Priests of the Organization

If you have worked in HR more than a few hours you come to understand the brevity of your position. Employees and their issues quickly become your issues. As they sit across the desk from you delineating each detail you quickly come to the understanding that many don't seek absolution or understanding. They simply want someone to listen.

Listening is a skill Human Resources employees should be experts at doing. It's more than the occasional head nod of affirmation or the eye contact or verbal cue. Human Resources employees are detectives. We listen to employees and evaluate what is said for compliance issues, harassment issues, relational issues and a host of other items all limiting liability for whatever organization we represent. While we do listen to the employee for their personal and independent issues we walk a tightrope between employee interests and organizational interests. Human Resources is not for the faint of heart.

Listening is such an important and necessary part of the job that I would say its paramount to your success in Human Resources. We become the Priests of the Organization. We listen to the 'confession' of employees daily. Many disclosures are for our ears only. There are times when information disclosed can not be withheld from administration and in those times the employee has to understand that confidentiality ends where organizational liability begins. Our first priority is to the organization as a whole and to the employee second and at times these can be at odds with one another.

Now I don't want to paint a negative image of the HR professional. Many of us are in this career because we truly want to help people. There is an underlying love of people and HR professionals have an uncanny ability to show compassion and grace under extreme pressure. We love what we do! If we didn't we would choose another career path that would be a lot less stressful. We love our jobs and feel that we are truly making a difference in employees' lives.

The door to our inner sanctum is open. The confession booth is empty and we welcome you to come inside. The priests of the organization (i.e. Human Resources) are ready to listen. No judgment will be passed and no 'Hail Mary's' distributed... just advice and authentic compassion given to all.

jamie

So Long New Orleans... Thanks for the Memories!

Gathered around a conference table were HR employees from Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina,  and Tennessee. Each came of their own free will donating their time to an organization that had Higher Education Human Resources as it's core. Each institution represented showcased the landscape of Higher Education from Large Research Institutions to Private Institutions to Small Public Institutions but at this table all were seen as equal with voices to be heard.

The year was 2012 and the Southern Region Board of CUPA-HR had selected New Orleans, LA as the site for their 2014 Annual Conference. The site had been masterfully chosen and after much deliberation New Orleans was the final choice.


Most conference attendees don't realize the meticulous details that have to be decided for each conference to be conducted. If the Region Board and National Office have done their jobs most conference attendees will have a great experience and never realize the time and effort that has gone into the conference planning and execution. Wrapping up the 2014 SR CUPA-HR conference, I am sitting in the hotel gazing out of the window at the New Orleans skyline and feel content in that we have achieved our goals. I will fly out of New Orleans tomorrow with a completed task.

Each year the individuals on the board work tirelessly to make each Keynote, Corporate Partner, Concurrent Session, Meal and Event have a lasting impression. Although every effort is made to make sure the Host City is 'drawable' for the masses, the primary goal of each SR CUPA-HR Annual Conference is to provide the most up-to-date, well-informed, Human Resources information in an engaging manner that leaves attendees with great ideas for their respective campuses. After each session, feedback is assessed and reviewed and used to create an even better conference experience the following year. Nothing at the conference is done without purpose!

As we conclude this year's annual conference I think back to the many great sessions I attended and the great information I was able to glean from the speakers. Another great part of these conferences is the feeling of familiarity and cohesion we have with our HR counterparts from across the region. We find that we are all dealing with similar issues and networking opportunities have allowed us to gain best practices from each other to hopefully implement in our home institution.

I have had my beignet's and coffee. I have had my share of seafood gumbo, etouffee, crawfish and bread pudding. It's time to say 'so long' to this great city and start the further planning for next year's conference in Nashville, TN. Thank you New Orleans for being such a gracious host.

laissez bon temp rouler (Let the Good Times Roll!)

jamie