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Great Leaders Expect Their HR People To Be Great
Jul 22Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series titled “What’s Right with HR.” The first installment asserted that Great HR is Invisible. The second article was titleed Great HR is Invisible Because Great HR People Like It That Way. This series was written by a real, live senior HR executive in a company that all of you know. Because great HR is invisible, I’ve let the person write this article anonymously. Those of you who in are HR and have to deal with internal lawyers and PR people will understand. Q.E.D. –-Frank
Great companies are the work of great leaders. And Great leaders expect their HR people to be great.
Did you ever wonder how some HR leaders got their jobs? Or how they keep them? Let’s be honest –- there are a lot HR leaders who do very little to help their businesses succeed. Many don’t know even the basics of their business or industry or the competitive challenges facing their companies. Some still can’t read a financial statement, let alone hold their own with the CFO on discussions about how the company spends its money. And some still believe that the job of HR is to run the company picnic.
But there are a lot of great HR leaders in business today, and I’ve been lucky enough to learn from many of them. The one thing they have in common is that they almost always work for great business leaders. These great leaders hold HR to the same high standards as they do everyone else. They expect them to be committed, capable, independent leaders who have a point of view on how to drive business success. They do not expect –- nor will they tolerate –- the HR “Yes Man” that we all know too well.
Are you a “Yes Man (or Woman)”? Really? Do you challenge your business leaders by telling them what they don’t want to hear, by offering opposing views, but pushing them to see their own behavior in a new light? Are you what Dave Ulrich calls a “Credible Activist”?
As leaders, one of the greatest challenges we face in the HR function is teaching our people how to build true business partnerships based on respect for their independent viewpoint, not in spite of it. That’s really hard. But it’s why I got into HR in the first place.
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Like I said in my blog the other day – it takes courage to be a great HR Pro; the courage to stand up and be counted, to be the voice in the storm, to say “No,” when everyone else is saying, “Yes.”
@Ron Saying “No” is the toughest thing to do. The strong ones get it right, don’t they?
In great business relationships of all kinds there is a symbiosis. Each enables and draws strength from the other. That’s true for a CEO and top HR person or for that same CEO and the heads of marketing or operations or finance.
As for courage, you don’t get to be great without it.
@Wally Leadership courage was something I was writing about in my day job today. It’s essential…and you know that hands down.