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A question of Intent - not

A lot of times, as Human Resources, we end up questioning the intent of people we work with or we hired. Whether this is intentional or inadvertent, I cant say for sure, but many a time this is what I have observed.

And I strongly feel that the moment we do that, we question ourselves and our hiring judgement. Apart from sounding sanctimonious and arrogant - we are at that point, doubting a peer. And a lot of our assumptions stem from here - stated or unstated.

Most of the times the argument is unstated - but it points in the direction of questioning intent. Intent can be questioned - no doubt - with the right evidence, but without the right evidence, questioning intent is just superciliousness.

Recently, in the unconscious bias class - everything was about bias. The intent of the entire organization was questioned - without any credible data.
During performance appraisal calibration - there is a question of intent. Why is someone being promoted? Why is someone not?

Here is an alternative: Question systems and processes and incentives that reward a type of behaviour. The answer will be far better than what one gets by questioning intent. The problem with the former is that most of these are set and run by HR, therefore the easy way out may be by questioning intent.

So, the next time you see yourself question intent, question your incentives (and processes/systems/culture). You will get better outcomes I promise.  
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