I’ve had fourteen days respite from the cacophony of noise which swirls about the heads of our glorious HR market.  I haven’t picked up a trade magazine, attended a conference or drawn obvious human resources correlations using metaphorical hurricanes, presidential candidates or Michael Phelps.  No press interviews.  No white papers.  No self-important statements predicting the rise and fall of Vendor X or Strategy Y.  No table and no seat.  

Like a windsurfer who can’t turn, I drifted further from the shores of the obsessive, multi-media, real-time update world of industry analysis.  It wasn’t a conscious choice, but the wind kept blowing and the horizon seemed endless.  This wasn’t the product of a vacation or a woodsy retreat with only pocket knife and compass.  It was purely accidental.  I was busy dealing with the complexities of life, work and everything that comes with it.

I share this because it was during this time of contemplation that I remembered something important.  We are in the people business.  Not some fluffy, eye-roll inducing, feel-good/do-good version of HR, but the true business of people.  And whether we like to admit it or not, lives are impacted by the daily decisions we make as human resource professionals.  Often in the throws of impersonal analysis and macro strategies, we forget the champagne of a job well done and the tears of a career suddenly ended.  

I’ve heard a lot in the past few weeks by simply listening.  In coffee shops, the airport, the grocery store and the conference room.  Often, the sound is that of living life around work… sometimes, in spite of work.  A quiet desperation where “Keep your head down” and “Stay off the radar” rue the day.  This troubles me and makes me wonder whether we’re actually hearing what employees are saying, what keeps them up at night, what impacts their ability and willingness to do more than the minimum amount to get by day after day.

Don’t worry though, my natural tendency toward sarcasm will return.  I’ll get back on the horse and ride around with big consultant speak and peer again into the crystal ball.  But to survive in such a challenging industry as ours, it sometimes helps to pause, take stock of our collective purpose and recharge the batteries.  We’re a constant dichotomy between cynicism and hope, but our collective success will require fresh eyes and a clean lens.  If not for the temptation of actually making a difference, why would we torture ourselves by working in HR?  Let’s keep the conversation going. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm and is filed under General Thoughts, Human Capital/Human Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.