Yes. This is one of those “apology” posts. You’ve seen them before. A blogger takes a break or doesn’t post as much as they have in the past, so they do a post to apologize for not posting and promising to never let that happen again. I might have done one of those before. But now, when I see those posts I think how much hubris is in that apology. Apologizing is what you do when your behavior harmed someone or affected someone’s life in some way. Apologizing for not posting seems pretty small. I think it takes a pretty big ego to think that people are waiting with baited breath for an email or update in their feed containing your most recent brilliant post and that not getting that update will have some sort of harmful impact. How self-important can one believe themselves to be to think that a lack of email interruptions is a behavior worth apologizing for.
So… I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile… and I promise to make that happen more often.
I am sure that folks that post every day (as I have in the past) don’t have more free time than I do. I think they either borrow or steal from their real life, or pull it from their work life. Either way – people who post good content regularly are shortchanging someone – their family, their boss or themselves. Notice I said “good” content. You always have time for dreck.
At least that’s my excuse. Not the dreck part – the posting frequently part.
Sort of.
I’ve been posting less for three reasons.
- I’m busy as hell at work. And it is great! I love being busy. It is a rush getting things done and moving things toward the goals you’ve set. And we are doing that at my work. Couldn’t be happier. So, right now I have less time during the work day to actually think about a post and write it. I have tried for my entire 11 year blogging journey to write good posts – not just 300 words that add very little value. I think I’ve done well on that note.
- I refuse to take too much time out of my “life” to post to a blog. I don’t want my raison d’être to become 500 words and a funny image on a blog. That is the saddest thing in the world. I know too many folks whose sole source of value is their social media footprint and what their “followers” say about them. Note to them: “It’s not real life.” You can’t hug a blog subscription or a retweet. Find something has real value and hang onto that. Your real value is not a clever take on the newest headline about business from the Huffington Post.
- There is so little to write about anymore.
And that final reason is the real focus of THIS post.
Blogging is Now Simply ReHash
Over the years I’ve written a lot. I also read a lot. And while I applaud the explosion of great thinking citizen journalism has brought to the business world, I don’t like the sheer volume of rehash. And I don’t mean posts that bring a new take on an old idea. I mean posts that say the exact same thing as was said 10 years earlier. Or 5 years earlier. Or 5 months earlier. Or 5 days earlier. Or yesterday.
Example: Recognizing employees impacts employee engagement.
There is ZERO reason to post on that. ZERO! That trope is as old as Methuselah. Is there ANY reason to have a NEW post that says “recognition is a great way to foster engagement in your company”?
My take? NO.
But not everyone agrees with me. I said something on twitter about the sheer amount of rehash on the web and someone said…
“Not everyone knows that. There are people new to (in this case) HR and may not have heard that.”
My response…
Let me get this straight – you put someone in HR that doesn’t understand the basics of engagement? You have someone, who hasn’t read a freaking SHRM article or blog post in 20 years, responsible for your employee performance, and arguably the cornerstone of your future success strategy, (ie: people – they are your most important asset – might be blog post out there about it – I’m not positive though, google it.) Are you kidding me? How do you get a job where even the most basic of understanding of the function is not a requirement?
I can’t believe the entire HR world is getting dumber. Unless those in HR today are not holding new HR folks to high enough standards. It could be that the gurus and consultants that generate the preponderance of blogmit, (that’s blog vomit – words in blogs designed solely for SEO not reader value-add) don’t care and will post anything with the appropriate keywords to get the hits.
I realize this is a “get off my lawn post.” But I’m entitled. I’m a blogger right?
10 HR Topics No One Should Blog about Any More
I probably subscribe to too many blogs focused on HR and that probably skews my point of view. But I’m sure you see the same eruption of blog posts each time one of the big three consultancies releases new data. And too many of those posts simply rehash the data and a put in a link. No value. No thought leadership. Heck –no thought.
So – to do my DUTY, and help future HR bloggers, here is my list of 10 things we don’t need another blog about in the HR world…(at least not for about 5 years minimum)
- Recognition drives engagement
- Employee engagement is good for your company (any version – financial, retention, turnover, etc.)
- Employee engagement is not a program
- HR doesn’t understand business
- HR needs a seat at the table
- HR needs to be like marketing
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is valid and applicable for engagement
- Employees only work for money
- Employees don’t work for money
- You must have an ROI on employee engagement
And because I’m a giver…
BONUS: Millennials are different (no they are not)
We don’t need more posts on any of those topics. Not one.
Caveat (always a caveat…never say never.)
If you truly have a unique data point that challenges or reinforces something in a huge way, then, and only then it is your job to bring that to the masses (remember – your masses are about 100 people – you’re not that great – ask my friend Dr. Daniel Crosby.)
Do yourself a favor – google your topic and see if it has been posted before. If so – has it been done in the past few years? Was it on a site with more circulation than you? It probably was. Trust me, none of us are that widely read. There’s a reason they call people “HR Famous.” Is your post materially different? Is it adding value or simply taking up internet bandwidth? Try to add some variation on the theme please.
I truly would love to hear your opinion.
Do you think we have too much rehash or are you like my twitter friend and think that rehash is an unfortunate necessity for our less enlightened HR professionals? Do we need to dumb down the discourse because someone can’t look at the archives of a blog or a website? Is this simply the way forward? Is this the new normal? Really – I would love to know your opinion.
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