I recently attended a breakfast meeting of HR directors in which they were all asked to nominate their most challenging issues. All of the usual issues were mentioned – skills shortages, attraction and retention, leadership etc, etc. One of the more common themes was simply keeping up with the pace of change in their organisation and industry and how to stay on top of this
by Craig Donaldson
I recently attended a breakfast meeting of HR directors at which they were all asked to nominate their most challenging issues. All of the usual issues were mentioned – skills shortages, attraction and retention, leadership etc, etc. One of the more common themes was simply keeping up with the pace of change in their organisation and industry and how to stay on top of this.
I don’t believe this theme is unique to HR, as many of their business peers are probably experiencing similar change management issues. However, the skill sets which modern HR professionals require to stay on top of change within their function are probably evolving more rapidly than those of other business professionals. Many HR professionals are entering uncharted territory as the function continues to transform, and this can be both daunting in the challenges it presents and satisfying when they get it right and enjoy the hard-earned business respect that comes with this.
A good number of HR professionals are ‘getting it’ and consequently taking on a more strategic role within their organisations. This entails significant role change and requires an ability to let go of old personnel-oriented duties in order to embrace new, more business-focused ones. Some HR and line managers often struggle with this concept in any change management initiative. It’s easy to stick with the old, the familiar, the comfortable. But in doing so, they deprive themselves of both personal and professional growth. Further, they will most likely find themselves either sidelined, assigned to the netherworld of ‘special projects’ or out of a job down the track if their CEO is serious about change.
The reality is that there’s only so much one HR professional can do, and at the end of the day priorities have to be aligned with the business in order for HR to continue to transform and take the next step up. Sometimes old priorities just have to fall by the wayside in order to achieve new, more important priorities, and an appreciation of this will go a long way in helping HR professionals embrace the new skill set required of them. The pace of change within the HR function isn’t going to slow down anytime in the near future, so it’s time for HR professionals to get with the program.
