Yikes!! Research out today from AHRI found “an astounding 80 per cent of managers outside of HR either did not “understand or were unsure about what the human resources department does.” This is mirrored by a global Mercer study that showed that “that 84 per cent of business execs admitted they had no more than a “moderate” understanding of the return on human resources in the organisations.” If you are in HR this is frightening stuff to read in the year 2015.
Perhaps in the old days it was simple. The Personnel Department kept the records, sorted out your pay, and kept leave balances and the like. If you were lucky, they might be able to answer a question for you or provide some advice.
And then there was talk about HR “being at the table” and all of a sudden, it got complicated. HR starting talking in language that was a bit incomprehensible, and using complicated models and fancy charts. Partially this was because HR is not the same as personnel, and partially because I think the function wanted to prove itself. It wanted to show that it could add value beyond what was perceived as a very administrative function. It wanted to have an impact on the business and the decision making of the business. In short, it wanted to grow up.
A few years ago now, I wrote an article on the HR Paradox where I introduced the topic by saying: “There’s been a paradox brewing in HR land for some time now. The HR profession wants to be seen as ‘a business partner’ ‘at the top table’, but the actual business doesn’t appear to know that it needs or even wants such a partner.“
The Lost in Translation article suggests that HR practitioners simplify their language, use less jargon and more business appropriate language. In my article I stated that there were a number of elements that needed to be present, amongst them that:
“For HR to be a true business partner, it needs to be credible, to understand the business, be financially and operationally savvy and be able to input on a wide range of issues. Equally, the HR business partner needs to be forward thinking on a broad range of HR-related issues – and able to apply them to the business. This doesn’t necessarily mean being an expert in all aspects of HR, but knowing enough about what is on the horizon, how this might impact the business, and where to go to get more detailed and expert advice.“
I have the privilege of knowing many great HR practitioners, who do manage that line of being contemporary in their thinking and knowledge of organisational design, talent and change, whilst speaking in a way that doesn’t cause their colleagues’ eyes to glaze over. In fact one such practitioner shared with me how the entire management team of an organisation got to their feet and applauded when she presented the vision for HR and the business going forward. And it is a fine line, because there is science and psychology behind much of what HR does these days.
But the Lost in Translation article is right. None of that matters, if HR can’t find a way to communicate with the business, both who it is and what it does and why. It shouldn’t be the challenge of 2015, but based on the data above, perhaps this is something we need to get to grips with sooner rather than later.
Until next week, happy reading!
