Oh, the humanity...
I enjoy writing. I always have. It seems to serve me well as an outlet to my absolutely raucous mind. I have to share that...it is a virtual tempest of baggage, things to do, problems, micro and macro crises, trials and tribulations....dotted with dreams, longings and aspirations. And oh, there are longings. And there's the recently identified mid-life crisis.....the recently acquired red sports car, the desire to eat well, running to stay in shape, doing yoga to become more flexible and zen, and to look as good as I ever have. And there is the proliferation of beginning multiple sentences with conjunctions. But I digress. Damn.
There is only one thing more liberating to me than putting on a pair of running shoes and taking off on a run of unknown length and duration. That would ostensibly be cracking my laptop and putting fingertips to these stupid chiclet-style keys computer builders are so keen on putting on portable machines these days. If only I could master that damned SHIFT key. If you encounter a stray lower case "i", please know it to mean "I". i, no...*I*, would be eternally grateful. Hell, if it wasn't for this keyboard, I would have nowhere to channel this overly verbose tripe, and I would likely explode. And that would leave a mess.
There is something quite gratifying about putting these thoughts down in soft-copy. It is sort of like a cache cleansing on a bogged down PC. I am rampant with so many random and disjointed thoughts throughout any given day, that an outlet is almost academic. Needed. Required. I am surprised I get any sleep at all, really. Let me tell you my thoughts on people. People you may work with or live with. People who seem to make the clock hands move quicker during the day, and those who seem to make them move slower, stop, then move backward.
As a manager, one must assume the responsibility, at least as a sympathetic ear, to other people's problems...at least to a degree. As much as it seems ridiculous as an idea, it is absolutely key to understanding other people. Walking a mile in their shoes. Being in their head. Understanding the whats, whys, whens, and occasionally, the elusive hows. Being sensitive to their situations....their little microcosm, their "slice" of this bigger thing smarter people than I haven't figured out yet. To what end? Simple. To be an effective human resources officer, you have to understand and decipher the "human" part. People can be strange, so very, very strange. Yet, people can also be wonderful. There is just so much grey between those two lines, that it seemingly boggles the mind. For example, there are some people who you may not be able to make eye contact with, because of how awkward they make you feel. The sound of their voice and the content of their dialogue makes you cringe. The Strange. We all know a few, and I am no doubt one of them to you. Others, the wonderful, make you jump out of bed every morning with such vigour, so that you can spend the most time possible with them, to see where they may take you and what yarns they may spin. The "greys" are usually acquaintances, of increasing degree of familiarity. All of these makes up the whole. The battle to figure out what makes people do what they do is elemental to figuring out the "human" aspect of human resources.
I have always regarded Human Resources as the most challenging aspect of management. People provide such infinite variables. Every single person is their own little enigma, wrapped up in a riddle, and stuffed deep inside a paradox. So incredibly beautiful, yet, somehow, so incredibly bizarre. One cannot ever hope to understand everyone. But having a little insight, a little sympathy, and some empathy and understanding of what makes other people do what they do, and act how they act, will provide a good basis in the fundamental. The puzzle that makes up human nature has baffled even the most foremost psychological minds.
Here is how I explain the science of Human Resources, when it all boils down: I find that people, ALL of us, are akin to a jigsaw puzzle that lacks that *one* missing piece to mark it's completion. It's not absent or hidden on purpose. Not at all. It's vacancy is meant to be filled with a modicum of understanding and compassion from someone else. That completes it, really and truly. I'm not sure I can make it any clearer than that, especially at this hour.
I suppose I just need to not take it so personally sometimes.
Thanks for making it this far.
Cheers
-D
