As you may have heard, HR Wench is out of the anonymous closet. She’s a fellow Portlander so I’ve been encouraging her to reveal herself but for slightly selfish reasons. But for every anonymous HR person revealing their true identity, there are probably three more starting blogs under the shroud of secrecy. Why does this happen?
I guess it is more of a rhetorical question. I know why HR people start blogs anonymously. I was one of those people so I understand the thinking behind it. It is very simple from where I was:
- I am a bit paranoid. I don’t want my bosses or my employees to read about this but my wife is tired of hearing me talk about HR stuff. I’ll do it anonymously.
- Writing anonymously gives me more freedom to write as I please including making fun of co-workers or even my boss. Woohoo!
- I am a representative for my company so I speak for them. My blog will be boring if I have to limit myself to stuff the company approves.
- If I blog openly, it could open all kinds of legal traps. Perhaps I say I am against so and so act and then an issue comes up at work and they find my blog. So much for any good faith effort claim!
And so on. There are probably a million different little reasons to blog anonymously as an HR pro. To me, there is one good reason to blog openly with your name:
Your message is about you (not your company) and if the message is about you, then the only way you can be authentic is to blog under your name.
To me, authenticity was important. It was putting my name behind my words and that was important enough for me to take the leap. Not to say that putting your name on your blog gives you instant authenticity (it doesn’t) but it does give you that potential. And there are some terrific anonymous HR bloggers out there but people will always wonder who is that person behind the web page?
Some people may also dispute that a blog is about you. They are wrong. You may not be the topic but the blog is about what you think about those topics, how you react to different topics, how you interact with commenters, etc… The blog is YOU. Topic may vary.
But for HR people, it is a difficult decision and I struggled with it as well. I think it hinged on the fact that my employees/boss would be trying to read into it or that outsiders would try to read into what my company was doing. HR is not PR though and we (should be) as active as any other department in making sure that company is going in the right direction and be able to have open conversations. I put three rules in my head that made blogging as an open HR person easy:
- Nobody at work would be surprised at my blog entries. This required me to be open with my superiors and employees about what I was thinking. It brought a new level of accountability to the table. So when we discuss an issue at a meeting and they see that I blog about a similar issue, they don’t see something contradictory.
- Nobody comes to my blog for breaking news. At least about layoffs or other HR related things. While you might find me talking about a product or something cool we are doing, working on staffing plans is part of my job and people should be channeling official sources for that sort of information. I don’t do spin well so I won’t try on my blog.
- Don’t use negative examples from work. This is obviously political but I think it is necessary. Nobody should be the “Bob” in a bad supervisor example. If they can identify themselves from your example, you shouldn’t use it. Most of the bad stories in my blog come from other people who e-mail me or talk to me about their work.
I am all for HR bloggers making themselves known and I am happy to talk about my experience in even greater detail of going from anonymous to open.
8 Comments on “Is it More Difficult to Blog Openly About HR?”
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Posted on 4. August 2008 at 12:49
Great points, Lance. I like the “level of accountability idea. We, of all people, as HR execs should be very open about what our issues are and what we think… because that’s what we want to encourage in others. “Be the change you want to see….”
Posted on 4. August 2008 at 23:02
Great point Dave. I think that is exactly what I hope for in HR.
Posted on 19. August 2008 at 13:40
I totally understand and agree with “owning” ones’ opinions. Unfortunately, and although I for example would like to do so, I am HR for a company which has less than kosher ways of approaching business, and although my being there has affected it to a point where decisions with employees are always ran through me, I still have to turn my head the other way for certain jaw dropping requests. It’s a very calculated balancing act, and some things just definitely need to stay hush. =(
Posted on 25. August 2008 at 15:51
……….. Your message is about you (not your company) and if the message is about you, then the only way you can be authentic is to blog under your name.
That is an amazing comment and So true. I am one for example who have had to take a lot of hassle for standing up for what I believe in, but at least I did so with my name up in lights.. (the one time I didn’t I still came up and identified myself, not too long after)
My hat off to HR Wench for coming up to the plate — it is a tough spot to put yourself in, to break out of that “comfort zone” - hope you remain true to yourself though, and don’t get all political because of public impression..
You may actually be shocked at what the REAL masses are actually the quiet ones.. the ones who support you in volume, but quietly not publicly..
Good for you… thanks for letting me speak my mind!
Karen Mattonen
Proud of being me!
karenm@hirecentrix.com
http://www.hirecentrix.com
Posted on 27. August 2008 at 05:40
Meh … I have to disagree on this one. If it were so much more difficult to blog under your real name, why are there so few anonymous HR Bloggers?
Some of the greatest writers this world has ever seen used pen names.
In my experience, I’m more measured and careful when my name us under everything I write. And I don’t think “measured and careful” = “more authentic”.
A truly authentic blogger would, on occasion, have to break all three of your rules.
1) Sometimes it’s good to surprise your readers. And if those readers be people you work with, so be it.
2) Even if it’s not the main thrust of your blog, sometimes it’s good to be the one that comes out with Breaking News.
3) Every now and then, the very best example is a negative example from work. If you don’t use it, are you truly being “authentic”?
Lance, I love your blog and what you’ve done with HRM Today, but the authenticity of “open” HR Bloggers might be one issue on which we are going to have to “agree to disagree”.
Posted on 27. August 2008 at 08:03
Totally Consumed,
I’ll just clarify a few points:
I don’t think there are only a few anonymous HR bloggers, I just think that many anonymous HR blogs are unknown or very lightly read.
There are great bloggers who write anonymously. I don’t feel like my post criticized their ability or the interesting nature of their post.
As far as your numbered points,
1. I agree but employees are not the primary audience (maybe less than 1% are people I’ve worked with). My wife reads my blog too and she knows all of this as well. For most people, it can be surprising what I advocate.
2. You would advocate breaking news that your company is laying off people before the announcement is made public? I can’t agree with that.
3. If you are open about why you don’t include negative examples from your current work and your name is attached to that, how is that not authentic? I feel like I should respect the people I work with, especially in the case of developing managers and employees (which those examples usually come from).
Posted on 27. August 2008 at 16:41
Lance, Thank you for the clarification. You make some excellent points. ~TC
Posted on 9. October 2008 at 16:09
I have experienced this both ways, kind of.
I have a blog that talks about business in general but am moving it more to a HR focus. I began blogging about some experiences (and frustrations) at work, just to get things off my chest you understand. Then a few months later a manager (we get on well) was talking about blogging and communication in the workplace so I sent him to my blog as an “example”. He commented on my “frustrated” post and I raced over to see what had written (it was a few months ago). It was generally okay and he was quite complimentary but it was scary for a moment.
So, with all of that in mind, I’ll remain open about my identity but perhaps take more care in what I write, not hide or cover up but to be more analytical and objective - it may help my writing style and produce a better blog overall.
I am sometimes in a similar situation to HR Monkey (above) so I’m off to his blog to empathise!