HRExam Poll #1: The Most Important Thing
Our Editorial Advisory Board is an amazing collection of bright and seasoned minds from around the industry. I occasionally tease member Kris Dunn that it is a Fistful of Wisdom and Experience. Members are chosen for their unique point of view and depth of expertise.
Each member promises a concise article and a response to a topical question every 60 days.
This week, we’re introducing the first of the bimonthly topical questions, the HRExam Poll. EAB members are given the question and a two week deadline. We select the cream of the crop to give you studied expertise on a specific topic.
This week’s question was “What is the one thing an HR Department can do to improve the value it deliver to the organization?”
I don’t know about you, but the constant berating of HR is starting to wear thin. The problem, echoed and amplified in the blogosphere, is complicated by the fact that we are navigating a downturn, HR Departments are seriously short staffed, new technology often requires some silly looking experiments and we’re witnessing a genrational shift in leadership style. Some of the smartest things happening in our world looky kooky and incompetent. Some of the dumbest look conservative and right minded.
That’s the old Chinese curse, “May you live in socially significant times.”
Our panel holds a remarkably consistent view about where HR can, should and does create value. Seeing the forest for the trees and helping others to do so is where we make our mark. A reactive response to intense deadlines and moment to moment pressures means we don’t have our eye on the ball.
Great, transformative HR is about helping the organization reach its full potential as it navigates the realities of the business. Ensuring that the right resources are avialable and deployed effectively as the landscape shifts is the whole ballgame.
Take a gander at these various perspectives. Each writer is a subject area expert with 20 or more years of experience. They travel different paths to conclusions that are the same. I found the variety refreshing and the conclusions motivating.
