This post will conclude a series on Twelve Lessons I Learned or Re Learned this Year. These final two are lessons that I am reminded of often. Within these two, I find challenge and reward.
Lesson Eleven
Your Lessons Can’t Be Forced On Others. My teenager reminds me of this daily. She has always been strong willed and independent. (I am not sure where she gets it really). She is determined to learn everything on her own and she is determined to do things her way. And from her, I was reminded that I need to let her. I have to trust that I gave her enough tools while she was growing up to make better choices and to learn from the few bad ones she makes a along the way.
When you consider how adults learn, we all know that it is not by listening to others anyway. However, I so often get the same response from managers when I ask how this employee or that employee should have known to make a better choice, “They should have known because I told them right when they started not to do it that way.” However, did we tell them why it was important? Or did we share the result of doing it that way? Did we give them the tools to make the right decision? Or did we just tell them to do it that way because we said so?
We need to provide the tools to trust employees to make the right choice. And when they make the wrong one, we need to coach them through the process.
Lesson Twelve
HR is Still the Best Job on the Planet. Despite all the bad press we get, HR can have the biggest impact on the organization. When it is good, you can see all the positive impact and when it’s not so good, you can see that too. Figuring out how to do it well is part of the challenge and with all the change that comes within organizations, the challenge is constant. And despite the challenge, HR can be the most rewarding job in the company when you find what works for your organization and see real impact to the bottom line. Many organizations still don’t expect HR to impact the bottom line in a positive way and often when it happens, credit is given to operations or other leaders. That remains part of the challenge and I say it’s ok if someone else gets credit. If we are doing this for right reasons, that doesn’t matter anyway.
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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.