Recently, Dr. Edward E. Lawler III wrote an article, 'The HR Department; Give It More Respect'. As an experienced HR exec I have seen first hand what he described. Unfortunately, there is a compounding factor.

In building HR teams over the years, the two most significant challenges have been consistent, regardless of the organization. The first of those challenges was overcoming the situation Dr. Lawler described:

“While most companies say they value human capital, in reality, few are run that way. They may have systems in place for hiring talented people, but their organizational structures aren't designed to develop, motivate and retain the best ones. And the group with the expertise to help the organization better manage and utilize people—the human-resources department—often is too mired in administrative tasks to tackle higher-value work.”

The second challenge was finding talent with raw potential for the task at hand and developing them to effectively deal with the situtation and the company climate, culture and current challenges. Sadly, a very low percentage of the available HR candidates have the profile necessary to make the grade.

The profile I have developed is outlined below

Look for professionals

who see themselves as business managers with HR expertise,
who have a hunger for the core business, with strong intellect and an appetite for learning
who understand process and strategy, and can execute effectively
who understand it takes hard work, persistence and resiliance to make things happen
who have gotten beyond the 'control and administer' role of Personnel, and have met the challenge both personally and professionally in dealing with larger business issues beyond the traditional "HR box"  as true business partners.

I suspect that a high number of companies take the less than respectful view of HR that they have, because HR professionals deserve it. Even when taking the SPHR certification exam I was surprised by how little emphasis was put on the understanding and involvement with the business. I notice there is more emphasis on strategy, but not so much on the business results and opportunistic strategy and tactics. The old 'control and administer' style of HR management needs to be replaced with an approach that focuses on business orientation, organizational leadership, and long term value added performance.

I agree that businesses need to be more respectful, and I would add that we as HR leaders need to be more in tune to the needs of the business, to relate to what is discussed at Operating committee and BOD meetings, and in a way be more respectful of the business. Someone once told me that 'We did not build this organization so that HR would have something to do'.

This is a challenge that can be beneficial to all sides.  HR leadership must build more effective and more business focused teams so that HR can and will contribute to the bottom line of the business.  Business leaders -- if they truly believe in the importance of human capital -- should expect more of their HR leadership.

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Comment: *