The HR Juggler

When I started this blog two years ago, I happily posted the links to Twitter, but felt quite shy initially about letting any of my friends or work colleagues know that I was writing.

It took me ages to feel comfortable with posting blogs to Facebook and talking to my friends and family about it…all of whom were really supportive. My brother even read the entire back catalogue of posts (at least a year’s worth by that point!)

This week marks the start of a new experiment, as for the first time, I will start linking my blogs to my profile on my work’s corporate intranet and publicising them internally. In many ways, it is no big deal, as lots of my colleagues know that I blog; some to choose to follow or check out posts, which I always appreciate. Yet, to be honest, it does feel a little different!

So, why am I doing it and why now? A few reasons, really. Our intranet platform has the potential to be very social, yet we are really only starting to explore how we can best utilise it and adapt our communication styles to make the most of all of the possibilities it brings. And in common with many organisations, communication is frequently raised as an issue and something that we all need to work at to improve. Written communication is only part of that, of course, but hopefully every little helps. It is also easy to forget how others see us, and recent feedback to the Board from the delegates we sent to One Young World made it clear that many staff perceive senior managers as distant and inaccessible, which was a good nudge to try some different things.

Will it make any difference? Time will undoubtedly tell. More than anything, it feels to me like squaring the circle between work and home, colleagues and friends, corporate and social. Perhaps they are not as different as we sometimes think.

What are you trying that’s different? Any thoughts about personal blogs and corporate audiences? I’d love to know.