This post is inspired by a Twitter conversation – as so many things are. I have an awesome Twitter tribe of HR professionals (#TwitterHR) that I interact with on a regular basis and many of them also have blogs (#HRBloggers.) Some are seasoned bloggers, others are newbies and others, like myself, fall somewhere in between. I’ve been blogging for YEARS in various iterations on various topics, but this blog is relatively new.

So I’m checking the timeline earlier and I see a tweet from Steve Browne asking us to share the HR blogs we’ve been reading. As tends to happen when Steve makes a request, the responses were fast and furious. I’m honored that this blog was mentioned by some along with others I knew about and others I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading. This got me thinking – Wow. There really are A LOT of HR bloggers out there. It’s overwhelming. Then one of my HR tweeps (Twitter peeps) mentioned she wants to write a blog about everyday HR practitioner struggles as opposed to strategic HR and the other typical HR blog fare. I’m of a similar mindset but I often struggle with thinking “who really wants to read this?“

When I wrote a lifestyle blog there was less pressure to “inform.” I was just sharing my world and it was fun. However, in the realm of “professional blogs” I find myself wondering “Do I really need to add my voice to this? How many HR voices are too many? Nobody has time to read ALL the blogs; why would they read mine? Is it OK to sometimes just talk, not teach?” Yet when my friend said she wanted to write an HR blog just to vent, I told her every blog is different and everyone has a different point of view worth sharing. I realized I was talking to myself as much as I was talking to her.

I have so many posts in draft status because I convince myself that it’s not important enough or timely enough or it’s been written about already, etc. I’m writing this post as a reminder to myself as well as to anyone else who may have the same struggle that it’s fine to just do you. Not everyone is going to be a HUGE blogging star. Not everyone even wants to be (though a lot of people probably do. LOL.) It’s SO easy to get caught up in followers and retweets and building your personal brand and trying to be seen as a “thought leader” or “subject matter expert.” Don’t get me wrong, those things ARE important to a degree. But sometimes you just want/need to get the thoughts out of your head and there’s nothing wrong with that. Sure, you could keep them to yourself, but what fun is that?

So my message to you (and to myself) is YOUR HR VOICE MATTERS. They say there’s a lid for every pot, so there must also be a reader for every blog too, right? You won’t get every one but you’ll get the right ones i.e. the ones who find something special/interesting/inspiring about your voice and point of view. Let’s do this!