A recent Harvard Business Review Blog article by J. Craig Mundy suggests that HR still hasn’t achieved its place “at the strategic table”; yet, in a recent speech at the SHRM Convention in Atlanta, Jim “Good to Great” Collins said, “HR, you ARE the table.”
Meanwhile, at the same conference, consultant Hunter Lott says he often hears, “HR, the people that keep me from doing what I want to do.”
Where Is HR Really?
Mundy, Vice President, Human Resources and Communications for the Climate Solutions sector of Ingersoll Rand, asserts that one of the problems is that HR managers lack concrete guidance about how to partner with C-suite managers. He suggests an easy way for HR managers to step forward:
Ask this question of every action you take in HR, says Mundy—Does this action cause friction in the business or does it create flow?
Mundy’s approach seems like a good place to start. It’s a lot clearer than, for example, trying to figure out how to “align human talent resources with corporate strategic philosophy.”
Mundy thinks that HR managers often put too much emphasis on spending a equal amount of time and attention on everyone. That doesn’t go very far in eliminating friction. Mundy encourages HR managers to “identify the critical points of the business where the strategy succeeds or fails, and provide relevant talent solutions.”
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Why Is It Hard for HR Managers to Maintain a Business Perspective?
Mundy thinks it’s hard for HR managers to maintain a business perspective because they think they are near the pinnacle of the organization. They think that because they can demand information, reports, and documents, and numbers from everyone else in the organization.
That’s backwards, Mundy says. In fact, HR is “far removed from the points and people that make a difference with customers and a difference to the business.” Sobering, but maybe that’s where a lot of departments are.
‘You ARE the Table’
Meanwhile, there’s Jim Collins saying “You ARE the table. He suggests that “getting the right people on the bus” is management’s most important job. HR can certainly help with that.
Collins’s keys for finding the right people:
- Share core values with the organization and its leaders
- Do not need to be tightly managed
- Understand that they don’t have a job, but a responsibility
- Do what they say they will do–always
- Possess window and mirror maturity (take responsibility when things go badly, point out others when things go well)
- Corporate objectives align with personal ones
Where are you on the strategic continuum?
___ I’m the table
___ I’m at the table
___ I’d like to be at the table
___ I’m far removed from the points and people who make a difference
We’d love to know where you sit.
Make a comment below or email me at sbruce@blr.com. Thanks!
I’d like to be at the table when it concerns HR matters. Instead, I end up getting information from 3rd persons that should now know about or be involved in the matter. It’s frustrating. It makes me feel as if my employer doesn’t trust that I know what I’m doing.
On Collin’s list I would add #7 (which should be #1) is that they have or can demonstrate emotional intelligence, people/leadership skills and ability to build trust. If HR does not hire people with #7, leaders are not effective, no matter what else they bring to the organization and we have failed to have an impact on the effectiveness and performance of the organization. It’s all about building relationships and treating people as they want to be treated. It’s all so basic….but difficult to find.
Good article. You can see who has been exposed to good HR and average HR. Collins understands the primary function of good HR, defining and aligning the organization’s culture and to do that you must be the table.
Mundy communicates well the flow of an average HR function but must realize that the right thing to do for the organization sometimes necessarily causes friction. Turning the ship around means that you’ll have to go against the current at some point.
Great HR, manages the current so that we all stay on board.