November 22nd, 2010
A couple months ago, Trish McFarlane wrote a post that hit home with me. It was titled, Hope is not a Strategy, and spoke about how difficult it can be at times to deliver on both the promises that we make to our profession and the promises that we make to our family.
This post has stuck with me since I read it because this is a constant struggle in my life. It has also stuck with me because I think it speaks to some aspects of human resource work that we often overlook. And when something stays with me for a long time, I have to assume that means I am supposed to write about it. So, a few thoughts…
Doing stuff that matters is hard.
I would say that there is no shortage of people not really engaged in their work today. I would also say that there is no shortage of shitty parents in the world. To be a loving, involved parent and also to have a craft that you are passionate about is a lot. It is also incredibly important, as that is how we get healthy kids and that is how we get healthy organizations. My wife and I both work. We are also both part-time stay at home parents. Every week is crazy in our house, especially when I am traveling a lot. Sometimes there is no simple answer to how we are going to get through the week and meet all of our commitments. And sometimes we do not, but most of the time we do and we approach both of our roles with love. There are times that it is incredibly hard, but we also remind each other occasionally that we are incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful, crazy, crazy, crazy family and work that we love.
Doing hard stuff makes you good.
Trish is well known and well respected as an HR blogger and part of the brains and brawn behind HRevolution. I am pretty sure she is also rock and roll as an HR professional and as a mother. I think that feeling like you are being pulled in a couple of different directions is valuable in terms of growth and learning. It makes you more efficient, it makes you get clarity on what matters, it makes you more resilient. It introduces you to yourself. I started my business at home with a 3 week old baby girl in my lap. That made me better at my work and it has made me a better parent I believe. Last week I took our 3 year old daughter on a business trip with me, the week before that I took our 3 year old daughter and our 6 month old son to a business lunch. Those were both firsts for me, and neither was part of “the plan”…but things had gotten a little jammed up and that was what had to happen. Now I know that I can pull both of those things off if needed. Anybody can deliver a webinar, I happen to know that I can rock a baby and deliver a webinar at the same time and do both correctly. I think that Trish has very real commitments in both her personal and professional lives and the struggle to deliver on both has made her uniquely talented and resilient and authentic in both of her roles.
Our own lives are wonderful laboratories for studying the work that we do.
We talk a lot about policies, process, research, best practices, etc., in our work. Sometimes it sounds like there is not a lot of space for humans in human resource work. Sometimes I think we convince ourselves that we are working with some kind of tangible commodity like pounds of sugar or gallons of milk. We are not. We are working with the opposite of that. This work is not rocket science, it is far more complex than rocket science because each human being is in some way a one of a kind event…in unique situations with a unique perspective, unique experiences and unique gifts. Sometimes we act like there is this uniform group of people that we work with (employees) and we know what motivates them and we know what frustrates them and we know how they will respond to this policy or that decision. I think that is rarely the whole truth, and if we are paying any attention to our own lives we can see that. Each of us is a work in progress…or at least we can be, if the people and institutions in our lives are supportive of that.
I don’t know…I think strategy can be a little over-rated. I think that hope is sometimes how we find out what is possible. If we just do what is feasible or realistic we don’t go anywhere new. I like hope, and I am glad that Trish reminded me of that.
I am glad that Trish stretches. I think it probably makes her a better parent and a better professional, even thought it does not always feel like it at the time. I think it is part of the reason why HRevolution exists…rather than ask herself what can be done, she asks herself what needs to be done. Then she goes there. And sometimes hope is part of that journey.
Hope is how we get there.
The same is true of our employees as well. Do we know what they are stretching towards? Do we support them in that…or do we make it harder? Do we reward employees for being hopeful?
The world is full of people who can talk very seriously about what is realistic. The status-quo has plenty of advocates already. You and I can focus on hope.
Be good to each other.