Shock & Awe

For many years now, I’ve prided myself on being able to break the traditional HR mold and actually partner with operations managers to positively impact their businesses rather than just whine about not being invited to the table. Sometimes you have to settle for the “kids” table if you don’t get invited to the “adult” table, but I’m here to tell you that the kids table is usually where it’s at anyway. That’s where middle management lives and they are the key group that has to live with the day to day consequences of what gets discussed at the adult table. If you can make a difference to this group’s day-to-day struggles, you earn a reputation of trust and partnership that won’t easily be broken.

That being said, a lot of HR practitioners trudge through the day wondering where these operations managers were trained to interact with people; perhaps Mars or Venus where Men and Women are purportedly from. Unfortunately, everyone lives here on Earth now so the Mars and Venus-think doesn’t work on any of these employees. I know, I know, HR people are such snobs when it comes to people management skills. But seriously, if all you operations managers would just get it right, we’d all get along wonderfully.

As you know, I’m working a temporary contract at a local organization’s corporate offices. This is where the shock & awe comes in. Although I’ve only been here close to three weeks now, I’ve got to break out my gold stars. These folks actually get it. The majority of managers here not only “get it”, they take pride in people management and WANT to be part of the process. That’s right, I said want. In just three weeks, I’ve seen a couple of incredibly tough decisions made that had to be signed off at the highest level of the organization……… and they stepped up to the plate and did the right thing rather than the easy thing. Even in this economy, the final decision was about people (long-range financial implications), not short-term numbers.

I’m just happy that I’m still able to recognize and be impressed by these occurrences. It’s nice to know I haven’t been completely jaded by the dark side yet! If for no other reason than our own sanity, keep a look out for the good decisions that are made and try to increase their frequency.

Good day!

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