be the fearless HR leader the world needs

straight from the headlines

I don’t mean to be the one to sound the alarm bell, but something has to change drastically. Every trend that I observe these days indicates that organizations can’t be successful without strong and strategic HR.

Here’s the bottom line—organizations are struggling and even failing, whether it’s because of the conduct of their leaders (The Weinstein Company), not delivering on business goals (Tesla Model 3), or not being prescriptive about the culture (Wells Fargo, Uber, United). These are just the public instances that we hear about. I know there are many more that don’t make the headlines.

It’s time for HR to step up. Whether it’s trying to attract and retain the best talent or being prescriptive about culture and how you treat people, we can no longer stay in the background simply worried about the latest compliance report.

So, the time has come for the HR leader to step forward. We have to put aside excuses and focus on solutions. If you don’t have a seat at the table, this is your moment. The waters have parted and created a path for you to be the fearless HR leader who will save today’s organization. How do you make this happen?

go beyond best practices

The first thing I suggest is not doing what everyone else is doing. What? Yes, you heard me correctly. I don’t believe in the concept of best practices. Best practices are something you think about when you don’t have the basics in place. So, for example, if you’re just launching an organization and you need to implement payroll, yes, absolutely, leverage best practices.

But once you have the basics, you have to find your own unique way of delivering services. If you just follow what everyone else does, you’re trying to achieve what they’ve already done. In today’s intensely competitive world, how will relying on best practices help you attract and retain top talent and grow your business?

Figure out a way to differentiate your organization based on the unique business challenges you’re facing. This is one way to create a competitive advantage. I know this is hard, but here’s the thing: there’s plenty of inspiration out there, you just have to look for it.

I recommend to my clients that they think about the best experiences they’ve had as consumers or members of an organization and try to hone in on why it was so great. What was so unique about the experience that made it stand out? What lessons can you take from those experiences and apply to your own organization? You can find inspiration in anything from retailers, non-profit organizations, places of worship, clubs you’ve joined, camps you’ve attended, educational institutions, and even your own family and friends.

And don’t be afraid if your idea sounds off the wall at first. Something unique takes time to absorb. Some of the most successful things I’ve developed required a good deal of explaining, positioning, and good old-fashioned prodding to get people on board.

Here’s the tough part, though; this is not a one-time exercise that you go through and you’re done with. You will always be adjusting these services to meet the changing needs of your customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Because we’re in such dynamic business environments, you need to make sure that HR sprints and pivots like every other department to keep its services relevant.

embrace data

How many times do you walk into a meeting with your boss, ready to talk about a specific priority, and your boss tells you that the priorities have changed?

You live this. The business environment today changes constantly, and our job in HR is to get ahead. But how? The time has come to embrace data. Only 14% of HR organizations have integrated talent analytics, which means those who don’t are making a set of critical decisions about talent without any facts. Not only is this risky to the overall business, it’s a missed opportunity to develop a competitive advantage.

Wouldn’t it be great for a change for you to go to your boss and advise that priorities may be changing, based on the HR analytics you monitor? Find the right HR analytics for your unique situation in order to stay ahead of business changes and boost business performance.

While this is not easy, it’s also one of the things that will help you embrace your seat at the table. I have a framework which I’ve used to help me focus on the right analytics, even if I don’t have a lot of data available to me. And yes, I built this after failing miserably many times. You can check it out at my webinar.

missed engagement

We in HR have been talking about engagement for many, many years and have been struggling to make real progress in this. Why?

Well, first of all, at the end of the day, as organizations we fail our employees. We talk about talent being our most important asset, but we don’t really act that way. When it comes down to it, we still treat our talent as though they’re replaceable. We don’t work hard to earn the loyalty of our employees. And when tough decisions are made (which happen at every organization), we stop treating employees like they’re human.

Everyone understands the need to make difficult decisions, but how about just starting with treating everyone with empathy, respect, and dignity? And that means everyone, whether a customer, employee, shareholder, or other stakeholder. This could go a long way to creating an environment where people will want to do their best work and treat customers well, which, of course, should help customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and business growth.

Make this a non-negotiable aspect of your organization—and don’t tolerate any behavior that doesn’t respect this basic right. This starts with the leaders and extends to HR, and we as HR are in a great place to model the behavior for others to emulate.

now is the time

A boss once said to me, “No one is coming to save you.” I think about this statement every day, as it’s a reminder that if we want to be successful, we can’t wait for others to tell us what to do. HR leaders are in a unique position right now to play a pivotal role in an organization’s success. But you have to accept that no one can really tell you how to do it, we can only give you a few ideas. You have to be the one who gets your hands dirty and figures out what’s needed in your organization, based on its unique requirements.

Go forward and embrace your fearless leader self. You and your organization will be better for it.