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Taking The First Step At HR Rehab
By Ron | December 11, 2008
At our initial meeting in Rehab, we’re learning about the First Step: HR has one job: business success. Anything else is useless and a waste of air. If it doesn’t have to do with business, we’re not doing it.
Note: I love Frank Roche’s no-nonsense wording of this step. We definitely get the point. In The New HR, we will analyze every thing we do to ensure it is clearly aimed at the success of the business. At Rehab we are told that Talent Acquisition, Talent Engagement and Talent Retention are good examples of how we contribute to the success of the business as Human Resource Professionals.
We no longer will tolerate staffing our organizations with mediocre talent. We will become more assertive about selecting only winning candidates. Our mission is to become the very best sourcers of great talent and sharpen our skills of attracting the very best. Our marketing skills are honed. Our “brand” becomes known to qualified candidates who beat down our door to work for us. Hiring managers are in awe of our abilities to bring in the right people. We become the power behind each manager’s throne - they learn from us on how to staff their organizations with winners and how to establish a motivational atmosphere. Our turnover is minimal. Our people are having so much fun at work, they don’t think of leaving and cannot be tempted away.
We believe in ourselves and believe in our important contribution to the bottom-line. Everyone in our organization knows it too. Their perception of us has changed. We are no longer the second class citizens, the overhead group or the good-humor department - Human Resources is recognized as a major force in making the business successful.
Topics: HR |
December 11th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Ron, can we expect some practical advice on how to do that in future articles? I’d like to provide some right now, if I may be so bold.
My HR philosphy: HR exists solely to recruit, retain and motivate people in a way that supports the business. In order to be successful, the first thing you need to understand is what your organization’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is - is it price, customer service, quality or so on?
Then you need to look at what systems are in place to support that, and what behaviors are needed to make those systems work. For example, Toyota competes on quality. They actually have a button that physically stops their car assembly line if a problem is detected. They need employees to actually go and stop the line if they see something - not just let it slide as “good enough.”
Next, you need to build sourcing and selection strategies, trainings, comp plans, and reward and recognition programs around those behaviors. At Toyota, that means hiring people who can work as a team but also aren’t afraid to speak up when they see a problem. It means rewarding people who catch errors, and training them on how to detect quality issues.
That’s the process for adding true bottom-line value to the business when you’re in HR. Identify the behaviors critical for business success and then drive them.
- Chris
December 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Chris,
Thanks for being bold and writing tomorrow’s entry (just kidding). You have touched on alot of what makes up the First Step and I’ll add to it tomorrow.
Ron