One Minute HR Consultant

The day was sunny and bright, and I was relaxing on the porch of a close friend when I overheard a conversation by two contractors working on a property for a local landlord. 

“Ray doesn’t know business.  He doesn’t know the business I am trying to build.  He is one of those HR types that runs background checks and specializes in recruiting.  But he knows nothing about shipping, distribution, required freight costs and packaging.  Let’s not even talk about working with suppliers.” 

I nearly fell out of my chair and I looked at my friend who just stared at me as to say, “What is with you?”  Breaking the silence, I asked him, “Did you catch that?”  Returning my stare with a matter-of-fact smile, he stated, “Yeah, that’s the perception of HR on my job.” 

But for me it wasn’t that simple.  There stood two guys that had a vision of starting a company; the shingle based contracting business was only the beginning.  Yet even more surprising, they expressed an opinion of my passion and livelihood that is shared by perhaps many others – more than I (or we) probably like to admit. 

That casual comment has been on my mind now for almost two weeks with the words, “Ray doesn’t know the business” echoing in my head.  A statement so easily accepted by my friend that he barely even acknowledged that the statement had been made.  There I was with an undefined feeling that could only be described as a mixture of fury, embarrassment, and determination.  The question of ”What am I and my fellow HR professionals doing to change this perception?” looped in my conscience; loops in my conscience.   

I began to reflect on my conversations over the previous month with my fellow HR professionals searching for validation (or misguided perception) over the statement that the contractor had made. It also brought me back to the present and the topic of the day for HR: The strategic role of HR. 

We talk about it.

I support some of the practical thoughts and applaud the organizations and leaders that have found a strategic and practical solution that focuses on the business outcomes of their organizations.  However, I must admit, we still have work to do to change the perception (and reality) that HR is viewed as transactional back office work – by many and perhaps the majority of our business peers; we really don’t know – at least I have found no compelling study to convince me one way or the other. 

With all our talk of succession planning, talent management, organizational development, and a framework that contributes directly to our organization’s strategic goals and objectives, more often than not, when I dig deeper looking (and hoping) for my peers to state clearly a business case – they cannot.  Instead I hear (at best) discussion of management methodologies that are detached from the actual growth (or survival) of the companies in which they work. 

I search (sometimes in desperation) for someone to tell me the costs and financial impact to the organization’s bottom-line when employees are not properly trained in the field.  Or the horizontal-vertical misalignment that results when “key drivers” are not properly isolated or measured, directly or indirectly, to business performance (profitability or readiness).  Or why Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are even developed from a overarching business perspective. 

For the fact of the matter is that discovering, developing, and transforming HR into a strategic driver within organizations is hard work.  It’s important work.  It must be done for the sake of our “role” in the organizations and in many cases our organization’s survival. And to be honest: We will not convince many – more than I care to even predict.  But we will convince several: The forward thinking HR-centric firms or up-and-coming organizations that realize that human capital alignment is at the center of the brush with HR professionals kneeling at the source with match in hand ready to ignite the flame.  I will even count victory for the contractors discussing business growth as they work on growing their new businesses.  Heck, I will turn flips when the social entrepreneur who is finding some success in her homeoffice discuss the importance of having an effective HR framework for her business.

So who takes the lead: We do!  And it starts with an opening of Pandora’s box.  It continues with a quest to learn the value-creating process of delivering our organization’s products and services to the workplace.  It requires a keen understanding of how business works up-and-down, end-to-end. It will require a keen insight into how HR contributes to organizational branding, operational processes, salesforce readiness, and R&D innovation.

We must make it happen; we must look to the day when we hear – regulary:   “Ray is all about business and is instrumental to our business success.”

And it must flow every so easily – as a matter of fact.