Back to Basics in HR
Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 by Frank Roche
When I was a kid we played outside. We played games that we made up. We played baseball using patches of dirt for the bases. We played the games and were our own referees. Our parents were nowhere to be found. And we didn’t need them.
What happened to us in business? Companies don’t start out with giant policy manuals and “annual processes.” Startups get moving and do the work. They don’t need rules because everyone knows what they need to do. They know how their actions affect company success. And their performance isn’t adjusted once a year — it’s done every minute every day.
Then the rules start.
Do you see kids out there today organizing their own pickup baseball game? Hardly. In what looks like an HR Farce, “self organizing” involves parents who make rules, tell kids they’re doing great even when they’re losing, and make it so that everyone is treated equally. Heck, I’ve heard of games where parents make other parents sign legal waivers before games can be played in their yard.
Sound a little like HR run amok?
Let’s get back to basics in HR. Let’s understand that the kids can organize their own games without us making the rules. Let’s let the winners win and the losers get better. Or kicked off the team.
Let’s think about the kinds of rewards we got when we were kids. We don’t need to tell people they’re doing great when they’re not. They get the greatest recognition from their friends. (Okay, we call them peers. Ick.). If you make it fun, they’ll play all day.
It’s time to get back to the basics. If you aren’t questioning every rule and your role as overprotective and overbearing HR parent, then you’re doing it wrong. Let the kids do what they know how to do. Take away the silly rules and you’ll find out they know how to do it right themselves already.
Lisa Rosendahl
Apr 23rd, 2009
Almost exactly along the lines of what I went to bed and woke up thinking this morning although less from a HR perspective and more from a supervisor perspective. Specifically, how to break a supervisory mental model of, “if my staff are not geling, I am failing miserably.” Do you have an alternate mental model on the shelf you can share?!! Full disclosure – I have a post bouncing around in my head and need some perspectives! Thanks Frank!
Matt Cholerton
Apr 23rd, 2009
Great post Frank. Earlier this week there was an interesting NPR piece about, among other things, being too supportive to your kids. Reminded me a lot of what you said, “tell kids they’re doing great even when they’re losing, and make it so that everyone is treated equally”.
Start ups will lose their operating edge with an overbearing HR. And larger companies can gain edging by shedding some HR.
Good stuff.
Frank Roche
Apr 23rd, 2009
@Matt…thank you. I always pick on our neighbors in the suburbs for being part of the Self Esteem Movement. I tell them to tell the kids to learn to live with a little disappointment. It’s crazy.
I’ll have to listen to that NPR piece…It’d be right up my alley.
Cheers…and thanks for the note!
Matt Cholerton
Apr 23rd, 2009
The Well-Meaning, Bad Parent
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102831737
Frank Roche
Apr 23rd, 2009
@Lisa…heck I wrote out a whole note and then lost it. Yikes…here’s what I said: Managers don’t have to be popular to be effective. Doing feel good all the time isn’t everything (even though creating a great work environment is the best when managers are super involved and friendly). Managers aren’t parents trying to keep peace and teaching the kids to get along. Yes, get along…but undertand that homogeneity isn’t the only way to get ahead…it’s okay to not gel and still do great work.
Lisa Rosendahl
Apr 23rd, 2009
I may need to call you one of these day and talk about this
Frank Roche
Apr 23rd, 2009
@ Lisa, I’d like that. You could give me a call later this afternoon if you’d like 215-772-0400. This all wraps up for me with my view that performance management is hopelessly broken, and often is because it’s created by parents who make their kids sign waivers before they can play. This is really fun stuff. I’ll be around from about 4pm EST on.
Frank Roche
Apr 23rd, 2009
@Matt…I’m going to buy The Parents We Want To Be today…that sounds like it’s exactly in line with what’s happening in HR. Wow…thanks for that link. Super!
Bill Strahan
Apr 24th, 2009
Love the thinking here. Part of is is also letting a few scrapes and bruishes occur along the way.
Frank Roche
Apr 25th, 2009
@Bill You’re right, nothing like a little mecurchrome every once in a while to heal a wound or two. Burns…but makes people know they were there.
Kristi Daeda
Apr 25th, 2009
Great thoughts, here. I’m also surprised at how often we manage to the least common denominator, and sacrifice our best performers in the process. Ditch the policy overload, and get out of their way.