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HR Evolution – An Englishman* abroad

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This time tomorrow I’ll be flying to Atlanta to participate in HRevolution, “an event for human resources professionals, recruiters, and business leaders to come together and talk about the problems facing businesses today”. I’m lucky that it coincides with a business trip to the US, which means that a normally difficult event for a Brit becomes more accessible.

Having been hanging around the blogging and social media HR scene for a couple of years now, I’m particularly looking forward to meeting a number of people who I have conversed with during that time and actually making a proper “connection” with them.  I’m not a natural socialite so I’m also particularly pleased that there will also be a number of friendly faces that I have already met; my friend Laurie Ruettimann and of course my fellow British attendees Gareth Jones, Mervyn Dinnen and Jon Ingham.

I’m also really interested in hearing different national views on the HR agenda.  One of the joys (and frustrations) of working internationally is that you get a diversity of opinions and perspectives.  In fact, one of my long time blogging heroes, Joe Gerstandt is talking about Diversity and Inclusion, which I’m really interested in – but that is one of many great tracks. You know, if I’m giving my long bank holiday weekend up for HR, it has to be for something special!

I’m also hoping that there will be food for thought, ideas and people who set the neural pathways buzzing, challenge and inspire. HR people, like anyone else sometimes need a shot in the arm to drive their creativity, passion and enthusiasm.  Getting together with such a veritable smorgasbord of HR talent has to be a great opportunity to do just that.

Atlanta….and #HRevolution….here I come!

*I’m actually a Welshman not an Englishman….but it just didn’t work so well!

An HR home truth

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It is pretty tough to tell a new entrant to the profession this, but a little advice can go a long way,

Chances are that most managers you meet are going to think you’re an idiot.

You then have the choice whether you are going to confirm that view for them or shatter their preconceptions. And in essence that differentiates a good HR pro from a bad one.

Is this a harsh view? I think we need to accept that most people in the workplace have a pretty dim view of HR.  I was having dinner with friends a few weeks back and we were talking about the Easter holidays, I explained that I didn’t have any time off because “the HR Director is an idiot”. Someone who didn’t know what I did replied, “well aren’t they all?”  And then just last week I was asked to look at an HR related work document for someone.  When I explained that the tone of it was a little “aggressive” the response I got was, “well that seems to be the way with every HR person that we deal with”.

We can try to explain this away, to pretend that this is “them” not “us” and that somehow the public perception is based on these rogue practitioners that appear at night, do bad stuff and then leave us to clear it all up.  Or we can do one of our very favourite things and blame our underperformance on line manager incompetence.

But in essence, the perceptions of the profession will only be changed by a thousand small actions each and every day. Actions that delight, surprise and add tangible value to each and every manager that we meet. They will only be changed if WE change our mindset and approach and decide that we need to do things a different way.

Start off by remembering that most people will think you’re an idiot when you first meet them.  If you can change their view by the time you meet them again…..you’re getting somewhere.

Enough with the case studies

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How many companies are there in the FTSE100?

Daft question right?

So how about this one….what percentage of UK companies do they constitute?

The answer is less than half of one percent. And even if you take out sole traders the number doesn’t quite reach 1%.

SME’s employ 13.6m people within the UK and firms employing less than 100 people account for 65% of new jobs created each year. If you include the companies sub FTSE100 but not classified as SME you get somewhere near to 90%.

So why is it that we seem so fixated by a limited number of companies explaining the “right” way to do HR and people management?  If you look at any conference list or journal article you will invariably see the usual suspects arise.

Now I should add that I don’t have anything against these companies or the people who speak per se.  But I don’t think that the constant focus on a select group does anything to improve the collective knowledge of a profession or helps creativity, entrepreneurialism or innovation.

When I was learning my trade it was Marks and Spencer’s that were being hailed as the people to aspire to.  That was in the mid 90’s and of course not many years later they were experiencing the worst, self-imposed, decline in their history.  Likewise not so long ago Royal Bank of Scotland were being hailed and recognized for their success in people management – I don’t need to add much more to that. And one of the latest entrants to the scene seems to be Nokia, which I find curious given their current “burning platform”.

So given that there s why does this happen? Well I think there are a couple of factors at play,

–       We think that big is beautiful and assume that because an organisation is large it is good. The only reason a company is in the FTSE100 is because of its financial muscle, not its intelligence

–       Once you’re on the circuit, you’re on the circuit – easy for lazy conference organisers and big brands require no explanation (is there anyone in American HR who hasn’t been made aware of Zappos?)

I’m not saying that interesting ideas can’t come from the big boys (although I do think size inhibits not enhances innovation) but by the law of averages there must be a whole host of other people out their doing good things. If we’re really interested in driving innovation and creativity in the profession then we need to hear from companies and HR Directors who are doing truly intelligent people interventions, ones that are culturally sensitive, business focussed and have demonstrable value (no this isn’t a pitch for business!). And from the feedback that I heard recently, I’m not alone.

Conference organisers/journalists – take note.

Create value

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If you had to rank the professions on their level of creativity, where would you rank the HR profession? Probably somewhere on the continuum between accounting and marketing, probably closer to the former and further from the latter.  Creativity doesn’t figure highly in any core competencies I have ever seen and the nearest that we get is the more “business acceptable” innovation.  Somehow creativity feels soft, it raises images of artists and writers and nebulous concepts, whereas we of course want to look hard and mean and commercial and worthy of the much vaunted “seat at the top table”.

Of course, we deal in a world full of commercial imperatives that cannot be denied.  Most of us work in businesses that either need to make a profit, balance the books, or make savings regardless of the sector.  The question is not the what, but the how and creativity is a much undervalued tool in the drive for commercial solutions.  We need an answer, we look to past experience, to other businesses and to the HR press seldom do we look at our business, look inside ourselves and search for a new or different way. A way that is bespoke to our business and provides a competitive edge.

I’d suggest the first step any HR professional should ever take in considering a solution is to ask what the real problem is and only then to consider whether a solution is actually required and why? What value will it add? Is this driven by business need or by some other force.  What is the least intervention that would solve the problem and how does it fit culturally with the way that the business behaves?

Creativity requires you to be brave. It requires confidence and self belief and a willingness to plot a unique course.  But it also requires a closeness and in-depth understanding of your business and a desire to make a difference. Being creative isn’t the antithesis of being commercial. It is the start.