Some of the most important conversations we’ve had with clients over the past 20 years have started with a simple question:
“Can I run something by you?”
What follows might be a concern about a struggling team member, frustration with a manager, uncertainty about how to handle a difficult conversation, or a leadership decision that has been weighing on someone for days.
These conversations don’t always fit neatly into a traditional HR category. There may be no policy to write, compliance issue to address, or formal process to follow. Sometimes, a leader simply needs a trusted person to talk through the situation with them.
That’s one of the roles we’ve come to appreciate most at FocusHR: serving as a personal coach to our clients.
A Place to Think Out Loud
Leadership can be isolating.
Business owners and executives are expected to make decisions, solve problems, and provide direction, but they don’t always have someone with whom they can speak candidly.
HR can provide that sounding board.
A client may come to us convinced that they know exactly how to handle a situation. After talking it through, asking questions, and considering the issue from several angles, they may reach a different conclusion.
Our role isn’t to make every decision for them. It’s to help them slow down their thinking, consider the people involved, anticipate possible consequences, and choose an approach they can stand behind.
Coaching Happens in the Everyday Moments
Not every leadership challenge arrives with a formal meeting invitation.
Sometimes a client calls before having a difficult conversation and wants to rehearse what they’re going to say. Other times, they call afterward to talk through what happened and decide what comes next.
We’ve coached clients through performance concerns, organizational changes, workplace conflicts, hiring decisions, terminations, and countless conversations that don’t have an obvious script.
We also help leaders recognize their own patterns. Maybe they’ve been avoiding a conversation for too long. Perhaps they’re stepping in to solve problems their managers should be handling. Or they may be communicating in a way that isn’t having the effect they intended.
Those moments of reflection can change how someone leads.
20 Years of Trusted Conversations
After 20 years, we know that HR work is deeply personal.
Policies and processes are important, but organizations are made up of people, and people situations can be complicated.
Leaders need a place where they can ask the uncomfortable question, test an idea, admit uncertainty, or say, “I’m not sure what to do here.”
For many of our clients, FocusHR has become that place.
Sometimes HR is a strategist or a problem solver. And sometimes, the most valuable thing we can do is listen, ask the right questions, and help a leader find the best way forward.
About Focus HR, Inc.
Focus HR, Inc. uncomplicates the people side of business by providing small business owners with outsourced HR, project HR, and Leadership Coaching. For more information, please contact us today! If you liked this post, please subscribe to our blog. You can opt-out at any time.
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