There are many different paths to an HR career and as such not all HR professionals are created equal. There are also some people working in HR roles that do not understand the purpose of their role. In this episode, I explain my perspective on the vital function we provide and how you, as an HR professional can align yourself with that purpose, regardless of your position on the org chart.
I believe the role of an HR professional in any organization is to help manage human resources to ensure the organization remains relevant and wins in the marketplace or space they operate in.
I believe HR professionals at all levels of the organization can engage in four important activities to help them achieve this purpose.
Here is a summary of these four activities:
Know the business you are in.
Know your customers and stakeholders and what drives their behaviour.
Build positive relationships with your internal clients and business leaders.
Make your HR function as effective and efficient as possible.
Here is a summary of key points in this episode:
[03:26] - Dave Ulrich says, "the most important thing leaders and HR professionals deliver to an employee is an organization that wins in the marketplace" in his latest book, "HR from the Outside In." This is really important because it places the HR function where it belongs, at the heart of helping the organization succeed. Ther is a link below to read more of Dave's work.
[04:42] - In my Staffing & Planning course I always begin the semester with a discussion around the primary purpose of an organization. This lesson is based on the work of Anabelle Beerel, which is captured in her book "Leadership and Change" where she says, "the primary purpose of an organization is to remain relevant and survive."
[05:40] - Organizations remain relevant by managing resources, including their most valuable ones; their human resources.
[06:05] - When I consider both of these pieces of wisdom I conclude that the role of HR professionals is to help manage the organization's human resources that allows it to remain relevant and win whatever marketplace or space they are in. Regardless of where you are in the organization, you can help further the "relevant and win" mission in your role by engaging in the four actions summarized above.
[07:55] - The first one is 'know the business you are in.' It is important for HR professionals to really understand what their organization does and how it operates. How does the organization make revenue, what do different people do, what is your vision, mission and strategy. If you don't find this in publications (annual reports, internal memos), you should find someone you can ask. If you don't know what your organization does you can't align what you do (how your hire and support people) to achieve that mission or purpose. And this alignment is critical to winning in the marketplace.
[09:44] - The second one is knowing your customers or stakeholders and why they engage with your organization? Who are they, what are their demographics, what motivates them? This is critically important in HR, especially in recruitment. If you know why your customer's engage with your organization you can help hire and retain human capital that help deliver the right experience to your customers. Talk to the people who engage with your customers and find out what drives their behaviour.
[11:58] - Build positive relationships with your internal clients and business leaders is my third recommended action. I talk about this in Episode 7: How to make a Postiive Impact in the First 90-Days, but this is one of the best ways to be effective. You don't need to be BFF's with everyone, but it is important to build trusting, collaborative relationships with them. No one likes to have a finger wagged in their face or to be told how wrong they are so instead of taking that approach, focus on their needs and how you can help them achieve their goals and the goals of the organization. A great way to do this is to seek out information from leaders. Ask them what their challenges are and what they are focused on.
[14:38] - The fourth and final things you can do is try to make your HR function as efficient and effective as possible. Purchasing technology can be both costly and difficult, and I recognize their barriers to this in many organizations, but finding ways to reduce manual tasks creates space to better support the organization to win. Start with your most painful process and look at how you can make some of it automated or streamlined. Learning how to write a business case is a good skills to learn to support taking these types of initiatives forward to your leader.
[17:01] - I summarize the purpose of HR is to help the organization stays relevant and wins in the marketplace through four key actions. Here they are again.
Know the business you are in.
Know your customers and stakeholders and what drives their behaviour.
Build positive relationships with your internal clients and business leaders.
Make your HR function as effective and efficient as possible.
[17:57] - Policy, rules and the law are important in our roles. We do have to make sure our Manager's are following all of these. But if your HR function stops at policy enforcement you are likely the one who will not remain relevant. And that, will not feel like winning!
Here are some helpful links:
My podcast editor Lorenzo did something cool and extra this week! He created a transcript of this episode for you. Yay Lorenzo!! You can read the transcript for this episode here.
I mentioned that it is good to learn how to write a business case. This can be a lot of work and it is a skill in itself, but don't be afraid to try it if you want to change something in your organization. This guide provides a helpful overview of the key components. You can also start with a one-page synopsis of your proposal to see if there is any interest from your leader.
For more information about Anabelle Beerel visit her website here!
For more details about Dave Ulrich you can find more details here
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