This week, under media scrutiny, cardinals of the Catholic Church seek to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
It's a secret decision-making procedure, undertaken without outside contact or influence. Senior members of the institution, alone, decide the next person to occupy their highest profile role.
While the papal conclave is “unique and historical”, there are elements that HR can learn from it, said Alan Price, CEO of HR software business BrightHR.
Worldwide spectators gather to see the smoke signals that cardinals sent out, which is the only sense of how the decision around the next pope is proceeding.
Speaking to HR magazine, Price warned that good recruitment procedure shouldn’t be all smoke and secrets. “Although it may be tempting for businesses to keep their cards close to their chest while recruiting, those that do so may find that it narrows the recruitment pool,” he said.
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Not being transparent about benefits and pay could also inhibit hiring, he continued; the exclusivity that surrounds papal succession planning is unlikely to work in the wider employment market.
“Any recruitment process should be accessible and inclusive, with those conducting the process trained on discrimination and topics such as unconscious bias,” he added.
Similarly, Binna Kandola, cofounder of diversity and inclusion consultancy Pearn Kandola, said that while the conclave is an “election not a selection in the modern HR sense, there are no interviews, CVs, or psychometrics”. The bias and factions that will exist within cardinal groupings are a good reminder for HR to assess its own hiring processes.
He told HR magazine: “[HR hiring processes] might seem more open and data-driven, but are still riddled with hidden biases.
“Time and again we see the same types of people being put forward as leaders, thanks to the mental templates or leadership prototypes we all carry.
“The conclave may have flaws, but so do modern talent management processes. They're just better disguised.”
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Seb Maley, CEO of business insurer and tax specialist QDos, suggested that there may be a surprising lessons about employment status, too.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: “I am no expert in Vatican employment status law, but if it’s anything like the UK, the new pope should, in theory, be assessed from an employment status perspective.
“After all, any recruiter involved in the hiring process could see themselves liable for placing a disguised employee – something that I didn’t think I’d ever hear myself saying.”
