HR: One Devil of a Profession

"Wouldn't it be grand if the human resources department could free itself from bookkeeping and law clerking and devote itself to the business of having a life?"

These are not my words, but the words of another. Where do you think they came from? Human Resource Executive, SHRM Magazine, or HR blogs? Has to be something recent, right? It's all the rage in HR circles today. 

If you guessed an article published September 8, 1999, you are correct. 

In his article, "Angels in the workplace save him from the devils in HR," author Dale Dauten described an angel of an HR dude who dissuaded him from a career in HR. He went on to quote an HR consultant who noted that the profession 'has made a pact with the devil: the more labor legislation that gets enacted, the more pay, prestige and power HR gets.'

The more things change, the more things stay the same except, this time,  nothing has changed. It's 2010 and the devil of a conversation remains.

I have a tenuous relationship with HR but stay with the profession because there are things that I value and I enjoy. Yes, there are things that I don't and I can control them. I dislike benefits so I stay as far away from them as I can. I want to learn more about talent management, so I direct my efforts that way. Easy peasy, right?

To a certain point, yes, but I can't control everything. One thing out of my control is SHRM, the  organization that represents me as an HR professional. I've had a very arms-length "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude towards SHRM yet all this hoopla about lawsuits, transparency, and the what-not has caught my attention.

When I look at SHRM today, I see messiness, I see cat/dog fights, and I see distress. What's real, what's the other side of the story and is this blown out of proportion? I don't know. I don't know what's going in, on or at SHRM (arms-length approach, remember) but I do know what's going on with me.

When I look 10 years to the future, I see HR pros referring back to the devil of a 1999 article wondering why we still haven't changed. I see me reminiscing about the days of SHRM and seeing the questioning looks of the faces of young HR pros asking, "What is SHRM?"

SHRM, be an angel and get it together. This is not the way to change the course of a profession.

2011 Strategic Advice for SHRM: Make SHRM Matter

Voice of HR invited a number of industry contributors to take a critical look at SHRM and offer their strategic advice to SHRM leadership in a web series, 2011 Strategic Advice for SHRM. 

This is a republication of my response posted on Saturday on the Voice of HR blog. 

MAKE SHRM MATTER

So much of my day, I face more competition for my attention than I have time to give. Let's talk about competition for my attention from within my chosen profession - Human Resources.

I've been a Human Resource (HR) professional for over 15 years and counting. I progressed from an HR department of one supporting 75 employees to an HR Director with a staff of 14 supporting 1500 employees. My career has spanned private, public and federal sectors and is still going strong. I am a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a Human Capital Strategist (HCS), I have more degrees than any one person needs and not nearly enough time.

I read. I write. I conference. I search.

I choose. 

My HR colleagues and friends make a difference every day pushing the envelope, generating new ideas and challenging the status quo. They manage HR effectively by changing human behavior and rally fellow HR leaders to develop workforce strategies to generate talent. They deliver on the plan, they seek out the tough questions and they teach. They are in the trenches, they are at the helm and they practice what they preach.

I follow. I lead. I listen. I learn.

I am inspired.

I am a card carrying SHRM member and have been for over 15 years. SHRM, at it's core, is technical practitioner HR.  It's a necessary and solid foundation that was invaluable to me at the start of my career. As a one-person HR department, I had SHRM on speed dial and the professionals on the other end of the line were beacons in the storm and my one-stop for questions. 

Not any more. SHRM is focusing on and meeting a need - but not my need. I am looking for current, relevant, and emerging ideas.

When I have questions or need information, I am online in business magazines, leadership columns, and blogs. I am in Human Capital spaces one day and Talent Management and Succession Planning spaces on another. I live at the Office of Personnel Management and federal HR sites. I seek out conferences beyond traditional and technical HR.

HR is a dynamic profession yet when I think of SHRM, I see a solid, rigid organization. 

SHRM, create a new reality. Start conversations and let them flow. Let go of being big, of being "the one," of being in charge. Collaborate with other organizations and do what you have to do to provide resources to your members- even of they didn't originate from SHRM. Encourage new ideas, let go of "knowing" the future of HR, and be open to the unknown. Restructure to be nimble. 

SHRM, inspire me. Be the change the profession needs.

Make me choose you. 

*  *  *

The series started on last Monday and runs for another few days. The guidance is respectful, thoughtful, productive, provocative and given with the best of intentions.

Give it a read - all of it - and weigh in with your comments. You have a voice.

StrengthsFinder, Me and SHRM

I don't do conferences. This is not a belief, a position, or a rallying cry. It just is what it is. I attended a SHRM Annual Conference a few years back and enjoyed it but when I look at my days to decide how to spend my time, conferences (huge HR conferences) don't make it to the top of my list.

Checking out StrenghtsFinder 2.0, I discover I have a relator theme and, in simple terms, that means I am pulled toward people I already know. I can buy that. I am more of a one-on-one kind of a girl, groups of 11,000 make me antsy, and I simply don't like people telling me how to do what I already know how to do. Reconcile that with 10 years in the military - ha!

I don't have time for slick.

So, when I said I don't do conferences, that was only partially correct. There are conferences I do hope to attend like HR Technology Conference, BlogHer '11 and anything to do with women and leadership to learn more about these areas. It's not the same for HR. I know HR and don't want to spend my time listening to speakers who repackage what I know (albeit in an engaging, poised, and entertaining way) and redeliver that back me. It's not about the speakers, it's about me and where I find value. 

I like to think, I am fascinated by ideas (courtesy of themes of intellection and ideation) and have visions of grandeur. StrengthsFinder 2.0 describes the two as "exercising the 'muscles' of your brain and stretching them in multiple directions" and making connections, or discovering "a new perspective on familiar challenges," respectively. This is exhilarating to me. Not exhilarating like the first Airborne jump out of a perfectly good aircraft . . . but you get my drift.

I have all the time in the world to noodle.

Give me a cup of coffee, comfy couch, and group of colleagues with a question to ponder like whether or not HR can be trusted, the intersection of personal and HR credibility, or why HR pros can't successfully carry a "conference high" back into their organizations to impact change and I am hooked.

Hook, line and sinker.

Your HR Career

Each year, SHRM has an annual student conference. A friend and fellow blogger sent me a call for presentations to submit an idea to present at the 2010 conference in June. Well, one thing came up, and then another, and even though I drafted out a proposal, I did not follow through. If I did follow through, here's what I propose I'd say.

HR is a profession in the midst of change. Once a very transactional and administrative role, HR professionals can now play influential and transformational roles, impacting and delivering on business objectives.

If you watch and listen carefully, you will see and hear the struggle between the old and new; between compliance and innovation, and between complacency and progress. Progress and innovation are winning out as the HR profession changes to provide the services and expertise organizations need to succeed.

If initiating, leading and fostering inevitable change is what you are interested in, you've come to the right place.

Fitting In 

HR professionals come into the profession in different ways, for different reasons and with different experiences. If you are making the decision to enter HR and start with the degree to support it, you are one giant step ahead of me (unless you can make a connection between a BS in Biology and HR) and many others like me. Some of us did other things before HR and we fell down the rabbit hole.

Human resource roles come in all shapes and sizes. HR is in the private, public, profit, and not for profit sectors. HR is in the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the school system and the government. HR staffs your grocery stores, recruits health care providers for your medical centers and develops the skills needed to ensure businesses meet goals. HR roles range from a very traditional, transactional function to a strategic, transformational function and everything in between. 

Human resource professionals work locally, nationally or internationally. They lead departments, teams or run their very own department of one. They work full-time, part-time or own their own. They travel frequently, sporadically, or stay close to home. They insource, outsource, contract, or consult.

Take a look at your skills, experiences, aspirations. Now take a look at the organizations and the roles? Something peak your interest? Got it? Great. Now that you know where you fit in, for lack of a better term, it's time for you to stand out.

Standing Out

HR is not rocket science. Sure, the legal stuff can appear to be complex but it is not. Nothing in HR is beyond comprehension. I can teach a new HR professional how to review a resume, how to write a discipline charge, and how to make an employment offer. What I can't teach a new professional (or an old one) is how to think creatively, to look beyond the question being asked to identify the real issue at hand and that HR often means putting two plus two together and getting five. Nothing in HR is black and white and nothing is a straight line movement from point a to point b. There are detours and the detours trip up the unprepared all the time.

Learn the ins and outs of the technical side of HR but don't stop there. Don't be run-of-the-mill. If you are not already doing so, pressure, push and prod your instructors to stay current on HR issues of the day; supplement your course work outside the classroom with real-time readings and ideas from HR professionals and business leaders and above all, be responsible for your own learning. Seek mentors out, ask questions, and don't be afraid of jumping into discussions. Don't minimize your contributions because "you are new to the field, or just a student." Don't do it. Just don't.

Your mission: stand out from the crowd so I can find you among the masses.

Taking The First Step

My trip to wonderland started when I was interviewing for a non-HR role and the team asked me if I had ever considered Human Resources. I had not. "Boring," I said. "Not so," they countered and I took them up on their offer to spend time observing an HR department in action at one if their manufacturing plants. Sure, there was some processing of personnel actions and benefits work being done, but there was much more. It was more dynamic than I had ever anticipated. I took the first step and haven’t looked back since.

HR is not what it used to be and it is changing every day. Your trip to wonderland is starting now. It's your career, own it.

Welcome to the profession. 

Photo credit iStockphoto

If Your Sky Falls, It Won't Be Because of Social Media

I attended a local SHRM chapter meeting Thursday to hear the latest on developing social media case law, progressive approaches businesses have taken with social media use. I expected to hear excitement and possibility. Instead, I heard fear and trepidation.

Perpetuating Fear

The social media = fear apple may not fall far from the HR tree. In his post, Fear and Social Media, Mark Stelzner shares comments that SHRM's 2010 Employment Law and Legislative Conference covered the use of social media to spy on employees, blocking of popular social media sites and the general risks to broad adoption. Bloggers Mike Vandervort and Joan Ginsberg rant about the same.

Disappointing to hear on a national level, this message was frustrating to listen to at a local level. The two attorneys at our chapter meeting discussed social media in a "sky is falling" kind of way. One was not aware of Twitter until she developed her presentation and the other was not engaged with any social media tools. It goes to credibility my friends and for me, there was little. (Note: I had to leave early so did not hear the entire presentation.)

As frustrating as the presentation was, it was just as disheartening to look around the room and see HR professionals appear to be taking this all in. Maybe some were, and maybe some weren't, but even one HR professional buying into the social media = fear discussion is too much.

It doesn't have to be this way

Change, perceived loss of power and lack of knowledge and understanding can equal fear but social media should not. HR professionals, you don't blindly accept opinions of others without first understanding something about it yourself first, do you? Don't start doing so with social media. 

Got attorneys? Getting advice? Take it under advisement. Attorneys mitigate risk and while I value that perspective greatly, I know it is only one perspective. Yes, even the obedient little rule follower in me questions and questions and questions. I've got to know the upper and lower ends of my risk scale to make an informed decision and know that the best attorneys are the ones who will engage in that conversation with me. I don't buy into fear.

Next Steps 

Above all, be the voice of reason. Ditch the chicken little attorneys, learn everything you can about social media, and make your own informed decisions. Be prepared to provide the leadership necessary to successfully address the social media questions facing your organization, and if the decision is to adopt, to implement the practices right for you and your organization. 

If you don't, someone else will. Then your sky really may fall.

Photo credit iStockPhoto

Do You Read HRMagazine?

This is a cover of the latest issue of HR Magazine. Do you read it? I don't. When HRMagazine is delivered each month, I glance through it to catch the quote boxes and side bars on my way to staff mailboxes to route to my staff. Many of my staff read it cover to cover.

I used to read HR Magazine. Early in my career, my interests were in developing a solid foundation of "how to" and "why we have to" and SHRM resources were life-saving to me. I had web pages bookmarked, white papers document protected and the knowledge center on speed dial. I read HR Magazine cover to cover and dog-eared page after page.

My interests now are on the broader role of HR in providing leadership and on engaging in real time discussions with others about emergent issues. HRMagazine is solid and meets a real need but it is a magazine for the masses. I am in search of the niche. I want real-time, speed-of-light, broad-range-of-perspective kind of interactions. I look to the 50+ blogs in my Google Reader, Alltop, HR networking sites HRM Today and HR Presence Network and, of course,Twitter for my daily fix of interaction and information.

I am a card carrying SHRM member. Yes, I am a expectation meeter at heart, but I don't maintain my membership year after year to make others happy. I maintain my membership each year because, as Laurie at PunkRockHR so finely stated, "there are tremendously talented men and women who work to make HR a more credible and visible profession."

So, do you read HRMagazine? Why or why not? China Gorman, SHRM COO, is on Twitter and she really wants to know. Won't you share your thoughts with her?