Instep: The art of engagement

For the early HR career professional, one of the crucial skill sets to acquire to accelerate career progression is the 'Art of Engagement'. This is the view of many senior HR professionals. But what does this concept mean and why is it so important?

One senior HR professional who certainly agrees with the art of engagement concept is Helen Lyons. According to Helen, who has held senior HR roles for a range of organisations such as AMP, Campbell Arnott's and the University of Western Sydney, the art of engagement relates to the ability of an HR practitioner to entrench themselves within their customer base to the extent where they become almost indispensable.

In this month's Instep, we explore how early HR career professionals can master this skill set as a key platform for their careers. We also look at potential ways for HR leaders to make their companies attractive by offering development opportunities to up-and-coming HR practitioners.

The message for early HR career practitioners

1. Engagement through early intervention

For career success, it's reasonably well understood that HR professionals need to understand the needs of the business and be able to anticipate these. Having said this, even if this is achieved, HR can still hit some brick walls. For instance, even the most professionally written business proposals can get rejected if an engagement process hasn't been commenced first.

When discussing engagement strategies, Helen recommends to early HR career professionals that they gain buy-in by "testing the waters" first. She suggests that before an idea or concept is put on paper, floating the idea past influential stakeholders and gauging their response should be the starting point. If some resistance is already sensed at this stage, it provides an opportunity to "unpack the cause" and deal with it before it's fatal to the proposal.

Helen goes on to say that sometimes the most effective method of engagement is to transfer the ownership of an idea. If an HR professional can "seed a concept" so that stakeholders believe it is their initiative, then the battle is already half won.

2. Engagement through commercial understanding

In discussing engagement and career success, Helen along with most senior and successful HR career practitioners, believes that an understanding of the business is crucial. Learning what the strategic drivers for both the internal and external customers are, such as market share, ROI, expense and revenue line management and risk mitigation, is key to successful idea pitching.

To do this, Helen suggests developing strategic alliances with key divisions in the organisation. "Get into the engine room and find out what people are doing to keep the business running. Building up your knowledge of, for example, Finance, Marketing and Supply Chain Management will provide invaluable insights which will positively influence your career journey."

Helen's final comment is to not underestimate line business experience. In her view, line and operation experience can help build true business consulting skills to assist in the development of a commercial and pragmatic HR skill set.

The message for HR leaders

Within the HR profession, the early HR career market has indisputably experienced the strongest rebound from the global financial crisis. With demand outstripping supply, what can HR leaders do to engage upcoming talent? The Next Step's 2010 survey of HR professionals, HR Viewpoint, provided useful insight into the priorities of this particular target market.

Don't undervalue the "what's in it for me" factor. When asked what would attract them to join a new company, the response was overwhelmingly biased towards career growth and development opportunities. Early career practitioners are attracted to opportunities that will accelerate their careers, such as building up their skills in the art of engagement.

The final word

No matter which way you look at it, whether you are an early career HR professional looking to accelerate your career, or an HR leader looking to attract emerging talent, your level of success will be influenced by your ability to understand your customer base. Employees and employers that fail to master the art of engagement will leave a lot of value on the table.

About the author
Peta Neilsen is the Team Leader in Sydney of The Next Step's early career business, The Next Gen.
For information call (02)8256 2500 or email pneilsen@thenextstep.com.au, web site; www.thenextstep.com.au

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