Author: Blog

There is no “Digital Revolution”

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Every day, I hear people in business talking about digital transformation, digital disruption, the digital revolution. I hear them talk about their organisations becoming digital businesses.

But the thing is, in most cases they aren’t becoming anything of the sort.

We can’t underestimate the impact that technology has on the way we interact as consumers, as employees, as enterprises and service providers. But we need to be careful to avoid the easy distraction of the simple half-truth.

Before “the digital revolution”, we didn’t refer to ourselves as physical businesses. And to that point, it is hard to put a finger on when physical became digital. The calculator? The mainframe? The mobile phone? The internet? When was the start of the end and the end of the beginning?

It really doesn’t matter what sector your organisation operates in, finance, retail, leisure, media or public services. The chances are that the principal purpose for which you employ people and go to work every day isn’t “digital”, but something else. To insure people against loss, to sell people the means to keep warm, to provide entertainment, content or security, health and wellbeing.

I’m not splitting hairs, my experience of working in various organisations over the years has taught me that in times of change, in times of disturbance or disruption, the survivors are the ones that understand what they do and what they exist for. They have a purpose that transcends the means of delivery.

They remain single-mindedly focussed on this core purpose and reason for being, but completely open minded to the way in which they can execute it in a changing world. This differentiation between intent and execution is critical for organisational alignment and strategic direction.

As HR leaders, we can really demonstrate our value when organisations undergo change and there is no doubt that new technologies provide opportunities that need to be optimised and embraced. To do that, we’ve got to understand what our businesses are really about, how they make money or fulfil their public service remit.

The nature of business, of organisations, has changed before and it will change again. There will be new entrants to our worlds and established names will fall by the way. In many cases, the biggest difference between those that win and those that lose, will not be the change itself, but the ability to understand what stays the same.

Is HR the moral compass?

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Like a librarian at a swingers party, one of the biggest criticisms of HR is our propensity to say no. I too have been critical in the past of the fact that we tend to use negative language and over rely on legislation and policy to substitute for clear thinking and rational argument. But sometimes, no means no.

I believe everyone has their own moral compass. And I don’t believe that as a profession we should be the first to occupy the moral high ground (I, as many others have made some shocking management decisions in our time). But I do think we have a role to make organisations and work better. That’s one of the reasons why I do what I do.

It is easy to defer responsibility to the CEO, the leadership team, the rest of the organisation and say that you were only following orders, but ultimately we as HR professionals have a duty to challenge cultural underperformance before anyone else. That’s part of our job, it goes with the territory.

That’s why I want to draw your attention to the CIPD’s Profession for the Future programme. This isn’t just about ethics and compliance, it’s about practice. And most importantly, it is about creating better work and working lives for everyone. And I can’t think of a better reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Work made better is good for the economy, it’s good for society, it’s good for employees and employers. There’s a real need to get our collective voices heard as proponents of positive action, rather than defenders of the status quo. And whilst our professional body can take the lead, it also means that each and every one of us, as individual practitioners, needs to be held accountable to a moral code.

At the end of the day, intent is important, but only action matters. So let’s take the first collective steps.

I am #HR

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Most of the time I’m ineffectual. I come to work to suck value out of the organisation. My existence merely creates irrelevant work that does’t need to be done.

My colleagues don’t like or respect me, they don’t value what I do and they’d function much better without me. They know the business would be ten times more productive if I didn’t exist. I’m tolerated because that’s what businesses do.

I don’t have any influence. People don’t turn to me for advice. I operate in a vacuum have little, if any, impact on the rest of the organisation. Everyone talks about me and laughs at how ridiculously pointless I am.

Then, overnight….a “change” occurs.

I am the dark overlord that runs the business from the behind the mist of poisonous cloud that surrounds me. I move in the shadows with such power and influence that grown men weep in my presence.

The forms and processes that my evil minions devise have a black magic that possesses the hearts and minds of those that set eyes on them. Leaders and managers cower and obey my every word.They have no choice, because of the evil I wield.

I am the one true power and my intent is to bring misery and despair on all of those that I employ. I have one simple purpose and that is to dehumanise and debase every single employee that exists in my realm.

I am useless and ineffective.

Yet I am evil and malevolent.

So which one am I?

I am HR.

The purpose of work

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Ask yourself the question, “what do I live for?”

Your family, your friends, your lover, that glass of wine or pint of beer on a Friday night, to run, to cycle, to fly, to serve?

When push comes to shove, if you had one thing that you could keep in your life, what would it be?

My guess is, not work.

Of course, there’s always a group of rare individuals out there that have managed to align their vocation so completely and totally with their passion that they may disagree.

But not many.

The fact is that most of your colleagues, your employees, the people who serve you your over priced coffee in the morning, work for no higher reason than their paycheck.

Is that a problem?

The purpose of work is not to create purpose, but to afford people the opportunity to find it elsewhere.

You may find meaning in religion, Bob in accounts finds in his music, Brenda the CEO in elaborate pony-play and I might find it in the bottom of a glass. Who are we to judge which is right?

Our job is to create sustainable good work, that allows our employees to live their lives outside of work, rather than create an artificial environment of belonging within our walls.

Work is work. Just that. Nothing more.

And that’s absolutely ok.