Gosh - what a week! Like others on my CIPD course, it's hard getting back into study and finding the time around a full time job, commuting, a family and just everyday life to study and read what I need to. I hope I'm taking it in. At least this bit is easy, as I'm well used to blogging! We are asked to reflect on the previous week at the end of it, and we are asked questions. This week we were asked:
Does the way you perceive yourself as an HR professional match up to the way others perceive you though?
Gather some honest feedback from a colleague about one thing you do well and one area in which you could improve your professional practice. Reflect on that feedback and how it compares with the way you view yourself as an HR professional.
Reflecting on myself is not so easy. I've come into this course with ten years as a HR Administrator/Assistant under my belt. I've picked up a lot of information, taught myself more, and yet still lack the confidence to do anything with it. Sometimes that's other people's confidence rather than my own....
I'm sort of between jobs. My current role is actually temping for a company while they transition their HR team halfway across the country. Several staff have left, the new ones joined after the others departed and there's been no handover. This is what I've stepped into the middle of and am desperately trying to learn the role myself while teaching someone else. It is said that an expert is just one chapter ahead in the book you're reading! I've already been tagged as "the font of information" - not a bad accolade!
As I'm only at my current assignment for another 2.5 months, and have been there 5 weeks so far, my current line manager doesn't really know me that well yet. My previous line manager, well, the relationship on parting was not so good (long story for another time) and it's a little hard to go back and ask her for feedback on what I do or don't do well! I do know what she'd say...
She would say that I am an amazing administrator. I get the work done, promptly, keeping to SLAs. I have excellent grammar and spelling (must make sure I've made no silly mitsakes after saying that....LOL) and am the go-to person for quick spelling queries. In fact I'm the go-to person for everything, as staff generally gravitate towards me to resolve their problems and answer their queries on all subjects, not just HR. The key thing my last manager wanted to do was to improve employee relations with the HR team following a nasty de-merger, and we as a team walked into an ER wasteland which needed nurturing and developing. We did succeed.
My ex-boss would also say that I could be better at prioritising my workload as I have a tendency to put off the jobs I don't particularly want to do. I work really well to deadlines, that's all I'm saying! I also need to watch how I respond to people sometimes, as I can come across as quite sharp, especially when I'm trying to get a job completed. I had a sticker on my phone that said "Be Nice!" to always remind me when I answered a call that the person at the other end of the phone doesn't know that I'm having a hard/tough/busy day, and it really isn't necessarily their fault they've had to ring....
How do her views compare to my own perceptions of me as an HR Professional? They align pretty well. I agree that I'm great at getting things done, solving problems, but tend to dodge the difficult or onerous tasks. I like completing things, and getting the short sharp jobs done first, but the trouble is, they keep coming and aren't always a priority. I know deep down that I should turn my feelings on their head and get the worst and longest jobs out of the way first, as they will be the most important. I also need to learn to take a deep breath and not respond too fast to folks. I feel I'm a bit misunderstood sometimes but improving my skills will only help with that...
I'm looking forward to getting this qualification under my belt, as up till now I've felt as though I've not been taken seriously. I'm "just" an administrator, I don't know what I'm talking about. Nothing I say can add value. All really negative things that I've come across. It's really hard finding work now without the qualification, and it's past time I stepped up and out onto the next level...
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