Visty Banaji
HR Speak
What HR says is often not taken at face value. Among the reasons for this distrust is the inadequate, insincere and propagandistic manner in which some HR practitioners communicate. How can we recognise and reduce this?
The road less travelled
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Chinese sage of the distant past was once asked by his disciples what he would do first if he were given power to set right the affairs of the country. He answered: "I certainly should see to it that language is used correctly." The disciples looked perplexed. "Surely," they said, "this is a trivial matter. Why should you deem it so important?" And the Master replied: "If the language is not used correctly, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will be corrupted; if morals and art are corrupted, justice will go astray; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion."1 The remit of HR is obviously limited to the company rather than a country but, within its confines, HR’s careless or crafty use, misuse or non-use of words can have as devastating | April 2022
consequences as the sage foretold. There are three reasons why the frequency, effectiveness and transparency of HR’s communication style is second in organisational consequence only to the CEO’s: The only function usually authorised to issue regular, organisationwide messages is HR. This can be used for emergency information and instructions (such as following the Covid outbreak) or important long-term matters relating
to policies, benefits, change programmes and situational updates. These communications can reinforce and reify (or contradict and confuse) the understanding employees hold of the company’s purpose, values and culture. A well-run HR operation has numerous opportunities for individual and small group contact (verbal or written) with employees.2 These are vital, not simply for the transaction at hand or for acquiring a real-time pulse and healthcheck of people's sentiment,
