In Human Resources there are days when many people are waiting for an answer you cannot give yet.
It may be a doubt about a process, a decision that is not yet closed, or an action that has been set in motion and still needs time to show whether it works. And although that is part of the job, it is not always easy to hold on the inside.
I am Nara, the mascot of HR professionals, and today I want to talk to you about a skill that may not be so visible from the outside, but that greatly influences how you experience your day to day: staying calm when answers are missing.
In HR you do not always have absolute clarity. Often you have to support, decide and keep moving forward while things are still open. That is where the mind can start to fill with noise.
Here are three skills that can help you work more calmly when you do not yet have all the answers.
Skill 1
When everyone expects you to have the answer
In HR it is common for many people to come to you. And although you know you cannot have every answer at every moment, when someone asks you and you still do not know what to say, an uncomfortable feeling can appear, as if not having the answer left you a little exposed.
This happens because the mind tends to associate authority with immediate answers. But in a human environment, where many decisions depend on people, conversations and timings that are still in progress, authority is not always in answering fast. Sometimes it is in knowing how to hold the question without filling it with certainties that do not yet exist.
A simple way to recover calm is to change the internal question. Instead of thinking “what do I have to answer now”, you can ask yourself:
“What can I clarify now without inventing a certainty?”
You may not be able to give the final answer, but you can explain what is known, what remains to be confirmed or when the matter can be picked up again. What builds trust is being able to hold the question with calm, clarity and honesty until the answer arrives.
Skill 2
The vertigo of betting on an action
In HR there are many actions that do not show their impact right away. You can launch a training programme or an action to improve the climate, and need time to know whether it will work as you expect.
The problem appears when the mind interprets that lack of certainty as a danger signal. A simple way to recover calm is to replace the demand for certainty with a logic of follow-up. Instead of asking yourself “what if it doesn’t work?”, you can ask:
“What do I need to observe to know whether we are on track or need to adjust?”
In HR, many actions are not sustained by absolute certainty from the start, but by moving forward with judgement and keeping the capacity to listen to what happens afterwards.
Skill 3
The mental noise of what remains pending
In HR there are matters that do not end when a meeting ends and keep occupying mental space for hours, because the mind tends to return to whatever it perceives as incomplete. That effort consumes energy, even if it is not visible from the outside.
A simple way to reduce that noise is to give what is pending a concrete place, instead of letting it spin in the background all day. You can ask yourself:
“When does it make sense to look at this again?”
What matters is that the mind stops treating that matter as something it must solve all the time. That something remains open does not mean you have to live inside it.
Humántica®
At Imantia we do not only think about the experience of those taking part in a training programme. We also think about the person coordinating it from Human Resources. Because behind every learning action there are decisions, doubts, timings, expectations and many small uncertainties that are not always visible.
That is why, in our CARE method, we try to make every process clearer, more caring and easier to sustain for HR. Supporting also means reducing noise, anticipating needs and making the path simpler for the person who has to drive it from within.
I will still be around, watching closely how you work… and also learning from everything you hold together every day.
And who knows, maybe at some point we will bump into each other at the office. I almost always accompany Berta M. in her meetings with HR.
Oh, and you can now sign up for our newsletter: “La brújula humana del talento”, created for HR professionals.
— Nara
PS: What helps you most when you have many things open and answers are still missing?
