One Minute HR Consultant

This is a post that I struggled to write because it brings to task, so to speak, us as HR professionals.  However, at the same time, I feel a great need to share with you my thoughts on how we can actually seize and demonstrate value during this challenging economic cycle. Let me put it simple: This is a rare opportunity for HR, across the board, to add significant value and change the perception of our profession as a CRITICAL value-added function in the organization. In writing this, I thought about the ground-breaking work conducted by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich in their landmark work ‘The HR Scorecard”.  One of their observations is that HRM either adds value or does not (reference pg. 38, HR Scorecard). 

Any middle-ground has no significant impact.  Many of us can personally attest to this research in the real world as  organizations either put the thumb on us as merely daily tacticians or those that let us flourish.  Here is a time for us to flourish. Before revealing the Five Activities that we, as HR professionals, should be considering-undertaking, I want to share this observation:  A serious lack of judgment, conscious or not, is occurring each and every day amongst us as HR professionals that has potential dire consequences (or at least significant) to our organizations, which can set-up our organizations (and ourselves) up for failure – in some areas. As reported in the January issues of HRMag, EEOC complaints are up, training budgets are down, and complaints will be thrown our way from every angle from recruiting to talent management to outplacement and employee assistance.  Continue reading »