Why has HR become passive within the organization? There’s an on-going movement that is somewhat disheartening, and that is that HR feels it’s role is to be reactive and prepared. To always play defense is not a healthy way to approach daily work.
Granted, HR does have to react because of the intangibles that people have each day, but if you’re just waiting for the red alarm phone to ring furiously off your desk, so you can jump into action, you’re doing things backwards. Also, I can’t imagine how stressful you feel HR is by approaching the field this way. When I talk to my peers, too many of them put themselves in this camp. They also feel that this is what is “expected” of them from Senior Management. Yikes !!
Time for something new . . .
Do you have ideas? If so, do you share them, implement them, or shy away from them? Do you feel you do/don’t have permission to act on your ideas?
Have you fallen into the pit of doing things the same way every day and for every situation? If that is the case, let me share that I think that you have missed the value of how vastly different people and each situation you face truly is. Most of us stopped either having, or sharing, ideas because we listened to others who beat us down when we want to try something new.
The other pitfall to ideas is that we think that systems “fix” people. If we have the best system, it won’t matter who the people are. (I’ve heard this quoted verbatim at a company !!) People are the difference at work and great people make great systems shine !!
Back to ideas . . .
I’d like to challenge you to follow my personal model. I intentionally try to come up with 3 to 5 ideas a day to try something new at work. Some are massive ideas, and some are small, trite things that take little to no effort. The second step is that I try EVERY idea out. EVERY ONE !! That isn’t an exaggeration.
The response I can hear those of you reading this is – “But how do you have the time to have 3 to 5 ideas a day and then try them out? My day is so full, I couldn’t possibly do that !!” The fact is, my day is overflowing and I love that !! With 3 to 5 ideas every day, it’s also new, challenging, fresh and positive. Is that true with your full day ??
So, try it. You have to remember that you don’t need permission to think and create. You’re EXPECTED to think and create !! Need to go now. New idea brewing . . .
