Written on November 1, 2010 by Charlie in #TrenchHR
I know, “but what about that face, Charlie, needs changing?” Don’t worry, only speaking figuratively. I’ve been blogging for a year now and have enjoyed all…ok most…of it. I’ve learned a ton, met a lot of great people, heightened my awareness of and sensitivity to our great profession. To some extent, it’s been cathartic for me – a place for me to kick and scream, to get it off my chest. But over that year, I stumbled upon something I have grown to become even more passionate about: Trench HR. I know some of you don’t like the term; you’ve told me it’s exclusionary and divisive. Whatever…boo hoo…get over it.
Trench HR is about those human resources professionals who are on the ground in companies taking care of their employees and doing great things for the organization every day of every week of every year. The environment that these professionals – of which I am one – operate in is far different from any other known to (wo)man. It involves triage, multiple commitments, competing priorities, misaligned expectations, limited resources, lots of stakeholders, too many cooks; one has to be a psychologist, a strategist, an attorney, a politician, a project manager, an administrator, an accountant, a steward, a salesperson, a marketer, an ambassador, a technologist. Being an HR professional is both a terribly complex and an underappreciated proposition. Yet good people post up and do it every day.
The HR social mediasphere is getting more and more crowded every day. And much of the noise comes from people who think they know what they are talking about, but don’t. Admittedly, I fall into that class a lot. But the scale is imbalanced. We hear too much from the people who are really good at helping us identify the problem, but very few who provide practical and reliable solutions. And a lot of what we hear we hear over and over again from the same groups of people (the echo chamber). I have claimed for a long time that we need to hear more directly and more often from those of us who are out there living, breathing and experiencing it every day. And because I don’t have the wherewithal to launch a Reality TV Series about the HR profession (although, if there are any producers listening, I’d be happy to consult), I’d like to start using the HR Fishbowl platform for more of the real stuff: interviews with successful HR practitioners, guest posts, case studies, best practices, lessons learned, career advice, meaningful debate…but all of it from and most of it for the Trench HR community. And much less of it from me. I’ve said about all I have to say – which really isn’t a whole lot. I want to remain active, I will drive the effort behind this initiative, and I will attempt to enlist many of you to participate in the cause.
If you’re interested in learning more about what I envision for this facelift and how you can be a part of it, Email me on [email protected].
Photo Credit: Motor Trend
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