2: What's hard about doing radical HR work?

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Hello again, this is the second thread in a series exploring what animates members. It picks up on this notion in the Community about page.

The RadHR Community is full of people who are working through this stuff and coming up with new ideas and understandings, from trying things out in our respective groups and organisations. This forum is the space where we can get into the nitty-gritty, to help us all to do better.

So, in the spirit of ‘working through this stuff’ please tell us what’s hard about the work for you?

Check these linked threads if you prefer to talk about ‘organising differently’ or imagine what an ideal RadHR Community would look like for you. See the announcement thread for more info about the animation experiment.

Thanks as ever,

Roxanne

Announcing RadHR's Forum animation conversations (Feb 2026)
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I think for me it’s often difficult pushing people (including myself!) out of their comfortable norms, and into more radically fair / just ways okf doing things. I’m ashamed to say I can also be guilty of thinking those radical new-norms should apply to everyone else, but not to me (because - hey - I’m RIGHT, and have EXPERIENCE, and DEGREES….and all that self-privileging nonsense). I’m working on it…..

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Oh yes @ManxCat that resonates! Lots to unpack. Personally I think there’s enormous strength in the reflective practice you describe.

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In terms of policy and process design: balancing what we can afford as an org against what would actually be impactful against stat/legal requirements against what’s realistic in terms of org capacity. I find my baseline for what a policy should do is quite high and I often have to walk it back a lot after situating it in the reality of our work. I find this especially difficult trying to embed anti-oppressive principles in certain policies, making it feel genuine and authentic but also practical and managing risks. Redundancy is a good example of this. In terms of org culture, something I currently find hard is the extent to which I am responsible for supporting deeper engagement with the history and theory of anti-oppression rather than upholding more superficial behavioural practices. Personally I don’t think one should come without the other but it’s more complicated than that in practice!

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Yes. We live in a world of constantly pushing these ideas forward. Exhausting on a human level, for all involved.