The new HRM

As the fundamental challenge for companies in the 21^st Century is their search for purpose and societal relevance, human resource management and management development is put into a broader perspective as well.

Human Resource Management

Originally, HRM primarily is geared towards finding, selecting talent and aligning their skills with the organisational goals. Yet I believe that the upcoming generations, such as generation Y (those who were born between roughly the 1980’s & 2000), preferably work for companies that strive for a higher goal than sole financial profit. I most definitely was one of them: I couldn’t find that purpose during my professional life for most of my employers. It eventually lead me to quit my job altogether.

Societal Relevance

HRM faces the challenge of keeping its organisation relevant to the next generations to come. I remember that in 2005, right after I graduated in Business, I enrolled in a management development programme, it failed to answer the fundamental question of meaning. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful that I was given this opportunity to develop my skills in a stimulating environment and I was made aware of my own behaviour (mostly) within an organisational context.

Many of the courses and trainings fulfilled at least to some extent the necessity of becoming aware of my own behaviour. Most of them however, then had the intent of reprogramming my behaviour in order for me to become as effective as possible within that organisational context.

Yet I’ve experienced that many people within business are taught similar, excusez-le-mot, tricks and more than once I’ve seen that those tricks were merely used to facilitate Ego as opposed to free flow of energy (once you become aware of this, it reaches a point of absurdity: negotiations, meetings, sales pitches, presentations. Each one of us have experienced that ‘seasoned’ sales person or that consultant that pulls out one hat trick after the other).

The fact remains that I was left behind with that lingering question of societal purpose. It seemed to be taken for granted.

I believe that with our challenges at hand and the evolving role of businesses in our society, HRM will have to take the broader perspective and take consciousness as a frame of reference.

Towards Human Consciousness Development

Human Consciousness Development, as I would like to call it, takes that inward journey as a starting point. It strives to answer the fundamental question of will and meaning: “What do we want to accomplish in this world?” Finding this answer takes gut and perseverance, yet some will find it easier than others. Human Consciousness Development is about reaching the highest possible state of collective consciousness within their organisations, becoming aware of its own paradigms and being confronted by any blockages on a social, physical, rational and emotional level.

A continuous process of letting go

This process of consciousness development starts out by becoming aware of one’s own paradigm and then strives for continuous unlearning and realignment of talents. Although it might feel a little strange, not to intentionally replace old patterns with new, in the end this process will be liberating and ultimately rewarding. To me, this deep-dive into my own consciousness eventually gave me the courage and insights to working an audacious goal of getting this world to give. Something which without this inward journey, I would’ve never even thought about.

And yes, I can imagine that you are having some doubt might lose some employees along the way as some will probably find their own purpose to lie somewhere else, but would you really want to have an organisation in which people feel unhappy as they are unable to unfold their own purpose? And ultimately, it will attract those who are attracted to your organisational intent.

Aligning the subconscsious with the conscious

Developing consciousness basically is about aligning the subconscious with the conscious. Most rational and emotional blockages are hidden to language, thinking and emotions as they reside on an energetical level. The Human Consciousness Developer enriches the palette of traditional HRM tools by disciplines such as meditation, qi-gong or shamanic practices. All of these (and many more) practices allow for a holistic view and provide a meaningful perspective on a world where language, thinking and emotions fall short.

To those who seek next level consciousness

Obviously, such an approach is only suitable to those employees who are willing to partake in such a journey. After all, it is as much as a journey into oneself as it is a journey into the soul of an organisation. An important prerequisite is that people must be willing to be confronted by themselves and their own behaviour. Consciousness can’t be forced, but is available to those who actively seek it. Human consciousness developers thus face the task of carefully selecting those people.

Creating pockets of light

From a change management perspective, consciousness development thus doesn’t allow for a top-down approach but follows the approach of creating ‘pockets of change’; bottom up initiatives throughout the organisation that drive action first. Human Consciousness Development has the primary goal fortifying consciousness in an organization by creating “pockets of light”.