4 Common Bad HR Habits You Need to Swiftly Swap to Succeed

Serendipity strikes!Jumbo-sized coffee in hand - I was taking a break from putting the finishing touches on a client’s report.As a small treat I popped down the ultimate rabbit hole – following the pull of a thread that led me from Tweet to post, from quote to article.I continued along this breadcrumb trail (OK – I admit it – distractions), when I stumbled upon an article by James Clear on bad habits.From the annoying to the antisocial; from the destructive to just plain gross; bad habits are simply bad for you.

“Bad habits interrupt your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals […] And they waste your time and energy.So why do we still do them?”James Clear

This is an excellent question that got me thinking about Human Resources. What are some of HR’s Common Bad Habits?Now I don’t want to dredge up the past, open old wounds, pour salt in new cuts, speak of the short-comings that are sadly often attributed to HR.What I want to talk about is how to Successfully Start New Positive HR Habits that Actually Stick.According to James Clear “You don’t eliminate a bad habit, you replace it.”Are you ready to replace some HR bad habits?Here are my top picks of 4 common bad HR habits and 4 positive replacement habits.

Start with One Sticky Habit

Set yourself and/or your HR function up for success.

1. Swap Sympathy for Empathy: “Empathy fuels connection. Sympathy fuels disconnection.”Need a bit more context? Watch this life-lesson video short by Brené Brown on Empathy.

As an HR leader you will never want to start a sentence with “at least…” in difficult employee-related situations or challenging business circumstances again.

Forget the tea and sympathy, add some human in your HR with empathy.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw[/embed]

2. Prioritise Purpose over Policy: Regularly review and amend the scope of your employees’ work to make sure that the work they do matters and makes a difference. Ensure that their energy is directed towards the activities that contribute value to the business and has meaning for them.

“Without a why behind what you do, your work (career, job) becomes meaningless and ultimately useless.” Jeff Goins, The Art of Work.

3. Talk less and Listen more: How often is HR accused of churning out policies, procedures, email notifications and notices which are disconnected from the realities being faced by the business operation?

Stop causing friction and frustration. Start by practising The Art and Value of Good Listening.

There is a reason why the ears to mouth ratio exists. Communicate with that 2:1 ratio in mind and improve the connectivity and relevance of your HR efforts to real business needs.

4. Replace Busyness with Creativity: The antidote to mindless busyness is absolute focus on doing what has value and is meaningful. To do this you need to make time to create new material, explore new ideas and find solutions that deliver results.

Pop back to last week’s post to learn why you need to wean yourself off being busy.

Then head here for some ideas on how to inject creativity in your recruitment selection design.

If learning and development is your priority, zip over here for some ideas to add some pizzazz to lacklustre training material.

So savvy HR leader, set yourself up for success. Start by replacing one bad habit with one positive habit and stick to it.

To secure the future relevance of HR we need to start with the mind.

• Which bad-to-good habit pairing have you chosen to work on first?
• What other common bad habits do you or your HR need to quit?
• What positive habits do you think should replace the bad ones?

Let me know how you get on. Keep me posted via the comments below.

The HR Rabbit Hole will be on a short pause from next week. I will soon be on the road once again - cross-discipline adventuring, making new connections, exchanging stories and learning.

I am on a mission to find out more about the power of (higher) purpose and meaningful work. I have some great leads and intriguing clues of where to start my field research.

Here is a sneak peek into 3 stops on my travel itinerary.1. Free Rangers inaugural gathering. I going to hang out with a group of independent professionals for whom ‘work’ is no longer a 4-letter word.How did they escape the cubicle culture and win their freedom?2. At Hub Dot - a community for women to be inspired and connect through storytelling. I am looking forward to experiencing the transformative power of 'dot alchemy' at their 3rd anniversary celebration.3. On the cards is a re-connection with an old friend. She ditched dizzying heights of a stellar career at a top management consulting firm for work which has more purpose and meaning to her.Less pay and perks, but her heart swells as she can feel the positive impact her work has on her chosen cause. I am excited to hear about her journey.I will hit publish once again from The HR Rabbit Hole blog on Monday 15th FebruaryUntil then keep an eye out for my bite-sized updates of discovered tips and brainpokes via our Facebook page and Twitter.   Be sure to check in and stay in touch.Thank you for stopping by this week. If you enjoyed this post, please share so other readers can enjoy it too.Until we meet again down the HR Rabbit Hole on 15th February…