Radical Leadership

I attended the Arizona SHRM 2011 State Conference.  During one of the general sessions I had the pleasure of seeing Craig Zablocki  present “Radical Leadership:  A New Era in Senior Management.” 

The presentation was high energy, engaging, and offered common sense, real world approaches to leading past the obstacles we face on a day to day basis – obstacles the company faces, obstacles our employees face, and obstacles we as HR professionals face. 

Some key approaches to work I took away from the presentation were focus on the purpose, take the job seriously but don’t take yourself so seriously and put 100% of your energy into the task at hand.

Focus on the purpose.  Why does our company exist other than to make money? Surely there is a reason!  To some employees a job is just a paycheck, but if we show them that the company has a higher purpose they will become more engaged and work with a sense of pride. Communicate that purpose on a regular basis, and from senior management on down be sure to display behaviors that support the purpose.

Take the job seriously but don’t take yourself so seriously.  Working in the world of HR I know I have a tendency to take myself far too seriously.  When I received feedback that there was a perception on the floor I thought I was better than everyone else, I realized that it had gotten to the point that I didn’t let my personality shine through.

If you find yourself in a similar situation take a step back and reassess.  HR is a serious industry, one where we are expected to act with the utmost professionalism at all times.  However, don’t let yourself become a robot. Employees will have an easier time coming to HR with concerns or suggestions if they feel they are talking to someone they can relate to. 

Put 100% of your energy into the task at hand. What holds us back from being able to do that? As HR and business professionals we are constantly multi-tasking and going back and forth between different aspects of the job. Learn to practice effective time management skills, give tasks a priority level and then schedule time into your calendar to work on each one. Giving tasks the separate attention they deserve will ensure you are producing the best possible results and not just crossing something off of your to-do list.

By applying these simple approaches we are working towards further developing ourselves and leading our organizations into a bright future.

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