I recently read a short article that I really liked because it made my mind go in several directions. It was focused on three words: creative, flexible, and imaginative.

Many of my friends were aghast when they discovered I had entered the world of HR years ago. Why? Because they knew me personally and understood that I'm creative at heart. Always a hobbyist, I have numerous craft or DIY projects going on all the time. In addition, I wasn't the typical employee who just followed orders.

People have asked me how I can stand to be in "stodgy old HR" when I'm so creative. My reply is simple. HR takes a lot of creativity, flexibility, and imagination to be successful. After all, we're working for win-win situations. It's much easier to fall back on the old stand-bys and just say "that's how it's going to be done, period."

Here's the part of the article that grabbed me: "If you are creative, you can think of alternative ways to work around problems, ways that align with your own skills and reflect your values. If you are flexible, you are able and willing to change and modify plans; you adjust to new circumstances and needs. If you are imaginative, you envision what is not and what can be - you see in your mind what you haven't yet seen in the material world." (Cynthia Kersey, )

The combination of managing people, in all their varieties, and complying with state and federal employment laws takes a lot of imagination, creativity, and flexibility. Granted, you need to be consistent in how you do things but that only makes it a bigger puzzle to solve.

Okay, so maybe you prefer the "stodgy old HR" way of doing things. It works for those of you who are strictly "by-the-book." But it's a little like your mother responding to a child's questions with "because" just because she was tired and didn't want to bother with a better answer. However, I'll bet your employees really appreciate it when you give enough thought to solving a problem so everyone can win.