{"id":3169,"date":"2017-10-03T08:16:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T13:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=3169"},"modified":"2024-05-28T16:59:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T21:59:37","slug":"the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present (Part 6)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0The\u00a0Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present is a 7-part series, tracing the journey humanity has taken from 2500 BC to\u00a0modern times\u00a0on\u00a0the progress of\u00a0Human Resources. \u00a0This is a very comprehensive narrative that touches upon numerous management philosophies and concepts. \u00a0To read the full series, take a look at the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #001a66;\" href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/author\/dr-ted-marra\/\">author\u2019s profile page found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">* * * *<\/p>\n<p><em><a style=\"color: #001a66;\" href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-5\/\">Continued from part 5\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>While the above basically \u2018hits the target\u2019, there are a number of issues that remain unresolved based upon my 42 years of experience.\u00a0\u00a0A few of these were also reinforced in Jon Ingham\u2019s \u2018Art of HR survey\u2019 results. These are outlined below:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>While mentioned above, it bears repeating that HR Professionals have lacked and continue to lack the broader <strong>business acumen and capability to think and act strategically<\/strong>. This has limited their acceptance into the leadership team as a full member \u2013 a true strategic partner.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>In 1995 I was doing a Seminar in New York City for the Conference Board.\u00a0 The delegates were HR Professional \u2013 VP\u2019s, Directors and Heads of HR.\u00a0 The issues we discussed during that seminar 20 years ago, in many cases and within many organisations,\u00a0 have not changed as dramatically as they should have and so even today too many organisations still operate in the relative \u2018dark ages\u2019 with CEO\u2019s and leadership teams often\u00a0 still maintaining their myopic view of HR and needing enlightenment but not seeking it or desiring it \u2013 those old paradigms still not shifted or remaining undying despite the research from Ulrich and others such as the \u2018Service-Profit Chain\u2019 by Heskett et all at Harvard written in 1996!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>To a certain extent one could say that if we used Peter Senge\u2019s four levels of a learning organisation, many CEO\u2019s and leadership teams still fall into the category of \u2018unconscious incompetence\u2019 \u2013 they don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know about HR and in many cases are not the least motivated to find out as their hubris\/arrogance often gets in the way.<\/li>\n<li>These CEO\u2019s and leadership teams would most likely fall into Jim Collins (Good to Great) Category\u2019s 1-2 with some spill over into category 3 of his five levels of leadership.<\/li>\n<li>As a result,\u00a0 the CEOs and leadership teams of organisations too often stereotype <strong>HR professionals as being \u2018management\u2019 as opposed to \u2018leadership.\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>HR Professionals <strong>often<\/strong> <strong>lack<\/strong> the necessary <strong>competencies<\/strong> to fully understand and exploit or execute approaches that <strong>stimulate and focus creativity<\/strong> (e.g., DeBono\u2019s Six Hats) or <strong>innovation<\/strong> among the workforce <strong>in a direction consistent with senior management\u2019s objectives, critical success factors, vision or in achieving and maintaining competitive advantage.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Often too, <strong>HR Professionals have been stereotyped<\/strong> by the workforce as more of a necessary evil or even policeman rather than a valuable resource, solutions provider or trusted advisor therefore limiting their impact.\u00a0 Thus often, HR Professionals are not able to act in a way that inspires or engages the workforce \u2013 a key to realising the true \u2018Art of HR.\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Going one step further, it is clear that the <strong>CEO and leadership team of most organisations also do not have the required knowledge and skills to inspire and engage the workforce as they should<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is here too that <strong>HR Professionals <em>must<\/em> reach a level of comfort and competence where they are not just seen as a valuable resource, trusted advisor, solutions provider and consultant to the CEO and leadership team, but actually have that reputation throughout their organisation so they can help build that knowledge and those skills among the leadership team.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Too often HR Professionals are <strong>timid or anxious\/afraid to \u2018experiment\u2019<\/strong> for fear of making a mistake and being \u2018beaten up\u2019 by the CEO and leadership team or to \u2018fight for what is right and ensure creation of a more employee \u2013 centric organisation\u2019 or they give up too easily.\u00a0 This is made worse because <strong>many HR Professionals, as stated above, still lack the knowledge and skills to be a true driver of creativity and innovation and to show that what they can achieve links to leadership\u2019s objectives including achieving and maintaining competitive advantage<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>HR Professionals MUST clearly and continuously show the CEO and leadership team \u2013 as well as the workforce, that they can not only create value (benefits), but deliver value to all key stakeholders<\/strong> \u2013 leadership team, employees and customers to mention a few.\u00a0 For surely, if the efforts of the HR Professional do not ultimately impact the customer or end user of an organisation, it has not been truly successful.\u00a0 Those thousands of interactions on the telephone, by emails, texts or in-person interactions that take place every day between the company and its customers must be positively impacted by what the HR Professionals are able to achieve through leadership and through the workforce. In that way, more \u2018memorable experiences\u2019 or \u2018wow\u2019 moments between employees and customers will be created every day enhancing their loyalty and the company\u2019s competitive advantage. <strong>It is critical that HR demonstrate that it can create and deliver value to all key stakeholders of the organisation.\u00a0 They should be trusted enough and their support sought by the CEO and leadership Team to coach them, guide them, consult to them.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is clear that transformation can only occur if the CEO is \u2018on-board\u2019 such as discussed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/bye-human-resources-ben-whitter-%E6%9C%AC%E7%BB%B4%E7%89%B9?trk=prof-post\" rel=\"nofollow\">Post by my friend Ben Whitter of Nottingham University in the UK.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The following diagram attempts to summarize all the above points:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3171\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.1.png\" alt=\"journey6.1\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.1.png 480w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.1-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One question which I believe is \u2018fair game\u2019 is. <strong>\u2018Who is accountable for the organisation\u2019s culture?\u2019<\/strong> How do you really create a people-centric organisation and is that consistent with or contrary to creating a customer \u2013centric organisation?\u00a0 Can you have both?\u00a0 Why or why not?<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the above chart you see <strong>\u2018creativity labs\u2019<\/strong>. <strong>You know and I know that today if you told each member of the Management Committee including the CEO that they had to start and run their own creativity lab with specific objectives and the bonuses would be given based on performance, it is unlikely any of them could do it.<\/strong>\u00a0 Sad.<\/p>\n<p>Possibly the Chief Human Resource Officer should be called the <strong>Chief Creativity Officer or Chief Culture Officer<\/strong>.\u00a0 <strong>Possibly the term \u2018human resources\u2019 has passed it \u2018buy\/sell date?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another summary chart which might help tell the story:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3170\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.2.png\" alt=\"journey6.2\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.2.png 480w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.2-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This chart indicates the progression that needs to be made to reach human performance excellence in your organisation.\u00a0 Where is your organisation in this progression today?\u00a0 How do you move it forward?\u00a0 What is the cost of lost opportunity of not doing it? What is the specific role and responsibility \u2013 action plan of HR to ensure this progression toward an \u2018employer of choice\u2019 or \u2018people-centric\u2019 organisation is happening and will be successful?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3172\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.3-300x225.png\" alt=\"journey6.3\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.3-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/journey6.3.png 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Here&#8217;s another chart that may help to clarify some of the issue is what I see as at least 4 roles which HR professional should have in an organisation (see the diagram to the right).<\/p>\n<p>Possibly HR needs to have three components: strategic, operational and sensing while creating and delivering value.\u00a0 The \u2018culture component\u2019 spans both strategic as well as operational.\u00a0 As I have seen in my 42 years of work around the world, the culture of an organisation can either be the biggest enabler or biggest inhibitor of its future success. It must be right and someone must be accountable.<\/p>\n<p>The sensing component means that pulsing surveys of employee feedback on issues like \u2018how does it feel to work here\u2019 and many others, use of advanced analytical techniques such as Gavaghi or Sentiment Analysis from the University of Lund are essential.\u00a0 HR needs to be on the leading edge of detecting changing employee requirements, levels of commitment and engagement, emerging trends, be able to look not only by level and function of employees, but have insight into the uniqueness which diversity brings \u2013 not just gender or cultural \u2013 across borders, but generational \u2013 Baby Boomers vs. Millennials\/Gen X vs. Generation Y or Z and more. Being able to distinguish easily local versus holistic human resource issues is critical especially in global organizations. HR professionals need to possess \u2018relationship mastery\u2019 to be truly successful.<\/p>\n<p>I have found that establishing Decision Domain Councils can be incredibly helpful. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-7\/\">Read the final part \u00a0of the series (part 7) here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0The\u00a0Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present is a 7-part series, tracing the journey humanity has taken from 2500 BC to\u00a0modern times\u00a0on\u00a0the progress of\u00a0Human Resources. \u00a0This is a very comprehensive narrative that touches upon numerous management philosophies and concepts. \u00a0To read the full series, take a look at the\u00a0author\u2019s profile&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-6\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present (Part 6)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":3172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[595],"class_list":["post-3169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organization","tag-human-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13873,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3169\/revisions\/13873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}