Freedom In Letting Go

I once heard a quote about love that was something along the lines of “if you really love something, you must let it go.” I remember that quote striking me as odd. If you love something, why wouldn’t you want to hold onto it forever. And if someone wanted to take it away, they would have to pry it from your kung fu grip. Right?

But the older I get, the more I realize (ironically enough) the truth of those words. The fact of the matter is, there’s a freedom in letting go of something. In fact, sometimes once you actually let it go, you realize it was never yours to hold in the first place.

The same is true for control. A friend of mine recently wrote about that very thing: learning how to let go of her sense of control. And more importantly, learning what happens when you do let go. Because the truth is, you and I have control over far fewer things than we think.

It only takes a few minutes of CNN or CNBC to realize just how little we actually are able to control. Even Uncle Sam, in all of his power and strength can’t snap his fingers and pull our nation out of a recessapression. (It’s my new favorite word to explain our current economic condition.)

I think the same thing applies on a more micro/personal level too. You and I may think we have a secure job or a relationship that will always be there. But that’s simply not true. Everything vanishes eventually. Even you. I don’t mean to be overly abrupt, but it’s true.

The fact of the matter is, we can’t control most things in our lives. Therefore the best that we can do is to work on the things that we can control, and learn to let go of everything else.

Working on it,
John

 

An Open Letter to HR

Growing up, I can remember hearing my step-dad talk about an entity he called Personal. It was a department at his company, every company really, that served one primary purpose: to take care of it’s employees.

Sure they also happened to hire people, fire people, pay people, settle disputes, etc but all of those functions served the before mentioned main goal of keeping their employees happy. A happy workforce = a more productive workforce = greater profits. A simple enough formula, right? You would think.

But sometime between my step-dad retiring from BellSouth after 35 years of service (gold watch in hand) and today, something changed. Corporations’ Personnel departments changed. It didn’t happen overnight, and I’m not sure what started it. But slowly and surely, they shifted from mainly looking out for the individual to looking out for the company’s best interests. Aka, avoid any and all potential lawsuits at any costs: including productivity, practical business sense, and even common sensical human behavior.

That shift gradually led to a point in time (we’ll call it today for the sake of argument) in which companies existed solely to create profit and yes, consume resources. Enter Human Resources. No longer are we personnel, but rather a resource that is to be consumed. Ouch.

Now don’t get me wrong. I certainly appreciate making a profit. In fact, I am a big fan of it. But what happens to an entire workforce when they are coddled to the point of being herded around as yes men/women and actually heralded for their abundant use of politically correct statements.

So I propose this…moving forward let’s re-org Human Resources into two new departments: Talent and Drama. There marching orders will be very clear. Talent will be responsible for finding and recruiting all new talent for the company. The actual hiring of people will reside where it’s always resided: management. Talent will be a small team of unique individuals who, like Major League Scouts, comb the country looking for the top performers in a wide variety of categories or roles.

But what about solving all of the petty (or not so petty) disputes that arise between people within the organization? I’m glad you asked. The second half of the newly designed organization will be somewhat reminiscent of high school: Drama Department. I’m not talking about the one that put on pre-pubescent versions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I’m talking about the other kind of drama. (If you’re not sure what I’m describing, please click here.)

Drama Department will be responsible for dealing with all civil disputes between employees. But only if it’s really ridiculous. That’s relative you say? Ok, the first round of mediation will be held with a neutral third party from another department. That person will decide, over lunch/cup of coffee, whether or not the dispute needs to be elevated to the Drama Department.

Anything elevated to the Drama Department will have serious and lasting consequences…when deserved. If someone is just being petty and frivalous. They will be told so. If their pettiness continues, they will be asked to return to high school. Companies are for grown ups.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I appreciate the ever so difficult chore of dealing with people. Something I know little of or have any real knowledge of beyond what I’ve read from some text book you probably wrote yourself.

Good luck,
Just Another Concerned Employee