knowing where you want to be and finding what is comfortable for you to talk about, I think that's where you start to become successful.
And I think, like John said, when he start first brought up doing a podcast, that was, what are we going to talk about? Our Twitter chat isn't about the hard HR stuff. I've said it a hundred times this weekend, I think, we don't want to talk about FMLA. We want to talk about you. We want to talk about people. And we want to meet you. We want to talk to people we know and we think are cool, and maybe someone that we want to meet and get to know better. And when you have a format this, people will come on and are willing to talk with you because it's pretty low risk what we're talking about. And so for us finding that was our voice. And it's not for everybody, but I think sometimes it's starting out, figuring out what do you want to share? Who do you want to be? And that's where you're going to find your comfort zone. And you'll find your groove.
Jon Thurmond:
I started my career as a music teacher. So voice is very important. I taught choir and I taught band. I think the amazing thing is that each and every one of us has a story to tell. We're at different places and we have different backgrounds, Wendy and I have a lot in common, but we have a lot of things that are really different. And I think what's exciting is that somebody may hear me say something on a certain topic, and hear Wendy on a certain topic, and hear you, Callie, on a certain topic, and our friend here recording with us on a certain topic, and all of a sudden, but it resonates differently with that person. And I think that, like Wendy said, you continue to nurture and develop, but you need to be willing to say something.
The good news is I've found that the community at large has been very accommodating and welcoming. You're not saying something totally out. Even if you say something out of left field, most people are going to be civil about it and try to understand your position. Because I will say I feel personally doing the podcast and being part of the Twitter chats in the last year and a half, my perspective on things has changed a lot. I hope Wendy would agree with me on that.
Wendy Dailey:
Yes.
Jon Thurmond:
I feel like I've my perspective and worldview has changed significantly. And I think for the better, I think for the much better in a lot of ways. And we talk about we want to get better as practitioners, as podcasters, as people, and you got to start somewhere. And maybe it's not podcasting, maybe it is just tweeting, whatever it may be, finding that thing and developing and just continuing to share and continuing to nurture. Not everything you're going to put out is great necessarily, but you just never know. We've put out podcasts that we thought were okay, that people come back to us, that's the best thing you ever did. So again, it's that voice or whoever hears that thing reacts in a way you didn't necessarily expect.
Wendy Dailey:
Right, and I think, piggybacking on that, it's jumping into those conversations even if you don't know a lot. Because Jon and I both, when we started on Next Chat, you start out lurking and you start out watching, and seeing what people are sharing, and slowly you jump in. And for me, when I started jumping in, the thing that surprised me the most was that, oh, people actually care what I'm saying. People are listening. And if you don't show up people might say, "Hey, we missed you at the chat." And there's something about building that community when you start putting out there that helps you find out who you are and how you want to share.
Callie Zipple:
Yeah, I agree. And I got to say your term, lurking, really resonates with me because I think I was that lurker too, at one point in my career, actually quite recently. And this podcast and just having the platform that I do now in my role has really helped me become more authentic, become more real. And I noticed that the people that are attracted to that is a different group of people than I've ever had in my network ever before. And I'm so thankful for the people that I've met who have reacted positively, and sometimes negatively too, but we talk it out and we get through it. But I'm so pleased and so honored to have the people that I have now in my network who are willing to have those difficult conversations with me and willing to give me that feedback because I don't think I was vulnerable enough before to accept that from people.
Wendy Dailey:
You listened to Brene's session.
Callie Zipple:
Yeah. She was great. Anything else you guys want to share on, because I think I'm actually going to lead you into another question if you don't mind?
Wendy Dailey:
Lead away.
Callie Zipple:
Super. Okay. And Jon actually alluded to this a little bit in his last answer so I'm going to ask you to expand on it a little bit. But it's important to recognize that our voice or who we are as professionals doesn't happen overnight, right? We can't wake up one day and say this is who I want to be because you haven't done any research on it and you haven't really been able to figure that out wholly just yet. So what are some of the things that you've learned about yourself in the process of finding yourself over the last couple of years that you wouldn't mind sharing with our listeners?
Jon Thurmond:
I found that sharing more of myself that's not HR has really changed the conversation. I'm going to give you an example. Several years ago, I found out that Kevin Grossman, who I'm a big fan of, who's been around for many years in the community, Kevin was a big fan of the band Rush. So we started talking about Rush during a chat. Found out that Steve Brown, who many of you know, a big fan of Steve. Steve's a big fan of the band Rush. So all of a sudden we started this hashtag on Twitter every Saturday morning, Rush Saturday. Rush Saturday has grown into this thing where we have people from all over the world that share Rush videos. Doesn't have anything to do with HR at all. So when I saw Steve here a few days ago, he wanted to tell me about seeing Aerosmith, and talking about the music piece.
Or talking about comic books. I've met so many comic book nerds like me through this. And Wendy's husband is a comic book nerd, and we have that connection. I think what I found is that as much as I have been practicing HR for many years and have a perspective and have experience that I can share, it's when you bring that whole self or you're willing to share some of those other things, really I've just been blown away at how that has expanded things. So you may be talking about comic books and then it's like, hey man, I need help with I'm looking for an ATS or I'm doing this. Or, hey, I've got this really difficult employee I'm trying to do something with. Have you been through that? It really changes, it personalizes that even more. It's not just throwing it out there on a form, which is okay too. It's good to get that perspective. But if I know I can pick up the phone and call somebody because I have this bond, connection, friendship that goes beyond our business, it is very, very powerful and very meaningful.
Wendy Dailey:
Well then you know the person, you know who you're talking, you know who you're getting advice from. You know that if they're telling you something that you can trust it and you know that they're going to give you good advice. Where the random chats or the random Facebook groups, you don't know who's writing on the other side. And so you don't know if the information they're giving you is accurate, is what you should be doing. Where if I've bonded with you over comic books or music or Girl Scouts or whatever, I know that you're not going to steer me wrong. And what you tell me is probably going to be good and your advice is going to be that person. And I think that's part of finding your voice too, is knowing the whole person and being vulnerable enough to say, this is who I am.
And Jon and I have run into this a lot that who you hear on our podcast, the tweets you read of ours, the posts you read of mine, that's who I am. I'm putting myself out there, my personal thoughts. And it's not packaged because people think brand and they're like, oh, well, sorry to, from last year, we're not toothpaste. No, we're not, but your brand is your reputation and you want that to be a whole person. I want to connect with whole people and not just this little HR piece, which that's a big part of who you are and what you do, but it's not your whole person.
Callie Zipple:
I've noticed on Twitter and on LinkedIn and on Instagram that a lot of my personal posts get more likes and more engagement than some of my professional posts do. I'm an introvert if I'm being honest. I talk about that on the next episode of this miniseries with Eric, about how I default to being an introvert, almost a hundred percent of the time. And so sharing personal things is difficult for people like me. And I had to shift that a little bit in developing "my brand" and developing, "my brand," and I say that again in quotes, and it freaks me out a little bit. But to be somebody, to be who you truly are, you have to bring, to your point, your whole self to the conversation. And people really do react differently to who you are as a person rather than who you are as a professional. And although they are very intertwined, sometimes you resonate more as a person rather than a professional to some people.
Wendy Dailey:
And again, it just develops that relationship. And that's what we're trying to do. That's some of what you're doing, especially with this series is help develop those relationships so that we do want to go have a beer with somebody afterwards and not just talk about FMLA or share recruiting horror stories. It's no, let's go talk about, and oh, hey, how are your kids? How are these things going?
Callie Zipple:
Let's share dog pics.
Wendy Dailey:
Let's share your favorite dog pics. Those are some of the favorite posts when people start sharing their animal pictures. Or I share pictures of my girls out in the minus 60 degree weather selling Girl Scout cookies. It just makes you a whole person and I think that's the key.
Callie Zipple:
What sort of feedback, and I didn't prep you guys for this question so get ready. What are some feedback you might have for individuals who try to be their whole selves or bring their whole selves to conversations and maybe get shut down or get some criticism for it? How can they bounce back from that?
Wendy Dailey:
I think you have to realize you're not going to be best friends with everybody. We are humans and we are going to rub people the wrong way. There are just going to be people that you're not going to mesh with no matter how hard you try. And you need to be okay with that and understand that the HR squad, the HR people that are part of that network on Twitter, part of the blogging team, we don't have to be best friends. I kind of do this with my daughter's Girl Scout troop too. You don't have to be best friends, but we need to be kind to each other and we also need to hold each other accountable because that is kind. Almost quoted Brene again. But making sure that we are being professional. And maybe it might depend on what they're sharing. And if there's someone who can with kindness go back and say, well, maybe this isn't the spot for that political post, or whatever it was that set somebody off or rubbed them the wrong way. And try again sometimes too.
Callie Zipple:
I like that, yeah. Jon, anything you want to add?
Jon Thurmond:
I think that, to Wendy's point, not everybody's going to be a fan. I will say though that the online community for us has been extremely positive and very supportive. And I think it's because we are who we are. If you meet us in person, we're just like we are if it's on a chat, if it's on the podcast, wherever it may be. And again, I think it's fair to, maybe you have to gauge ... you wouldn't vent your [inaudible 00:17:12] as soon as you meet somebody, right? You're just starting out. You're not starting with the most personal stuff. I'm not going to ask you about your medical history and those kind of things when I first meet you. But I'm going to find out about your family or what your interests are. And you develop and nurture that relationship.
So I think when you put yourself out there again, as your voice changes and grows and becomes you become more comfortable in that, again, you're just not going to start at a hundred miles an hour. You're going to start at five. And if you do get shut down by somebody, well, maybe that's not the person you need to be talking to. Maybe your voice is not resonating with them. Where you may tell that same story to three other people, and two of those three people really get excited about it or want to further that conversation.
Callie Zipple:
Yeah, I like that. And one of the things you just said struck me, and I think we've talked about this on a previous episode with one of my other guests, is that I can only imagine how exhausting it must be for people to have different personas on different platforms, right?
Wendy Dailey:
Oh my God, yeah.
Callie Zipple:
If you're somebody on Twitter, but you're somebody different in real life, that has to be exhausting at some point, right? I like the idea of being your whole self and your true self every time you're having conversations with people, whether it's social, whether it's virtual or in person, because I can only imagine how difficult it would be to be somebody different all the time.
Wendy Dailey:
Right. Right, I think that would be-
Callie Zipple:
Terrible.
Wendy Dailey:
Horrible.
Callie Zipple:
Yeah.
Jon Thurmond:
People figure it out quickly too.
Callie Zipple:
Yes.
Jon Thurmond:
Let's not kid ourselves. If it's an act, it comes through quickly and you can see that. I mentioned being a comic book nerd, and I go to a lot of comic book conventions. So I come to SHRM and it's 20,000 people. I go to conferences with 50,000 people and they're dressed up. I don't dress up for the record, but people dress up. And it's really amazing because I've met a lot of creators over the years, artists, writers, people that are in the comic book industry. And most of them just tremendous people, good people, salt of the earth. It's a job.
Whereas others, I've met some that are celebrities, that are influencers, rock stars in that business, and they're jerks. They're persona, it's an act. You can tell what they put on social and what have you. Boy, you get them in a room, a break room or I've driven a lot of creators to conferences and things, it's just really disappointing. You talk about you don't want to meet your heroes. I've been really fortunate it's not been a big thing, but I've met a couple that, oh man, they're just jerks. That sucks. You're supposed to be this awesome person, and you're not. Congratulations on making a career, making money. We all want to do that. But how much more could you have done if potentially had been a decent person? And maybe they had a bad day. Thankfully, some of them though, I have multiple friends that have had similar experiences. So it's not just us. It may be that person.
Wendy Dailey:
And I think we'd all be forgiving. We all have bad days. We all have mornings at a SHRM conference where you've been out till three o'clock in the morning and you might not be your same perky self at eight o'clock if you were-
Jon Thurmond:
Speak for yourself, Wendy.
Callie Zipple:
Not today. I was going to say, not today though everybody.
Wendy Dailey:
Not today, not today. We're always going to give you a little bit of grace for somebody having a bad day. But yeah ...
Callie Zipple:
It's got to be almost 99% of the time though, right?
Wendy Dailey:
Right.
Callie Zipple:
It's got to be a very small margin where you're not yourself.
Wendy Dailey:
And if you are normally, if you are sharing who you are and you're having a bad day, people can tell that. Okay, this isn't who you really are. This is you having a bad day. And again, we're going to be forgiving about that.
Callie Zipple:
I like it. So my last question, and the last thing I wanted to talk about, is tying this back into our professional roles and our profession as it relates to human resources. So a lot of times I have people coming to me asking questions about being authentic in the workplace and how that can sometimes be seen as a few different things, whether it's positive or negative. If there was an HR professional who came to you and was looking for advice about how to establish themselves both in their profession and, or in their current role at their organization that they're at, what would you share with that individual?
Wendy Dailey:
As far as being authentic to themselves?
Callie Zipple:
Authentic to themselves, being their real self. How can you bring that into your work without alienating your coworkers?
Wendy Dailey:
Sure. That's a good question.
Jon Thurmond:
I think the first thing is you've got to know the business. In other words, you can be authentic as the day is long. If you don't understand how the widgets are made, you're in trouble.
Wendy Dailey:
Right.
Jon Thurmond:
We both have been doing this a really long time. And I can remember when I started everything was paper. I started out as a third party recruiter and really just calling people on the phone and then I would write everything down. And obviously that's changed over the years. A lot of things have changed. It's kind of mind boggling here we are talking into a little microphone to talk about what we do.
Having said that though, along the way, one of the things I learned is that you've got to understand the business. You've got to be able to talk to the business because if you can do those things, it's going to resonate more anyway. You can, again, be authentic as the day is long, but if you don't know what you're doing and your work's not done well, doesn't really matter. And maybe that's a sign of maybe I'm not in the right place. Maybe my voice needs to be in a different place, a different industry, whatever it may be. But I think if anything to really be able to shine and show always that you understand the business, that you're bringing relevance and goodness to the job and to the people that you're working with and making things better, whatever that may be. If it's employee relations, if it's better recruiting, if it's better administrative function, whatever it is.
And I think, again, the longer you're there the more engaged you're becoming. I have conversations with people in my office about Star Wars Ever Soft. And my boss, he may very well listen to this podcast. He listens to the HR Social Hour Half Hour. He calls me and gives me feedback on it. And that's well beyond when we're talking about looking at buying a new ATS or developing this leadership training, those kind of things. So you're having those conversations. Again, it doesn't happen day one, but as you figure it out and you figure out the business and you contribute and read. We heard yesterday, read what your CEO is reading. I heard that in a session. Thanks [inaudible 00:23:38]. Those kind of things, I think if you want to be true to yourself, but you've got to make sure that you understand the what, where, and why. What's going on where you are.
Wendy Dailey:
No, I agree with that. So I've recruited in healthcare for many years and recruit mostly nurses. And it's interesting to talk to people about that because the first thing they usually say is, "Oh, you must be a nurse." No, I don't need to sell anyone on being a nurse. I need to sell you on my hospital. I need to sell you on my healthcare system. And so being able to prove that to people. And like Jon said, it doesn't happen overnight. And that would be my advice to people is don't expect people to understand you and be able to get you immediately.
Right now, I'm recruiting for a department that's three and a half hours away from where my office sits. And in today's world, you can do that because we have Skype meetings. It's actually almost easier because I, we can pull up if you're having trouble with the ATS, you can pull it up on the screen and I can walk you through where you need to be. We can do that without me having to even drive across town to get to your office. But there's still that, oh, you're not right here. You're not right here with me. So trying to find ways to say, okay, well, you know what, I'm going to come up and I'll be in town at certain times. Let's be sure we have lunch. Let's be sure we have time together to get to know each other on that level so that you can trust me. Because there's that level of, I don't know you. So making sure you take time to develop relationships.
And I think there's also finding that balance between, because there's a lot of that old school of you got to leave your personal life at the door, and then I think we may have swung a little bit far in bringing your whole self. Do you really want my whole self all the time? Maybe not. But making sure that you're bringing your authentic self of who needs to be in the office and who needs to be showing up to that because Girl Scout leader Wendy's probably not coming to work every day, but HR professional Wendy should. And part of that has the Girl Scout leader in it, but I'm not going to have a pile of Girl Scout cookies at my desk. Or maybe I should, but ...
Callie Zipple:
Yeah, I'd eat them. And I think the reason that I ask that question is because we hear a lot of times that this next generation of workers want to work at places that allow for them to bring their true and whole and authentic selves to work. And the leaders of those organizations sometimes have that old school mentality that you just mentioned where we need to leave some of the unprofessionalism, which is hard to define sometimes, at the door. I think from a culture perspective, organizations need to do a good job of defining what their own culture means, and then allow for employees to play in that culture or exist in that culture however they see fit.
Wendy Dailey:
No, I agree with that. And I think there's that line because the downside with we want you to leave your personal life at the door, but we also want you to take your work life home with you, because we're going to contact you at 7:00 PM for issues and we want you to be able to answer at that time. And we've all done that. Every generation has those own issues, especially as technology has evolved to allow that. And I personally have been working very hard the past few years to make sure there's a little bit of a stronger line, because it is easy to have your email on your phone. And, oh, I'm at a conference and I'm up and I'm up early. So I might as well check my work email. Well, five hours could go by and you're sucked into work, and maybe even your work sent you here. I feel like there should be more of that balance to be able to trust your coworkers to handle things. And I know that's not always the case. There's some things that can't happen. If we're going to ask people to leave their personal lives at the door, they need to be able to pick them back up too.
Callie Zipple:
And one of the other things I think, and I've heard this from some YPs or young professionals too, is that sometimes when you're so authentic, it deters you from actually listening, if that makes sense? So you've brought your entire self to a conversation, and you are so authentic and you're so real that what you're hearing or what other people are telling you sometimes bounces right off, because it's not aligned with how authentic, or who you are, or what it is you are bringing to the conversation. So I think it's consistency that's key, right?
Wendy Dailey:
Definitely.
Callie Zipple:
We've talked about that already. But it's also being able to balance your authenticity with still being respectful, still being a professional when it's warranted, and not allowing for your ego or for your authenticity, for lack of a better word, to allow you to stop listening or allow other people to stop adding to the conversation.
Wendy Dailey:
How did Brene put it? If you're not open to other ideas, you're not being a leader. And so if you want to be seen as a leader in your organization, you need to be open to those other ideas and have that as part of your authentic self of listening to others.
Callie Zipple:
I wish we could drop the mic right now because that's such a great way to end this conversation. But the last thing I'll ask, is there anything that we haven't touched on that you want to add to the conversation for our listeners?
Jon Thurmond:
I think we would just continue to say if you are not out there somewhere doing something, find what makes you comfortable. If it's Twitter, if it's LinkedIn, Instagram, podcasting, YouTube, we don't care. Just get out there and say something. We talked about it in the session the other day, and I really started thinking a lot about this from a mentor perspective. Find a mentor. If it's not formal through work, find another practitioner, somebody that you respect and think you can learn from and approach them with, hey, I'm trying to get better. I want to be a better professional, a better person. Can you help me there? And then when you have the opportunity to give back to someone else in that similar type role, take it. If someone comes to you, maybe it's a little scary. Maybe you're not quite sure, but give it a shot because you're going to learn as much from them as they learn from you.
Wendy Dailey:
Agreed, agreed. And we've talked a lot about sharing online, on social media. If that's not comfortable for you, look at sharing in small groups, sharing in one on one situations, look to local groups to be a part of. Because that's another way to start helping you get yourself out there and feel comfortable with sharing information and sharing what you know.
Callie Zipple:
And the only thing I'll add to both of those is once you start sharing, know that people are going to start listening and reacting to that. It's not going into a black hole. You might think it is. And people are lurking and not necessarily reacting to your stuff, but I guarantee you somebody's seeing it. So just know that I think as well.
Jon Thurmond:
We are proof positive of that.
Wendy Dailey:
Exactly, exactly.
Callie Zipple:
Great. Well, thank you again for being on Honest HR. If any of our listeners want to reach out and connect with you guys, tell us again about your podcast, where they can find that, and then how they can connect with you on LinkedIn, Twitter, whatever your other channels are.
Jon Thurmond:
So you can find the podcast at HRSocialHourPodcast.podbean.com. We're on all the major platforms as well. You can find me at Jon, J-O-N, underscore Thurmond, T-H-U-R-M-O-N-D on Twitter. LinkedIn is Jon Thurmond. And if you do want to connect there, I do ask personalize the note. If you listen to the show and say, "Hey, Jon, I heard you on the show. I never heard you before. I want to talk about finding my voice." I'm happy to do it, but let me know up front. And then our Twitter chat is the HR Social Hour, which is hashtag HR Social Hour on Twitter, fourth Sunday of each month at seven o'clock Eastern time. And for those of you that have never done Twitter chats, we do it real easy. The first question's always, what's in your glass? It's Sunday night. We try to find topics that are relevant, but fun. And it's a welcoming community. Again, as I said earlier, we were amazed at just how it's resonated with people that we had no clue. We had no idea what we were getting into when we started.
Wendy Dailey:
Best way to find me is either on Twitter. I am Wendel 93 there, or on my blog, MyDaileyJourney.com, and Dailey is, D as in dog, A-I-L-E-Y.
Callie Zipple:
Great. Well thank you again for being on Honest HR. For those who are interested in connecting with me, again, my name's Callie Zipple. You can find me on LinkedIn at Callie Zipple, or on Twitter or Instagram at SHRM Callie Z. You can also interact with the podcast on SHRM.org/HonestHR. We have all of our episodes up there. You can also suggest topics or guests for future episodes. We'd love to hear from you out there. And again, I'm thrilled to see both of you here in person at SHRM 19. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being real and authentic and just great HR pros in my network.
Wendy Dailey:
Thanks for having us.
Jon Thurmond:
Thank you.
Wendy Dailey:
This episode is part one of our fifth miniseries focused on communication and networking. The next episode will be the second and final part of this miniseries and will feature Eric [inaudible 00:32:59], who is a returning guest on this podcast. We'll provide you with the SHRM professional development or PDC code for listening at the end of next week's episode of this miniseries. You must listen to all parts of the miniseries in order to use the PDC code towards your SHRM re-certification. So please come back for the next episode of Honest HR. Thanks for being SHRM certified and, as always, for listening to our Honest HR podcast.