Beauty At Your Finger Tips

Have you ever seen a spray painter at work? In a mere matter of 10-15 minutes you will see a masterpiece being born in front of your own eyes. A spray here, a spray there, smudge, touch, sprinkle, turn, adjust, more spraying... I was captivated and mesmerized  by the whole process when I saw it for the first time in my life. Is it art? Maybe. It is well looked upon art? Doubt so. It is easy to understand, it's right in front of your own set of eyes, but can you do it?

Same with HR. There is the Craft, the Science and the Art of the profession. Just like with anything else. Let's try to visualize the process of a painting creation. You may know the basics of mixing the paints, preparing the canvass, positioning the objects, and the like. You have the Science of the subject matter. Furthermore, you may be good in drawing, creating images, transforming your own ideas into a visual form for others to appreciate. You have the Craft of painting. But does it make you a Raphael or a Picasso? Hardly so - and that is the last element - the Art of the profession.

Obviously, you need all three and all three are there in the society, but they are distributed unevenly. How many HR professionals are out there? If we take the average ratio of 1 HR pro per 40 employees, that is a massive army of HRs out there! How many of them have the Art of the profession? Some. But not all.

Once again, we are coming back to the issue of finding what is it that you are really good at and how do you develop it and capitalize on your strengths. What is easiest/hardest to develop: Science, Craft or Art? How? Everything starts with understanding oneself. Once you have a grasp of who you are, you are much closer to understanding your fellow human beings. You don't need to understand Finance as much, for instance. It will get to to a certain point in your life, but to progress from there a deep insight into the nature of yourself and others is crucial.

I am going to write something about Strengths Finder quite soon. I need to make up my mind about that assessment... will let you know...