3 Things HR Can Do to Make a Difference

Guest Post by Peter Lanc, F.C.I.P.D. (Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development)

We all remember our math class and those interminable equations. Well, for some of us its been a while but memories linger like perceptions! I am often asked what do you do? (You HR people!) It seems as long as I can remember I have been asked that.

Heres the thing, its a great question.

Just get a few HR folk in the same room and ask the question. I tried it once and we all said different things. Blast and they talk about alignment!

I was momentarily speechless, reflective and then passionately said, I am a culture agent, I make a business grow and design a place where people want to be and give of their best. I work on the soft fluffy stuff, which actually is the real hard stuff that is the glue to everything, and I remind my naysayers that not much fantastic happens without people all working together, enthused and engaged!

As the conversation advanced, eyes widened and I was given a curious look. I thought to myself that we have much to do (as a profession), people dont get it because we dont get it.

We need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves how we are going to make a REAL difference. Not by simply responding to a perception-functional role but how to fast-forward the time machine into the future state model.

I am a proud HR professional, its in my blood, and yet, the perception of HR is getting old! Why do people still think we are the welfare department or just hire and fire and work on benefits?

What is it thats old I hear you ask? Well its simply the barrage of insults the HR profession continues to get!

And I wonder are we getting the perception we deserve?

After all, we are professionals. We get diplomas and degrees and training and education and we have institutions and chapters etc. etc. So why have we not broken out of the mold?

I recently heard that the only people who go into HR are those that could not make it in business. I also heard from a fellow Twitterer that its all in the mind of the HR folk themselves!! Well that is a great disservice to our thousands of professionals out there on the front line. That view has to come from someone who is as disconnected as the current state I am seeing.

Oh no, I just had a flashback to the movie Dirty Harry, to when he gets busted and is sent to H.R. Can anyone remember those fateful Eastwood lines???

The days of being simply great at the transactional stuff are long gone and in the words of Morgan Freeman, in one of my other favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption, We have to get busy living or get busy dying.

For HR it means getting busy adding value and engaging the talent in our organizations.

Its simply wrong that engagement levels in the USA are a woeful 20 something %. That means 4 out of 5 people are not giving of their best. Now that is just not right, and what are we, the people profession, doing about that (and I dont mean simply conducting surveys!)?

It has been simply too many years for us to be having the same conversation about HR being at the Leadership Table.

If we are still not there then we are not there because? (Look in the mirror!) Accountability starts with you!

I have been thinking about this for a while and thank Bob Tarver for sending me a great article on the subject of HR as Change Agents. My thought when I read it was that change has simply passed much of HR by.

Michael Lee Stallard, in his book Fired Up or Burned Out, enthuses us by talking about connections and the thrive chain. Right on!! Thanks for reminding us. Why do we need to be reminded I wonder?

Well, it's true, "Common sense is not very common and business sense is even less common. And, both are critical competencies that we share with a CEO! Stallards wisdom was consolidated when over the weekend I watched that fascinating movie Into the Wild and in the words of the young Chris McCandless, "Relationships come from everything we do not simply people- God gave us the world. The greatest leader of all time gave us a clue over 2000 years ago!

Both Stallard, and then Ulrich and Brockbank in their book The HR Value Proposition, remind us that we need to look at the value chain. They remind us that people don't pay for what they dont want! They only pay for what they recognize as valuable to them. Why do we forget that?

So I say, reverse the golden rule! I mean it works, but when I think of the golden rule I think of I will treat you like I want to be treated! Then I think to myself whoa... thats not right. That means you dont have to even bother asking me what I want or find out what my values are and assume I am like you! Methinks not!

So my plea is to treat me like I want to be treated. That means, you have guessed it, you need to ASK me what I want and what is important to me.

Another concept coming up:

Ask the customer what they want and when you give it to them you have started the process of likelihood to recommend.

Translate that message into how we serve and impact what we do for our stakeholders internally and externally including the communities in which we live and suddenly relationships and business get better! Believe me, perceptions will change and the seat at the table will become available, you will have not only earned it but they will want you to be there.

So what do we in HR need to do? Boils down to three things!

My 2010 Decade List

Ask ourselves three Questions Green Yellow and Red Lights

What we are going to start doing?
What we are going to continue doing?
What are we going to stop doing?

Get these three things right and we will change perceptions and we will be making a difference in our professional and personal roles. Now thats something to shout about! And incidentally, it will give us the voice we seek and the leadership role we absolutely should aspire to.

So start making those lists and share them in the comments. We will do a follow up posting!!

Peter is a highly regarded, successful and personable Business-Human Resource Leader with achievements in delivering strategic H.R. and change management programs in Europe and North America. He has worked in number of business sectors including telecoms, automotive, health care, television broadcasting, lean advanced manufacturing, education and the public sector. His brand is "Turning strategy into reality". Peter enjoys life, networking and building life long relationships, reading and golf. You can tweet with him at @peter_lanc.

Comments

karlaporter / Jan 3, 2010 @ 5:55 PM

Thank you for the awesome guest post Peter. I believe your decade list of questions is actually timeless 🙂

Chris Ferdinandi - Renegade HR / Jan 3, 2010 @ 6:13 PM

Peter, interesting post. I have a few thoughts:

1. I sometimes think that focusing on HR as a profession instead of people as HR professionals actually does our profession a disservice. “HR” doesn't need to do anything to improve. HR professionals do.

We need to have a clue how our organization makes money. We need have a deep understanding of how you inspire people to do amazing things. And then we need to make sure that our managers are inspiring people to do things that make the business money.

I worry that by focusing on “HR” instead of “Me, the HR professional,” it become too easy to put blame on something bigger than oneself. Know what I mean?

2. “For HR it means getting busy adding value and engaging the talent in our organizations.” What does that mean in plain english? These kind of buzzwords sound nice, but often don't actually help people understand what it is they need to do. I think I know what you mean, and I think I agree, but the words you've chosen obfuscate your point (ironic use of the word “obfuscate” intentional).

3. Is it possible we're overcomplicating what we do? That's not to say that what we do isn't important – I passionately believe it is. But as HR professionals have fought to prove our value and worth to organizations over the last few decades, it seems as though we've created a perception that our profession is so complicated that you need a PHD to do it effectively. A lot of what I would consider “good HR” is actually just common sense (that unfortunately isn't all that common). It's a throwback to small/family business values.

The most powerful piece of your post – your “three questions” – unfortunately gets buried at the end of the article. I would love to see you expand on those three, as I believe that's were real change for us as individuals and as a profession will take place.

Thanks again Peter! I love when an article causes me to think (I haven't written a comment thing long in some time, so kudos for getting the gears to really start turning!).

– Chri

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 6:32 PM

Thanks I do agree. Both the profession, which appears to be “blind” to the perception and thise that practice have to get outside of the box.

There is way to much discussion on the process with many thousands of dollars in consultancy fees thinking up clever diagrams and models.

My worry is that the profession is defining what HR is all about and that is laying the seeds for the future professionals. In Europe the concentration is less about academia and more about the business impact.

I agree with you we do over complicate what we do.

My 3 questions? yes I do have practical advice and that is the material for another posting ( if asked back).

Thanks for your feedback. My worry ? HR professionals don't care enough to get their hands into the business and take some risk! It's easy to work inside the traditional role and be asked.

Michael VanDervort / Jan 3, 2010 @ 7:09 PM

Great post, Peter. Glad we just connected with each other on Twitter. It is always great to discover strong, critical thinking!

Thanks for getting this posted here, Karla! Great stuff!

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 9:06 PM

Thanks Michael, Its all due to Karla, she is a great relationship builder

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 7:17 PM

Ok Chris I will give you a starter, this list to be defined and developed to make it your own. Also some personal to do's to support the how!

Start: working the talent process and the intangibles. And creatively imaginer the transactional stuff into efficient processes that support business performance. I know that some of this is still necessary but it should not be all consuming!

Continue: To ask questions like: If this was my business what would I do differently? How would I prioritize for fast gain?

Stop: accepting that what we do today is all that we can do. There is no future in that and todays perceptions will continue to haunt us.

Also we need to think what it is we need to work on- after all we cannot take care for others if dont take care of ourselves:

So here are some personal to dos things to work on as HR Professionals

1. Develop our leadership skills give direction and a sense of hope
2. Develop Business intuition- business sense and start connecting the dots
3. Evaluate everything with a business-leadership bias
4. Start using your connections- a leader understands that they cannot do it alone
5. Reflect that how you see your world is a result of who you are
6. Leadership is as much an art as it is a science (maybe even more so!)
7. You develop credibility when you begin to show people that you genuinely want to help and care
8. Treat the business as your own and treat people how they want to be treated
9. Harness the hearts and minds and increase engagement as a result
10. Take the difficult decisions and do it fast

(Adapted from the 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership John Maxwell

So there you have it!

For 2010 I challenge HR to define its destiny as those who can look into the eyes of our fellow human beings and say we had the courage and leadership competencies to make a difference and we did it! We achieved success for the good of all we served.

I leave you with a quote which I really like its by Alan Cohen when he said To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny.”

Chris Ferdinandi - Renegade HR / Jan 3, 2010 @ 8:11 PM

Peter (I'm assuming WoollyLanc is you, anyways),

Thanks for the robust response! Some great, actionable stuff there. One quick follow-up: What does, “Working the talent process and the intangibles” mean?

Thanks,

Chris

trishmcfarlane / Jan 3, 2010 @ 8:36 PM

Peter- very interesting post that will make each of us think. As I see it, there are two camps of HR pros. The first camp is perfectly happy being known as the group that handles the administrative and functional aspects of human resources. I think we need these people and I question whether you would ever get these pros to want to think strategically. The second camp is the one who wants to be considered a major contributor to how a business is run. For pros with this drive, they gravitate to organizations that value HR in this way. These are the people who know how to speak the language of business and demonstrate the value of HR from a financial standpoint. Many organizations do not have a culture that supports HR professionals behaving in this way, so it can be challenging to find a fit. I think we'll always have this division in HR.

So the real challenge is for each of us reading your post to determine if we're “Camp 1” or “Camp 2”. Then we can determine if our start, continue, stop list matches the organization we are serving. If not, move on. If it does, do great things. Either way, HR is alive and well in so many forms. I welcome the chance to see how each of us embraces 2010 and the changes it may bring!

Really enjoyed your post and look forward to other comments.

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 9:52 PM

Thank you very much for your generous wisdom.

I really like the idea of the two camps. That is where the challenge is there! I mean I wonder if Camp 1 becomes a resource that can be regionalized or outsourced. There are many call centers already in place on other services, why not in this arena. I am concerned that this transactional focused group has much of a long term life ( I think (?) it does but in a different framework over the next 10 years. To balance this I am all for retaining the high touch areas of HR and that is an area for review as well. So alive and well today may look very different and has to be shoudl we be having this conversation in 10 years. Thank you immensely for your comments

Camp 2 I agree, we all need to focus on the added value areas and as long as we see engagement levels in the USA as low as they are we need Camp 2 folks to figure out what they can do to raise these levels. I have not even touched on the critical area which is exploding before us .. that of having the lowest levels of trust ever in our business world.

Joan Ginsberg / Jan 5, 2010 @ 2:52 AM

While I agree with you that there are certainly two conceptual camps – does the HR pro really have to decide WHICH camp they belong to? I am thinking, as usual, of the small business practitioner. Many businesses just can't afford to have a Camp 1 and a Camp 2, and I am really worried that outsourcing everything will bring an end to a lot of HR practice, particularly in the small business.

I would much rather see an attempt to teach the Camp 1 transactionalist (did I make up that word?) why they should begin to think about Camp 2 strategy and why it is important for them personally and professionally, and for their business in the long run. While I am sure that there are some that will resist, I really think that most are just uninformed.

I keep going back to my personal experience. While I was a working HR solo practitioner, I WISH I knew about some of this stuff. I wasn't resistant, just ignorant. So I am going back to my 2010 HR Mantra: REACH OUT. Help others find a better path.

karlaporter / Jan 5, 2010 @ 12:46 PM

Joan – My personal thoughts on small business is that there will always be a place for HR Generalists. Sometimes that may be combined with being the “Office Manager”. My office has 25 and I am not the Office Manager (we have one) but we do outsource payroll and benefits (to local providers). I'm perfectly ok with that, it allows me to focus on the organizations strategic goals. Help me out…. am I missing something? Thanks for your visit and participation in this great conversation! ~Karla

Joan Ginsberg / Jan 6, 2010 @ 1:30 AM

I guess I didn't explain myself well at all – sorry! My concern in a truly small business (less than 100 total employees) is that sometimes the only reason a business owner (and these businesses are all generally privately owned) is even willing to hire an HR pro (defined by me as someone who spends more than 50% of their time on HR) is for the transactional stuff. This is the work that scares and intimidates the owners – getting the proper paperwork done. If the business outsources too much of that – then they don't see why they don't just outsource ALL of it. And around me the small business does outsource all of it – they use PEOs. These PEOs have no strategic component whatsoever,
but they sell themselves to the small business by claiming that they save the employment cost of an HR person. Most of the small businesses around me are using PEOs.

I agree that we need less paper pushing – but I think that HR pros need to reach out to those paper pushers and HELP THEM understand what they could do differently and how they could help their business owners grow. I don't see the value of asking the beleaguered HR pro to choose up sides. Or their owners may choose up for them.

Woollylanc / Jan 6, 2010 @ 1:10 AM

Thanks Joan. I think as you say the business has to decide what it needs. I do also believe the HR person also has to identify his/her strengths and align them with the needs of the business.

In recent work with a couple of retailers ( small business owners,) what was of value in addition to the basic HR stuff was the business sense.

I agree that the transformational – basic work needs to be done. I think it is term limited when it comes to remaining in house.

My question always is what does an HR person “do” that could be done in house or contracted. The more strategic and aligned the work the more it will be part of the business team.
There needs to be much more awareness – education by the HR profession of the implications of the role of HR. and so I agree with your point. I want to see more Business minded HR people, we do not need pen pushers!

paris22 / Jan 3, 2010 @ 8:40 PM

Peter, great post! Here are a few immediate problems that need to be addressed. First one is that HR needs to recognize there is a problem, which I don't believe many HR Professionals do. I recall listening to a Blog Talk Radio show a couple of months ago when an industry professional commented that the only people who keep talking about HR being dead is HR, so if they stop talking about it the problem will go away. Very wise comment coming from someone who holds a prominent position within the leading HR Organization in the country and someone I would want on my team (NOT). Second, people who have been out of the industry longer than Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton have been out of office need to stop touting themselves as HR gurus or professionals. I talk to people every day who are in HR and are still looking for that so called seat at the table. It reminds me of the quest for the “Holy Grail” where the search seems to always fall short. Lastly, it is time to get new blood in companies, try some new ideas and start moving industry forward. For too long HR has been run with a closed door policy where only the chosen have been let in, where everything is sugared coated enough to make you ill. Please does HR Professionals really believe that people can't see right through the phony facade many portrait. In too many instances HR is managed by people who only hired people that think like they do. You were either a follower or you were an outsider.
In a time when many of the functions of HR can be easily outsourced you have to wonder if change doesn't come soon will it ever as many companies are learning to manage with significantly smaller groups.
For all those who are truly trying to bring change for the better to the industry, I wish them all the success they need in making it happen for everyone else time for a career change!

Look forward to your follow up post.

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 10:00 PM

Thanks Paul. I AGREE the Profession needs to get out there and see what is happening! They need to do what we ask all of us to do, talk to the customer and find out whta is happening at the grass roots.To offset the discussion like a curve ball is missing the mark.

Accountability starts with the Professional groups who espouse the theory. and and talk a good story. They are so misaligned it would appear that the very professionals who are doing their very best have no leadership. Reminds me of a story : “There are my men I better hasten to catch them as I am their leader”

Chris Ferdinandi - Renegade HR / Jan 3, 2010 @ 10:18 PM

Paris,

Great insights in your comment! I can't say all aspects of HR should be opened up (and for legal reasons, many of them cannot), but I agree that as a profession we're far too secretive about far too many things.

If we think we've made a sound business decision that we would stand by, why not just be honest about it and offer full disclosure to employees. And if that's not the case… perhaps it's not the right decision?

Cheers!

Chris

sakibkhan / Jan 3, 2010 @ 9:35 PM

Some great points there Peter and I like your three questions.

I think we need to be clear about the goals of HR. In broad terms we can say there are two main goals: one is of economic (helping the business to grow) and other is socio-political (or social legitimacy). Each HR function needs to be clear about their own economic and socio-political goals within the context and then ask your three questions i.e. identify areas that are really adding value to the business and get rid of those which are not (similar to lean concept).

Woollylanc / Jan 3, 2010 @ 10:06 PM

Thanks for your insights. I try to keep things simple and continue to ask myself a number of basic questions:

1.What is it that I do to make a difference and add value to “my” business”
2. Is what I do make a significant economic or strategic difference,
3. Do I help managers do their jobs better,
4. Do I do things ( including policies and practices and protocols) that engage people in ways that the could only dream of.

So I agree! Thanks. On the subject of lean manufacturing processes they are key : the real success factor though is the culture required to drive
the changes

karlaporter / Jan 3, 2010 @ 11:38 PM

Whether HR changes or not, thank you Peter for getting people to visit the site and leave comments – something I have largely failed at =)

Margo Rose / Jan 3, 2010 @ 10:19 PM

This is a super cool post. I love where you went with it, and I really like the points you made, and the questions you asked. I will mull these over. Thanks for writing such a wonderful post.

shennee / Jan 3, 2010 @ 11:59 PM

Great post Peter. I am looking forward to more conversations with you!
Happy New year~
Shennee

Michael Lee Stallard / Jan 8, 2010 @ 3:09 PM

Peter,

Thank you for referencing my book. This discussion has been helpful.

Here's what I'm personally thinking about these days on this topic. Corporate Executive Board research shows that on average only one out of ten employees are engaged and aligned with their organization's goals. For that reason, I think it's wise at the beginning of each year for HR to help the leadership team to go back to the basics. Most organizations miss the opportunity to renew at the beginning of each year a shared annual vision among their members. The shared annual vision comes about from answering the following questions: where are we going?; why is it important?; how are we going to get there?; and, what's my (each member's) role? When a leadership team takes the time to answer these questions and hold conversations throughout the organization to help ensure that there is clarity about the vision and values, it helps bring about strategic alignment and improves employee engagement. In addition, I'm finding that more organizations are wisely investing time throughout the year to discuss the “how we will” get there (i.e. our values) and, in doing so, making it clear “how we will not” get there (i.e. what behavior is not acceptable because it is inconsistent with our values). In these conversations, participants share examples of how we are living up to our values, how we are not and where we are at risk of failure to live up to our values.

Here's another area that HR leaders might consider focusing on. Most organizations are good at defining what they expect of employees in terms of annual tasks. They are not so good at defining what leaders are expected to do for employees then measuring and holding them accountable. Every organization should conduct an annual employee engagement survey to provide accountability and the questions in the survey should express what leaders are expected to bring to employees. A leaders performance review, pay and promotion potential must reflect their performance in the realm of employee engagement. I was just speaking at an organization that counts among its employees some of the brightest minds in the world and yet they were not doing this.

These things sound basic, I know, but how many organizations do these basics well? I believe HR leaders can and should take the lead in these areas.

Woollylanc / Jan 9, 2010 @ 4:42 AM

Thanks for bring this to the discussion. I agree with your thoughts. These may be the basics but are the building blocks to talent engagement.

My challenge to the HR world is lets get moving! WE are the change agents in this role.

Yet what best practices are out there to raise engagement levels? Who is being accountable for the whole engagement process from hire through to job alignment, achieving exceptional performance, raising people to their highest levels of competence, ensuring the check and balance on vision and job alignment etc etc.

As always Michael you bring wisdom to the discussion, for that I thank you. HR Leaders take head of these words and SRAT figuring out what you are going to do!

karlaporter / Jan 9, 2010 @ 5:06 PM

I started to reply but it got kind of lengthy so I turned it into a post here http://sn.im/u101q.

katherinemoody / Mar 18, 2010 @ 3:39 PM

As a recruiter who does a significant percentage of my executive searches in the HR function, I love this post and hope every HR professional reads it and takes these thoughts seriously. I think HR has an additional challenge in an organization in that the HR language is not the language of the CEO. So HR has to be able to translate for those executives who do not understand how the good work HR does actually translates into the bottom line of a thriving business. Should it be evident/obviously/no-brainer? Discussion for when we all have tall drinks with fruit and umbrellas in them. For now, please be able to leap into the CEO's world. It helps when you're sitting at the table where you truly belong.

Karla Porter / Mar 19, 2010 @ 2:11 AM

katherinemoody – I vote to have a fruit and umbrellas for the tall drinks at the recruiter commune bar. In the meantime thanks for pushing the chair to the table.

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