An Idea Worth Sharing: HR Style

The other day, while sitting in a track at #rcnvstexas thinking deep thoughts about the future of work and HR and whatnot, I received a text message from a friend. It was a simple one. It was also one of the Top 10 most boring phrases every human resources professional must employ in her career: “I have to write a safety management plan.”

Now that’s some #sexyHR.

And, the wheels of commerce being in constant motion, this meant she needed to (a) write this plan in a week and (b) roll it out – presumably with the accompanying training for employees, managers and company leaders.

Yup. #SuperSexyHR

My friend followed up her original text message with another SMS: “do you by any chance have a plan I can use as a template?”

Luckily, since I save e-v-e-r-y- t-h-i-n-g, I was able to say “I sure do; give me a few and I’ll email it to you.”

Which I did.

Social. Sharing. Somewhat detailed. Not necessarily cutting edge content of course; pretty pedestrian when all was said and done. Kind of dull and, let’s face it, probably google-able. The kind of stuff that bores some people to tears. “OMG…I would stab a fork in my eye if I had to do that kind of crap.” Real day-to-day trench HR. Mind-numbing to some; comforting to others.

Necessary to many.

That 5 minute interaction between colleagues, in its ultimate simplicity, defines the foundation of open source HR. #HROS is, as defined by Lars Schmidt and Ambrosia Vertesis, “a movement designed to encourage employers to open up their HR playbook, share their best practices, inspire and learn from their peers in talent acquisition and management.”

The vision of #HROS is to transform the field of HR to become more strategic and innovative with values of:

• Sharing is caring (openness)
• Have an impact (action)
• The community is greater than the individual (humility)
• Learn through collaboration (inspire)

Do the HR gals and guys at your local SHRM chapter meeting yearn to be more strategic? More innovative? Are they consumed by desire to set the world on fire? Well…not all of them. But some of them.

I do believe, I really do, that more and more and more HR practitioners are restless. They want to bust out and try something different. They crave new information. They want to be inspired.

We who work in HR, especially in fly-over country (aka not Santa Clara. Not NYC. Not London) may feel as if we’re the only ones slogging about with spreadsheets and word documents. Streaming is banned. There’s no wifi at the office. “For the love of G-*-D I have worse technology at work than I do at home!!” has been the keening lament of many an HR lady.

We sometimes feel like the only ones in an analog world while everyone else is living digital.

But you’re not alone, my fellow HR practitioner. You’re never alone when you have access to people. When you have access to ideas.

Is a safety management plan inspiring? Innovative? Transformative? Maybe not. But it’s shareable.

And sharing…IS caring.

**********

Check out HR Open Source (#HROS). I’m truly honored to be serving on the volunteer team with a bunch of inspiring friends, colleagues, and overall amazing people.