My video, Go Where You Are Needed AND Wanted, is an update to my previous mantra, Go Where You Are Needed. The revision was prompted by my own experience, which is the backstory for the video…
In the summer of 2021, I was invited to interview for an executive leadership position. I wasn’t looking for a job because I was 100% committed to my business. But the opportunity was really exciting to me and I jumped at the chance to be considered. I didn’t get the job but I did have an epiphany: I was way more excited about the prospect of returning to executive leadership at someone else’s organization than I was about working in mine. I had been distracted by the excitement of building the business and hadn’t fully understood that building it meant creating demand for my services that I would then have to deliver over and over. While I enjoy both coaching and consulting, it turns out I don’t want to do either full-time. My biggest and best impact is leading an organization of decent size, where I can develop people and strategies to facilitate vision achievement through mission execution.
So, I made the decision to scale down my business, which is why I converted my core offerings to online courses. My top priority shifted to finding my next full-time job.
I have spent my entire career in human resources, from the moment in college when I decided my career should be about helping people to do their jobs better. Up until 2015, I had done nothing but HR. But then my role expanded to oversee other functions, and that’s when I felt I hit my stride. My experience in nonprofit led me to conclude that my desired role was CEO or COO of a nonprofit. I’ve been a CEO (of my own company) and a COO (of a software start-up that serves nonprofits) but I’ve not been a CEO or COO of a nonprofit. This fact has been a disadvantage for me in my job pursuit but the bigger hurdle has been convincing potential employers that my bag of tricks extends far beyond HR. For this reason, I rebranded my resume and tried to downplay my HR experience. At one point, I heeded advice to remove “change agent” from my LinkedIn headline. Ouch.
Out of necessity (i.e. to pay bills), I reluctantly returned to HR in December, 2021. Thankfully, it was a seamless rehire at my previous employer, HR Works, who originally placed me at my first nonprofit years ago. Wanting to keep myself open to long-term opportunities that are the best fit for me, I’ve only made myself available for short-term, interim jobs.
My first assignment was to fill a critical need following the resignation of the previous HR leader at a local manufacturing organization, where that person is the only HR practitioner. A vacancy of any length in that role introduces disruption and risk.
Very quickly, I reestablished credibility of the human resources function. Nearly immediately after my arrival, there was a collective sigh of relief among the employees. The most important element I reintroduced was responsiveness. I investigated all pending issues and quickly resolved them, keeping employees informed every step of the way. I then performed an overall assessment of the human resources function and developed a project plan to address gaps and opportunities. I executed as many tasks as possible before my departure.
While much of the immediate need centered around transactional HR duties, my ability to quickly organize and streamline files and procedures created space for me to contribute my strategic skillset, helping the organization to address key priorities. I was also instrumental in identifying, onboarding, and training the new HR Director. I documented all core HR procedures and developed a comprehensive onboarding and training curriculum. I took full ownership of the new HR Director’s training to ensure a smooth hand-off.
I didn’t treat it like a temporary job. I dove in, became invested in the company’s success, and executed with excellence. I helped find an outstanding person to replace me (and bonus – be my new friend!), and made sure she was set up for success. I’ve very proud of my contribution there.
Which brings us – finally – to the lesson of this blog post. There are plenty of organizations who need what I can uniquely do and who I uniquely am. I’m not talking about the HR knowledge as much as my leadership persona: responsive, ethical, decisive, accountable, compassionate, etc. But many don’t want that – even if they say they do. They don’t want a change agent – even if they say they do. It’s too threatening to the hiring team because guess what – I will be holding and hugging THEM accountable too!
Yet, thankfully, some DO want a change agent. Some DO want someone who can come in and make an immediate and sustainable impact. That was the case in my recent interim role. I was universally accepted and appreciated by employees at all levels of the company, EVEN when I was holding/hugging them accountable.
[Now, you might wonder why I didn’t just stay there then. That’s simply because the job itself wasn’t a good fit for me. While I was/am able to roll up my sleeves and do everything in HR, I am best suited for roles that showcase my strategic and relationship skills and enable me to tackle important business challenges that make a significant difference to the company and those who work there. I want to be in the position to lead through a team I get to develop, where we are all in positions best aligned with our strengths and interests.]
I remain interested in other executive leadership roles (nonprofit or for profit), but since my job search efforts in that regard have not been fruitful and I’ve been able to make a big impact by leveraging my HR background, I’m now thinking it makes sense for me to lean on my core competency there rather than bury it. Because there ARE organizations who need AND want me to do what I do best, and that may not be more obvious than when I’m leading HR.
And HR needs me too. One of the reasons I tried to run fast and far away from HR is because it has a terrible reputation overall. Even my favorite influencer, Alan Weiss, detests HR. That’s because for every fantastic HR leader out there – and there are many – there are people who have no business being in HR. Those people make the whole HR industry look bad and as a result, few employees trust their HR team. What a travesty! Great HR people fuel great businesses. HR shouldn’t just produce paychecks and performance reviews or worse, be an active barrier to organizational success and employee fulfillment. HR is meant to be a strategic business partner just like all the other key business functions. It should be THE function employees turn to in order to bring their best selves to work and THE function organizations rely on to develop and execute business strategies for the organization’s best and most critical resource: people.
So maybe instead of hiding my HR expertise and experience, I can use it to change the way people think about HR. That’s certainly what I did in my recent interim role. Scale that up and maybe someday employees around the world will actively seek out HR for trusted support and guidance, rather than make it a scapegoat for business failure and/or poor employee morale.
What about you? Are you knocking on doors that never open? Are you ready to give but can’t find anyone to receive? Maybe if you start embracing what you do that people need AND want, you’ll find yourself in the right place after all.
