Try These Uncommonly Creative HR Ideas Today

The Journey Started with Leap

It was Friday 13th – unlucky for some. But I was feeling elated and lucky.If I were feeling superstitious about the number 13, my money would be on the lucky variety. Lucky 13 – a baker’s dozen.I was finally going to do it.  And I did!This year, on Friday 13th February, I leapt, flew, soared and tumbled down my very own rabbit hole.

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." - Morpheus to Neo, in the movie The Matrix

The Red Pill

Yes, I took the red pill.Starting my blog The HR Rabbit Hole has been a thrilling, mind expanding hold-on-to-your-knickers roller-coaster of a ride.A colossal thank YOU. I appreciate you (ad)venturing down The HR Rabbit Hole with me.I learnt that a quest is a solitary pursuit. Noble but lonely.But a journey; now that is something else entirely.A journey is best enjoyed in company. And the reward is in learning and sharing the experience with your travel companions.And I am on a journey with you.Connecting with you via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn motivated me to hit publish and honour that promise to continue our journey afresh each week.Your comments and questions encouraged me to push on deeper into the wilds of cross-discipline adventuring.Here are the highlights of our journey this year…We stole treasure from the copywriters and marketers.  Read Me.We got our Swagger on and partied with the HR Rule Breakers as we explored the concept of HR as Art through Creative HR.We helped entrepreneurs and HR leaders dodge the traps of the HR Horrors as they build wildly successful businesses. Whether you are a Pyjama-clad solopreneur or Niche Freelancer or Start-up Entrepreneur, this 5 part series was made for you.How to Avoid the HR Horrors and Skyrocket Your Business Growth. Part 1 of 5: Purpose PowerYou Are Not Alone: Most People (in Business) Worry About Financial Horrors. Part 2 of 5: Pesky HR Costs.Discover When You Need to Exit a Deadwood Employee Pronto. Part 3 of 5: End that Toxic Relationship.Untrained Zombie Employees May be Leaving Your Valuable Customers Cold. Part 4 of 5: The Cure.Stop Stinky Communication Today to Leap from Ordinary to Extraordinary Results. Part 5 of 5: Communication Bloopers.We tarried a little here and there. At one rest stop we were compelled to throw some seasoning and pep into pot of Lackluster Training.  Flavour and pizzazz restored, we moved on.Oh yes, we discovered that HR is Art.Along the way we met with storytellers and marveled at the magical way they hooked, engaged and made their audience the lead characters in their story.We contemplated, "Why do stories matter – particularly in business?"“… there is always a story being told – especially in the mind of your audience [..] You don’t necessarily control it but if you don’t shape it - that narrative - in the way you want it to be; the story goes on in their heads. You may not like the story they are telling themselves about you.” Brian Clark, founder, CEO of Copyblogger Media  - interview podcast with Ryan Hanley. Listen more here.We vowed that we would find authentic ways to craft our story and honour our audience (candidates and employee community) through the art of storytelling too.You practise HR Art when:

• You tell your business' story in your recruitment marketing.
• You design candidate selection exercises and write the script for your candidate interviews.
• You collect candidate and employee stories, connecting them with the story of your business - building the plot with heroes and villains.
• You use copywriting skills to create job descriptions, policies & procedures, newsletters and employee communications to inject meaning and purpose into work and the contributions made by your employee community.

Make no mistake; you are a content marketer, designer, author - an Artist.In recent posts, we pressed on in search of the HR Holy Grail – the path to human value creation.I believe that value creation lies at the intersection between useful, creating something new out of the old and making a positive difference.And now I have come to the end.No! Not that; but this…

“When you come to the end of yourself it is where all the interesting stuff starts.” Elizabeth Gilbert.

There is more to come. Much more.But first, I’m pressing the pause to reflect on an amazing year.To ponder and percolate ideas for continuing our journey down The HR Rabbit Hole, plan new projects and find new ways to serve my clients better and more creatively.Taking some much needed time off to recharge, visit my family and be inspired by a change of scene are a December must and treat not to be missed.I will be sending you bite-sized updates of discovered tips and ideas via our Facebook page and Twitter until The HR Rabbit Hole blog resumes in the New Year.December is also a time for looking forward to the New Year with anticipation.I have lots of bright ideas bubbling. The ideas board above my desk is already a blizzard of multi-coloured post-it notes.But bright ideas – even the uncommonly creative ones – quickly lose their luster if they cannot be tempered and tweaked to:

• unlock solutions,
• overcome the painful obstacles blocking your way to success,grow your business,
• and help you on your path to fulfill your purpose.

Looking Forward to the New Year

So here we stand on the cusp of a New Year.

• How can I help you transform from blah to cooking with gas with creative HR!
• How can we create value through people via HR in 2016?
• What HR challenges are niggling or keeping you up at night?
• Where are you HR-wise in your business now and where do you want to go?

Tell me, I would love to hear your suggestions.Drop a comment in box below.If you enjoyed this post, please hit the share buttons below so other readers can enjoy it too.  The more the merrier.Thank you.Until we meet again in the New Year on 4th January 2016 down the HR Rabbit Hole…

Have a wonderful Holiday Season.