Asking the right questions as the year draws to a close

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

No long winded introduction from me today as I do not want to detract from our regular writer Dorothy Nesbit’s excellent review of the year including some extremely first hand experience of one of the year’s more notable stories. (Ed Scrivener)

Asking the right questions as the year draws to a close

Recently I came across a talk by Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson, describing how Iceland bounced back after firstly the world financial meltdown of 2008 and then the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent Iceland high-speed into economic meltdown.

Dorothy had close up experience...

It’s easy to forget the drama of Iceland’s experiences (unless, of course, you had money invested in Iceland’s apparently safe and secure economy) in the light of the wider events of 2011 – the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Colonel Gaddafi, dramatic events in a number of Middle Eastern countries, freak weather events in Japan, Thailand, Australia... to name but a few.  More locally, Berlusconi finally stood down as Italy’s long-standing Prime Minister and, in the UK, London saw anti-cuts protests, protests against plans to raise tuition fees and protests – together with people in countries around the world – against capitalism and its effects.  In the summer riots shocked the nation – one of them right outside my front door.  As I write, the fate of the Eurozone is still in the balance.

Some alternative thinkers see these and many other events as part of a significant transition to a new epoch.  A number of authors have written about the Mayan prophecies for 2012 and one of them, Diana Cooper (in her book Transition To The Golden Age In 2032:  Worldwide Forecasts For the Economy, Climate, Politics and Spirituality), points to a twenty-year period of transition before we enter a new, “golden” era in 2032.

Outside Dorothy's door on Monday 8th August

All this probably seems more or less remote from our day to day world of work:  what, you may ask, does any of this have to do with HR?  As the year comes to a close, I come back to the talk I mentioned at the top of this article.  Watching it, one of the things that strikes me is how, in responding to the events that befell Iceland in 2008, Grimsson – as new President – identified and responded to some of the key questions that were raised by those events.  Grimsson highlighted the social unrest that followed the world economic events in a country that had a lasting history of peaceful democracy and which threatened that democracy:  Iceland’s response – to initiate and execute comprehensive political, judicial and social reform – was borne out of the conviction that the issues of the day required an appropriate response and that anything less would not be sufficient.

Writing the last pre-Christmas posting for Discuss HR, I find myself wondering what are the key questions for you as 2011 draws to a close – what are the issues you face and what would be a sufficient response?  Some of these questions will be key for you as an individual.  Some of them may be key questions for you as an HR Practitioner and even for HR as a whole.  I hope you’ll share some of those questions as comments (and perhaps your answers) below.

For my part, I wonder if the key questions that face us all are the questions that connect us both with our heads and our hearts.  These are questions which, whilst stimulating thought and reflection, remind us of what really matters to us in our work and our play.  For this reason, my own key questions at the end of the year are these:

• As the year draws to a close, what has been most significant for me about 2011?
• What do I celebrate about this year – what needs of mine have been met?  What do I mourn – what are the needs I really want to meet that have yet to be fulfilled?
• Looking forward, what’s it time for - in my life, in the life of my business?  What are the outcomes I most desire in 2012?
• What are the implications of my desires and aspirations in terms of where I invest (my time, money, energy and other resources) in 2012?
• What factors in the world around me are most significant for me in 2012?  What challenges will I need to overcome in order to make progress towards my desired outcomes?
• What resources do I have that will help me to meet those challenges and to make progress towards my desired outcomes?

About the author

Dorothy Nesbit, Leadership Coach, unleashes innate leadership potential through powerful, compassionate and authentic relationships.
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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 22^nd December and will be... a surprise!!

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