Unfortunately, I was truly a spoiled brat and after the money ran out, I opted to move back with my parents. No more free spirit. No more gallivanting. It was all blunt reality. I bounced and reeled from one job experience to another. I experienced the bottom rung of the hoi polloi and the over-optimistic ambitiousness of the un-pragmatic. I have put on airs and have been deluded about what career future means.
I eventually returned to school and achieved a degree in History. But it was only for the sake of learning a discipline and finishing what I started after high school. I never believed my degree would advance my standing in this world. Yet through chance and circumstances, and the course of many years, my standing is now that of an “HR professional”.
HR-DNA
After much trial and error I realized this profession fits me like a glove. Maybe I would’ve been better off getting a degree in HR. But my degree comes from a different place. It comes from a place where you learn about people. You learn about what people need to fulfill their work lives. You learn about what motivates people in their work lives. You learn that without people there is no ROI, profit and loss, and no [fill in your favorite business/management buzzword/phrase].
It hasn’t all been wine and roses. There have been mistakes along the way. But as years go by, the mistakes come farther and fewer between and I’m very comfortable in this skin. I’ve joked in the past that this type of work requires a person to possess a particular gene or chromosome. However it’s difficult to know when you possess HR-DNA. For me, the Fates have lit the way and shown me examples of why this was to be.
A Crab’s Job
One sign was a time years ago when I was walking to work through Philadelphia’s Chinatown. The sidewalk and roads were busy with commuters. The morning was typical except that I encountered a large crab on the sidewalk. The creature appeared confused, walking aimlessly and snapping its claws aggressively at passers-by. Most people kept walking only recognizing at the last second a crab was snapping at them. Since I like crabs, I thought it was very endearing. However I was concerned for its safety as it would get too close to walking into the street. Despite it snapping at me indignantly I was able to shoo it away from being crushed by a car.
I surmised that the crab was the property of the fish market on the corner. Their door was open to the sidewalk and this crab managed to jump out of the glass case and was making a run for it. Concerned for the crab's safety I told someone in the market and they came out and scooped it up.
As I continue my walk to work I realized the irony behind what I just did. I just saved a crab from being stepped on or crushed by a car, only to be prepared later for someone to eat. However this was not a case of altruism for altruism sake or mistaken priorities. This was a case of keeping the crab on the course it was destined to have. Its job was to be someone's food. The shopkeeper's job was to maintain inventory and sell such inventory for food. My job as their interim HR person in this relationship was to protect, steer, notify, advise and step out of the way to let them do their jobs.
Crabs are not likely to follow you home like a stray dog. So once the Awww-look-at-the-cute-crab-feeling dissipated, my HR-DNA took over. If you’ve got it, you can't stop it. Even in the least likely cases, it's always there ready to do HR
Do you have it and does it arise at the most unusual times?
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4 Comments:
Paul,
Sounds like you're saying HR is always the employer's ally? Aren't there clear times when we're employee advocates who say "No" to bad management?
Cheers!
Chris
Great post. Most of my early HR work (outside of the technical side) included mediating and facilitating improvement events. Everyone told me how valuable it was and what a great job I did with it. To me, it came so naturally it didn't (and still doesn't) seem like work. So I guess that's my DNA kicking in.
Chris:
One of the things that makes HR a challenge is you have to work with both sides to bring them to the middle. I think if Paul is implying anything about being on management's "side," it includes teaching them the right way to handle business so you don't have to mediate as much.
I didn't think I was implying that HR allies itself with employers. Is that because the crab's fate is to be ate? Is being eaten seen as a bad thing, or can it be viewed objectively as the crab's role to play.
I like what Dwane said. However I would generalize it further. Every person has a role to play in an organization. I don't see HR's role as "allying" itself with any one person. That suggests that HR take sides. HR looks at the mission and goals of the organization and the roles that need to be played in order to fulfill that mission and goals.
HR is a partner in this process...and that can entail many things. I encourage the idea that HR should let roles be played & get out of the way.
Excellent post, Paul - really got me thinking about the idea of HR-DNA. I, too, came into the work of being an HR professional after a degree in theater and almost a decade as a professional stage actor (while working as a receptionist, secretary and office manager to pay the bills). I believe I have noticed my HR-DNA present in sort of reverse - I notice when I am in a position that doesn't engage it. For instance, when my role in an organization is primarily that of a manager of employees as well as being the sole HR person (plus payroll and benefits). I find that, while my HR-DNA knocks on the inside of my head and guides me, I get distracted by the day-to-day management and have a difficult time being "my own partner" as it were.
I completely agree with your great statement that HR should let roles be played and get out of the way...my challenge is getting out of my own way.
Thanks for the opportunity to think about this and share. Now...back to it.
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