I recently attended the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in the US. This is the largest event of its kind in the world, with HR professionals attending from around the globe. As I watched and met practitioners from the US and other countries, it struck me that HR folk are definitely a breed unto themselves. Members of different professions usually exhibit different characteristics, and HR is no exception. No matter where the attendees came from, they all shared a number of common traits
I recently attended the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in the US. This is the largest event of its kind in the world, with HR professionals attending from around the globe. As I watched and met practitioners from the US and other countries, it struck me that HR folk are definitely a breed unto themselves. Members of different professions usually exhibit different characteristics, and HR is no exception. No matter where the attendees came from, they all shared a number of common traits.
Based on the interviews, research and stories I have seen about the practice of HR in the US over the years, I was expecting to see and meet switched on, confident practitioners who knew their place in the business world and understood they had an important contribution to make. But I didn’t. Granted, there were exceptions, but for the most part, HR practitioners around the world appear to be lost sheep in the world of business.
This seems to be a perennial problem for HR professionals. Lack of confidence among business peers is a common attribute of HR professionals, and if they’re not careful, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If one exudes lack of confidence, especially when required to step up to the plate amongst business peers, then HR will be sidelined and doomed to forever sitting in the old world of personnel.
There are many elements that make up the practise of strategic HR. But no matter how much learning and experience one has, HR professionals need to be confident in themselves before they can capably express and convey what they have to contribute. This does not mean barging in at the business table and expecting to be included for the sake of it. What it does mean is that HR professionals had better be prepared to back up what they have to say with substance that will make their peers listen.
There are numerous case studies and surveys around which demonstrate the link between effective HR and healthy business outcomes. Familiarising oneself with these can give HR professionals a good background in the contribution they can make and assist in the communication process with business peers. True, it takes time to build up a track record and establish success stories within your own organisation. But this process has to start somewhere for HR. As Lao Tzu says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
