Do you feel disappointed when someone asks you to talk about your greatest achievement at work? Do you feel like no project is ever big enough? Do you wish you had done something that revolutionized the way your organization works? If you spend time beating yourself up for not having done enough, stop now. This is the year you realize that the greatest work is in doing the little things well.
The world needs big ideas and new experiments, but the world also needs more. It needs folks who do the everyday grunt work. Who put their heads down, earn trust of their teams and businesses and help them take the right decision. The most important people in a movie are not the ones in front of the camera but the hundred people behind, who slog to ensure everything works seamlessly. Yes, the actors take major credit but if it wasn’t for the camera boy sitting shyly by the corner, the movie may not be where it is today. It is same with any job, especially HR.
You do not have to conceptualize the next revolutionary policy. You do not need to create something that the entire organization adopts. It is a brutal world filled with people who will ask you questions like – ‘What have you done that has impacted the entire organization?’ or ‘Can you give me one example of a project that changed the way HR works in your organization?’ Well, if I worked in an organization that held 250 people, maybe, but in one that employs in millions, maybe the person asking the question needs to get a little less judgmental.
Organizations aren’t run by one kind alone. Creators are often whimsical. It takes all kinds to ship out a successful product. Most often, years trudge by before you create a miracle. That is OK. No one is asking you to perform fantastic feats on a regular basis. If you did, I’d wonder where you came from and you’d probably be in a 1% bracket. Let me tell you, there is another 49% out there who are above average. That counts too. So brush aside any self-doubt and do not spend much time thinking about how insignificant you’ve been.
All you really need to do is create a little magic every day. As long as you do that, you are golden.
The HR Business Partner Story 