{"id":6327,"date":"2016-06-16T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6327"},"modified":"2016-06-16T07:20:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T11:20:00","slug":"wrestling-with-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6327","title":{"rendered":"wrestling with the truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1424298397478-4bd87a6a0f0c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many of our longtime Intramuralist readers are aware that my professional background is in human resources. I was privileged to spend several years consulting after a career working for a highly respected hospitality management company. While the \u201csemi\u201d of my oft repeated \u201csemi-humble\u201d status would never allow me to say I was \u201cthe best,\u201d I do believe I was trained by them (\u2026 thanks, JG).<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the course of the last several years, no less, consistent with the progression, digression, or whatever of society you wish to call it, the HR field has changed significantly. There was always a plethora of forms\u2026 taxes, immigration, demographic info, etc. HR directors ensure the company has all their ducks, details, and doctrines all in a row.<\/p>\n

Human resources also oversees all new hires. We meet, greet, they apply, we interview. Sometimes there\u2019s a second interview. In the hospitality industry, typically the first interview is with HR alone and the second with the probable future supervisor. If all looks good, we would then check the person\u2019s references, ensuring they are who they say they are \u2014 or are how they represent themselves.<\/p>\n

But a funny thing happened during these years of progression\/digression\u2026<\/p>\n

It used to be when I\u2019d call former employers, I\u2019d ask them to tell me a little bit about the their former employee\u2019s performance record\u2026 What is this person like? How\u2019d they do? How was their performance? What were their strengths\u2026 weaknesses? How did they interact with their peers? \u2026 supervisors? \u2026 subordinates?<\/em><\/p>\n

And near the end of our call, I would ask, \u201cWhy did they leave? Are they eligible for re-hire?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This process was always helpful \u2014 gleaning information in order to best discern who to hire and who to not. Every HR professional wants the right person in the right position \u2014 making sure skill set, gifting, and experience are commensurate with the job. If the person excelled in a recent job, it makes sense to know that, thereby potentially affirming a perceived future fit. If a person struggled, it made sense to know that, too, discerning any applicable relevance.<\/p>\n

This process, however, is no longer routinely, fully in use. Due to the subjectivity that may enter into an assessment of past performance, companies found themselves liable if their record or perspective painted any picture of a past employee as anything less than positive. Even if the assessment was true<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 that the employee, for example, struggled getting along with others, was late, rude, had a temper, stole, refused to follow the rules, etc. \u2014 even though this would be helpful for a future employer to know in discerning fit \u2014 applicants sued past employers because this made them look something less than wonderful.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one thing I perceive in this progression\/digression of society\u2026 we have trouble when we paint a picture of something less than wonderful.<\/p>\n

We keep feeding a festering culture that is fearful of making another look bad. We like to paint the picture \u2014 often making it more positive than it really is.<\/p>\n

I chuckled last week receiving one of those \u201cproud parent of my honor roll kid\u201d stickers from my son\u2019s school. Yes, my son, JT, does very well academically. The sticker, though, was for my youngest \u2014 the one with special needs on a modified curriculum.<\/p>\n

I love it \u2014 I\u2019m thankful they want to honor each of my kids, but it\u2019s ok to be truthful and accurate about the strengths and weaknesses in each of our lives. There\u2019s no need to worry if he looks something less than wonderful\u00a0(…I, for one, find him incredibly<\/strong> wonderful!).<\/em> But there is no need to omit details and be so politically correct.<\/p>\n

In our society, unless a person is perceived as a bigot, racist, or some other derogatory, socially unacceptable position \u2014 our progressive\/digressive culture can\u2019t always handle the truth.<\/p>\n

Why does it matter to call something what it is and respectfully share something perceived less than wonderful? Because then we can wrestle with reality \u2014 and can make a better assessment of what should happen next.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of our longtime Intramuralist readers are aware that my professional background is in human resources. I was privileged to spend several years consulting after a career working for a highly respected hospitality management company. While the \u201csemi\u201d of my oft repeated \u201csemi-humble\u201d status would never allow me to say I was \u201cthe best,\u201d I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “wrestling with the truth”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-issue","category-daily-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6329,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327\/revisions\/6329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}