5 Ways to Sex Up Your HR Communications
Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by Frank RocheRelax! You can’t screw up her hair. Just tease it and make it look like a brown football helmet. — Shelby (Julia Roberts) to her mother’s hairdresser in Steel Magnolias.
Your HR communications are dowdy. They’re drab. They’re frumpy. They’re the hair style equivalent of the standard suburban mom’s brown football helmet.
You need to sex up your HR communications. Trust me, you do. Here’s how.
5 Ways to Sex Up Your HR Communications
- Be Surprising. When’s the last time you did something completely out of character? Wearing red stilettos to dinner is surprising. How about using words you’ve never used? Or a look that gets attention?
- Be Daring. Sure, you can go with safe. That works. For a while. But after a while, safe turns into boring. And boring turns into Viagra ads. Do something no one else does. Ever used Twitter for a major corporate announcement?
- Be Bold. There’s nothing more compelling than having the attention solely on you. What could be sexier? How about really steaming it up and creating a communication campaign that makes your employees think they’re the only ones on earth? Why do a poster that fits in a glass case? What about a poster 8 feet tall?
- Be Adventurous. All work and no play…well, you know the story. Is there something that you really wanted to try but keep holding yourself back? Don’t do it. Have you ever used scents in your communication? What about 3D?
- Be Mysterious. Show them some leg, a glimpse here or there, but don’t show them everything. Think Marlene Dietrich, not Madonna. You don’t have to tell everything at once — let the tension build.
Sarah Chambers and I collaborated on this one. She has lots of shoes. Some are even red on the bottom. — Frank
Lindsay
Oct 13th, 2009
LOL!
I love it! Too many people equate being professional with being BORING. So they stick with the same old, same old.
Ready to pull out my red high heels and slips into that little black dress…now what should the e-mail be about….
laurie ruettimann
Oct 13th, 2009
I want to see more HR women in Christian Louboutin.
Frank Roche
Oct 13th, 2009
@Laurie I can tell you that Sarah is the only HR woman I’ve seen in Christian Louboutin…I have to say those are some fabulous shoes (and boots). She’s got style. I think it’d be cool to have The Women of HR showing of their fancy shoes…I’d buy that issue.
Frank Roche
Oct 13th, 2009
@Lindsay You got it…little black dress is perfect. LOL about wishing you could send this to people…pro doesn’t have to boring, as you know…we all need to band together…then we can banish boring.
Lindsay
Oct 13th, 2009
Christian Louboutin shoes are gorgeous, Laurie, but I will stay with Jimmy Choo. They come in red, too
Ron Ulrici
Oct 13th, 2009
Frank…
Sexy? Bold? Too scary for many HR people! They run their communications by their corporate attorney who sanitizes it back into the same boring stuff.
Oh, and I try to never think of Madonna.
Bill Strahan
Oct 13th, 2009
This is very true. Note to readers, this also requires real courage. People in your company will resist and mock this.
Be brave. Be a fractal.
Frank Roche
Oct 14th, 2009
@Bill One nice thing about getting as old as I am…I now take getting mocked as a badge of honor…I’m a long way past high school.
Thanks for the kind words.