If you didn’t know this about me . . . I am a music freak !! Each week I write a song parody about HR in the HR Net. I try to post on Twitter each day using the #HRMusicShare tag to see what other music HR pros are enjoying. Just started sharing music with UK HR friends about what music we are listening to during our work commute using @CommuteMusic with a theme each week !! And, then I make sure to have music constantly playing in the car, at my office, or on my laptop.
I know I have issues, but I’m good with it !!
However, this weekend, I mixed absolutely all of my HR geekedness when I saw Peter Frampton play live with the Cincinnati Ballet performing in front of him and his band !!
It was sublime. Seriously, it was simply amazing to hear music I grew up with interpreted through dance. Frampton was so moved by this combination that the 2nd act was made up of completely new music that he composed just for this three performance event !!
As the notes of Black Hole Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Do You Feel Like We Do wafted into the air and over the crowd of the Aronoff Center, I thought about the unlikely mix of rock n’ roll with the artistry of ballet. The creative director for the ballet wrote in the program how difficult it was to convince Frampton to do this and for the ballet community to embrace a completely different medium.
It’s honestly like mixing HR into business !! For years, HR has focused on getting a “seat at the table” which is a silly venture honestly. Great HR is strategic daily in what it does and how it approaches the practice of HR throughout an organization. This isn’t about getting acknowledgement to sit in an Executive Level meeting.
Try this instead . . .
Fully integrating HR throughout an organization is a much healthier, and sustainable, approach. Bringing the constant angst, struggle of people in all their flawed glory (rock music) with the beautiful flow of business (ballet) is more natural than you think !!
Most people say they have to “go to” or “come to” HR inferring that HR exists outside the normal movements of business in an organization. I look at it this way – if you’re department has people in it, then you have HR all around you !! So, quit trying to play on a stage where people have to come see your concert. Bring your concert to them !!
Just like the ballet I witnessed this weekend, this works. This week, strap on your guitar, plug in your amp and crank it up. The ballet is waiting for you !!
Image courtesy of Cincinnati Ballet
Steve – well said, WELL SAID! As another member of the very blessed audience at the Aronoff on Saturday, I whole-heartedly agree with you on both of your insights: 1) The concert/ballet was absolutely amazing and so much more than I’d expected (I “bought the T-shirt” – literally!) and 2) HR and business may seem like a dubious match – but when we allow the two to co-exist and truly “share the stage” – that’s where the magic really happens! Thanks for cluing me in about the fabulous Black Hole Sun third act ensemble number (I was mesmerized!) and also for encouraging us to see HR in this light! You ROCK, Steve! Well, I’m off to go make some HR-Business magic!!! 🙂
What a great way to look at it! As a “business” person with a real interest in “HR” issues, I couldn’t agree more!