Disrupt: a verb meaning to interrupt something by causing a disturbance or problem, sometimes drastically
What can Disrupt?
- Unruly disagreeable employees?
- The weather?
- Production problems?
- Cranky little children?
- A messy office?
- Too much on the schedule?
Can human resources disrupt? We are such a likeable bunch…
Can disruption be good? Absolutely! It depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Last week I attended the second annual Disrupt HR in Cleveland sponsored by Cleveland SHRM. It was an absolute blast to meet so many HR people interested in changing the status quo. Even the format was disruptive. Instead of a few speakers who blathered on about their topic for 30 minutes or more, thirteen speakers spoke for five minutes with these rules:
The Rules
20 Slides x 15 Seconds = 5 Minutes. That’s it!
Presentations can be about anything so long as they pertain to talent. Audience is encouraged to interact – clap, laugh, cry, tweet, text, just play nice.
And they did. The audience actively participated, whooping and hollering encouragement and support for the brave speakers who spoke as fast as they could trying to keep up with 20 slides flipping every 15 seconds behind them. All except one poor fellow whose slides seemed to move faster or slower at random, certainly not every 15 seconds. The audience howled and the speaker laughed and pushed on to share his message about statistics.
Two speakers’ messages stand out for me as being most disruptive. John Bernatovicz from Willory pushed HR to start looking at HR in a different way with a message, “Hey HR, S#*& or Get off the Pot”. He threw footballs and used big signs to work up the audience, even running over time because the crowd was on its feet. Michelle Salis from Ultimate Software brought the message “We are NOT the Enemy” encouraging HR to talk to the sales people who call on them. We have good ideas we want to share. We can direct HR folks to a better way of getting things done if the HR people will only ask.
The ultimate disruption is opening our minds to a new way of doing things.
Look at the world in a different way. Stand on the desk like Robin Williams recommended in the movie Dead Poets Society. Get your audience to listen to you. Say it fast, directly and to the point. Be the change you want to see.
Are you ready to Disrupt in order to Grow?