The HR Smile — in pursuit of what true gifting lies within you
Before the end of last year, I took a major decision to have corrective braces fitted to my teeth.
It was not so much the willpower needed to make that decision that rendered it a major one, nor the cost of these braces (my, these tiny metal and rubber things cost ‘mula’). It was neither because I was a spoilt child whose very rich daddy was tired of his insistent nagging and finally conceded to give him colourful teeth
So, at 24 years what could have triggered in me the decision to wear braces?
I was born very fortunately, blessed actually, to inherit the gorgeous looks of my dad, and a bit more. His smile.
His gap teeth weren’t as charming on me as they were on him. In effect, having grown up quite self-conscious of the gaps in my teeth, I was convinced it was time to close ’em up.
So simply put, I sought to perfect my smile. I was ready to face head-on the ‘everyone-peeking-into-my-mouth’ storm for the greater good of perfection.
But why was this so important? What difference did a better smile carry? Did it matter at all that?? Friends have argued that my gaps described me. My branding : the boy with the teeth gaps. They made me unique.
Had I always been unsure of my smile? They would repeatedly sneer in disgust, It’s what makes you you, you know! — In my defense, I would purposely pull off a toothy grin. Few comments hardly ever followed such stunt.
All this talk of smiles reminds of my encounter with two very different people — HR people. One of them a man and the other a lady, both working for companies that pursue the same kind of business, and both of whom were very much at the pinnacle of their careers when we met.
Human Resource departments are quite important. They are the face and sometimes the mouthpiece of the companies they represent. Unless you work in a car assembly plant, and have more interaction with robots than with humans, then not so much to you. (The latest terminator sequel should have starred you?), But to the rest of us, HR Departments have evolved into indispensable arteries of any serious people-centered organization
Now Patience was the second HR person I encountered. I was invited for a meet up with an HR representative of her firm for a job application I had put through. An informal discussion of a sort, the email had failed to expand more on that description.
Some might quickly counter that this sort of emails are malicious in intent and purpose to unveil you unguarded, and in your most casual composure. While I have no doubt that this tactic has been employed a number of times by many, I am led to believe that this particular situation was different.
Now you see, When Patience gracefully emerged into the ‘meetup’ room, she was quickly excused by certain others seated. It took no special wit to tell she was someone of authority. She introduced herself by her first name and offered me a seat — an uncommon thing, especially in a country where ‘heavy’ titles, coupled with ‘the flamboyance of your surname’ would decide how sweet your host was going to act next.
This meeting with Patience can best be described as warming and receptive. We only spoke for a while, but when I stepped out of her office that day, I had said more to anyone willingly about myself than I had with any other person… in a space of 6 minutes. It was unusual for anyone upon first meeting to wrench so much out of me, but Patience had! Her weapon was harmless yet effective.
Patience wielded the most lethal communication weapon, ‘the HR smile’ and with great dexterity, she had mastered its use! For the wages they offered me, it was suicidal to think of accepting this job, but I was inclined to. I wanted to experience the charm again.
But what about her smile had gotten me so bowled over? What was this HR Smile?
Later that day, I looked up this mystery lady and I discovered the obvious.
Patience had certainly been schooled right. She had chosen a career path she loved and had worked hard at being the best at it. She was not like the many we hear of; the many who stumbled into HR because they suddenly realized they had a mean stare and were fortunate to find company execs willing to pay for the services of stare masters.
She was certainly not like the many young ladies with failed music dreams, who upon seeking outlets to prod the eardrums of their unfortunate future colleagues took to HR.
Or the clueless university graduate, who chanced early upon an ad in the dailies, and got the job because she was best dressed at the interview.
No, Patience was like none of the above. Patience had discovered early that she had in her everyday life the unequalled ability to relate with others and pacify their burdening minds with consoling words.
She had discovered quite early that people easily opened up to her their most intimate concerns. They brought their most riveting secrets to her. And despite the fact that she was most trustworthy-a walking vault of stomach-churning secrets, her unique mind instinctively went about finding solutions to some of those plaguing private matters.
She had beautiful teeth, which she laid bear with infectious pride, yet, she was just as effective at keeping her personal opinions and troubling thoughts absent of her facial demeanor. She never had a dull day. If she did, her face never showed! She smiled when it was most necessary.
You may be forced to conclude that the HR smile is an immersive, and ultimately difficult skill to master then,–but it shouldn’t be. It transcends maintaining a sturdy grin and wishing away that little itch in your nose. Every moment as an HR representative should be the ‘HR Smile’. Indeed, every true HR person understands that the experience does not end when you step out of the office.
It’s not that I expect people to be acting-out office protocols in their leisure time, but that the idea of being a totally different person away from work is what makes many only second best to Patience.
The acclaimed rhetoric of ‘the customer is always right’, and the resultant imperative not to turn away any potential client no matter their obvious aggravations, is in fact quite the truth. The influences of many multinational companies transcend the corners of the workplace. Ideally, many have come to append signatures on contracts that they may have struggled to find closure earlier on, because they may have encountered a staff of supposed contracting company on the street somewhere, or in a bus headed nowhere and had had an encounter with The HR smile.
At this point, I discern that in the minds of many there’s the messy fuzz of indecision that seems to point to the idea that you may be twirling down the wrong career choice and headed towards ultimate failure. Your minds have only taken the natural course of deduction that is predominantly based on fear of the unknown. But then if my babbling only weathered down to birthing this emotion in you, what use is my writing.
NO! On the contrary, this article seeks to demystify the ideals that massive companies have sought to imprint in our minds, that their top HR Execs were born that way, and are completely infallible.
I’d have you believe that like Patience, should you discover any of the above potential HR skills within yourself, you were fully capable of maximizing them to full blossom through the laid down principles of desiring to be the best, and pursuing what true gifting you were blessed with.
