Get Real HR !!

As you start the work week, what’s the first thing you are thinking about?  Are you geeked up to go into the next challenge or opportunity? Or, instead, are you fretting about the inordinate amount of drama you have to wade through?  I’ll bet you’re putting on your waders right now !!

Drama in the workplace is commonplace.  In fact, some HR people ONLY exist because they thrive on it, or they feel that HR’s role is to quell the drama.  People don’t fit into nice little boxes even though we try our hardest to make that happen.  There’s a huge difference though between a person’s diversity (of thought, ideas, approach, insight) and drama !!  We need diversity.  We don’t need drama !!

This was perfectly captured in Cy Wakeman’s book, Reality Based Leadership.  I know it’s been out for a few years, but some things in HR and Leadership are never “dated.”  This is one of those resources !!

Cy lends a mix of her own personal experience as a leader in the Healthcare arena with her interactions with some of her client companies.  The examples are tangible and when you read them you can almost always see yourself either involved in a similar situation, or know folks in your company who are struggling with the same things.

What seems to be obvious and simple when you read it is completely different than how most of us practice in our workplaces.  I agree with Cy in her take on how much of our daily work in HR is addressing drama.  It’s honestly tiring and unnecessary.  It was extremely refreshing to read about how this is prevalent in companies everywhere.  It was also encouraging to see a method to address the drama and . . . get real !!

It’s amazing to me that employees ask for you to be “real” with them, but what they really mean is that they want things to be seen and addressed their way – whether that’s real or not.

When we are faced with these situations in HR, we more often than not, strive to get to a neutral standing in order to squelch any conflict.  This isn’t getting real, it’s pretending that you’re Switzerland.  In the end, you may feel that things are settled, but the turmoil that is still continuing behind your back is usually bigger than the situation was in the first place.

I really dig Cy’s approach and have been practicing much of what she outlines in her book.  Employees truly appreciate you being straightforward with them and cutting through the mists of ambiguity.  It’s doesn’t mean you have to be a bulldozer.  It means you have the chance to be genuine – which ALWAYS works !!

I’m not going to highlight the key points or chapters in the book because I think resources truly become a resource when YOU read them yourself !!  This great book will stay active with me and on my desk as a quick reference and reminder of its value.  I highly recommend that you get a copy and have one for yourself !!  I promise you that it will give you great context on how you can get real in HR and love what you do !!