This is Simon here, Roger’s partner in crime/business (delete as appropriate – Ed). AND big news, it’s my birthday next week!
So what should I wish for? An economic upturn? Lower carbon emissions? Derby County to win the league cup? (OK, it all seemed realistic until the last one!) Perhaps I should wish for all of these.
But what would I want for the world of business? What would have the most impact, create more value, make more people happy and successful?
Simple, it’s got to be about people. People create all the value in business. They make the decisions, create and run systems and processes. They make mistakes, are rude to customers, buy too much stock. They amaze you with their ideas and ingenuity, they take on new markets and beat competitors in to submission.
And better than that, it has to be about the part of the business that should be driving people issues forward, helping managers to become better leaders and coaches, matching the business strategy to a people strategy etc etc.
And that group of people would be who? … erm, HR, and there’s the issue.
The challenge we have in business is that the most value creating resource for business would be a strategically relevant, driving and delivering HR team. A HR team aligned to the business, partnering with the business. Resolving people issues, yes, but way ahead of the game, driving talent investment and creating the most amazing resource a business can have - the best team in your market, motivated and co-ordinated.
Not a new vision. This one has been around since the mid 90’s when a guy named David Ulrich introduced it. The problem is that it has just not happened. HR has struggled to be connected to business in the way they and the business hopes for. But why?
Because in life you reap what you sow. We get the HR service we deserve. When I have seen great HR leaders and teams it is because the business has set them high expectations, has challenged them to create value, has given them space to do it, has measured their business impact, has recruited HR people who are more than administrators. But most businesses don’t do that, in fact they do the opposite. How stupid is that?!
So what do I want for my birthday? Two things:
1. I want business leaders to recruit HR teams full of people who want to make a difference to business, not just to survive. This might mean even having a number of people who have never even worked in HR before – salesmen, marketers, bakers!
2. And I want business leaders to measure these HR teams on their business impact and quality. So of course, keep them to budget, have them drive through put, but for example in recruitment reward them for recruiting ONLY the right and best people, not just filling empty posts
Simple really.
Oh, and another thing, don’t feel you have to send me a card!
Cheers,
Simon Cooper
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