The Secret HR Director: A lesson from the past

The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese manuscript. It is traditionally believed to be written in the 6^th century BC, and is a fundamental text for Taoism. I’ve not read it – at the moment, a plethora of case law seems to be more pressing to catch up on, if less enjoyable – but a quote from it recently caught my eye: “Confront the difficult whilst it is still easy.”

I thought of this when going through a personal case that had gone bad. Reading the file of the person, problems had surfaced years ago but hadn’t been tackled. Now the company are in a weaker position for it, and a resolution will be lengthy and costly. 

Hindsight is a great thing. There are many occasions in my career when I’ve let things go in the hope that they will improve, and they never have. The person who is throwing a sickie in their first week, and showing a bad attitude is unlikely to metamorphise into employee of the month. We’ve all made mistakes – you interview and hire Dr Jekyll, but Mr Hyde shows up to work. Nevertheless, taking the brave step at the outset, and not just ignoring things, is critical. 

Sometimes it’s impossible to sort out a thorny problem right away. Entering an organisation with a mess of processes, unsuitable pay structures or contracts written on vellum means having to be patient. But I believe that at least highlighting some of these issues at the start, even if only to assess the temperature around them and how pressing they are, is important, and helps develop trust.