By Aaron Dodd, Operations Director

The other day I took a call from a young HR practitioner enquiring about a position with Mindset as an HR consultant. She is a graduate with a good couple of years experience at officer level in public service and an SME. She was disillusioned with her current role feeling that it was too administrative, lacked intellectual challenge and wasn’t strategic enough. It was clear she had a real passion for HR and true belief in what good “HR” can do for a business and ultimately its bottom line.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to offer her a role, but her predicament is all too common. Many people study HR at University/TAFEs for either the wrong reason or because the profession has been misrepresented to them. After a couple of years in the “real” commercial world it dawns on them that they could well have made the wrong career choice. They then fall into one of three categories;

1. Those that give in to the system and become administrative drones, often becoming increasingly bitter and institutionalised over time.
2. Those that fight on valiantly against the forces of evil to try to effect change in their organisations and realise their dream of what HR should be for the business. Some will succeed, most won’t. Those that do succeed will go on to have stellar Director level careers. It’s a tough gig and I tip my hat to those who have beaten the system and made it.
3. Those that leave the profession completely.

When I talk about “the wrong reason” to go into HR, the most common ones that I hear when I ask HR people why they did it are “I love people” or “I love talking to people” or “I love helping people”. For HR to be relevant and a vital part of the commercial world these practitioners need to understand that their role is to muster their available human resources to deliver the business strategy effectively and efficiently so as to deliver the best possible bottom line for the company. HR people must remember that they are their company’s advocate NOT the staff’s.

By “misrepresentation” I mean that they have been sold a pup by academics. Many HR academics that I have met know the theory intimately, have a passion for the subject, but lack real world experience and thus have a totally deluded understanding of how HR is perceived by most decision-making business executives. They are akin to Catholic priests giving marital advice.

So why couldn’t I help out my young HR practitioner? Through no fault of her own, she simply needs more commercial experience. A successful consultant is a salesperson. It is no use having the theory and the ability to deliver if you cannot win the assignments in the first place. To be a successful salesperson selling HR consulting services requires a broad and thorough understanding of business, finance, commercial issues and strategy. Being able to engage with a Managing Director or CFO at this level so as to be able to quickly and succinctly identify their BUSINESS issues and present AND CLOSE an HR solution is paramount. Then, and only then, will your HR delivery skills come into play.

So for HR people who are looking to move into HR consulting or make yourself more relevant to the/any business, I urge you to develop your business skills and your networks (not with other HR people, but with business people). Learn to sell. Leave HR for a while. Work in other disciplines (particularly sales). Gain experience. Don’t waste your time with administration-oriented HR diplomas, study business, do an MBA.

Whatever you do, don’t take the first option. Life’s too short to be a drone.

The HR leader and Libby Sartain have reported that CEO’s now rank HR as one of the functions that adds the most value to their organisation. CEO’s commented that people issues, such as finding and keeping the right talent and building a high-performance culture, are at the top of the corporate strategic agenda as keys to sustainable competitive advantage. By focusing on HR you can easily add value to any organisation.

Where HR can add the most value
Start the culture conversation at all levels. One way to accomplish this is to conduct a cultural assessment or audit of your organisation through employee surveys, focus groups or interviews. Review your organisational history, leadership styles, HR programming and industry practices to determine what currently drives and reinforces the culture. Finally, what is your customer experience? What cultural elements are obvious to customers? Is culture aligned with business strategy? Where are the disconnects? What needs to change? This can be the basis for healthy discussion at team meetings and employee chat sessions.

Develop a business case for cultural change. Why is the change needed? How will desired changes in culture support the business strategy?

Work with the senior leadership team to determine the desired culture. Core values, desired behaviours and shared vision are essential for a positive culture change effort to succeed. Every leader must embrace the need to change, or it won’t happen. Senior leaders must make new behaviours their way of life to reinforce desired change.

Develop an agenda or action plan for enhancing the culture or bringing about change. Start with the highest priorities and work on the toughest issues. For your culture to become self replicating, the way things are done will have to reinforce the core values and the culture.

Communicate what needs to change and why. Solicit input from people. Once the needed changes and process for change is defined, tell people what is expected. What are the rewards for changing, and the consequences for more of the same.

Change the organisational structure to enable change. Find new ways to accomplish work tasks. Use teams for one-time projects. Broaden roles and responsibilities.

Acquire talent based on cultural fit. Identify the characteristics of people who exhibit those behaviours that you’ve identified as desirable. The people who fit and thrive in your culture will perpetuate that culture in everything they do. If you have to choose between the candidate who has better skills or knowledge but doesn’t fit, and a candidate who is slightly less qualified but fits culturally, choose the slightly less qualified person and provide the necessary training or on-the-job experience. Get rid of those who don’t fit in the culture.

Redesign your on-boarding process. Make sure that every new hire knows what it will take to fit in, and understands the cultural imperatives. Talk about the ways of working that lead to success and those that will derail careers. Create legendary stories of successes and failures.

Create cultural messages. Be sure that every meeting, every training program, every communication to people includes cultural messaging and reinforces the values, mission, traditions and practices.

Involve everyone. Southwest Airlines has a culture committee, but there are many ways to get people involved. Try focus groups around topics. Form cross functional teams. Call random groups of employees together for monthly breakfast or lunch meetings. Engage the help and support of a group of passionate, committed people to identify cultural disconnects and recommend remedies.

Build an internal brand that supports the external brand. Make a promise to deliver a consistent employee experience. Be sure that your employees know the differentiating elements in their experience in the organisation that will enhance their work lives and careers. Begin to create an employer of choice reputation internally and externally.

Recognise and reward results. Your recognition and rewards should support the culture that you are working to reinforce.

Cultivate leaders who promote your culture. Develop excellent leaders who will propel the culture down the ranks. Identify high potential leaders and promote them. Invest in leadership development programs. Be sure content reinforces cultural messages. Keep the good ones, and get rid of those who are unable to pass the culture on.

Make it interesting and fun. Create contests, activities that enhance the culture. Decorate the office in inspiring ways. Celebrations and events can reinforce the message.

Use HR tools. Something as mundane as the annual benefits enrolment can be a source of key cultural messages. Every training class should reinforce the basic behaviours and values that reinforce the culture. Performance review forms should measure cultural fit, as well as, job performance.

No one should be locked out of the efforts to build a high-performance culture. Culture has to become the DNA that forms the building blocks over everything else. So the entire organisation must have a role in keeping it alive. Work with corporate communications, advertising, and marketing to capture the culture messages and tout these internally and externally. Let product management see that new product development manifests the cultural values in the way it responds to the marketplace demand for quality and service. Work with your legal department to demonstrate the company culture by developing ethical standards and a code of conduct that is not just in compliance but also the right thing to do.

And remember that no, one department can force corporate culture on to the rest of the company. You must achieve buy-in from everyone, from the CEO all the way down. This way you play it safe and also to win!