Author: Blog

We want to be together…..

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I’ve written before that the true value of Human Resource Management is in taking a systemic approach to organisational performance. HR is at its strongest when it provides a convincing, cohesive agenda based on organisational understanding and environmental awareness. Understanding the internal and the external environments and delivering seamlessly across the organisation.

HR is at its weakest when it is fragmented, isolated, distant, disconnected and seemingly counter intuitive.

We’ve all seen the models of HRM that show the inter linkages between specialisms and functional capability, but more than that we can use our common sense to understand the importance. If reward strategy is aiming to achieve something different to the performance management approach, which is built on different principles to the learning and development plan and has nothing in common with the resourcing goals. Then we intuitively know that this is one screwed up organisation.

HRM is a broad church, as a profession it accepts people with specialisms, it accepts people transferring in from other professions and it accepts inter dependencies with other areas of business. The skill of the HR leader is to recognise the breadth, diversity and inter connectedness and yet to be able to present it in a cohesive, recognisable and understandable manner. It isn’t always easy, but it is always achievable.

As with any broad church, you’ll also find the conflicts, the tensions, the insecurities and the chips on shoulders. You’ll hear claims for greater seniority, more importance, recognition and responsibility. Learning and Development feels overlooked and not taken seriously enough, Resourcing wants to be seen to be more strategic, Compensation and Benefits doesn’t understand why people can’t be more compliant and Generalists believe they have a God given right to walk on water.

That’s just the way it is.

The role of the HR leader is to manage the tensions, to help build knowledge and understanding of the value of collaboration, cohesion and consistency. To take the view of the employee, the manager, the leader and not to be inward facing and self obsessed. Put simply, nobody cares about the internal relationships other than us, they just get in the way of delivering successful organisations.

We are stronger when we’re together, we’re weaker when we’ve divided. It is as simple as that.

The final whistle

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I’m pretty certain that this will be neither the first, nor the last, blog post to look at the Ferguson, Moyes, Manchester United saga. I’m certainly no football commentator or expert and I look at the events more from the world of business and work than sport. That said, football clubs are now multi million (if not billion) dollar businesses and there are a number of things that strike me as ill-fated about this whole scenario.

First, let’s look at the context. David Moyes succeeded Sir Alex, probably the most successful British manager of all times. Over the best part of 30 years he built an empire around himself despite, ironically, arguing that no player was bigger than the club. Whoever was going to succeed him was going to be facing a massive power void. But not only that, they’d be coming in to manage a team that had just convincingly won the league.

So let’s look at what went wrong.

The first mistake was allowing Sir Alex to anoint his successor. I understand the appeal of this move, the romanticism and the seeming practicality of the endorsement. It reflects on the power that Ferguson had. An endorsement in front of the fans from Sir Alex was seen as more convincing than an endorsement from the management.

We all want leaders to build succession, that has to be the right thing, we want them to build talented teams. But the decision on the appointment, the choice has to be based on the people who have skin in the game going forward, it is just a simple fact. When you leave, you should have no further say on your team, the leadership or how they’re managed. You’ve left.

There is one thing asking any manager to turn around an underperforming team. when things are at a low, you can be ruthless, you can experiment, you can wield the axe. Taking over a successful team is much harder. Any changes that you make will be inspected, discussed and examined under the organisational microscope. One of the tricks is to change as little as possible in the short-term, to provide continuity and to examine how to make the incremental changes that will lead to further success.

By changing the key backroom staff, Moyes made perhaps the most fundamental error of his short-lived tenure. If the team had been failing this would have been understandable, even applauded. But by changing a winning formula, so quickly and with little apparent reason, he chose to destabilise a team which was already experiencing a power vacuum. You either have to be supremely confident to do that, or completely stupid.

And finally, let’s talk about recruitment. Once again, we need to see this in the light of a previously high performing (although ageing) team. If Moyes had kept his support staff, his managers, around him he might have been allowed the time to bring on new and exciting talent, he might have created the stability that would have allowed him to experiment. But, as we know, he didn’t.

Given this, he needed to bring in established talent. one of the things that we know about high performing environments is that they recognise and indeed welcome, high performing individuals. Anyone that you bring in has to stand shoulder to shoulder in ability and aptitude with those that are already there. Recruiting in to high performing teams is harder than recruiting in to average or under performing teams. Because more is expected, more is demanded and less is forgiven. The failure to recruit in high performing talent in any part of the team isn’t the failing of one man, it is the failing of the organisation as a whole.

Much will be written about the Manchester United story, much of it will be better informed than this. But the elements, when we unpick them, are nothing new. The tenets of organisational performance are the same regardless of the sector in which you operate and everything that we’ve seen over the last season has been seen and done before in other businesses. Perhaps, most importantly, could easily have been avoided.

If Moyes was Sir Alex and this was a match, he’d be praying for some “Fergie time” right now. But he isn’t and it isn’t. And much to his disgust, the final whistle has just been blown.

Why data can make you a coward

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I hear a lot about data, a lot about analytics and a lot about the need to be numerate. I don’t hear much about being a free-thinker, being creative or being brave and bold.

I find that peculiar.

If you said to most CEO’s would you rather a creative, free thinking, bold and brave HRD or a data rational, analytical, numerate one? My guess is that most, would opt for the former. But strangely, we don’t talk about these elements. We don’t value them.

Why do we value BIG DATA and not BIG THINKING?

Data is the shroud that weak people, weak thinking uses to wrap a justifying existence around itself. Data is the reason that we can prove any argument that we want.

Data is a wanton whore waiting to please its next master.

Data would have told you not to carry out most of the major innovations that have changed our world. Data did not show that people wanted the internet. Data did not show that microwaves would be popular and (more closer to home) data did not show that erotica would be a best-selling genre in 2012.

Data is promiscuous.

I’m numerically literate, I have good GCSEs in Maths, A-levels in Economics and Accountancy and a degree which included statistics. Believe it or not, I even taught statistics for a couple of years.  I’m not anti numbers, I’m anti dumb people hiding behind numbers.

When someone tells you that you need more data, tell them you need more ideas. Creativity changes the world, data measures what it has done.

Be part of creating history, not measuring it.

Telling tales is HR’s job

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I find it funny that when we mention “telling tales”, we think of mischievous, misinformation and light-hearted deceit. Story telling reminds us of being children and living in a land of make-believe. There is a whimsical, simplicity and a leisurely disdain for the telling of tales or stories. It has nothing to do with the corporate world and business success.

But organisations need to tell stories now, more than ever.

The narrative of corporate life is increasingly complex. Balancing opposing messages, dealing with contending forces. Explaining the paradox of our corporate existence.

Yes, we need to tell stories more than ever.

The environment is increasingly complex, disparate and disjointed. The simple messages of the past, “do this and we will do that”, “be this and you will get that” are no longer true. We can no longer rely on this basic narrative.

Balancing the seemingly conflicting messages of our work life, creating the authentic narrative that reflects the complexity of the working relationship. That is a skill we can all learn better.

HR needs to help tell the organisational tales that connect people, create meaning and purpose. That deal with and accept the contradictions and realities. We need to get better at telling tales. It is one of our most important jobs.

So, if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin……