Author: Ann Perle

The greatest asset of any nation is the spirit of its people, and the greatest danger that can menace any nation is the breakdown of that spirit. — George B. Courtelyou

Thoughts to Ponder:
What would our work lives be like if we truly made our employees our most important asset? We may say this is what we do, yet everyone knows that our financial assets and capabilities are the most important thing. Is it possible for us to lead this change? Can we believe it ourselves, that if we practiced the ideas expressed by Tom Morris we could create byproducts of financial assets, satisfied customers and a workplace that hums?

What would our work lives be like if we incorporated ancient truths into the workplace? Employees all wish to utilize their talents, skills and abilities. What if we shifted the orientation of job design and began to structure jobs around the talents we have rather than structuring the job around the tasks of the company? That way, employees would be doing those tasks they do well and enjoy doing. The article begs us to look at the workplace from a different orientation or vantage point. We have valuable employees who want to contribute. Yet, asking them to do jobs that don’t produce satisfaction for them doesn’t do anything to lead to a stronger company. It only leads to turnover, low morale and mediocre progress. How can that be good? Are we capable and willing to see this in another way?

What would work life be like if we understood that we’re more than just our tasks and jobs, defined by job titles? We’re human beings with an inner desire for happiness, for using ourselves in a meaningful way, for contributing. Inside each of us is a philosopher, a thinker, a magnificent essence that desires to express. What if we began to see that good business is truly being in touch with people-not calling them “intellectual capital,” but seeing them as alive, expressing, interested human beings? What if we helped inspire them to contribute? What would the workplace be like?

Workforce, October 1997, Vol. 76, No. 10, p. 76.

Where do we go for inspiration? How do we inspire others? From a human resources viewpoint, there are times when we see situations we wish we could change—and things we wish would just go away. Sometimes, when I’m in desperate need of inspiration, I wish I could just wave a magic wand and find the world, my company, my work and my responsibilities all neatly and easily put together in a simple, peaceful way. Couldn’t I just be on a holiday, snuggled away in the mountains or lounging by the ocean?

When we’re actually by the ocean, the mountains, a gorgeous valley or meadow, we’ve allowed ourselves to get away. When we’re in nature, we take time to relax and to breathe. As we view the landscape, we’re still. Sometimes, we’re even awe-struck. We find ourselves seeing beauty, power, majesty and sweetness in the scenery. We may not even realize that we can see and feel these qualities. When we soak up the beauty, we begin to restore ourselves and to find a new perspective to our lives. In short, we become inspired.

Restore yourself.
But how do we retain these qualities? How do we bring them back into the workplace? Obviously, we can’t take a holiday every few weeks. How do we get away while we’re on our jobs? The key is to remember that it is possible to restore oneself. Here’s what I was told during an informal survey of 20 peers and colleagues. I asked the following questions: What do you do to stay inspired at work? How do you get yourself back on track when you’re just going through the paces?

The mere act of asking these questions inspired some of the respondents. They remembered they didn’t have to work with unnecessary stress. Many were inspired by remembering a past success or achievement they had accomplished—one that brought satisfaction to their lives. Others mentioned being inspired by the talent of fellow workers with whom they interact on a regular basis. Several also said the nature of their jobs served as an inspiration. And even though the stress intensified at times, they were renewed if they took the time to sit back and reflect for a moment. One person told me that his inspiration usually came from visualizing what he could create or accomplish either at work or outside of it.

Janet Colson, senior vice president of administrative services at La Jolla, California-based ScrippsHealth, and acting COO of ScrippsHealth System, recalls her most inspiring day: “The most inspiring workday I’ve ever experienced was the time I was working in the White House. It was the day former President Ronald Reagan was shot. I was inspired by the efficiency of the government and the military—and by the White House staff. It was touching to see how the public accepted Reagan as a person, not just as a political figure. In our sadness over the event, we were buoyed by Reagan’s sense of humor, the gracious dignity by which the press secretary, Jim Brady, fought his way back to life. You know, people always talk about the White House and the Oval Office as the greatest places of power in the country. While it is that, on that day, I also saw its humanity, compassion and strength. I’m inspired to this day by remembering that time.”

Colson also visualizes the future: “I’m inspired by reinventing myself, my position, my company. We’re undergoing radical change, and I’m involved with moving us forward. I’m always thinking about how things can be better, what we can become. Now, that’s thrilling.”

Look within.
Others spoke of inspiration from an internal point of view. Some responded that inspiration comes from getting in touch with their passion. One should ask: Why am I here? How can I make a difference?

Indeed, being inspired truly is an inside job. For within us is the ability to stop or to slow down ourselves when we’re frazzled—and to open up to a different mindset than that of the hustle and bustle, stressful environments in which we all work and live. It’s what’s inside us that allows for inspiration.

Colson touched on her willingness to allow herself to take time out for reflection and to mull over different situations. Some of her best thinking, she says, occurs when she walks her dog. The exercise allows the opportunity for her mind to consider how to handle a difficult situation, to figure out solutions to problems—and still to enjoy the outdoors. She also tries to take one lunch break a week outside the office. Sometimes she sits at the beach, watching the waves. “It’s such a restorative time. I’m much more inspired when I return,” Colson says.

So let us remember that inspiration is possible at any time. We can give it to ourselves, and we can give it to others. Let’s take the time to allow ourselves to be inspired. Let’s give ourselves the gift of filling up ourselves with awe, wonder, peace and patience so we’re centered. When we’re inspired, we become motivated. When we’re motivated, we achieve greater results.

Workforce, June 1997, Vol. 76, No. 7, pp. 139-140.

Welcome to the second installment of “Heart & Soul,” Workforce’s newest column. This month I’m focusing on an important concept for human resources professionals—integrate. It’s certainly something that we preach to our workforce—to balance work and personal life—but we don’t always practice it ourselves. For a few minutes, let’s contemplate how integration can contribute to our own lives.

Keep the balance between work and the rest of your life.
Integrate means: that ability to combine or meld things; to assimilate different parts, roles or factions into a framework that works as well, if not better, than the old way; that ability to harmonize different factions so that the music from them is sweet and balanced.

As an HR professional, ask yourself, “How integrated is my life and is it possible to work and to still have an integrated life?” To integrate oneself, a structure is needed—some scaffolding or a form that will comfortably hold all of the pieces. This frame needs to be dependable, supportive and solid, yet tolerant and flexible. We’re out of balance or not integrated when our lives are lopsided or rigid, when we fall over at the first breeze, incapable of handling another thing.

Additionally, we need a picture, an image or a way of knowing that all of the pieces are there, just as in working a puzzle. With a puzzle, we have the picture in front of us, and we start to fit the pieces together—many times struggling to find just the right ones. One piece looks right, yet when it’s put in, we have to force and push to get it into place. As soon as that happens, we know it’s the wrong piece. Yet many times we try it just one more time, just in case we were wrong. Usually after two tries, we know we were right the first time, and we look for another piece.

For many HR professionals at work, when we try to solve a problem, we find a solution and put it in place like a piece of the puzzle. But maybe, it really doesn’t fit. So we push and shove, then force it into place saying, “There, it’s working now.” Sound familiar? Sometimes it just seems easier to give in, to let go, to quit trying and pretend that everything is integrated. What does the puzzle of our work life look like? Are we happy with the picture? Do we like the structure? And how are we doing at achieving or being integrated with the image? Are we in balance?

Be an inspiration.
As HR professionals, we’re always modeling behavior. It’s one of our key responsibilities. Hopefully, we exhibit desirable behaviors within the framework of an integrated life for employees to emulate. And yet, sometimes I wonder. For example, take the number of hours that we spend at work. Yes, there’s a lot of pressure at work today. And yes, there’s much work to do. Yet, how balanced is it to work 10 to 13 hours a day consistently? Does this create the life that we want? Could we work better if we had more peace in our lives and decided not to engage in much of the drama? And do we want our employees working these hours on a regular basis? What happens to the quality of life? I know the material and financial value of work, yet if we’re so out of kilter, how do we enjoy our lives? I’m reminded of the song recorded by Peggy Lee, “Is That All There Is?” Possibly, part of our lifestyle at work is to keep up with the culture—to prove that we’re as driven and as busy as the next person, as we take ourselves too seriously in our need to be seen as a driving force. Are we sure that work today requires excessive hours on a regular basis? Perhaps we’ve become so bottom-line oriented that we’ve added more and more work to a downsized staff that must make do with less and less. There’s no sense of integration in this kind of life.

We need to rethink how we live our lives, because life without any downtime to integrate the various aspects of who and what we are won’t be rewarding. Goal attainment or success doesn’t in and of itself bring fulfillment. There’s more than just having a work life.

Examine four areas of your life.
How do we get balanced? It begins by taking small steps. It begins with our being willing to look at our lives, to examine and explore the four areas that support or make up a life: health, finances, relationships and self-expression or career (your work). These are the foundation and the structure for an integrated life. Think of them as legs on a table and then visualize how your table would look if its legs were different sizes. How stable, flexible, rigid or out of balance are you? If you resemble a lopsided table, then begin to change. You can already see what part is in need of strengthening. Perhaps it’s your family time, time for yourself or time to pursue a creative outlet. Just notice and observe. As you do, begin to picture how your life might look if the legs were the same length. Would you be happier? Less stressed? We must remember that for things to change and to be different, we must change and be different. It doesn’t mean you need to quit your job. It means to integrate your life into one of wholeness, peace, fulfillment.

We work in a field that’s as rewarding as any I know. We have an opportunity to make a difference with people every day, to use our creativity and our softness as well as our logic and our drive. Let sweetness come back into your life. Spend some time focusing on the magnificence of you. Perhaps our continual focus on problems could just fall away for a few moments as we look at how terrific we really are, and how terrific our company is and our employees are. Integrate. It’s worth it.

Workforce, April 1997, Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 107-108.

Welcome to “Heart & Soul.” I invite you to view another side of human resources. In my long career as an HR professional, and more recently as a minister, I’ve wanted to see a column in Workforce that would be nurturing, gentle and supportive, yet stirring and deep. Over the past few years, I had given much thought to these ideas until this column was born. In the coming months, this will be a place for us to explore and share some of our joys, frustrations and desires. Please join with me as we delve into the reflective side, the spiritual or the soul side of human resources. Let’s explore a new meaning and focus for our profession. The purpose of this column is to be a support, a breath of fresh air and a space where you can let go and delve into the inside—the heart and soul of HR—without criticism or judgment.

Looking inside HR: A natural beginning. I pondered the choice of beginning this new column with the idea of ‘introspection.’ Why not ‘inspire’ or ‘insight’? Those words seem lighter, possibly more likable. But there’s something deep, stirring beneath the surface with introspection—like stepping into the unknown and looking at life from a different perspective. And then it occurred to me. Of course! We in human resources don’t usually take the time—nor do we have the inclination—to look at ourselves from the inside out. We’re too busy, just like everyone else.

It’s interesting that the very first step in any outplacement program is self- assessment: looking at one’s history, skills, achievements and talents. Outplacement professionals know this critical action is rarely taken by people on the job. They’re too busy ‘doing’ to have any time for ‘being.’ American business doesn’t have much, if any, reflection time for employees, and that’s certainly also true for HR. We want to be a part of the team, to look like everyone else. Human resources has made great strides in becoming incorporated within the mainstream life of companies by becoming true business partners. We’ve struggled to get away from being seen as ‘touchy-feely,’ soft folks. We’ve spent so much time proving we’re strategic that we seem to have ignored the ‘human’ side of HR. But this isn’t about degrading our work so far. Being seen as competent and important to the organization is essential to our continued success.

Yet, just focusing on the linear mode of ‘doing’ keeps us off balance and lopsided. It keeps us away from our creativity, compassion, wisdom and intuition. We’ve become bottom-line oriented, strong technocrats in a workplace that pushes harder and harder for more productivity and more hours. Yet employees seem to be looking for a quality of life that encompasses more than work. In his article “Corporate Soul” (American Way magazine, November, 1995) writer Jim Morrison quotes Tom Chappell, president of Tom’s of Maine and the author of the 1993 bestseller “The Soul of a Business” as saying, “We’re in an age in which a lot of people are looking for more meaning out of not just their personal lives, but their work lives.”

Humanizing the workplace: A logical goal. We need to re-examine our focus and to reengineer our companies with a new perspective. Humanizing the workplace is an idea whose time has come. And we’re the ones to lead the change in this direction. Because we’re the ones who can best understand and advance these ideas, we must descend into a more balanced perspective of ourselves. We must have the willingness to be reflective and to explore who we are, from the inside out. As we begin to explore this new experience, we’ll begin to model the new attitudes that our employees so deeply desire.

What an incredible opportunity we have to be true leaders, coaches and mentors to our organizations. It doesn’t mean we can’t be technical. But it does mean we must balance that linear part of ourselves with gentleness. Our analytical minds are more effective when they’re balanced with reflection and creativity. We’re faced with more change, both in the workplace and in the world, than ever before. We often feel like we’re being overtaken with new technology and new tasks to handle. And it’s an acceleration that’s only going to increase in the future. Frantically, we’ve tried to handle and facilitate the changes that have occurred in our companies: upsizing, downsizing, rightsizing, reorganization, redesign, etc. Constant change is all around us.

Where do we go from here? This isn’t about developing a plan for change with catchy slogans and jargonistic expressions that are just surface-oriented and never go anywhere. These plans just create more ill-will than ever if they aren’t true or genuinely supported. Ghandi once said, “You must be the change you want in the world.” So, how do you want your world to be? How could the workplace really be? We won’t know without introspection—really involving ourselves in the process of internal review and audit. It frees us to make new choices without conflict and contradictions within ourselves. It’s never an easy journey, but clearly, we must start.

Now is the time. Never before in our history has the need for the ‘soft skills’ of communications, behaviors and style been so important and so necessary. Never before has there been such a cry from people who are so hungry for meaning and for community in their lives. If we’re going to be successful—to truly champion change and growth within our organizations—we must begin to look within ourselves. We must begin to see the nontechnical as not only desired, but critical and vital to our success, and possibly even to our survival.

It all begins with introspection— because who and what we are ultimately begins and ends within each of us. Please join with me. This is our time. Let’s explore what we can be—together.

Workforce, March 1997, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 122-123.