HR

A million small things

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“It isn’t the [add subject in question], it’s the culture” 

I’ve read this a few times over the past couple of weeks and each time become increasingly more irked. The first time was on the blog of my friend and co-collaborator Rob Jones in a rather lame and cack handed defence of appraisals. Another time was from the enigma that is @fizzywizzy in relation to Lloyd’s bank introduction of quotas for female managers.

Of course, I get the point both are trying to make. But it also reminds me of one of the biggest weaknesses of the profession. The inability to see both the big and the small, to navigate the interconnected nature of everything that we do around people, to wrestle with the simple complexity that is the world of work.

If a culture isn’t made up of the interventions that an organisation has, what is it?

Culture doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Culture doesn’t make itself. Culture isn’t a higher being. Culture is a result of the million small things that we do at work every day. From a Human Resource perspective, culture is defined by every touch point that we offer to anyone in our organisation. The relationship between culture and intervention is multi faceted and multi directional.

The suggestion that somehow “culture” sits outside of the practical and the pragmatic is both dangerous and lazy. Dangerous because it allows us to excuse failure. Lazy because it suggests lack of influence.

If you want to develop your organisational culture, if you want to build and grow your organisation, start with the small. You can make a million small things happen much quicker than you think. And each of those, if correctly designed, thought through and implemented will go much further to developing your culture than big strategic round tables or away days.

The big is made of the small, the small influences the big. Culture is everything that we do.

It isn’t the culture that’s the problem, it’s everything we do.

The end of the manager

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Are we seeing the end of the manager? As a specific purpose, as a power?

Have we seen a shift in balance?

Are we seeing people accepting HR management as a profession, not just a skill?

How many times have you heard, “the business won’t like”, or “the business won’t accept”?

Who is the expert? The manager?

Not any more, perhaps.

Management is not a profession, management is not a calling. Management is a hierarchical concept.

An imperfect one.

We need managers, we need management.

But should we be beholden to them?

More and more organisations are realising that you need to bring more to the table than seniority. Clearly they don’t think so.

Lessons in life

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When I think about the things that my father taught me, two immediate pieces of wisdom come to mind:

– Never put a cork back in an open bottle

– Life is too short to stuff a mushroom

I’m sure there were others. He probably told me not to go in to hotel management (I listened), not to get married young (I didn’t listen) and not to do drugs or get a tattoo (I’m staying silent on these elements).

That’s the way we roll.

When I think about my approach to organisations, to management and leadership, however, I realise that I’ve maybe taken a little bit more on board over the years. Dad was a leader, a leader of people in some of the hardest circumstances that you can imagine. He ran prisons throughout his career, dealing with the good, the bad and the ugly.

Dad believed in trust. I know, because I heard this time and time again. He believed that people were best when they were trusted and should be trusted until they proved they couldn’t be. Dad believed in fairness, in equity and in transparency. Dad believed in building a workplace that showed respect and in turn earned respect.

My dad was a pretty awesome guy.

When I talk to people about my organisational philosophy, they often tell me that, “it won’t work in larger organisations”, or “it is fine in the creative industry”. I even hear, “that’s fine with professional people, but my staff….”

All of which are, of course, just excuses for inaction and ineptitude. Because dad was doing this years ago and in environments that would make your hair curl. Indeed, when a prison publicly melted down in 1995, they called on my dad.

Dad turns 70 today. We don’t always have a perfect relationship, we don’t always see eye to eye, we argue and say things that we don’t mean. But deep down, I’m starting to realise that so much of what I believe, so much of what I do, so much of who I am is driven by the way in which he ran, led and managed his organisations.

I hope one day to get to the top of my profession, in the way my father did. To be the exemplar, in the way he was. And when I do, I know that so much of everything that I believe is down to the early lessons I learnt as a kid. The beliefs bashed out over the dinner table.

Life IS too short to stuff a mushroom. You should NEVER put a cork back in to an open bottle. And you should lead people with dignity, respect and trust. Those are the lessons that my father taught me.

You can’t ask for more than that as a son.

It’s #mjday

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Many bloggers will tell you they write to express themselves. Whilst that might be true, we also like to be read. As a blogger of some years, I’ll admit to the pleasure of a reweet, the joy of a good day on the stats, the pleasure of a string of comments. Of course we write for self expression, but we write in public for reaction and opinion.

As there are too many voices in the social sphere, scrapping for space and time and attention. There are also far too few curators, sharers, linkers. The glue that binds the fractious world of egos and opinions together. The people that give space to new and old voices aside one another.

For me, since I started writing years ago, one person, one Twitter handle has always been there as a supportive voice on my shoulder. Sharing, encouraging, never short of a positive word or a comment. That person is @MJCarty or Michael Carty as he is known to his mum. Michael stands amongst us I n the world of social HR as a pillar of everything that is good and positive, low ego, low attention seeking, but high in giving of time, energy and commitment. His timeline is a “go to” for HR blogs, you’ll find him at HR events connecting with people in person and his addition to the general discussion and frivolity of Twitter is perhaps second to none.

In a strange turn of fate, on the day I saw a number of people unfairly criticising Michael for being selective in his coverage (never a more untrue word has been said) it also turns out it’s his 5th anniversary on Twitter today. So to my friends, my enemies, my supporters and detractors. Those I know, never knew, will know and don’t want to know. I ask you this, join with me in passing our thanks on to a true giant (in personality not stature) amongst us to @MJCarty.

Let’s celebrate. It’s #mjday.