The one thing that Donald Trump’s presidency has surely done around the world is building the awareness of Fake News/Fake Media. He has forever complained against media houses who, as per him, do not bring a holistic or a complete picture, and focus on just one part of the story, highlighting it to exceptional levels. We all know how influential media can be in framing people’s opinions and views on a subject, and when we hear just one side of the story continuously, we tend to believe it to be true.
A recent online survey was in US, asked citizens whom they intend to believe more – things said by Donald Trump or Media and Trump got the higher percentage of votes. One clear interpretation of the result is that people do believe that Fake News exists and that media plays a role in presenting biased stories to the viewers.
Unfortunately, our only source of news is these numerous media houses. We listen to how they are presenting the news and frame our points of reference accordingly. And a very similar thing is happening in HR fraternity in India. Our thirst of latest knowledge gets quenched these days through what’s being written about by HR experts on LinkedIn or HR magazines.
And that’s what Donald Trump says is one-sided view of things.
Most posts that we read on LinkedIn are written basis that individual’s experience of that thing, or even his/her view point, which is formed basis his reading/experience of that subject. There are hardly any write ups that are well researched, or those that bring a holistic viewpoint to the subject under discussion, in fact some of them are clearly written just for the heck of writing- Management lessons from this Bollywood movie for example! What are we intending to achieve out of a write up like that, tell readers that next time you watch a movie, while enjoying it with your family, think of how you can implement its learning at your job?
I fully empathize with bloggers like these, when you are starting off as a blogger, you need to attract eye balls, and you choose topics that give you that readership. Obviously, Bollywood, cricket and politics sell the most in India!
Management is both science and art and hence for write ups which are basis the art of a particular concept, reading about experience based posts is good, in fact very knowledgeable. But while explaining science, if the author is giving just one side of the spectrum, then that seems pretty dangerous for someone who doesn’t know there is more to the story.
For clarity sake, imagine a young HR professional, about to run his first Performance Appraisal cycle in the organization, goes to internet to get some pearls of wisdom. What does he get when he searches for such posts- PMS is a headache for employees, it is biased, it can’t run in its current form etc. Again, no harm in telling the young guy the reality, but wouldn’t it make sense to also tell him in the same post that there was a reason why PMS existed in the first place, why it’s important to run it, and it does have its advantages?
The issue with most of the blog posts these days is that it is intended only for the experienced reader, like a HR head talking to another HR head. They understand the lingo, the challenges and resonate with the solutions. But I really wonder, how many HR heads go about searching the digital world for opinions before implementing a certain practice in their organization? I doubt the number would be even a handful.
Most readers, who would get benefited from such write ups are young professionals, and what they get is one side of the story on one day, another side some other week, and a complete opposite viewpoint the next month- because they are reading multiple viewpoints of various authors!
It’s great for young HR professionals to be able to read thoughts and views of so many HR leaders these days, it surely gives them a perspective, but my worry is what is it that that young impressionable mind is taking out from that reading? What I am imagining is, he reads something about culture from a X leader, goes to his HR head and starts a discussion about his perception of culture. The HR head could get really impressed or really annoyed, depending upon whether the views of Mr. X matches with this HR head! In either scenario, what’s about culture that we are teaching this young guy?
Our advice to all young readers who wish to learn from HR write-ups: Be careful with the learning you are trying to get from HR articles and posts, as with fake media, these too should be read with a pinch of salt. Keep an open eye and mind to register various perspectives of a particular concept, (because there are many) so that you know the “for” and “against” of each, however to base your judgement on what’s correct and what should be done, rely on your organizational context and advice from company seniors.
At the end of the day, every read is a good read as long as you are not relying on ONLY that piece of work.
Image Copyright: Eric Drooker
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