“Go and fix your makeup, well, it’s just a break up,
Run and hide your crazy and start actin’ like a lady…”
Miranda Lambert sings about it, there are t-shirts galore made in honor of it… and yet it’s a concept not readily exposed by corporate HR.
Hide your crazy.
Exposed? Why would HR want to bare their (collectively speaking) crazy?
Why not?
The crazy I speak of is a key element to your organization’s culture. It is the unwritten rule, secret handshake or knowing glance when someone of unassuming importance walks in a room. It’s often the most important element of success in a company. Yet, we want to hide it?
Think about your typical onboarding program. You probably talk about company history, mission, vision, values, org charts, departments, hopefully how your company makes money, benefits—who to call if your paycheck is screwed up; but do you tell the story of how Jack saved a key client on the “golf course?” Or what about the company logo and how it was inspired by a pint of Guinness? Do you share the one, two or three screwed-up things that have helped employees get promoted—or fired—to your newbies?
Probably not.
Again… why not?
If these stories, these foolish adventures, ideas and yes, whacked people, could help a new hire fit in even quicker and possibly become more productive—why wouldn’t you share your crazy?
Take this guy.
Clearly crazy enough to tattoo a prediction on his body, but anyone who is a University of Kentucky fan totally gets it. And it has raised awareness of the basketball program, university and UK’s place in March Madness.
Or Will Ferrell.
Not only did he probably save Saturday Night Live with his insanity, he is now pumping life into Little Debbie!
We LOVE crazy. We salivate hearing the tales, seeing the pics and feeling part of the team because we’re “in the know.”
I say revamp that onboarding and lead with the crazy! Not only will you wake people up, you’ll probably get them jazzed about your culture and joining your company in the process. Don’t hide your crazy!
hrQ is a national HR search, Interim HR Staffing, and Human Capital Consulting firm. Your people equation. Simplified.
Kathy Rapp is the President of hrQ where she helps companies find groovy HR Talent for permanent or interim roles and has amassed a rockstar human capital consulting team doing work across the country. Prior to joining hrQ Kathy booked more than 15 years of diverse HR leadership experience working in F500s and start-up organizations. A connoisseur of the intersection between pop culture and business, Kathy believes many talent insights can be gleamed from the succession planning lessons experienced by Van Halen and AC/DC.