Why I Started Writing A Blog Called HR Possibilities

Ladybug on the beach(?!) - Photo by Karina Miller

I have an amazing life, I loathe complaining, and in order to explain why I started writing a blog called HR Possibilities, I have to admit it: 2009 was a spectacularly crappy year (although not my personal worst by any stretch). I won't bore you with the gory details, but to give you some idea, the themes that were present for me were layoffs, pay cuts, suicides, a constant stream of bad news about the wars and the economy, loads of un-fun work, post-traumatic stress, what my nutritionist calls adrenal fatigue, and a visit to the ER due to what I was certain would kill me, but was probably "just" the swine flu. And although I knew my set of "problems" was imminently better than most, that I had awesome family and friends, better health than many, a nice home that wasn't in foreclosure, a great boss, and what had been, for the most part, a dream job, I was feeling like a miserable failure.

As I sat in a personal development seminar early this year listening to a participant stand in front of the group of over a hundred people and talk about how he didn't ever speak in front of groups, and the leader said, "What are you doing right now?" I had to laugh. That was my breakthrough. It was that simple. Just like the dude standing in front of a huge group of people saying that he doesn't do that, I was telling myself that I didn't contribute—all the while contributing on a daily basis and being acknowledged for my contribution by friends, family, colleagues, company leaders, and peers. It was a slap in the face to those around me not to recognize myself as they saw me, but as the little voice in my head had convinced me I was.

In another course, the leader told us that we treat people like either tools or toys. Calling human beings by the term "resources" suddenly struck me as demeaning and extremely limiting. As I watched those around me have life-changing breakthroughs in areas of their lives that seemed completely insurmountable, I understood that humans are not merely resources to be used and abused for profit and fun, we are all walking possibilities.

I hesitate to suggest this because it sounds a little stupid even to me—perhaps our profession should be called Human Possibilities instead of Human Resources. Or maybe we could just think of it this way—we provide resources, including leading and coaching for "what's possible," to human beings for the purpose of collectively creating something good—versus providing, manipulating, improving, and maximizing humans as resources for the benefit of the impersonal, almighty business.

What could be possible in our organizations and the world if we saw ourselves, through all the muck and difficulties of life, as possibilities instead of barely-surviving, Cro-Magnan descendents who can't catch a break? Is this notion too Pollyanna? Sacrilege? Stupid? Or maybe, just maybe, revolutionary?