I didn't think about it again until I was running the HR department of a company with a few hundred employees. They made active lifestyle-related products, so the majority of those employees were young people, both male and female, and the dress code, especially to my very maternal eyes appeared to be "wear what you slept and/or did your morning workout in (for the young men) or "wear the least you possibly can considering we keep the thermostat at 68 (for the young women.) Is it any surprise there were a dozen active sexual harassment cases? I needed to get that garden weeded and fast.
HR people in companies that size are generally charged with fixing the smaller problems, the day to day issues that gum up the works, while the long range planning and orders for the day come down from the top. That's been the historical value of HR and in most companies that's still the way it is in most organizations. Despite HR's interest in becoming more of a strategic partner and having a seat at the corporate management table, it's happening only in companies where senior management has bought into the human capital model.
There wasn't much buy-in from the management. In fact, most of the cases involved their less-than-stellar management behavior. (I won't go into detail here. If you are reading this, you've likely seen worse in your career.) But I didn't really notice much because I was on a mission. The garden couldn't possibly be flourishing with all those threats of judicial thunder and lightening and something needed to be done. I needed all the contrariness I could muster.
The funny thing was, the rest of the nursery rhyme seemed to be working fine. There were silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row, or at least in nicely aligned cubicles in the customer service department. And they were used to being treated like the flowers in a garden - admired for how they looked, pruned when they got out of line and not expected to last more than the current season.
I discovered that the head of customer service was actually quite contrary herself, and her young blossoms loved her for it. She went to bat for them, carefully choosing where she would make her impact. She was an expert in the first rule of contrariness: start small. She had no large aspirations for major corporate revolution but I learned a lot from her. She made the most miniscule of changes, generally too small for anyone in upper management to notice (or object to,) but always with the complete approval and support of HR. I rationalized that these were such small changes they would never be of concern to upper management so why bother telling them. Operating on the assumption that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, we made a series of imperceptible changes that eventually added up to decreased turnover and increased employee satisfaction.
Thinking about that time from my perspective now, almost ten years later, I wonder if successful HR leaders in less-than-optimal organizations are more contrary than most other people. I do know that it takes a certain level of contrariness to express those responsible opposing viewpoints that senior management often forgets can bring value to their decision making process. In fact, what we call contrary depends on where we're standing. To the boss, you might be contrary, but what if you were regarded instead as being a contributor of a unique, different-from-the-boss's viewpoint? That certainly changes the picture. There may be value in everyone wearing the company logo on their uniform, but does that mean the boss wants and, more importantly, benefits from uniform minds?
My experience coaching HR people has taught me that there are a goodly number who prefer to be seen as being contrary, in a positive way. They pride themselves on speaking the truth, empowering themselves and their people and keeping the garden neatly weeded and well nurtured. I don't have the definitive answers, but I can offer some advice on becoming better at what I'd like to call Effective Contrariness.
-Start with small changes and make sure the people who will benefit from them know you are doing it because you care about them.
- You don't have to give people the HR theory or a strategic plan to back up what you're doing. It's enough that you tell them you're doing it because it's the right thing to do.
-You don't need to get immediate credit for doing it, but keep your documentation handy. At the first sign of success, measured by however they measure these things in your organization, write it up and distribute it. Remember to push the right buttons for the right people in the right way - at the right time.
-Your small actions can have huge consequences, so make sure you are acting in alignment with the vision or ethical system that nurtures you and makes you feel as if you are reaching for the highest stars.
-Remember, you have enormous power that cannot be taken away. It's like a lush garden right inside you, but if it's not cared for, it will wither. All it needs to grow is the sunlight of your vision, the rain of your caring for other people, the fertile imagination of your mind and the weeding of your potential actions.
I should add a postscript here for those aficionados of the "real meaning behind nursery rhymes. (If you are wondering, I did not learn this part from my mother. It was pointed out to me by a truly effective HR person working in a dysfunctional organization that shall remain nameless. This person will probably get the world's first Ph,D, in Effective Contrariness.)
The Mary in the rhyme allegedly refers to Mary Tudor (aka Bloody Mary) daughter of King Henry VIII, who preemptively kept her religious and political opposition to a minimum with a variety of torture and murder devices, notably silver bells (thumbscrews), cockle shells (similar to the silver bells but applied to a much more delicate region of her victims' bodies) and pretty maids (iron maidens-sort of a coffin lined with knives pointing inward).
Those are pretty gruesome images, but think about the talk we often hear in business environments. Has someone in your organization, trying to affix blame creatively, said "heads will roll lately? Do contracts get signed after someone "puts the screws on or "nails them to the wall ?
HR is often viewed as the handmaiden of upper management, there to insulate the boss from potential uprisings in the garden. That's why Catbert, the "Evil Director of Human Resources in Scott Adams' Dilbert is "Evil, and the Boss merely "pointy-haired. (If you don't get Dilbert in your daily newspaper, or even if you do, go to www.dilbert.com and get your free subscription. Anything you've missed in your own experience you can learn here.) The contrariness you value is really your ability to think for yourself, not your ability to figure out clever ways to do what the boss wants that you know will be bad, in the long run, for the company, the people and you.
That's the true value of Effective Contrariness.
Dr. Janice Presser is President of The Gabriel Institute, a professional services company and innovator in workforce management and assessment, strategic planning and training. TGI is the originator of Role-based assessment, a tool used for pre-employment screening, enhancing performance and preventing workplace conflict. TGI can be found on the web at www.thegabrielinstitute.com.
Dr. Presser has a broad range of epertise including individual improvement, behavioral assessment, adult learning models, interpersonal competencies, leadership development, HR management, strategic planning and conflict resolution. Trained in systems-oriented psychotherapy as well as research and development, she is the author of five books and is a frequent speaker on leadership assessment and development, customer service, motivation, HR and organizational development.
