The HR Profession – Part Two (People)
OK…now that I’ve recovered from my rant about the human resources profession, let’s discuss the people part…
I’ll start by pointing out the 800 lb elephant in the room. Are there crappy HR people in organizations? Yes. There – I said it. And, there may actually be a lot of them out there. Which is why magazines like Fast Company publish articles titled “Why We Hate HR?” But in order to change the perception of the profession, we have to start with ourselves.
Still not convinced? Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that every person in the human resources profession was a total rock star. Everyone. Would we even be having these discussions? Of course not. It would be the best, most vibrant profession in any business and everyone would want to be part of it.
Regardless of your role and responsibility, the first thing you need to recognize is that every profession has both strategic and administrative tasks. And IMHO, in order to be successful, you gotta do both. So, I wouldn’t make the assumption that being administrative is bad. It’s how much time is spent on administration and the end results that determines the value of administrative work.
Let’s use one of my fave professions, a chef, as an example. If super-chef Norman Van Aken wants to make a classic Boeuf Bourguignon, he needs to quarter some onions. The fact that he has to quarter onions doesn’t make him less of a super-chef. But, if it takes him 20 minutes to quarter an onion (like it takes me) he’s probably not going to be super for very long.
The second thing HR Pros (or anyone for that matter) should do to change perceptions is consider differing viewpoints. Frank Roche over at Know HR recently wrote a post about this very subject. He called it getting out of the echo chamber. I had never heard the term ‘echo chamber’ before…but it’s so true. We easily fall into our comfort zones – the same groups of people, the same meetings, the same reading, blah, blah, blah.
Just ask yourself: When was the last time you talked business with someone outside of your profession? When was the last time you read a magazine or blog outside of your industry? Have you attended a professional association meeting or conference for anything other than human resources?
It’s an interesting notion, eh?
We need to figure out how to do the administration and do it well so we can quickly move to the real stuff, the strategic work. And, when we get those extra moments…use them to try new things, meet new people and discover new ideas. Then, we need to teach others in our companies and profession how to do the same.
That’s how we as individuals demonstrate our real value. That’s how we begin to change the perceptions of our profession. It starts with getting outside of our comfort zones and challenging ourselves.
P.S. Speaking of challenging ourselves and looking at different viewpoints, I hope you’ll check out Halogen Software’s HR Raging Debates. Halogen asked ten HR pros for their views on talent management, social media and the role of HR. I’m honored to have been included in the discussion. Be sure to join in the convo…
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