Managing Our Reputations

I recently read a very small sidebar in a weekly magazine that was focused on the "hockey mom" image of Sarah Palin.  The sidebar quoted the money spent in 2008 on clothing to ready Palin for the Republican National Convention.  The sidebar went on to state "and she still managed to look like she worked in human resources!".  Hmmm - I wasn't certain what I was to take away from that comment.  What I did know was that many employees and, in some rare cases, entire organizations still view human resources as stodgy, annoying, and out of touch with the average employee.  They also feel that human resource managers will "side" with the management team despite evidence of wrongdoing that tells another story and "protect the sham of performance reviews" in the words of one contributor to About.com.  Here, a Wharton School of Business article entitled Is Your HR Department Friend or Foe restates this rather succinctly:

"According to its critics, HR departments can be needlessly bureaucratic, obstructionist, stuck in the "comfort zone" of filling out forms and explaining company benefits, and too closely aligned with the interests of management yet lacking the business knowledge to be effective strategic partners. Dealing with these types of HR departments is like going to the dentist..."

Many employees have had only negative interactions with human resources and so - no wonder - they have formed such an opinion.  Unfortunately, sometimes human resource managers allow their department's reputation to be managed for them rather than taking an active role in forming the outward in view employees have on human resource functions and roles.  We all are aware of the push to make, and keep, human resources a partner at the strategic table.  This means pushing up change rather than letting change dictate what you will do next as in a reactive scenario.  This means using metrics to discern trends and establishing a sound case for acting on those trends when those at the top level are not reacting.  Taking an active role in the human resource department's reputation is a sure way to effectively manage it - don't let human resources just "happen" - drive it....and stop wearing "soccer mom" (or "soccer dad") business clothes...

Introductions All Around

Hello my fellow human resource learners. I say learners because isn't that what we all are? The human resource profession is a constantly evolving one, where federal, state, and local (and, for some human resource professionals, international) laws are continually being reinterpreted or clarified. It is an area of practice where some dance a short rumba with human resources here and there and others practice it each day as if readying for a dance competition!

What do the words "human resources" mean, though? We can use the BusinessDictionary.com definition: "The division of a company that is focused on activities relating to employees. These activities normally include recruiting and hiring of new employees, orientation and training of current employees, employee benefits, and retention." That seems a bit dry and, let's face it, boring. Is that what the field of human resources is all about, the simple reaction of human resource professionals to the daily operations of an organization? Much has been said about the strategic aspects of human resources as of late, so much so that it is becoming more of a buzzword and less about the underlying importance of what the human in human resources is all about.

Let's consider the FreeDictionary.com definition that focuses on the economic impact of human resources: "... the contribution to an employing organization which its workforce could provide in effort, skills, knowledge, etc." I like that. That's what human resources is about and that's where we bring value to an organization - managing the unique assets that each and every employee brings and the intrinsic value those assets hold.