The 2010 Olympics are over, and you can’t help but feel just a little bit of a loss. The pride and patriotism that comes with rooting for Team USA – even if you have no idea what curling is or why it’s so darn popular in Canada – fills us up for 17 days every two years. Now that they’re over, though, we can look back and see what lessons can be learned.

1. Follow through on new projects is very important – NBC’s inexplicable decision to cut away from the closing ceremony abruptly to air a new show would lead one to think that NBC didn’t feel the closing ceremony for the Olympics – the world’s chance to get closure on an extremely emotional event – was important. If you are implementing a big project or process, and you put a lot of time and effort into the launch, you need to keep up the momentum. If you abruptly move on to the next thing, employees are going to perceive it as insignificant, and all the hard work you put into it will have been for naught. Or, even worse, make you look bad.
2. It really is all about your people. As Dan Wetzel points out, the Olympics weren’t great because of the logistics; they were great because the Canadian people embraced these Olympics like they had never embraced the Olympics before. You can market your brand or your project all you want, but at the end of the day, your people have to embrace it to really make it successful.
3. Forget Employee of the Month programs. Recognize amazing employees when they do amazing things. Joannie Rochette won the bronze medal in figure skating just days after her mother passed away suddenly. Petra Majdic won a bronze model in cross-country skiing with four broken ribs and a punctured lung. Bill Demong became the first American ever to win a gold medal in the Nordic combined. Shaun White and Torah Bright pushed snowboarding to new limits. The list goes on and on. You know you have employees who are amazing and go above and beyond every day, but never get the recognition they deserve. Remember, these are the employees who make your company great, and you want them to go on keeping your company great.
4. Treat everyone equally. Jacques Rogge, IOC president, shows favoritism to athletes from the powerhouse countries. So when Evgeni Plushenko showed poor sportsmanship after Evan Lysacek won the gold medal in men’s figure skating, Rogge stood up for Plushenko. However, when Usain Bolt showed poor sportsmanship when he won a gold medal in Beijing, Rogge verbally flogged him for it. Employees know when you play favorites, and it creates poor morale in the office. You should always make sure that all policies are applied equally and fairly.

Sure, I won’t miss the continuing saga of Lindsay Vonn vs. Julia Mancuso, or the antics of Evgeni Plushenko. But at least by remembering all of the great things that took place during the last few weeks and trying to keep that spirit alive until London in 2012, we can hold onto a little piece of the awesomeness that is the Olympics.

The latest HR Carnival is up over at the Simply Lisa blog! Get your winter coat and mittens on, because this carnival is in Minnesota! Brrr!

An early Christmas present (or belated Chanukah present) for all you HR folks – not only is the latest HR Carnival now up over at PseudoHR, but April Dowling, the PseudoHR leader, has turned it into a festive HR version of the Night Before Christmas! So go grab a cup of egg nog or some hot apple cider and settle in for some great holiday cheer from your favorite HR bloggers! Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It’s cold outside, so grab a cup of Irish Coffee and head on over to the Emerald Isle for the latest outing of the HR Carnival! Rowan Monahan’s Fortify Your Oasis has 25 posts from around the HR blogosphere for your reading pleasure, including our very own post, “Should Wellness Be a Choice?” So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Sorry for the late notice, but check out the latest HR Carnival over at The Human Race Horses. Not only are there over 80 posts of goodness awaiting you, but they’re giving $1 to charity for each post!

The latest Carnival of HR is up over at HR Maven, with a back-to-school theme. You know you miss the smell of chalk dust in the morning, so head on over and check it out!

From the U.S. Department of Labor:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division reminds employers and employees that the federal minimum wage increases to $7.25 on Friday, July 24, 2009. With this change, employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act will be entitled to be paid no less than $7.25 per hour. This increase is the last of three provided by the enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. A revised Federal minimum wage poster is now available for viewing, downloading, and posting. Every employer of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it.

The latest Carnival of HR is up over at the Infohrm blog. Our own Richard Manning, Jr. is featured under “Hungry? It’s Corndog and Deep-Fried Oreo time.” Go check it out!

The latest Carnival of HR is up at Effortless HR, and this round includes a posting by our very own Clifford Junio (not me, as is stated on there). Go check it out!

The Carnival of HR is up over at Ask a Manager. Check it out!