The real purpose of HR is not in strategy or planning: it’s “down on the ground and out on the street”, according to one leading expert.
If you haven’t yet outsourced the “spreadsheet half” of your role, you’re wasting precious time, money and resources, says HR expert Liz Ryan.
“We don’t need mechanical, quantitative HR in our companies,” Liz Ryan, CEO of Human Workplace, told Forbes.com.
“The real job of HR is down on the ground and out on the street with the team members. Our job is to listen and advise. Our job is to talk and act to make our organisation an amazing, vibrant, human place to work.”
Rather than investing time and energy to the “inconsequential” clerical and administrative side of the job, HR professionals should focus more on their purpose, which is to become an organisation’s ‘Ministry of Culture’, according to Ryan.
“If your organisation is still treating HR like a compliance function, you’re missing the power that is available to you when you hire human beings to work on your team. You’re missing the forest for the trees,” she said.
“HR folks spread pixie dust around, and they tell you when your pixie dust dispenser is getting low. They tell you the truth about what’s working and not working in the organisation. That’s the real job of HR.”
Ryan added that modern businesses need effective HR “more than ever”, to bring the human element back into the workplace.
“We need to develop Ministries of Culture in every organisation. It’s a shift in perspective and it starts when you find your voice as an HR person,” she said.
You might also like:
