Connecting Awesome People Podcast Appearance!

Image Description: An encircled picture of HR consultant Pharoah Bolding can be seen on a striped background. The words “Featured in today’s episode” are above the encircled picture in green and white. To the upper-right of the encircled picture in a blue and white circle. In the circle is a white silhouette of a microphone. Under the microphone is Pharoah’s name in green and white letters.

Hey, y'all! I'm on this week's episode of Cinder's Connecting Awesome People podcast! We get real and candid about the trauma of being Black, melanated, and intersectional in the workplace. We also talk about HR and DEI. And, if you know me or follow my work, you already know this wasn't some "baby gloves" conversation.

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/57osaWxRCNIFHEWGegukLX?si=JOonioSyQKGNSWzuJVC38A

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/connecting-awesome-people/id1728583997

[Image Description: An encircled picture of HR consultant Pharoah Bolding can be seen on a striped background. The words “Featured in today’s episode” are above the encircled picture in green and white. To the upper-right of the encircled picture in a blue and white circle. In the circle is a white silhouette of a microphone. Under the microphone is Pharoah’s name in green and white letters.]

On Write-Ups, "Performance Improvement Plans," "Managers," and "Leaders"

Write-ups and "performance improvement plans" exist because most "managers" don't know how to have adult, human, centered conversations with their team members to address issues in real-time and view being vulnerable and connected to their team members and colleagues as weaknesses.

Most write-ups and "performance improvement plans" address things that should've been, and still could be, addressed in a one-on-one, actively engaged conversation and regularly scheduled 1:1s.

If most "managers" and "leaders" used write-ups and "performance improvement plans" as human-centered support tools after exhausting all means of straightforward communication instead of weapons to force compliance, we'd be having different conversations about work.

If most "managers" and "leaders" used write-ups and "performance improvement plans" as a means to remove toxic, oppressive, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist people from the workplace, we'd be having VERY different conversations about work.

Don't @ me. Tell me when I'm tellin' lies.

To HR Directors, Boards of Directors, and Senior Leaders: Don't forget to take your pills.

Image description: A meme. In the upper half of the image, a white hand is holding a medication bottle. The bottle is labeled "Hard to swallow pills." Below that statement is, "Instructions: Take one (1) without water as needed." The lower half of the image shows the white hands from above with three pills resting in the palm of the left hand. The caption reads, "HR should not have unchecked control and the final say over the equity and inclusion efforts in any company, no matter how much the senior leadership team and Board of Directors want them to."

[Image description: A meme. In the upper half of the image, a white hand is holding a medication bottle. The bottle is labeled "Hard to swallow pills." Below that statement is, "Instructions: Take one (1) without water as needed." The lower half of the image shows the white hands from above with three pills resting in the palm of the left hand. The caption reads, "HR should not have unchecked control and the final say over the equity and inclusion efforts in any company, no matter how much the senior leadership team and Board of Directors want them to."]

On HR and Being The Right Hand of The King

Image description: a comic strip. In the strip, a person dressed in medieval king regalia walks away from a limbless black knight. The king is wielding a sword in their right hand. The letters "EE" are on his back, which is shorthand for employees. The limbless black knight's torso is upright, looking onward at the departing king. The letters "HR" are on the black knight's back, which is shorthand for human resources. Their arms and legs are strewn about. They are shouting at the king, "Come back...'tis just a flesh wound...oh, all right, we'll call it a draw!"

It is 2023. If you're an HR "professional," and after everything that has happened to melanated communities, queer communities, reproductive health, and public health over the past four years, you're still operating in your HR role like you're the right hand of the King?

You're in the wrong profession.

I hear Medieval Times is hiring.

Real talk? Your HR approach and philosophy were never what employees needed, even when conversations about the ethics and execution of HR were merely whispers between coworkers who were angry about how you treated them but knew that they didn't want to catch your ire and lose their jobs. And at this point? Your brand of HR is no longer wanted or tolerated by employees, as we all understand our rights and what your style of HR represents. The standard for what HR can and should be is higher now, and accountability for HR "professionals" is growing. That HR style you're still wielding like a broadsword? That's only wanted by senior leaders who view themselves on some King Richard sh-- who believe they need a human weapon to "control the peasants."

And some of y'all are mighty comfortable with being the sheriff of Nottingham.

Not a good look.

[Image description: a comic strip. In the strip, a person dressed in medieval king regalia walks away from a limbless black knight. The king is wielding a sword in their right hand. The letters "EE" are on his back, which is shorthand for employees. The limbless black knight's torso is upright, looking onward at the departing king. The letters "HR" are on the black knight's back, which is shorthand for human resources. Their arms and legs are strewn about. They are shouting at the king, "Come back...'tis just a flesh wound...oh, all right, we'll call it a draw!"]

This Week's Opening Thought: February 27, 2023

This week’s opening thought: Rage applying.

Rage. Applying.

One of you business magazine writer fools made a catchy name for getting tired of your manager treating you like crap, paying you like crap, and overworking the crap out of you, leading you to apply to other jobs so you can stop wading in crap.

🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

Parental advisory. Cursing ahead.

What in the fucking hell is wrong with us?!

How horrible is the work culture in the United States if this is the current topic of conversation, twisted to make it appear as if workers, not employers, are the problem?

This isn’t new shit. This is called, “This job sucks! I’m gonna find another job while keeping this one so I can survive long enough to get out of here.” People have been doing this for a century!

Pardon my French, but I fucking hate these cute-ass names y’all keep coming up with to absolve leadership and decision-makers in organizations from taking responsibility for the toxic, degrading, abusive environments they create and perpetuate.

Employers? You’re the reason you keep losing talented people.

Accept responsibility, address the harm you’ve caused with your policies and leadership choices, and do better.

Managers and supervisors? You’re also the reason you keep losing talented people.

Accept responsibility, address the harm you’ve caused, and do better.

Fucking rage applying. Geezus.

It’s just applying for other employment opportunities because you know you deserve better.

Y’all come up with one more damn cutesy name, and I’m comin’ by your house for a chat.

Here’s a new word for y’all to focus on: ACCOUNTABILITY.