Lucky Moments in HR

This is a story about a girl named Lucky. 

Wait, no it’s a story about an HR team named Lucky. 

Honestly, this is a newsletter about HR and the lucky moments we sometimes experience. 

I’m trying to have some ✨FUN✨ on this St.Patrick’s Day so I went with the theme of being lucky. 

But first, a definition!!!

Luck: a noun / not a Britney Spears character in a music video but rather success or failure brought on by chance rather than one’s actions. 

For the sake of this assignment – I’m loosening the definition of luck a bit! MY NEWSLETTER, MY RULES!!! 

We’re gonna go with simply magical moments in HR that feel more lucky than anything else.

#1: When the workplace terror quits:

There’s nothing more I dislike than a workplace terror. 

You know the type!! Toxic, puts everyone on an edge and makes you dread almost every encounter. Maybe they’re Slack warriors fighting you in the threads or DMs or they’re brash in meetings and shut down ideation opting to make everyone feel small. 

I once worked with someone that every single time they Slacked me my shoulders would tense up and I would brace myself for what the message said. 

It was rarely ever good. 

So, naturally when someone like this quits… it tends to feel like a moment of luck. 

You’ve possibly just avoided having to have hard conversations and pursuing a difficult path to exit an employee AND your culture may escape unscathed. 

We’re having so many hard convos all day long that this just becomes one less thing to worry about!!

While the lucky scenario is the employee choosing to exit themselves sometimes we do have to pursue the other path. 

May I offer some food for thought? 

Someone isn’t born a workplace terror they usually become a workplace terror. 

Here are some things to consider:

• What expectations were set with this employee around role, culture, impact?
• Have there been any miscommunications around changing expectations?
• Does this employee have unrealistic goals?
• Has anyone tried to intervene?

I’d think about those questions when it comes to your workplace terrors. If you’re not so lucky and they want to stay at your organization you need to address the situation before it becomes dire.

#2: When the new role is in sync with your expectations 

I’ve experienced the role switcheroo. 

You know when you’re told one thing in the interview process then you’re served up something completely different after you’ve started. 

Yeah, everyone is basically on their best behavior during interview processes which can set unrealistic expectations. 

So not only do we have to be hyper vigilant during interviews we also have to hope that the interviewers are being somewhat honest about the role and potential challenges.

Then there are the moments where you accept a role and everything is perfectly aligned. 

It honestly feels like magic. 

Little things like your CEO is on board with HR’s initiatives, you’re passionate about the work being done, your skills are skilling, and you’re just in the zone. 

That’s the space I’m in right now and some days I look up and think damn, I’m super lucky.

#3: When the manager does the dang thing before involving HR:

No you’re never gonna get it, never gonna get it. – how some HR teams feel about managers. 

Then every now and then there’s a magical manager moment… 

You know, a moment where you think “wait, I think the manager may actually get it???”

By it – I mean MANAGING. (Not what the song is about btw). 

It’s when they do the work to figure out what’s going on with their team before they come to you. Or they follow the steps you’ve told them about multiple times. Or when they show up ready to be the manager they always wished they had. 

My favorite though? When they do something you taught them to do. 

Be still my beating heart!!

Managers getting to effectively manage does feel like luck most days because that role is SO HARD and can feel somewhat impossible. 

Luck is everywhere! 

Do me a favor after you read this? Think about your own lucky moments. 

What moments recently feel so magical that make you think it might be luck?

And while some people may think a lot of things happen due to change, we in HR know the many invisible things we do that actually make things happen!