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| I'm a HR director, not a writer! |
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Jul 2006
I'm an HR Director, not a writer!
Everyone can become better at their job if they really think about their writing. And I believe that includes HR directors says Jan Hills from Hills Consultancy.
When you describe your job, 'writer' probably isn't the first thing that springs to mind. But to be great at HR, you need to communicate well. That means you need to write well too (just think about all the emails, memos, letters, presentations and reports you have to write.)
Over the last few months I've been working with a company called The Writer (www.thewriter.co.uk). They've looked at how we can use words to reflect our innovative approach to HR ('HR with guts'). The Writer calls this our 'tone of voice'.
It's been a real eye opener for me. Now that we have a tone of voice, I'm much more attuned to words and their effect on readers. You might have noticed I've been saying things like 'challenging', 'guts' and 'uncompromising'. These words express my strong opinions about HR and its role in business.
The knock-on effect of all this is that I think more about the words I used to use. As HR professionals, we need to support people. But most of the words and phrases we use, like 'leverage', 'holistic approach', 'drivers' and 'intervention', are impersonal (and, if we're honest, a bit self-important too). Come to think of it, 'human resources' is a pretty aloof way of describing what we do. Our whole business is about people, so let's talk more like people.
But why stop there? I developed HR with Guts to stand up for HR and its power to improve organisations. So I use unequivocal (sometimes uncompromising) language to get my message across. I'm still saying the same things I always did, but now my point of view is clearer. If you want to be heard in your organisation, take my advice: find your tone of voice too.
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