Converting small business owners into human resources believers

I recently had the pleasure of speaking on behalf of HR Source at an annual conference hosted by one of our member companies. The attendees were franchise owners of cleaning and disaster restoration businesses across the United States.

Many of the participants have been successful for decades while others are just starting out. While these leaders face a plethora of challenges, my presentation focused on the benefits of enthusiastically embracing the HR functions of their own businesses.

As you might guess, HR is not their favorite topic, nor where they prefer to focus their time and energy. If I hadn't been in front of an audience like this before, it might have been uncomfortable. Think of a classical pianist playing for a crowd of rowdy country music fans. The conference sessions on marketing techniques, building brand loyalty, and boosting social media results were much more appealing to their taste.

Luckily, I relish a challenge and know that using a conversational approach, ample humor, and relatable real-life examples would increase the chances of learning and engagement.

Although I used a traditional PowerPoint presentation, I didn't strictly follow it or make the attendees wait until the end of session to ask questions, share experiences, voice frustrations, or give advice to their industry colleagues. I actively listened to everything they had to say, acknowledged their concerns, and helped them problem solve in real time.

I even offered to continue the discussions during meals and at the scheduled group outing should they want more time to delve into particular issues they're facing in their organizations.

Spoiler alert … the program went well, and the feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. As usual when sharing my knowledge and expertise with employers, I also benefit greatly from what I learn in the process. The takeaways below resonated with me.

• HR gets more complicated each year, making it extremely hard for small businesses to remain in compliance.

• Understanding the long list of new and amended federal, state and local employment laws tends to be a low priority for most small businesses. It's not due to a lack of concern but simply a lack of resources.

• The risk of making legal mistakes is rising and sometimes results in unexpected, unpleasant and expensive wakeup calls.

• Most small business owners are working "in" their business, not "on" their business. HR responsibilities are often delegated to an administrative support role or even a family member (who may not even work for the company).

• Small businesses are experiencing difficulties recruiting, compensating, motivating, developing and retaining talent, which is shining a brighter light on the importance of improving internal HR capabilities.

Although I wouldn't describe the audience as "raving HR fans" by the end of my presentation, I am proud to report that I seemed to capture their attention and convince them that hiding their heads in the sand is not a reasonable strategy.

We agreed that the "devil is in the details" and that securing help from experienced third-party partners (like HR Source) is a proven way to stay informed, mitigate risks and ensure success.

• Mary Lynn Fayoumi is president and CEO of HR Source.