Feel the fear HR future leader
of themonth
That
ever-powerful
question of what
makes us motivated,
you? And has it helped you to grow in any way? If it engaged, inspired and
has, take what positives you can from the experience
and let the rest of it go.
If you still feel paralysed by the fear start to map out
what you want to see happen instead. We often imagine
the worst-case scenarios. This can be human nature, but
if you’re feeling stuck you need to make an extra effort
to create the best-case scenario instead.
Think it through and write it down somewhere, then do
the same thing tomorrow and the day after that – what’s
the best thing that could happen? I know some people
who start every day by asking themselves that question.
Do what feels right for you.
Another thing you can do if you feel up to it is to
allow yourself to feel the fear and to not run from it. For
example, if you’re working on something and you’re
completely stuck by a fear of failure, fi nd a time and a
place where you can sit still and focus on it.
Allow yourself to sit with the fear and your thoughts
around it. Go towards it and think about how and where
you feel the tension associated with it in your body. If it
had a shape, colour or texture what would it be and how
would it feel?
Set a timer for two minutes and just focus on your
breathing. Imagine breathing into the space where it
feels like you are holding the fear in your body. It can
sometimes help to imagine fi lling that space with white
light as you’re breathing, particularly if you associate your
fear with a defi ned colour or form. This can help to shift
the immediate feeling of fear and get you out of the
paralysis stage into movement again.
Overall, the biggest antidote to unchecked fear is
information about the subject matter, support given
with kindness and a step-by-step plan to help you work
through and navigate the subject of your fear.
There are a lot of things you can do yourself to help
you manage it and don’t be afraid to ask for professional
help if you need to. Fear is normal, it’s nothing to be
ashamed of, and now more than ever you don’t need to
cope with it on your own.
productive has always
fascinated me. While I’ve
been involved within the
‘people world’ for many
years in various roles and
guises, in both private and
public sector organisations,
my specifi c HR generalist
role started in the voluntary
sector more than a decade
ago and continues to
this day.
Name:
Roopa Vyas-Smith
Job title:
HR manager
Organisation:
Gingerbread
I think leaders that can really
integrate the head and heart in
decision-making and show great
compassion, integrity, care and concern
while balancing business acumen and
reasoning are currently lacking in HR.
People can forget what we say and do but
never how we make them feel.
HR future leader Personal development
HR’s biggest
future issue will
be ensuring
there is that
all-crucial place for the people
agenda in each and every organisation
whether big or small. People-centric
leadership with vision can create
authentic organisations with guts that
lead to high-performing and positive
cultures. For me that’s a simple winning
formula and HR has a signifi cant role to
play here.
When I fi rst started my HR career
I wish I’d had the courage to
challenge and to lead by example
whatever one’s role within HR is. I wish
I’d known that rules can be broken if they
don’t fi t your organisation anymore, and
also that sometimes you
need to ask the diffi cult
questions about what
really works and what
doesn’t. Of course, I also
wish I’d had the
confi dence earlier on to
say both yes and no when
needed - I’m still
working on that one.
Genuinely HR is all
about the people.
For me the biggest
achievement is those
moments where the
kindest of words and gestures have been
shared over the years about the difference
I may have made to people’s experiences
in a workplace. This could be related to
culture, processes, operational or strategic
goals. That warms my heart
because I always strive to spread
my mischief and magic (hopefully
in equal measure) wherever I go.
My advice to the industry
is to keep growing and
ever evolving by tackling
challenges that come up on all
fronts with whatever solution best suits
the organisation you work for. Also, fi nd
out who your people are because they are
so much more than the job they do. HR
has a unique position to really bring that
into powerful view. The richness of staff
in whichever organisation I have worked
for is breathtaking.
At the moment I’m reading
Crime
and Punishment by
Dostoevsky, as well
anything from my husband
and my growing book
collection (he’s fantasy writer
Ritchie Valentine Smith). HR
Karen Beaven is an HR director, strategist
and author
hrmagazine.co.uk April 2020 HR 57
/hrmagazine.co.uk