Is caring a kind of currency?
Caring might not be the right word. Too ‘soft’. But whatever you call ’emotional currency’ – respect, consideration, empathy – you know when you’ve been paid some. And you know when there’s been a withdrawal, a lack of it. A deficit.
The people leaving organisations understand these transactions all too well.
I posted recently about the HBR article that explored the ‘Warmth-Competence Line’ that women on boards carefully tread every day, and drew the analogy with HR – where over 80% are female.
It’s prompted some frank discussions with HR leaders in my community who’ve received feedback like ‘you need to be less warm’ and ‘you spend too much time with people’.
Organisations need to deliver for all stakeholders (to quote Dave Ulrich again), and HR people are generally ‘just’ trying to achieve a fair balance in those stakeholders’ needs and to help leaders and managers to do the same.
This is a business currency, not some kind of optional tip.
There’s also the undeniable fact that this is regarded as a more feminine currency, and still has less perceived value than a male currency.
The challenge is to justify the expenditure and prove the ROI.
What are your thoughts?
‘There must be a way to prove the business benefit of the work we do underneath it all’ said an HRD to me recently.
Marion Hewitt and I have had 600 people book onto our recent webinars – ‘Build your impact and strength as an HR professional’ – which tackled head-on the costly human dimension of being in HR and the self-care you need. As a result we’ve created a 3-hour workshop.
We are in the process of scheduling our next ‘Building strength’ workshop – register your interest here and once we have a date we will let you know how to book.
