In organisational terms the cry we now hear most often is that our people are our strength, or our people are our most important assets, or it is only through our people that we will gain competitive advantage. The key questions here are: do we really and truly believe this? If so, are we truly prepared to commit to the investment and risk associated with making this a reality? And are we prepared to trust and commit our bodies and our collective minds to making this a reality?
I have witnessed many half-hearted attempts at making the above statements live. They have failed and they will continue to fail until and unless we understand not what we are asking but what we as individuals, leaders and HR professionals must unlearn about who we are. Are we prepared to transform the way we behave, the way we interact, the responsibilities we are prepared to accept, the trust we must give first, the learning we must achieve, and the absolute passion, enthusiasm and commitment we must embrace to making it happen? Do we really believe HR is ready for this journey? Does HR even recognise the need for radical change?
When the head of the HR professional body - Jackie Orme, chief executive CIPD - says HR needs wholesale restructuring and there needs to be significant shift in focus, then we have to accept there is a serious and systemic fault line.
My view is that HR is populated with too many self-seeking, blame-shifting blockers and manipulators who kill the enlightened view and restrict and choke organisational progression. You know them - the pen- pushing administrators and positioners, who tell the business what it cannot do, build processes and systems that inhibit or dilute any sensible simplicity that is a key requisite in the current world where change, speed and innovation are the new business imperatives.
But before I become too much of a doom merchant, I believe there is hope. There are HR leaders I know and respect who I believe are showing us a new way. Indeed, it is only through meeting such individuals that we begin to realise how scarce they are within the profession. To me there's no doubt technology has been one of the key drivers in HR transformation over the past 10 years, but with it has also come a shift in mindset. The mantra as stated is that people are a company's most important asset. So what has that to do with HR? A key question should be: is HR the business's greatest asset-enabler and is its future an enhanced one or should we consider oblivion?
The problem with HR is that it has always struggled to prove its value. But does it really have any intrinsic value to the business, or should we just bite the bullet and call it the admin function? There are many facets to consider in the role such as recruitment and retention, talent management, reward and recognition, managing absenteeism, policies and legislation, coaching and training... the list goes on. HR needs to move on from its internal navel-gazing and agonising over its own importance and really get to grips with what is really needed, what is truly essential, to support organisational performance. If it cannot achieve the critical deliverables associated with developing the organisation to meet future challenges, while still supporting and improving its current capabilities, then it is failing in its core role and extinction looms.
Is it all about expectation? Perhaps in business we have such a low expectation of what HR can bring to the table that we get what we deserve. If we bring in those who adhere to rules and processes without question, can we really expect speed, change and innovation? I think we know the answer. Maybe even when we bring in talented HR professionals we throttle the life out of them, rendering them administrators and guardians of process by blocking any idea or opportunity to improve. And of course if we do bring in those who hassle, question and innovate, are we prepared for the discomfort that may cause us?
The HR function of the future will include people with greater business acumen and a preference for execution with simplicity - whether from front-line management or other functions - bringing a much broader perspective to bear than the archetypal ‘personnel professional' concept of the past. There needs to be a night of long knives where those who get it - that is, who understand that it is about business solutions - stay and those whose drivers are politics, process and bureaucracy are consigned to the vault of admin roles with greater speed than they are used to.
HR needs to be at the heart of organisational achievement and people strategy, not at the periphery, and in a place that real achievers will want to be. Forget the past programmes that gave HR a role and the business little results. Change and speed combined with a passion for innovation need to be HR bywords.
Critically, the function will need to be led by people who have the courage and respect to shape behaviour at the top, and ensure that the organisation has the role model achievers that will provide resilience and cohesion through the tough times as well as the good. Imagine a world where the most talented are clambering after HR roles, knowing that is where they can make a major difference to the business. HR leaders also need to be able to demonstrate that they can get things done, and inspire or select for action orientation among their key executives.
HR leaders need to bring real experience of successfully managing change to the top leadership team. We need leaders who can challenge the CEO, rather than unquestioning, subservient accepters of short-term strategy that is poorly considered and implemented with a rush of adrenalin and very little consideration for the consequences of the stated greatest asset. This includes having genuine vision while also being effective orchestrators of projects. They need to have the analytical ability to rethink the function to align with what the future business vision and operating context indicates - and if those aren't clear, they will need to help the top team fix that fast.
They will need the courage and personal conviction to lead their senior management team through what is likely to be a combination of slimming and reskilling of quite painful proportions. This will be a difficult process. Forging leaner and higher capability practices will not be easy in many organisations. HR needs to get it fast - change is endemic to society. They have to be the architects, the advocates, the role models and the implementers of a change mission like none we have encountered before.
Are we there? No way José! Will we get there? I am uncertain. What I do know is that if HR does not wake up and smell the coffee, their future is dust! Ulrich and the many advocates of HR value analyses are old generation. Modern HR professionals who want a career that means something need to be more courageous and speak out more. Change now.
HR needs a revolution and a scythe not a scalpel. HR needs leaders with conviction and vision that is about enabling the greatest asset of the future in a way that we have not seen before. I know people who are leading this charge. I truly hope they are successful. If not, then I don't see the world of business collapsing for the want of great HR people. No, organisations will simply move forward and consign HR to the history of business-past, and look back on the function not fondly but with a strange curiosity. Like the aliens in the old Cadbury's Smash advertisement commenting: "Did organisations really put up with those sorts of people?'
Maurice Duffy is CEO, Blackswan
Co-author Bill McAneny
Is there a future for HR?
In the history of the world we have seen many people who have overcome major obstacles and gone beyond the normal limits to bring change and innovation that has a profound impact on our lives. We have also witnessed major events that required individual genius, a cast of thousands and a vision and engagement to a common cause that has shaped and reshaped our world. People do and can make a difference.
