“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.

For example, one executive stated that he needed skill development/technical training.  My questions to him were How much was the training going to cost?  What kind of training (specifically) was needed?  And, How did would he know that training being provided was effective?  In particular, what led him and the organization to come to the conclusion that  more training was needed:  Was it market position, defect rate, employee satisfaction feedback, customer satisfaction feedback, accident rates, or lost time?  Was it a combination of all of these measures – or did you even measure at all?

The second executive stated to me that he needed to have his particular SBU performance on par with the other SBU.  He also stated that because his product/service line was new that he was under much scrutiny.  My questions continued.  How do you know that the other SBU has it right? How is your SBU performing among industry competitors (locally, nationally, internationally)?  When do you know (or will you know?) you have gotten to where you need to be when two different markets are being served?

Finally, the last executive I spoke with stated that he wanted to “really go after” a chosen management methodology.  My questions continued: What is so important about this specific methodology? What is the resistance?  What incremental yard posts/milestones are in place to let you know that change is being captured and that the change management process accompanying the methodology implementation is taking hold?  What is so important about this methodology – is it growth based or improvement based?  Is it focused on ROA or revenue based that facilitates time-to-market and market penetration?

The final conclusion that I drew was that this organization had to define just what they were after.  Between talks of continuous improvement, training, and top-line growth strategies, I could not get a single consistent theme.  Now this does not take away from any of the professionals that I spoke with that day.  They are, I assume, talented individuals with a track record of success.  However, my point is that for there to be any improvement at all you have to clearly identify what you are going for else any improvement will do and little will have changed in what you are going after.  It is important for you, as a business and/or HR professional to see through the clouds of ambitious (and often competing goals), agendas that are contradictory, and measures that are consistent with where your organization wants to be positioned (are top line measures driven by top line enablers – drivers).  The list goes on.

Unfortunately, many professionals like to storm through strategy and business planning sessions to get back to work only to get back on the same path to nowhere.  It is up to you to prepare your peers and managers for the long path ahead by applying the needed focus required for the journey your organization wants to go after?

You want the chance to contribute to strategic growth and provide value – this is your chance and they exist in almost all organizations.  Go for it and share your story here.

In addition to what we are getting right, there are businesses that KNOW that a key differentiator from a good business (or a business at all) to a great business is to recognize, embrace, and implement key effective HR practices – that directly contribute to the bottom line.

Furthermore, businesses both large and small, make it point to focus on the bottom-line contributions that HR brings.  HR Magazine (September 2006) states that “Small businesses that invest in formal employee selection, management and retention strategies see direct, quantifiable results on the bottom line.” This insightful article concludes with a powerful quote by Christopher Collins, associate professor at Cornell University and conductor of the study: “. . . we’ve proven that specific human resources strategies have a meaningful, and statistically significant impact on small business financial performance.”

One of my favorite works, “The HR Scorecard” (Becker, Huselid, Ulrich) – the almost timeless classic – unearth findings still relevant today, seven years after its publication.  This formal study provided a framework for companies to implement bottom line HR strategies by highlighting the studied companies financial performance (those that got it right and those that didn’t), making the case for implementing the right mix and relevant HR strategies, which have proven to play an invaluable role in their financial success.

So the question in my mind is not, “Will HR find its way?” Or, “Will HR finally get it right”.  Nor should the HR professional, in my opinion,  continue to question what is more cliche than true.  The fact is that we are valued business partners; the organizations that get it right in terms of financial performance and long-term business success prove to us that we are getting it right.   We, as HR professionals, and the accompanying-relevant strategies that we bring to the table are entrenched in the fabric of the most successful companies, both large and small.  The question (or statement, depending on how it’s vocalized) is: “Does YOUR organization value the role of HR?”  The follow-on question I have for you is: “What are YOU doing to ensure that this continues (or starts) to be the case.

Various tools (to include Web 2.0) are enablers, which allow HR professionals to share best practices and give informal case studies on what is working (or not working) for their organizations.  It is now common wisdom that strategic (and functional) success comes in the form of an effective HR structure, aligned within your organization’s strategic framework.  If your HR practices point toward improving only HR effectiveness, can you blame your organization for not listening?  However, if you point to the specific benefit that your organization derives in a key business, bottom line method then backs straighten, conversation-dialogue takes place, executable plans are developed, and our prized and loved profession participates in key business activities to include formulating, communication, and executing our relevant roles within the larger, overall business strategy – if not, than it’s not the function; it’s the culture of your organization and if you haven’t made your case by now within it . . .competence, role-focus, openness should come to mind.

So instead of laying out “guidelines” and “what-to-do”, let me say what we’re doing right (what-to-continue to-do):

1) Continue to build upon the HR infrastructure and framework that you have tirelessly worked on.  That framework you’re building upon is consistently answering the questions that include “What metrics and measures provide the necessary analytic/data that drive key business decisions?”

2) Continue making the case for workforce planning and development.  If there is a business outcome that links to workforce planning, continue making your case, even if it sounds redundant.  Believe me, your counterparts don’t have a problem in making a consistent and oft repeated case.

3) Continue to be prepared by having expert insight into various scenarios on business decisions/proposals.  We need to continue to have the impact, trade-offs, pros and cons of scenarios that face our organizations in both the short and long-terms.  This scenario-based planning can be directly related to our function, such as the impact of hiring freezes, implementing-offering “voluntary turnover” packages/incentives, revising sourcing strategies, or actively recruiting in local or national labor markets.  Or the insight can be indirect such as decisions to expand product lines, expand (or contract) R&D, prepare for divestment of business unit/line, etc.  Whatever the scenario or proposed action – continue to be prepared.

4) Continue to communicate as a key change agent.  Even organizations where change occurs on a more slow-paced scale (read incrementally) are experiencing change.  Continue to embrace your role as an invaluable agent of change.  Continue to drive the relevant messages through your organization while pushing the communication up (feedback), pushing the communication down (objectives, goals, policies, etc.), and spreading it all around (key internal/external stakeholders).

5) Finally, continue to focus on service delivery.  Whether you are making relevant and smart use of enabling technologies such as ERP, self-service applications-software, or SaaS, your ability to continue to focus on delivery of HR services are and will remain critical.  Keep it up!  These enabling, technological tools will continue to grow as a whole and mature individually.

So HR professionals, give yourself credit.  For every argument you hear that we are not doing enough or we are missing the boat yet again, realize that (a) our profession has made considerable in-roads since the heyday of introduction (early 20th century and our days of being the “Personnel Department”); (b) the most effective companies get it – it’s not always about you – sometimes it’s actually the perception of your function or the wiliness for your company to realize the valuable role HR plays and contributes to business success (and survival), and (c) you are the reason that we are gaining interest and have become a very creditable profession – because you have demonstrated the ability to show inside and outside  your organization, that HR is a critical business function and deserves credit.

Anytime you doubt anything in this post, I want you to ask yourself? “What other profession do I want to be a part of?”

Is HR the answer?

I thought so.

Of course I laughed it off and just thought that his analytical skill set and thought process just wanted black-and-white and binary rule set data that made it all digestible and easy for decision-making.  However, as I progress through subsequent assignments and conduct interviews and conversations with other business professionals and HR leaders, I have come to realize that he had a point.  Specifically, during one meeting, I sat and listened to a senior HR leader explain to me that the company’s goal was to “align the workforce to meet the strategic initiatives of strategic planning so that they could deliver on organizational objectives.”  I thought to myself – huh?  Are you not the face of senior leadership representing the most valued asset of the organization and that’s the answer you are providing?

Now don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with being able to communicate in contemporary, relevant, common language that can be shared with other professionals internal and external to the organization.  However, to explain to someone who is trying to get to ground truth (with concurrence) in such abstract terms leads to one conclusion: You have no idea what you are talking about.

Do you know what you are talking about?  Can you state in concrete terms what your organizational strategic goals are where it makes sense to anyone listing.  If you communicate like the example I just gave above, I will answer that question for you: You may know, but only you know that you may know.

Allow me to provide an example of concrete strategic objectives in plain language: “Our goal is to reduce involuntary turnover by 30% over the course of the next five years by improving our sourcing-recruiting functions, improve our talent management processes by leveraging our existing succession-replacement planning and improving our knowledge management capturing through the use of HRIM/S technology currently deployed to support the organization’s goal of shaping a workforce to sustain attrition due to retirement eligibility and improve time-to-market for emerging new product lines.”

So if it’s that easy, why don’t more HR professionals communicate in concrete terms?  Because in truth, it is not easy.  It requires us to get our hands dirty and plan the process at the strategic level, while ensuring that we “roll-up sleeves” directly or indirectly at the operational-tactical levels.  Furthermore, we often want to encompass as much as possible thinking that being too specific shows a lack of organizational depth.  Of course mind-mapping, project planning, and cause-and-effect diagramming is fun as we work in a conference room with plenty of water and coffee to keep us awake.  However, to go out and link into our organization’s line functions and know about front-line processes that impact our ability to deliver requires work (of a different sort).  This work is not as “glamorous” or may seem contradictory as we throw elbows at the oft-used phrase “seat at the table.”  As for trying to encompass everything you can to prevent from leaving anything out, here is the rule of any business initiative or goal in execution: If you cannot succinctly define it – it is not defined.

Is there any wonder why heads tilt to the side as you talk to mid-level management about the dashboard view of their divisions and departments when they can’t even get a quiet place to on-board and train their employees?  Is there any wonder why faces bleed with anger as you talk about ERP back-end migration strategies and incremental roll outs when they can’t even get the existing Passport inventory system to properly load data and ensure that accurate inventory arrives JIT?

So in the midst of all our “high level” talk and good intentions, our professional colleagues just want a system that works.  They want enabling technologies to settle, so that they can properly train their employees to use the system without having to worry about an upgrade that is looming around the corner.  Yeah, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) sounds good in strategic planning sessions, but employees want to know, where is the custom data that they have grown accustomed too.  You are talking hibba-hobba.

It’s important when wearing your change management-change agent hat that you communicate to employees (to include managers and front-line personnel) in terms they understand, value, and relate.  For if you don’t, buy-in is not only hard, it may be a serious barrier to success for successful implementation.  Having worked on my share of change management initiatives, it is not an easy task to incorporate strategic level goals and objectives into concrete language that ties in relevant process; however, our creditability often rests on our ability to do just that.

Many professional may think that “it’s not that serious.”  But if you have been around a while, I want you to think about a couple of questions: How many change management initiatives, goals, processes, policies, etc. have you seen fail?  Now, out of the ones that failed, how many were due to a lack of enabling technology not being able to deliver and/or financial resources-resource allocation not being provided COMPARED TO employees not only not willing understanding, but able to understand (thus execute) and/or the lack of organizational buy-in.

It’s a costly mistake to understate the power of language and communication.