HR is Surreal !!

This past week I was fortunate enough to be on vacation in Clearwater Beach, Florida with my family.  We’re a close family that tries to explore the areas we go to.  We’re not the sit on the beach for 7 days group.

One of the things that my wife and kids “tolerate” is my art fix.  You see, I love to see art of all kinds.  I need to get a fix when we go on vacation just to refuel creative juices.  I love to see how others express themselves and am fairly open to most types of art.  We spent one day in beautiful St. Petersburg which has a very cool art vibe to it.  After exploring local artist shops, we went to a mecca . . . at least for me. The Dali Museum !!

Salvador Dali was his own person (to say the least).  It was so cool to walk through the museum to see that he started out “normally” to learn from the contemporaries of his day and used a more traditional style.  This changed as he aged and he found his own voice.  Listening to the walking tour, you found out that Dali’s extremely different surreal paintings were his attempt to capture what people’s dreams really looked like.  His images are vibrant, intricate, deep in meaning and disturbing at times.

If you haven’t looked into Dali’s work, you should.  I’m sure you’d recognize his work and images.

As odd as it may sound, I saw HR all throughout the Dali museum.  In fact, I dig the fact that he was so radically intentional in what he did, what he painted and how he lived.  He also tried to express the innermost thoughts and images of himself and others.

In our field, we hear the thoughts and feelings of people every single day.  The question is – do you take the time to delve into the layers of these encounters, or are you just placating people to get them to “move on” ??  People are like art.  They deserve to be observed, examined and enjoyed.  They may not always fit your taste, but they all have value to offer.  They shouldn’t be skipped over to get to the “more attractive” or “more well known” piece.

Like Dali’s work, people are also fluid, unpredictable, layered and unconventional.  That’s what makes them amazing !!  The key to understanding this approach though is to be like Dali – intentional !!  You don’t have to go with the flow in your organization, or in HR !!  Going against the flow is much more freeing and gives you a perspective that others who just going the same direction never see.

So, this week look at the palette around you that make up the canvas of your corner of the HR universe.  Put your touch on it and bend it, shape it, crinkle it and make it shine.  Release your inner Dali !!