TRUTHS You Can’t Forget
When Lift-up The Ladder of Success In HR
THE FIRST TRUTH:
Your HR credentials mean nothing without ACTION
It doesn’t make any difference if you have a genius IQ, plus an MBA, GPHR, SPHR, CCP and a PhD in Human Resources (if such a thing exists). You won’t make meaningful career progress in the real-world without taking action and getting results.
Don’t take it wrong. From the views of HR experts, for beefing up your HR credentials and engaging in constant
professional development until the day you die.
However, doing these things
guarantee you nothing. The reason you do them is that they
will make you a more confident and capable HR professional. That’s all. There’s a huge difference between
KNOWING HOW to do something and ACTUALLY DOING IT WELL. Knowledge, capability, skill and
intelligence are not all that important without action and results to validate
them.
THE SECOND TRUTH:
You are truly in business for yourself
No matter how you make your living
in HR or who you think you work for, you really only work for one person
YOURSELF.
The big question is;
What are you
selling and to whom?
Even if you have a full-time, salaried position in a
Fortune 500 sweatshop, you are still running your own business.
You are the
“product” and you’re selling:
- One unit of your existence (an hour of your life)
- At a set price (the associated fraction of your salary)
- To a big customer (your employer)
- Populated with consumers who must be satisfied with the value you provide (your clients).
So how can you become a more
valuable product? It’s simple.
Solve more problems. Produce more solutions. Companies love HR people who are proactive,
flexible problem-solvers. What kind of problems should you be
solving? Simple.
The problems that plague your organization or your clients the
most. If you have the choice of pushing
back, grousing and complaining about why these problems exist in the first
place. Or jumping in the mix, positioning yourself as a “solution provider” and
building your HR brand in the process. I say opt for the latter.
But let’s get real. Chances are no
matter how much value you’re adding, if the business goes belly up, you can
expect to get canned. But just because you lose your job doesn’t mean that you
lose all your experiences, talents, ideas, leadership and determination. Again,
you are a business. You are not your job, so don’t lose
your identity in it. Your job isn’t your security
blanket. Your business is.
THE THIRD TRUTH
Happiness & success in HR are two different things.
The point: “What will make me
happy?” and “What will make me successful?” are two of the most important
questions you can ask yourself about your career in HR.
But they are two different
questions. And they may have two different
answers. You can be successful and unhappy. You can be happy and not successful. You can, of course, be both.Which are you?
THE FOURTH TRUTH
You will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity lands on your doorstep.
The thing which consistently
see that holds savvy HR folks back is their own reluctance to accept an
opportunity simply because they don’t think they’re ready. When does this happen? Anytime.
It could happen if you’re offered a
“once-in-a-lifetime” big promotion to China. It could happen if you’re asked to
lead the company-wide task force on improving employee engagement.
It could happen if one of your
clients, a powerful senior executive, taps you on the shoulder and asks you for
some candid feedback on how she can work better with her team.
In cases like this, it’s natural to
doubt yourself and question whether you have what it takes. But the truth is nobody ever feels
100% ready when a big opportunity arises. Why?
Because most great opportunities
jerk us out of our comfort zone and force us to stretch ourselves emotionally
and intellectually, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first. And when we don’t feel comfortable,
we darn sure don’t feel ready.
Significant moments of opportunity
will land at your doorstep throughout your career in HR.And, if you are looking to make significant
progress in your career you will need to embrace these moments of opportunity…even
though you will never feel 100% ready for them.
THE FIFTH TRUTH
Your good friends will come and go.
From personal experience, would appreciate to share that it’s easy to succumb to career pressures and refuse to set aside time
for quality time for family and friends. Not Facebook time. Actual face time.
Sure, it’s true that many people you
meet in your life will just fade away. Most of your high school friends
won’t be part of your college life. Most of your college friends won’t
be a part of your 20-something professional life. Most of your 20-something friends
won’t be there when, after many years of effort, you finally land that job of
your dreams in HR. But some friends will stick.
And it is these friends – the ones
who transcend time with you – who DO matter.
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