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Hi ya party people,

It’s Friday, and I’m feeling excited about a lot of things right now! 

My short list includes season 4 of Industry, my upcoming company retreat, and straight up melding into my couch over the weekend.

This energy will probably be drained in like three months. Maybe less. But TODAY? We’re vibing! 🤘

There’s always a unique kind of frustration for HR folks, which is what we’ll be talking about during Q&A time.

Up to bat this week, we’ve got one HR Director who’s done the heavy lifting, but is still being told they need to “contribute more operationally” to earn a seat on the executive board.

And then we’ve got a leader who proudly took credit for HR’s wins, asked for a raise, got it, and left the actual team who did the work with nothing but vibes and disappointment. A masterclass in audacity.

So let’s get into it, and if you have questions of your own to submit, submit them here!

✨ Don't forget: You can always vent, celebrate a win, or find support in Safe Space

✨ Don't forget: You can always vent, celebrate a win, or find support in Safe Space

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✍🏾 Finding myself increasingly resentful that my boss (president) feels that I as HR Director needs to find more ways to contribute to the overall operations of the company in order to sit on the executive board (which contains other directors, not just C-suite). Paid a good salary and am near the end of my career. Want to just pack it in with this organization; should I?

Context: Let the company in a seamless RIF, constantly mentor management and leadership, prioritize risk management, seeking improved processes and was told that the bulk of the board meetings is employee-based discussions.

📣 Susanna Williams, CPO, Chief People Officer @ East Bay Community Action Program:

It sounds like this request is causing you more stress than joy. Have you asked him why he feels this is necessary and what he's looking for? "Contribute to the overall operations" lacks specificity. I would say overall to listen to your heart. If you're feeling like this is your sign, take it as such.

📣 Sondra Norris, Founder @ Strategic Culture Partners:

You provide a great list of accomplishments from an HR perspective, in HR language. The equivalent of a Marketing Director talking about the assets they created, the expos they participated in, the lead gen tools they built ... but not linking those activities to how many more clicks their product got, how many leads were generated and handed off to sales, how many more partnerships are underway for their critical products.

Two things:

1. You acknowledge you're feeling resentful, which means you're emotionally dysregulated - go handle that, because it's going to lead the way in your interactions and probably make you sound at least desperate and at most shrill - neither of which will help you get where you want to be.
2. Translate and connect the work you've done into the business context. Just because others sit on the board, doesn't mean you should.

You led a seamless RIF: How do you know? The biggest risks of a RIF are (1) number of lawsuits and amounts of payouts ... how did that turn out? (2) how the remaining employees feel ... more importantly, do they still trust the organization and are they still productive ... how do you know? That's what makes it "seamless" from a business perspective, not that the meetings happened on time and belongings were promptly shipped to those impacted.

You constantly mentor management and leadership. What business problems did your mentorship help them solve?

You prioritize risk management. How much money did that save? How much management time? How can you use this to show how much you know about how the business operates - not just HR, but specifics of challenges between Engineering and Product; between Sales and Customer Success; obstacles that Product Marketing is facing?

Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product ... it may seem more obvious to the company why they can talk about their accomplishments from a functional expert POV, all about themselves. For HR, it's different. To help us all get more recognition for the value of HR's contribution, we have to express what we do in business context as much as possible. That also helps educate everyone around you for the next HR leader that comes in when they think about "what HR does."

Talking about the value of your contribution IN THE BUSINESS CONTEXT is the path to the table. Your President doesn't get it - not their fault or in your control, but how you get them there is.

📣 Martin Varghese, Vice President @ Weigel Broadcasting Co:

This sounds like they are adding a ton of value corporately but need to work on how they package sell it. How folks weave process across the company is as important as it gets. Take a page from the sales team and learn how to toot that horn.

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

✍🏾 How do I deal with a leader who only thinks about himself?  For instance, I learned that my boss asked his boss for a pay increase because he tooted about all the amazing things the HR Dept has done since he became Director.  Yet, no one else in the dept got a pay increase.  He continues to ride the coattails of his subordinates but lacks the leadership skills to look out for his entire team.  

Context: Company Size: 1000+ worldwide. Japanese Auto Industry

📣 Amy Oliver, Organizational Development Consultant @ Children's of Alabama:

I would say, learn a lesson from his play book and do the same thing. Show your worth, bring the ROI, and ask for what you think you're worth. A phrase I've used successfully in the past is "I believe my contribution has outpaced my compensation. Here's why...."

📣 Tammi Burnett, Director of People and Culture @ Rainforest Action Network:

Stop waiting for recognition and demand it (professionally, of course). In other words, do exactly what your boss did. Make a list of your accomplishments, how much you've saved the company in $$, pivotal relationships you've created or maintained. Metrics tell a story. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want, whether it's a raise or just recognition.

📣 Sondra Norris, Founder @ Strategic Culture Partners:

Well, your boss is doing a great job taking care of himself - and there's something to learn from that.

1. Stop focusing on all the things you're judging your boss for. You are polluting your own state of mind, and likely spreading that to others.
2. Instead, focus on how you can take care of YOURself with rewards and recognition for the value YOU provide.

Assess how well you are:

1. INFLUENCING: Getting your voice heard when decision are getting made - and having it be a part of the decision.
2. GAINING PERSPECTIVE: Understanding how the larger business functions and operates and how what you do helps that.
3. HANDLING INCREASING COMPLEXITY: More and bigger projects, more stakeholders, more visibility, more risk.
4. MAKING IMPACT ALIGNED TO BUSINESS NEEDS: Getting visibility for the value of your contributions, in context with what the business needs.

Start articulating your contribution in these terms to your manager and build a relationship with your boss. Make sure your boss knows you're his ally - that you can be counted on to have him prepared when he walks into meetings and when he's stopped in the hallway by his boss.

Start building your own network within the organization so that other people get visibility into the value of your contribution - so that they talk to him about you.

There is nothing you can do about him, but there's loads you can do for yourself.

And THEN you can try to influence for how the rest of the team is rewarded and recognized.

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

🚨 ON YOUR RADAR

🎧 New Season Alert: We’re kicking things off with an Ins & Outs episode where I unpack what needs to stay in 2026, and what needs to be lovingly retired, alongside my fellow shit-talker, Jessica Winder. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

🚨 Can you handle the hard truths about HR in 2026? Aon is hosting a free virtual chat on Jan 22th with yours truly, where we'll cut through the optimism theater and get brutally honest about how we can stay prepared this year. See you there? *

✍🏽 What will L&D look like in 2026? I'm joining a panel of incredible folks and Safe Space members to discuss! Grab a spot here. 

❤️ From ‘I Hate it Here’ to ‘I Love it Here’: Your Culture Transformation Roadmap. HR can influence culture change in any organization, and this course teaches you how. Join the Safe Space community to access it! 

*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners

📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Each week I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe would be relatable to this week's newsletter topic.

This week, we’re looking at appreciation at work. Check it out HERE  ⬇️

FRIDAY FUN

By 2028, 1 in 4 candidate profiles will be fake, according to Gartner. 

Sooo just one more thing for us to worry about! I posted about it on Linkedin and the commentary was fascinating from HR teams being scammed to ATSes being flooded. 

Add this to our to-do list!! 

That's all for this week! If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I'm allll ears.

Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏

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