It originated from the Eastern time zone so I was up early for the conference call that morning. We were going over the agenda of a major symposium focused on “human resources.”
I get all tingly just thinking about “human resources.” That’s because I owe so much to them. After all, I was lovingly raised by human resources, both of whom are now old and struggling with declining memory and strength as well as a changing world. I was taught by dedicated human resources for more years than I care to count and will be forever in their debt. I fathered two wonderful human resources for whom I would gladly lay down my life. I have lived in tension with human resources, but also know the joy of being truly and fully in love with a human resource.
So even at seven o’clock in the morning, with the sun clawing its way over the Four Peaks and into my office window, I entered into the dialog with great enthusiasm. Morning had broken like the first morning when God said, “Let there be human resources.” and God saw that they were good.
“HR” my phone-mates called it with habitual ease, a code all of us with soft skills have used for years. I’ve been “in HR” in one way or another for thirty years. HR oozes from every pore. Give me HR or give me death.
Though you and I may be early in our relationship via this newsletter, I know you can sense my struggle already.
The symposium? Oh yes, forgive me for wandering.
Apparently, the conversation revealed, it is hard to find qualified human resources these days. And it is even harder to “retain” them. Try to find human resources who will truly commit themselves without reservation to your corporate vision. That’s virtually impossible! Almost as hard as getting them to work in cross-functional, cross-diversity and cross-pay level teams. These were the “HR” problems we were going to solve in two and a half days of conference.
I thought afterwards that just maybe a real solution to our perennial people problem has to begin with a new attitude – on our part, not theirs. Maybe it’s as simple as finding a more positive, uplifting and respectful way to refer to these colleagues of ours.
Oxford University Press’ Dictionary of Business wasn’t all that much help in this regard. They go as far as suggesting the phrase “human resource accounting.” They described it as “an attempt to recognize the human resources of an organization, quantify them in monetary terms, and show them on the balance sheet.”
The dictionary concludes, “Although this approach has aroused some interest, in practice considerable difficulty has been met in quantifying the value of human resources.”
No kidding.
A little ironic really. Some businesses are trying to itemize their people on a balance sheet, while the people are trying to find a balanced life.
Since the word “human” is not too objectionable, I went to the
thesaurus for options to the word “resource.”
“ Income” was one of the words I found there, which sort of fits
because companies do make money off of people. Human Income. You know that would
be shortened to “HI,” which I guess could be seen as a friendly label,
don’t you think?
“Possessions” was another option, but I don’t know if that works for me. “The Human Possessions Department” – maybe that would grow on you if you gave it some time.
Then there was “property” but that would be pushing it a little too far.
The ever-popular “capital” was actually the first option. Human Capital. Of course, just like the green kind of capital, it is hard to hang onto. Plus it’s not exactly an endearing term either. That’s why I am surprised by how often it is used.
The real problem with many of these phrases is that they all hint at depletion. You use up capital and resources for example. No one wants to feel used by their employer. None of the words we typically use to encompass people at work indicate direction, purpose, meaning, value or significance.
The names and labels we attach to people influence how they think of themselves and, ultimately, how they perform. We need to find language that sets people on a high place and conveys the esteem we feel toward them.
The one word on the Thesaurus list that I’ve never thought of before was “wherewithal.” And you know – I kind of like it.
“Wherewithal” seems to describe the central energy and power of an organization. This is where you find your competitive clout.
You will brag to your friends at the Club about your company’s “Human Wherewithal.” Indeed, this will scare your competitors half to death – how can they win over a company that has the ‘wherewithal’ to dominate the marketplace?
When you set out on an aggressive sales campaign you would summon all your Human Wherewithal and point them to the mountaintop of record achievement. You would have the Human Wherewithal to improve systems and customer service. Or get through a tough time. Maybe even to come up with innovations for new product development. You can just feel the power, can’t you?
I really do think we are on to something here…