Employees are First Humans, then Experts

For argument’s sake, let us assume you work in HR, and you have received a call from an anonymous head-hunter asking about an employee in your firm, what comes to your mind first as you attempt to respond? Do you refer to the HR policies, guidelines, the employee’s personal file and performance records, or will you simply give an opinion right away?

Perhaps the inquiry was supposed to aid management’s decision-making on a promotion or disciplinary matter. Naturally, many people do it unintentionally and sometimes even with all the best intentions, rely on memory to respond. However, chances are that the first response that comes from the top of the mind would not be professional but personal feelings.

Moreover, having spent several post-graduation years working, chances of one being too routine are high – you go about doing things without reference to professional standards but relying more on human instincts, which many confuse with professional experience.

Frankly speaking, unless you are UpToDate with your CPD points, chances are that you are no longer a professional but simply a human being working merely for survival.

A typical human response would be something like: “That one is always late and does not work well with people” … “she is arrogant and bullies her colleagues” … alas the reply may even be positive… “she is new but quite passionate and enjoys her work”…

Moreover, having spent several post-graduation years working, chances of one being too routine are high – you go about doing things without reference to professional standards but relying more on human instincts, which many confuse with professional experience.

While such reactions may be frank and even useful to some extent, they may not mean much. Unless you have records to show that somebody is always late, including unsuccessful efforts to make them observe time - like warning letters - such sentiments would not fly but remain a rumor.

So is the claim of arrogance, bullying or even passion. How do you measure passion and use it to decide on whether one should be promoted? Is that passion recorded anywhere? Is it tangible? If the answer is yes, then go ahead and use it, otherwise, go back and get actionable professional opinion.

You will realize that when indulged further it is likely that the same employee who is known as a bully and arrogant may as well be a super performer, who consistently turns in good results in performance appraisals and is also dependable when it comes to actual deliverables.

The only undoing is that she has a tendency of not keeping time and for some reason, has developed a peculiar disposition of working in isolation, but still produces stellar results.

The passionate one on the other hand may turn out to be a hopeless smiling machine and expert performing artist such that when the show is on, she can act the scene better than anybody else; but when the lights are out and the camera stops rolling, you will find her sleeping and winding away time in her quiet corner or busy gossiping along the corridors.

Or may be not, she may just be as good at work as her smiles suggest.

The same applies to scenarios outside work. We tend to make quick judgments on people and condemn them even before they get a chance to defend themselves.

The converse is also true, especially when we like somebody, or the victim is a relative or friend, we may be quick to give positive feedback which may not be the reality. But that is only human!

Human beings are selfish, evil, envious by nature and inherently competitive. Even a simple gossip session will quickly degenerate into a cold war, with each fighting to outdo the other on how much he or she knows about the subject matter. But even as we are alive to this side of humanity, we cannot be blind to the many who strive to be virtuous and actively invest in building an admirable character. 

So today, my sincere and professional opinion is that before you make a careless judgment on colleagues or a member of your team, be careful not to give the lazy first answer that comes to mind.

In fact, my suggestion would be that you delay your feedback and respectfully say, “can I get back to you about this in a short while?”

Of course, by doing so you run the risk of appearing incompetent and out of touch with your people because since we are all human, we would expect that you should always have an opinion about the people you lead.

Furthermore, those seemingly honest run-of-the-mill responses are always juicier and have a way of massaging the psychic ear, but sadly are not always the best.

The bottom-line is that employees are people and people will always have their peculiar quirks, skeleton in the closet, and weird bedside manners, but that alone does not define them.

The surface reputation must be looked at together with other official records like attendance sheets, disciplinary records, employees’ personal file, among others.

The bottom-line is that employees are people and people will always have their peculiar quirks, skeleton in the closet, and weird bedside manners, but that alone does not define them.

And In certain circumstances, it would even be advisable to seek further guidance from a lawyer on recommendations that are legal in nature or PR specialist on matters touching on image and the brand. 

Even when the records and background checks serve only as evidence to back the publicly held claims, a good employer or supervisor is one who would come to the employee’s rescue when at his or her lowest.

It is not only good for the affected employee but also for others who will be watching and taking notes. As the saying goes, we give the dead a befitting burial, not for the sake of the dead but for the living.

As a matter of fact, and for those who are Christians, no matter how big a send-off you put together for a loved one, that will not help them crossover to heaven - prayers on the other hand might help.

But because we are human, we must take time read a befitting valediction. And then… from that point on, those left behind, will only remember the good things, not the vile!

Ends.../