Knowing about HR is just one side of the story. To truly be great in the field you have to understand business!

In looking at new homes you can see how much more of a seller’s market there is out there. This also shows if you’re trying to obtain a loan for any type of credit. Hooray for many of you who are vying for loans. Unfortunately, the low rates have shamelessly low returns on savings accounts.

The low rates can affect a businesses ability - especially that of small business -  to invest in new capitol, maintain current operations, maintain stock, and maintain/increase it’s payroll [brutal evidence in the current slow decrease in the nations unemployment rate at 9.2% (compared to Ohio's 8.6)- see specifics at BLS.gov].

While the Federal Reserve officially concludes that the overall rates will not be raised anytime soon, there is an argument around the importance in raising rates now.

Thomas Hoenig, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, argues a sensible case for the increase in rates in an interview with NPR.

“I ask the question what good, what service, what transaction can take place at a price of zero… none is the right answer and that applies to credit…”

HR Is No Different Then Marketing!

Like Marketing, Communications, PR, Sales and any other part of a business or initiative… we are always trying to figure the R.O.I! Executives and line managers are constantly asking for how you plan on measuring and showing it. Many times they ask you

“So What”s the ROI” or “How are you going to measure this?”

I am often asked with the person on the other end having know idea themselves what or how to measure?

When You Have No Idea What You Want To Measure

When people do not know what should be accomplished, R.O.I. is often M.I.A. This is especially true when people don’t know what they want, understand how the end result should look, or are clueless on what to measure for success.

Outside of cost and sales over time, the metrics and results we try to pinpoint for R.O.I. are often hard to do. It doesn’t matter what field you are in. R.O.I. is a term that is nice to hear but often very hard to prove!

Yeah it is hard to do in Training, HR, and OD - but don’t get it twisted - it is also hard to do in any other field. People just assume that the results directly connect to a sale, operations being cut, or an initiative being launched; but really the true connected is often someones opinion rather than based on the fact.

Ask Anyone

Don’t believe me… Ask any decision-maker that is a high-level manager and they would tell you that what their unit did is what increased the sales and productivity. Then ask them, can you show me how you did it… that will tell you more!

What do you think? Asking for what you want is very different from getting what you ask for!