HR Models Don’t Work
Let me guess. You have the 7 Pillars of HR. Or the 5 Tenets of HR. Or the 3-Legged Stool of HR Principles. And they’re printed on a laminated card.
Throw them away.
Does anyone actually believe that writing the word “Engagement” on some model makes people more engaged? Does saying pay-for-performance substitute for having a system to actually pay for performance? Does saying people are our most important assets hold water when your only true business strategy is RIFs every October? Hardly.
Action talks. (You know the rest of the saying.)
HR models are created by HR people to impress other HR people. If each and every element on the model isn’t backed up by a system and an unwavering willingness to follow through, they’re not worth the paper they’re laminated on.
Quick communication hint: If your big idea for an HR model has to be printed on a card, it already doesn’t work. Big ideas are memorable. Dumb ideas involve geometric shapes with HR words printed on them.
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Focus on the action words, otherwise known as verbs. Do things to engage people rather think about engagement. Pay your best people much better and help the others so they can become one of the best. Develop a strategy but don't promote it. Execute it.
I have a great fondness for verbs.
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Can't disagree though. It's always about doing.
Thanks for a great post Frank.
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If you can communicate a great idea on one page using pictures (geometric or otherwise) I'm thinking that's not such a bad thing. But somebody that's impacted actually has to value your great idea to produce any real value. That requires doing.
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Laurie, your jacks on the floor comment cracked me up.
Here's my take: Have a big idea and create a system to support it. All the rest is silliness.
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Larry Winget (author of several personal finance books) writes (not his exact words as I do not have a book handy) that if you want to see what a person truly cares about - look where they spend their money. Many people say they care about saving for retirement or for their children's education, but they are just "saying" that. If you want to see what they truly care about, look at where they spend their money. It does not lie.
I see this as being much the same with HR Policies. Actions speak WAY louder than words.
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Help me!!
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