Shaping Your HR Role

William Kahnweiler, Jennifer Kahnweiler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136366642
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book has been written for the HR Practitioner and will provide readers with tools, guidelines, ideas, and strategies for developing their role within the Human Resources function. This text focuses on current issues and future trends in both the HR profession and the workplace. Organizations will continue to be forced to function in a lean and mean manner, HR professionals are now required to manage outsourcing functions and to move through multiple internal roles quickly. This book will act as a roadmap to help them plan and implement these roles quickly and efficiently, aligned to their organizations strategy.

1 Laying the Groundwork for Success

DOI: 10.4324/9780080480879-1

Have you been in Human Resources for a while and unsure how to get to the next level? Have you neglected your development? Are you considering HR as a career? If so, we wrote this book for all of you.

We wrote this book to help you take charge of your career. We want you to take away ideas, strategies, and insights. This isn’t a “how-to” book. It is a thinking book. We believe that careers are much too varied to be boiled down to a few uniform steps. However, we also think having certain bodies of knowledge about you, organizations, and the HR profession are important for you to succeed. Those lessons have been culled from our more than 60+ years of experience and from interviews with successful and seasoned HR professionals.

We want this practical advice, these insights, and these “lessons learned” to serve as a type of mentor. Good mentors allow you to pick their brains. They also permit you to translate their knowledge into what fits your situation. And most importantly, they ask the right questions. Consider this book your personal mentor in a pocket as you stop to focus on your career. Make sense? If so, read on.

Help Wanted: Competent and Confident HR Professionals

It’s a new day for HR! The Human Resources profession today is a force to be reckoned with. It is growing in stature and importance as organizations increasingly recognize people as their most important asset. HR has a more predominant place in the decisions and strategies of organizations than ever before. HR professionals also have to fill some very large shoes. For internal HR professionals (those working inside organizations), juggling multiple compliance issues with their roles as business partners has made their days long and their plates extremely full. External, or outside consultants, who make up an increasingly larger proportion of the profession, also face this balancing act with a host of diverse clients.

A recent Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference brochure stated: “Different, unique and often perplexing issues arise each day in the workplace. As a respected business partner, you provide the important link between workforce and stockholder by influencing policy and by using your expertise to create policy and practice elements that affect the overall success of your organization. Why? Because they affect your organization’s most important asset—its human resources” (Society of Human Resource Management conference brochure 2003). Individuals of the highest caliber, competence, and motivation are needed to fill these large shoes. We wrote this book so you can become that person.

The Opportunities

What a difference you can make! Whether you are an HR generalist or specialist, are experienced or just starting out in a large or small organization, you sit at the crest of the wave of opportunity—the opportunity to make a significant contribution to your organization, your field, and the people you serve.

You get to engage in problem solving, partake in continuous learning, experience tremendous variety, and change and achieve results. When you help a manager hire a new team that hits the ground running or redesign a rewards program that results in retaining key people, you make a difference and impact organizational performance. As technological changes and more transactional HR functions are outsourced, HR professionals continue to take on more strategic consulting roles. In the book Execution (2002), Larry Bossidy, a Fortune 100 CEO, and Ram Charan, a leading management scholar, make the case that linking people processes with strategy and business processes is critical to execution success. In the best organizations, HR walks side by side with its leaders. You will see plenty of examples of this approach in our book.

The Challenges

The HR picture is not all rosy. HR is not just “the soft stuff.” It is not a black-andwhite function, nor is it paint by number. Because HR involves people and organizations, it exists in the real world of grays, neither of black nor white. Our career suggestions are designed to help you in that world. For instance, what do you do when you are pulled in numerous directions with multiple clients who all see their needs as having the highest priority? How do you manage horrendous workloads and keep your stress level under control? How do you assist people and organizations whose goals are often at odds with one another?

We will also help you answer the question, How do I keep my career thriving in a climate of uncontrollable economic fluctuations? Once considered a safe haven, HR positions have fallen prey to downsizing. The authors have both been downsized at one time or another, and we know what a humbling experience it is. We also believe that the best insurance policy for protecting yourself is to keep your skills fresh and vibrant. If you are let go or experience changes on your job, you will bounce back. This book will help you to be resilient and weather these inevitable cycles.

This book will also help you manage how others perceive you. Even though titles have changed from “personnel” to “HR,” HR professionals can be viewed with distrust. In a recent class we taught, a suggestion was made to a participant that he consult with his HR rep on a difficult employee situation. The student shrugged his shoulders and said, “I am not sure what help they will be.” It is of great concern to us that HR is viewed in this negative light. The Dilbert cartoon strip has had some success making fun of Human Resources. It’s “Catbert: Evil Director of Human Resources” provokes recognition in many of its readers (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Your Position Has Been “Excessed.” Reprinted with permission.

We want to help you learn ways to build trust and establish relationships with your clients. We will provide many examples explaining how you can be seen as the “go to” person for a host of challenging and important issues that occur in organizational life today.

Making Development a Priority

“The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” We use this expression to say that HR professionals often spend much of their time on the development of others while unfortunately neglecting their own learning and growth. You need to also turn the spotlight on yourself. Otherwise, your development is surely left to happenstance. What happens as a result? You will get stale and lose your edge.

All professionals, including accountants, engineers, and psychologists, must continually develop their skills and stay at the top of their game. In fact, they are required to do so to maintain their credentials. Aside from the formal credentialing practices that are now in place in HR, we believe it is imperative that you continue to understand the changing workplace and its trends. You avoid obsolescence by doing that. Can you imagine a doctor who is not aware of the latest and most effective treatments for diseases she is treating? She would quickly lose her credibility if she weren’t up on the latest medications and approaches to treating disease. You, too, must learn new skills, trends, and approaches. In this way, you keep yourself viable and up to meeting the challenges of your jobs. Every professional we interviewed for this book resoundingly spoke of the need to engage in this continual learning.

Consider this story from a colleague who ran the local division of an HR consulting firm. Each month she scheduled breakfast forums where professionals from similar industries could meet, network, and learn from each other. Another purpose was to discuss changing industry trends.

The group of sales reps she convened were involved in lively, well-attended monthly exchanges. These sales professionals sacrificed potential sales to attend and viewed this networking opportunity as an important investment, ultimately paying off in increased sales.

Not so the HR forum—last-minute cancellations and weak turnouts forced our colleague to end the group. When asked why they didn’t show up, most of the HR managers cited pressing concerns back at work. They saw their presence on the job as critical and subject to last-minute crises. By taking a more shortsighted view and by not putting development as a true priority, the HR professionals missed out on a beneficial growth and learning opportunity.

In this book, you will read many examples illustrating how successful HR professionals put a premium on this kind of learning. Bringing outside perspectives into their world is an integral part of the HR professional’s success.

Bringing Who You Are to What You Do

As professionals who specialize in both HR and career development, we are well versed in the opportunities and challenges described in the preceding section. For the past 15 years, Bill has been a Professor of Human Resources at Georgia State University. During the prior 17 years, he worked as an internal HR consultant for General Electric and as an External Consultant for Hay Management Consultants. Jennifer has been an HR practitioner for more than 30 years. She has owned her own consulting business specializing in career development for 20 years and has held internal and external consulting roles at several private and public sector organizations including General Electric and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Both of us have passion for a profession that has a richness, variety, and an ability to bring who we are to what we do. In talking about work recently with some friends, we were each asked whether we enjoyed our jobs. We didn’t hesitate long and both shared that we love what we do and don’t think of it as work. Is this true every minute of every day? No, of course not. But there is no doubt that we have been and continue to be energized by this fascinating profession. We want the same for you—to be stimulated and excited by your work.

This book is presented to you as a labor of love. We hope that in its pages you will sense how much we care about HR as a profession and the people who practice it. We also have a profound desire to assist you in becoming a more effective, competent, and confident professional, whether you have been in HR a while or are contemplating a new career in the field. Ultimately, we want this book to serve as a catalyst for your bringing who you are to what you do for a living.

We have seen it countless times as we interviewed people for this book and with others in the field. “It” is the tremendous energy, commitment, and results that transpire when you bring who you are to your work. We only hope that this book can bring you closer to that reality. We are confident that it can.

How This Book Works

We want you to be able to invigorate your career and find your place in Human Resources. To do this, we have created a practical framework called the Career Success Model. This model will help you plot your course. You will understand (1) what steps you can take to move your career forward and (2) how you can achieve results for the clients you serve—now and in the future. And although we said in the Preface that this is not a prescriptive cookbook, you will find many helpful tools. Numerous examples are provided to illustrate the major components of the model. We drew these examples from our career experiences and those of thousands of individuals with whom we have worked. In addition, we have summarized the highlights of more than 25 interviews that we conducted with successful HR professionals from across the globe.

You will also find professional resources such as websites and professional organizations.

We wrote this book to help you take charge of your own career. We will provide you with a practical framework to better understand what steps you can take to find your place and grow your career with satisfaction and confidence against the dynamic backdrop of today’s organizations.

So what will you take away specifically from reading this book? You will learn (1) what an HR career looks like today—both the opportunities and the challenges, (2) the varied settings in which you can work, (3) the key roles you can play, (4) how to take targeted actions to make sound decisions in your HR career, and (5) the resources available to help propel your career forward and make you more resilient in this changing world economy.

As you can see, this book can serve as your new portable mentor. As such, we hope you find value and validation in its pages. Congratulate yourself for putting the focus on you. In so doing, you are serving your clients and your organization in the best way possible. You are achieving the kinds of results that shape a successful HR career.

References

• Society of Human Resource Management Conference Brochure, Orlando, Florida, June 22–25, 2003, 3.
• Bossidy, L. and R.Charan. 2002. Execution. New York: Crown Business.

2 What Does an HR Career Look like Today? Opportunities, Appeals, and Challenges

DOI: 10.4324/9780080480879-2

Now is a very interesting and exciting time to be an HR professional. Never before have we witnessed the rate and scope of changes in organizations and in the HR profession itself. Few HR professionals we know say they are bored, plateaued, or unchallenged.

Not very long ago, many organizations placed sub-par employees into HR (and back then this department was usually referred to as “Personnel”). For example, one of our friends, who was a senior executive at AT&T and is now retired, told us that there used to be two basic career paths for people in the company: (1) perform adequately (and not necessarily superbly) for a period of time, and then get promoted to a management position, perform that job adequately, and remain in management until retirement; or (2) perform adequately, get promoted into management, perform as a manager less than adequately, and then be transferred to HR. For many organizations, especially large ones, this situation seemed to be the norm. In essence, many, if not most, who toiled in HR (or “Personnel”) in those days were there by default. HR was not seen as a career; it was a dumping ground.

Fortunately, this situation has changed drastically. The professionalization of HR is real and continues to evolve. People are choosing HR as their craft or moving into it after doing other kinds of work. New opportunities exist for HR external consultants like never before. HR is no longer where organizations place people who have no clearly viable role. Thankfully, being in HR no longer means a professional’s career is in trouble. Quite the contrary!

Being a member of a bona fide profession is one appeal of a career in HR. Those who succeed in HR find many aspects of the field quite attractive, exciting, and meaningful. This chapter will describe the many and varied appeals of being an HR professional in today’s ever-changing and dynamic organizations.

Part of the excitement of being in HR today is the myriad challenges that are part of the HR landscape. This explains why we never hear HR professionals complain that minutes seem like hours or hours seem like days. Rarely, if ever, do we hear HR professionals complain that they don’t have enough to do or what they do is busywork or meaningless. Many, if not most, of the challenges confronted by HR people require much energy, skill, creativity, and resilience. This chapter will provide an overview of these chal...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Laying the Groundwork for Success
• 2 What Does an HR Career Look like Today? Opportunities, Appeals, and Challenges
• 3 The Many Hats HR Professionals Wear
• 4 The HR Career Success Model
• 5 Actions to Take Self-Knowledge
• 6 Actions to Take Learning about the Field
• 7 Actions to Take Learning about the Organization
• 8 Achieving Results Pathways to Success
• 9 Your Future in Human Resources Career Development Planning for the Savvy
• Appendix A—Exercises to Gain Self-Knowledge
• Appendix B—HR and HR-Related Professional Associations
• Appendix C—Interview Guide
• Appendix D—Example of HR Career Paths
• About the Authors
• Index