HR Lessons From the Girl Scouts

This isn’t going to be a post about how to build a better campfire or how we can sing happily about our friends being like silver and gold.  I’m not going to compare earning Girl Scout badges to learning and development, although that may be a future post.  What I want to write about is the recent news that the Girl Scouts are discontinuing two cookie flavors in some areas….

Dulce de Leche and Thank you Berry Munch

With the cuts there is controversy and speculation.  Is it the economy?  Is it a calculated decision?  You’ll have to read the story to find out all the details.  The good news is that according to CNN, “The group’s most popular cookies — Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-Dos, Trefoils and Lemon Chalet Cremes — will still be available everywhere.”

HR could take a lesson here.  We have all these great services that we offer that are our equivalent to Thin Mints.  Our Samoas.  But sometimes we get so far off track trying to create new programs that we loose sight of what our customers ,the employees, really want.  They don’t care about us rolling out the newest Dulce de Leche performance review tool, they just want to be able to measure performance.  They don’t want to try the Thank You Berry Munch recognition program, they just want a solid program that will last.  Why?  Because sometimes when you come up with gimmicks for programs it just seems too far to stray from the core things customers want.

Our customers want us to be accurate and available to guide them around:

• recruiting and sourcing
• compensation and benefits
• managing performance
• training
• compliance
• employee relations

So, stick with those “thin mint” basics, lose the gimmicks and know when to cut out those programs that really are not adding value to the key areas where employees and leaders need guidance.

As a side note….does anyone know where I can get my hands on some Thin Mints?   🙂