Getting purposeful about HR
Article Type: Strategic commentary From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 8, Issue 1
Thought leaders share their views on the HR profession and its direction for the future
Jackie OrmeJackie Orme is CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
One of the things that, to my mind, serves HR well is to demystify it, and to shift the focus and debate away from worrying about its role in the boardroom and the value it can add. In this context I’m not sure about the phrase“strategic HR.” Strategy is a grand word for a plan. So we could swap strategic HR for “planful” HR. Even better is “purposeful”HR. HR with a clear reason – this is what we need to get better at demonstrating and articulating.
The purpose of HR is to build capability of organizations and individuals in order to win both for today and for tomorrow. By a wide range of means, I believe that the HR profession has a critical role to play in making organizations both more competitive and more fulfilling places to work and, in so doing, to make an enormous contribution to closing the productivity gap between the UK and our international competitors.
A new HR agenda
I’ve spent almost all my working life in HR. I’ve seen HR at its best and close to its worst. In 17 years I’ve seen the role of HR change– and I think it will continue to do so as it reflects the pace and value of change around us.
When I started, the role of HR was broadly about keeping businesses and their leaders out of trouble. It was about smooth industrial relations, which meant giving away enough but not too much, avoiding unrest above all, and developing policies and procedures that drove equity and consistency and ensured legislative compliance. These things still matter, but organizations and their leaders have rightfully increased their demands. Now many CEOs see talent and culture as competitive levers, enabling growth and advantage. Many CEOs look for a common “lived” set of values to underpin everything the organization does and to ensure that performance is delivered in the right way. And they look to HR to know how to pull all these levers.
The agenda is set for HR professionals as follows:
Deliver the talent, at every level, that sets your organization apart and readies it for the future.
Create a culture that sets the right tone and gets the best out of all.
Develop organization, job and process designs that are simple and enduring and that enable high productivity and best cost.
Look up and out, and anticipate the changing context and needs of both customers and employees and figure out how your organization needs to adapt for tomorrow.
And yes, you have to measure real impact (not activity) and real progress ruthlessly. It is about building capability for today and tomorrow.
Moving beyond partnership to leadership
Is clarity of purpose enough? On its own, no. But match HR purpose with HR capability and suddenly it is an explosive combination. It seems straightforward to me that a profession that is about spotting and developing talent and engaging employees must surely show that it can lead by example. If you do not have the best talent in your functions, if you do not have the highest employee regard in employee surveys covering your own teams, then how can you ask it of others? You must surely “be the change you want to see in others.”
But today’s HR agenda is a demanding one and asks you to do more than simply lead by example. To unlock the value that is inherent in the HR agenda means HR people who can move beyond partnership to leadership –unashamedly asking others to follow when you know best. It means operating both remotely and close in – having the ability at an organizational level to make big changes to big things, while at an individual level being able to inspire and coach transformation. After all, HR is a “contact” sport. It means the commercial acumen and curiosity to know the needs of customers and to spot what is around the corner. And lastly, it demands fantastic execution skills because without impact none of the rest matters.
So my advice is to worry less about whether or not you are being strategic. But to think a whole lot more about whether your purpose is clear and you are harnessing that to the essential HR capability needed to deliver your organization – today and for the future.
About the author
Jackie Orme has been CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) since April 2008. She has been an HR practitioner for more than 17 years. Her early years were spent in the Department of Employment and the Institute of Chartered Accountants before moving to work in the steel industry. For the 12 years before she joined the CIPD, Orme worked for PepsiCo– including seven years leading the UK and Ireland HR function and sitting on both the UK Executive Board of PepsiCo International and the global PepsiCo International HR Council. She can be contacted at: chiefexecutive@cipd.co.uk
