Crossfit > LinkedIn

So I have been thinking about this topic for a while, but hesitated to document yet another testament to the altar of Crossfit.

Been there, done that.

Also, FULL DISCLOSURE:  these ramblings that I am about to share are just kind of ancillary observations. But as a human resources guy, I have become increasingly convinced and hyper-conscious of the “progression” of Crossfit from my personal life into my professional life.

In this line of work, my professional credibility is highly dependent upon my ability to try and understand people and objectively evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in order to maximize their functional efficiencies in the workplace. But as we all know, people are highly unpredictable, and I'll say it....it’s pretty much a crapshoot.

For this reason, it is very rare that I will ever voluntarily offer a professional recommendation, and will think-long-and-hard before providing one when asked. Yes, I have even declined/neutralized requests simply because I was not sure that I knew the person well enough (despite working alongside them on various projects).

No disrespect intended to my co-workers out there…it’s just that if there’s one thing that I’ve learned after 10+ years as an HR monkey: people at work can be batshit crazy.

There is an environment, however, where people assemble and expose their character on a daily basis, without a filter of professional courtesies and not-so-veiled political machinations.  In this place, men and women work shoulder to shoulder spanning different ages and backgrounds. While their results may vary on a daily basis – the people there are always supportive, fueled by something greater than their egos and self interests. This place is called a Crossfit box.

As an HR guy with several years of Crossfit experience, I would assert that there is no array of professional certifications, LinkedIn recommendations or college degrees that can paint a better picture of a person than their “Crossfit Resume”.

Have you ever been pushed to the limits of your sanity at work? This happens daily at a Crossfit box.

Have you ever parked your car in front of a building, dreading the amount of work that lies ahead of you? This happens daily at a Crossfit box.

In fact, all of the challenges and humiliations that might possibly occur in the workplace happen routinely during any Crossfit WOD. Magnified in intensity by a gazillion.

The difference is that people do not WOD because they have to. They sign up for it voluntarily. We don’t just resolve to “hold-on” until the next long weekend or scheduled vacation.  We find ways to WOD during our vacations.

And this makes Crossfit a very special environment for assessing character.

I have seen people take risks, push themselves, and make themselves vulnerable (have you ever done a partner hamstring stretch?) in a span of 20 minutes, in ways that may never take place during a lifetime career in the professional world (DISCLAIMER: as an HR practitioner, I would NEVER recommend partner-hamstring stretches in the workplace).

So although I may only know my Crossfit colleagues for 45-minutes to an hour during my daily routine – I feel like I know many of them better than the people that I work alongside for 8-10 per day. I know who they are by their actions, their commitment and their drive…I know who they are because they don’t cheat on reps, and they don’t cry and send out email storms when they feel overwhelmed.

OK, maybe we cry sometimes.

But the people that come to Crossfit and stick with it are conditioned in ways that I think translate from the box to the workplace very well…and the flurry of successful Crossfit-related side businesses that cater to Crossfitters and “civilians” alike seems to support that. In Dallas alone, there are restaurants, coffee shops and retailers opening up all over town that are owned by Crossfitters.  These businesses often evolve like a Crossfit box…with very little advertising other than the word-of-mouth shared within our little community, and with great success. And from my totally-biased perspective, they tend to run on business models that are far more innovative and bold than what you might see in the mainstream marketplace.

For me, personally, I have my job thanks to the introduction of a Crossfitter.  And at work, there’s a secret society of Crossfitters who know each other from our C2B-pullup-hand rips and our paleo-friendly lunches in the cafeteria.  I may not work with them directly, but I know who they are and a little-something about their work ethic.

As Dr. Alison Beglar writes in The Power of Community: “A big issue for human resource professionals is the level of productivity of the workforce. The idea is to have happy and healthy employees who are motivated, more driven, and more energized as they approach their jobs.”….”research has demonstrated the positive connection between healthy employees and productivity.”

That being said, I am not crazy. I would never make an employment-related decision based on someone’s Fran time.  The HR-guy in me knows that there is no single-data point that can be used to evaluate the potential of a candidate. But I will say that if Crossfit is designed to prepare you for the unexpected, it’s not hard to see how the lessons of such conditioning might come in handy in situations outside of the box, and that they may lead to success in the workplace.