'Think of a company like a fish tank,' says former Shark Tank judge
HR leaders deserve their own seat at the top of the table to maintain workplace culture and provide leadership training in communication in the wake of emerging changes in the world of work.
This is according to Andrew Banks, an HR expert, investor, and former Shark Tank judge, in a recent interview with HRD.
Banks said HR leaders should be at the top of the table because they are the "guardians of culture."
"First of all, they control the recruitment strategy, so they should establish what their culture is all about," Banks told HRD. "Think of a company as like a fish tank — the HR director is deciding on the quality and filtering the water as it comes into the fish tank so the fish stay happy and nourished."
He added that HR leaders are responsible for developing policies and procedures around good behaviours, referring to them as the "culture czars" of an organisation.
"I think HR directors should be culture czars and they should be — with the team — establishing what everyone agrees is a good culture, what reflects the best, and then putting in the framework to make that happen, which is how you select, how you manage performance, how you exit, reasons you exit people, and how you reward performance."
In Australia and New Zealand, the majority of HR professionals have said that their participation in board meetings has grown since the start of the pandemic.
"All HR directors are inspired to work with a CEO and a board that is open-minded and genuinely interested in change and creating an optimal culture and atmosphere in the company because they know it connects productivity, just like diversity, connection, customer diversity, cyber workforce, and customer base," he said.
Communication is an important aspect of workplace culture - but the former Shark Tank judge acknowledged that even leaders struggle to communicate at work. According to Banks, he knows what it's like for an HR director to stand on the sidelines of a meeting and watch their CEO have a good message but deliver it badly.
"I've seen them cringe on the sidelines and go: 'You know, I need my CEO to be a better communicator or my team leaders to be a better communicator,'" he said.
He reiterated that HR leaders should be reporting to CEOs because of this.
"An HR director is the one person in an organisation that should be able to go to the CEO if they're open-minded, and say: 'Boss, you're fantastic, but that message is lousy,'" he said.
Banks stressed that communication is important for leadership — especially in the wake of artificial intelligence, where jobs are getting disrupted and workplaces are undergoing massive changes.
"I've seen first-hand how AI is disrupting the way in which we work, and most people can expect it to impact their job function significantly in the next five years. With this, strong communication skills are going to have greater currency and value in the workplace," he previously said.
"Whilst I see companies spending big to try and get AI-driven processes and efficiencies in place, it’s the ones that embrace and encourage a culture of open communication and connectivity — offline and online — among its workforce, that will perform best in this competitive new world."
Banks is one of the directors of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Arts, which is now offering corporate training to organisations.
"What we've done is a more tailored approach on the basis that AI is making some parts of the workforce very distant and remote, and obviously by definition, computerised, and automatic," he said.
According to Banks, fostering communication in the workplace won't happen automatically.
"Give them the support and training they need because who trains kids how to communicate? Their parents. And guess what? As parents we're not always the best communicators, so give them the tools to do a better job."
