I discovered a new term recently.

Boundary spanner.

And once I understood what it meant, I thought: Hang on. I’ve been doing this for years.

A boundary spanner is someone who moves between different groups in an organisation. They connect people who might not normally talk. They share information across teams. They spot connections and bring different perspectives together.

It took me straight back to my recruitment days as I have always believed that if I was going to recruit well for a business, I needed to actually know the business.

Not just take a job brief.

I wanted to know the people. What different teams did. Who the good operators were. What was changing. Where the challenges were. Who knew what. Who I could call when I needed to understand something.

So I spent a lot of time building relationships across the organisation.

And eventually something interesting happened.

If anyone in the TA team needed to know something about the business, my name was usually the first one mentioned.

“Ask Andrea. She’ll know someone.”

And usually, I did.

Not because I had all the answers but because I knew who might.

That distinction has probably shaped far more of my career than I realised at the time. And as the article I have shared says, that can create a tension with managers. I do remember one HRD asking why I spent so much time talk with people, was I not busy enough? 😂

I was connecting dots. Joining conversations.

Taking something I’d heard in one part of the business and recognising that it mattered somewhere else. Sometimes introducing two people who really needed to know each other.

That’s boundary spanning.

And when I look at HR more broadly, I think we have an extraordinary opportunity to play that role.

We sit in a pretty unusual place in an organisation.

We see the business through the eyes of employees and leaders. We hear what’s happening in different teams. We see where strategy meets the reality of work. We often know where the friction is long before it appears on a dashboard.

But there’s a difference between sitting across boundaries and actually connecting across them.

The value comes when we use that position. When we get curious about the business. When we build relationships outside our own function. When we bring people and ideas together.

When we say:

“You two should talk.”

Or:

“Have you thought about this from their perspective?”

Or even:

“I know someone who has dealt with exactly this.”

Maybe that’s also why community has always mattered so much to me.

None of us has all the answers. But between us, there’s a pretty good chance someone has crossed the bridge you’re standing in front of.

And perhaps making HR easier isn’t always about another framework, tool or piece of content.

Sometimes it starts with knowing who to talk to.

Read more about boundary spanning here.

So as a boundary spanner, if you are trying to solve a problem, find someone who can help, reach out, I know a lot of people.

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

If you missed Rebecca Houghton's fabulous Think Tank on Influence Without Authority, don't worry, you can still catch the recording.

Because influencing people when you don't actually have the authority to tell them what to do is basically a core HR superpower.

Rebecca shared some really practical thinking around how to navigate those moments, build influence and get things moving when “because I said so” isn't an option.

Many of you will recognise this pattern.

A manager has a difficult conversation coming up. Performance is slipping, someone has raised a complaint, they need to manage a return to work, or they know something needs documenting but they are not sure where to start.

They mean well. They put it off, get the wording wrong, or come to HR once the situation has already become much harder to untangle.

Kim and Careen have spent their whole career watching this happen and no amount of leadership training completely solves for the fact that managers need support in the actual moment they are dealing with a real person and a real issue.

That is why Careen and Kim built Mak 2.

Mak gives managers practical guidance when they need it: what to consider, what to do next, how to approach the conversation and what they may need to document. It is grounded in employment law and your organisation’s own policies, while keeping HR in the loop when a matter needs escalation.

It also gives HR a clearer view of the broader themes emerging across the organisation, so you can intervene earlier rather than only hearing about issues once they have become formal complaints, turnover or risk.

If you are a Head of HR, CEO or COO, or know someone who is, I would genuinely love you to see what we have built.

And because apparently one way of getting HR people to talk wasn't enough, we've started a podcast.

Well… a microcast.

Our very first Work in Progress features Erik Bates, all the way from St Louis, Missouri. Humaneer Ambassador and our Global Micro Meet host.

And if you are watching it, ignore that little thumb emoji that appears - I have learned that somehow, the computer picks up my hand gestures.

Work in Progress exists because HR is dealing with a lot. Work is changing, technology is changing it faster, and the expectations on HR keep growing.

And there isn't always an obvious answer.

But someone, somewhere, has probably dealt with the thing you're dealing with.
Someone has tried the thing you're considering.
Someone has made the mistake you're hoping to avoid.
And someone has probably changed their mind because experience taught them something different.

That's what Work in Progress is about: sharing those stories and lessons.

Because sometimes making HR easier starts with someone saying:

“I've dealt with that. Here's what I learned.”

And that’s my newsletter takeover complete.

I’ll hand things back to Careen before she notices I’ve been having too much fun with the editorial freedom.

Before I hand the newsletter back, I just want to say thank you.

One of the best parts of being the Humaneer community manager is seeing what happens when HR people come together, the generosity, the curiosity and the willingness to share what’s working (and what isn’t).

That’s what makes this humaneer special.

We’re all navigating a changing world of work, and it’s a lot easier when we don’t have to do it alone.

Thanks for being part of it.

See you online or face to face very soon!

Andrea

Community Manager

humaneer

PS - and I did promise puppies. This week I battled Melbourne hayfever weeding the garden and Albie and Walker joined me in the weeds - they were supervising.