Captain HR is proud to lead the People Team as Director of Human Resources for Homestar Financial Corp.
getty
I challenge you today to think about decisions a little differently. As you grow in your profession, whether under the HR umbrella, as mine has been for two decades or as an individual contributor in a large organization or as an entrepreneur charting your own path, don't worry too much about following so-called “best practices.” You might just have a better solution, a more creative approach that more precisely defines and launches your vision.
Because it is not widely accepted as the “right way” and others have yet to deem it a “best practice,” does not mean you shouldn’t try your idea to see how it works for your situation. That vision you have been pondering for months could be a better solution for your unique circumstances and your business needs. In fact, it might just be the perfect answer, regardless of outside influences.
Here’s an example from my experience: About four years ago, I began thinking about a "year-one specialist" role for my HR team. After I finally put the concept to paper and fully fleshed it out, I tried finding others doing something similar so I could get external input and advice. I looked for job descriptions on job boards, checked job titles on LinkedIn and searched dozens of whitepapers but was unable to find anything that truly matched my vision of what the role could accomplish. Since my company was challenged with retaining and growing our employees, I decided to make my own concept of the year-one specialist role a reality, without worrying about whether other organizations were doing it or not.
Here the year-one specialist handles dozens of issues, including everything from posting open positions, identifying methods and frequency of communications, determining which job boards and recruiters to use, developing interviewing guides, improving applicant tracking, managing recruiting budgets and ultimately overseeing each step from acceptance of the job offer through Day 1 onboarding and orientation. The feedback loop includes surveys, emails, focus groups, mailers to employees’ homes and even telephone conversations.
I was fortunate to hire an experienced HR professional to lead the year-one specialist role. This former CHRO has made tremendous strides with our onboarding process and greatly improved the employee experience. The year-one specialist role has now morphed into several different people on the HR team handling various aspects of the original role design.
I recently found myself going through this process again, as yet another piece of our new hire process grew. Carving off a piece of the year-one specialist role, I am creating an employee onboarding experience specialist role. It will focus on all the pieces, both large and small, that must perfectly fall into place for the new employee to have a seamless new hire orientation/Day 1 experience. Again, I was not seeing or hearing about this role elsewhere until recently, when I heard others mention comparable roles. Whether I’d heard from others or not, I would have trusted my gut and followed my instincts to develop this role so new hires could have the best Day 1 experience in the industry.
The next step to fully realizing your idea? Connecting with others and then asking for their help and opinions. Here are a few ideas based on my experience to help that process:
1. Find people in your industry.
This is the obvious first but crucial step. Once you find fellow professionals, find more even more individuals outside that industry to help ensure you get fresh insights. Read bios and click on their LinkedIn profiles. Then send an email and tell them one or two reasons why you’d like a few minutes of their time to ask a question. Don’t forget to tell them what you could bring to the relationship.
2. Consider joining a professional organization.
Several industries have trade organizations, within which you will find communities specific to a role or profession. For instance, accountants have the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), project managers have Project Management Institute (PMI), lawyers have the American Bar Association and so on. As an HR executive, I am a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and Forbes HR Council, among others. Within these industry-based communities, we have frequent bulletin board dialogues and virtual meetings.
Become an active member and allow yourself the privilege of asking others questions, learning all you can and, of course, networking. Describing your questions and ideas in writing, along with speaking to others directly about them are both great opportunities to float your ideas and ask for feedback. As you grow in the organization and in your profession, make time to give back through those organizations.
3. Grow your connections online.
There are certainly other platforms, but LinkedIn is still the primary spot online to find professionals and learn about their experiences, their interests, publications, etc. If you’re not already connected with someone you find interesting, send them a connection request and be sure to add a note. That is where you can define the reason you are interested in connecting with them. It’s also how they know you’re not trying to sell them anything.
In thinking about leading with original ideas, I'm reminded of the following quote often attributed to Thomas Edison: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
I hope you’ll take away from this article (and Edison’s quote) the encouragement to trust your instincts and to keep moving forward with your ideas. It’s still important to connect with other people whose opinions you respect. You’ll want to get insights from varied perspectives, too, but ultimately, it is up to you to find your own way in your profession and make your mark. I hope these few words have provided some thoughtful assistance.
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
