The top of any large organisation is a bit like a circus. The chief executive is the ring master. The finance director leads a group of jugglers. There are the high flyers on traipse. There is a knife throwing act and of course there are the clowns Flippant, Cynic and Sarky . The animal acts have been replaced, instead of snowy white horses galloping around the ring , it’s noisy motor bikes racing around inside a metal cage and the elephants have been replaced by monster trucks.

Roman riding is a classic circus act and although the horses have been replaced by motor bikes the skills, balance and  courage are still very much in evidence. In a large organisation the ability to ride two horses at the same time is a skill all senior managers need. Non more so than the head of HR.

The two horses could be Staff and Management although I think the stables would include Health and Safety, Mental Health and Wellbeing,  Redundancy and Redeployment. And the most challenging Equality, Diversity and Inclusion!

But the expression riding two horses at the same time best captures the tension between  competing beliefs such as how best to motivate employees or the work/ life balance. As organisations strive to be more competitive, to do more with less, to be increasingly agile able to introduce changes quickly and smoothly they demand more of their employees. A

At the same time many organisations are committed to taking the mental health and wellbeing of their employees seriously. They recognise that this will help with their recruitment and retention challenges,  probably reduces their long term absence statistics and deliver the benefits of a more engaged workforce.

However, encouraging a more compassionate management style whilst at the same time making redundancies and changing ways of working is like trying to ride two horses at the same time. But then again If you can’t ride two horses at the same time you shouldn’t be in HR.