The problem with HR in the modern Corporation My experience of global corporate HR in recent years has been one of ever more sophisticated and professional functions that still fail to win the hearts and minds of their commercial colleagues, and thus fail to deliver on their prime remit of driving business growth through the development of people and teams. The problem I believe has become the very separateness of the HR functions, which has bred a generation of operational managers who have abdicated their people development responsibility to a willing and increasingly costly HR community. I should declare my interests - I have profound beliefs around HR within business: That the development of people and teams is THE key driver of organic business growth That the prime purpose of HR is to facilitate the positive exploitation of human potential within the business for the mutual growth of all concerned That people development responsibility therefore needs to be given squarely back to the commercial operations side of the business That when people appreciate both the benefits AND the accountability that goes with their development, a culture is created whereby centrally dictated objectives and processes are readily accepted and serve to encourage rather than stifle creativity and exceptional performance The modern corporation is characterised by the Commercial and Operational sides of the business: Paying lip service to HR processes (actually believing them to be inadequate) Waiting until there is a lull in business pressures to engage in people development activities Valuing HR colleagues only as recruiters / divesters of people, and as people- problem fixers Resorting under pressure to focusing on short term targets and indulging in judgemental and manipulative leadership Coming to believe that time is the only true lever on capacity and productivity Being somewhat afraid of challenging performance lest 360° feedback and culture survey scores drop And characterized by the the HR Function: Believing that ‘professional’ people development is an end in itself Populated by HR career professionals who are motivated to maintain harmony rather than exploiting the natural tensions and discomfort created in complex matrix organisations ‘Rescuing’ operational managers from situations they have created, mainly to salve their professional self worth issues www.collaborativeequity.com In short the very separateness of the HR function ends up reinforcing the paradigm whereby operational line managers are so focused on results that the people become a problem rather than the solution. Recent HR developments in global organisations The widely accepted David Ulrich model (and other such facsimiles) of modern HR practice, with such aspects as the 1:200 staffing ratio and “HR Business Partners” have created costly and self serving functions that actually create rather than ease ineffectiveness and low productivity. 360° feedback and culture surveys and the MBA / Business School education systems have trained high potential managers into being ‘inclusive’ and ‘collaborative’ with their people, but seem frankly to have neutered the clarity and directness of a generation of business leaders. And yet increased business pressures, fuelled by global competition and the addictive nature of modern tools such as e-mail, have left the global management cohort more squarely than ever in the role of the superhuman problem solver. No coaching there then.... The answer - we need to: Sweep away large separate HR functions, replacing them with small core teams of evangelists, trainers and facilitators embedded within the commercial operations of the business Put a single strategic specialist on the Board to ensure people and team development and leadership is at the top of every agenda Give the responsibility and accountability for people and team development back to the commercial operations side of the business Separate organic growth objectives from strategic ‘game-changing’ decisions and M&A activity Outsource technical and administrative HR services such as payroll and recruitment short-listing to external professional experts, just as we would with critical legal and financial advice Place over-riding emphasis back on the corporate vision and values and the iconic goals as being the ‘boss’ that we all serve www.collaborativeequity.com
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