Identity & Values

1- prior to starting this course I had been working as a Human Resources Manager for 8 years. I was asked by senior leadership to figure out a way to terminate someone as senior management did not like them and no longer wanted them within the Company. The person had made an error in judgement however it was not a sackable offence and the employee had worked for the Company for 7 years. I felt as though this request was against a lot of my personal values: kindness - just because they didn’t like someone does not mean this person deserved to lose their job, plus they were going through a hard time which loosing their job would only make it worse. Security - this was more of a selfish thought that if they can do this to someone that had worked there for 7 years with no thought to the person themselves, they can do it to me who just started.

I chose to not proceed with their request and explain to them that if they do this I will be backing the employee and support them through a personal grievance process. Consequences were mainly positive the employee did not get terminated however senior management did not take too kindly to me after that. But i would prefer this employee to have their job and get through it and I will deal with what I need to to support them.

1b - I grew up in Perth, Australia, I drove across country and moved to the Gold Coast away from all of my family when I was 20. Then moved to country South Australia and then to Melbourne and finally to New Zealand. I feel that moving around without my support has shaped a lot of my values. Even though I moved around and sought after adventure I always had a back up plan to get home and always had steps if anything went a little pear shape. I take risks, but not too much.

2- My strength is that I am very passionate, when I want to do something I will do it. I want to succeed, I want to show everyone I can do it. Which works well for learning and career development. I accredit my current career progression to this . My limitations are again that I am very passionate, because I will do something no matter what and I want to succeed I become blinded by this and overwhelmed. I think the saying is ‘can’t see the wood for the trees. I get stuck with the bigger picture because I want to succeed at something smaller.

2b - I think that one of my strengths is being a quick learner, I had learnt HR from nothing. I believe this will assist me with my new learning journey for picking up all these new learnings.

3. In my previous employment as Payroll. The HR and I did not see eye to eye on a lot of our daily tasks. It became quite hostile between us. I decided that I would move out of my office into her office (which had a spare desk) so I could be close to discuss issues as they arose and to have an understanding of what she went through in her role and how I could support her. Reflections on other strategies are to continue with my role and make sure that I am efficient in my tasks and responsibilities on a day to day basis. i still think that the way I handled this worked well but if she was resistant to this, that would have been my next step.