Painting And HR Technology — Yes, There’s A Connection

Wish This Were One Of Mine!

One of my goals for 2013 is to spend more time painting, particularly illustrated journaling.  The particular techniques of interest are to do quick, annotated line drawings and/or watercolor sketches of whatever takes my fancy as we travel/play/go boating/whatever within an easily portable bound journal.  I also want to try creating drawings that I can use to illustrate my blog, but I think that’s further up the learning curve.

In the meantime, I signed up for two watercolor classes this “season,” (with our greater winter population, there’s a ton of cultural/education opportunities concentrated in that period), hopeful of improving my knowledge and mastery of technique, my watercolorist KSAOCs.  This is clearly taking me outside my comfort zone, and that’s a good thing even if it’s a humbling experience.

One unexpected side effect of taking up watercolors, for which I have neither background nor aptitude,  is that I’m seeing much more subtlety of color in our sunrises and sunsets.  Fort Myers is awash in color during our magnificent sunrises and sunsets, and I so wish I had the talent to capture them in watercolor.

How are you doing with your own explorations into unknown KSAOC territory?  Are you at the “I’m not going to be good at this” stage?  I’m well past that and into the “I’m never going to be good at this but I’m really enjoying it” stage, and my instructor tells me that, even with a late start and limited tuition, I’m making real progress.

Something else I’ve learned (besides seeing everything and everyone around me as a potential subject) is that knowing what it takes to do something makes it easier to spot/attract/deploy/reward/etc. talent with those KSAOCs.  I wasn’t pleased with the first couple of instructors I had, but I lacked even the vocabulary for describing what I wanted from them that I wasn’t getting — and what I was getting that I didn’t want.  As my KSAOCs grew, I “fired” those instructors and found one that had the right KSAOCs.  Now I know what to look for, and I can recruit more instructors with more confidence of their fit for that role.

Learning to paint for me has been just as challenging as learning to make sound #HRTech decisions is for HR leaders.  Real learning doesn’t take place until you open yourself up to it, lower those “I can’t/won’t/don’t want to/etc.” defenses.  I’ll never be a master watercolorist unless I throw myself into that full-time AND discover some innate talent.  And HR leaders will never be masters of #HRTech unless they do they same — and that’s probably not the best use of their time.  But I now have a better appreciation of great works of watercolor, and I see the world with an artist’s eye.  That’s just what HR leaders need to learn re: #HRTech.  I hope I do as good a job of bringing to HR leaders an appreciation of and the best approaches to #HRTech as my watercolor instructor has brought to me when it comes to painting.

There are lessons in strategic HRM lurking behind every personal KSAOC expansion journey.  Learn those lessons to advance your HR leadership.  And stay tuned for more on my own KSAOC expansion journey.