Working in HR Does Not Make You a Leader

Human Resources as a profession has come a long way from the days that carved out a “personnel” function to do the grunt work for managers that were too often insensitive to the people needs of a company. In a mad search for improved productivity, business leaders and academics arrived at similar conclusions that workers are not slaves to their masters’ every whim, but are indeed a valuable “resource” along with other components of success. Giving the “human resource” equal footing with financial and physical assets this triumvirate of management thinking has guided the evolution of HR and its significance as a steering wheel for setting the course of a company… not through its own actions but through its involvement with company leaders. Management depends on HR for direction on leadership selection and grooming. Ironically HR folks are human too. In a classic analogy, where does the priest go for confession? Who leads the human resources resource? All professional groupings of people are a mirror reflecting the culture and environment that created them. HR professionals are no different. Being human is a condition that will always include a wide range of leadership talent. There are good leaders and bad leaders at the ends of a spectrum and everything else in between. Obviously, being in HR grants a certain amount of influence over management and employees, but not leadership. There are a number of variable factors that define leadership in human resources.  

Expectations – If the management of the business expects HR to be a closet full of paper shufflers, then it doesn’t really matter if HR has leaders or pencil sharpeners. The force to change this perspective comes from human resources professionals proving the value added by their work. The leaders will set an example. The followers will shuffle paper.

Environment – A leading human resources manager not only focuses on individual business unit goals but also on the interface between all business units and all other employees. The environment is not stationary but moving. Management perspective will be favorable if the direction is productive and the employee perspective will be favorable if there is an environment of open communications regarding productivity.

Education – Formal schooling only goes so far in providing the necessary tools to be a human resources leader. Continuous on-the-job learning is needed to become acclimated to each unique problem that arises. Ongoing external self-learning through professional associations and contacts keeps the mind fresh and affords solutions to leadership challenges. The true HR leader gives to the community as much or more than she takes.

Example – An HR leader shows the way to go by setting the pace. Caution flags can mean that the organization must slow down or shift directions, so the pace setter must be conscious of key indicators of success and failure. Navigating around obstacles is standard procedure for a leader.

Engagement – Engagement is a dialog… a two-way street… to an HR leader: The leader must be fully engaged with the company goals and objectives and drive employee’s engagement accordingly.  

The key element of leadership in human resources professionals seems to be not how they got there but what they do with the job. The management of the human resource in an organization requires untainted professionalism, objective rationalization, and dedicated humanitarianism. Selecting a person to join the ranks of people defined by the initials H and R does not instill some magical power that suddenly propels them into wise all-knowing and infallible gods any more than throwing them into the ocean makes them a fish. In a living leadership laboratory, the true human resources professional rises to the occasion and only then can push or pull others to positions of leadership.

 

Image credit: LeadershipMenu iqoncept / 123RF Stock Photo

 

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us