“Trust me!” – Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator
Human Resources is often seen as operating in the dark side of an organization. Few people know what goes on in that department, and fewer people in senior positions invite HR to join the C-Suite discussions.
HR often reinvents themselves with the hopes of gaining a seat at the C-Suite table. In an attempt to focus more on their role as strategic advisors, some HR departments outsource functions such as payroll and recruitment. Others have established Centers of Excellence filled with specialists and experts ready to provide solutions to business challenges. Another recent trend is that of generalists assuming the role of HR Business Partners, single points of contact for all things HR ever ready to provide advice and at the same time partner with the business. These efforts at reinvention have had limited success.
Only 19% of line leaders say that HR business partners are effective as strategic partners*
In my view, these efforts at reinvention are futile without first confronting the root cause: the lack of trust. Trust is the foundation upon which HR must be built. If people don’t believe what you say, why would they listen to you? For those interested in building trust, I highly recommend Stephen Covey’s book, Speed of Trust.
To gain trust, stop thinking like the department of human resources and start thinking like a business. Before my HR career, I was fortunate to work in Finance, IT, and on a Line function. These experiences gave me the business’s view of HR and it saved me from being sucked into the black hole. I recognized the perceived lack of transparency and accountability and took steps to build HR’s integrity. For example, new hires were now selected based on relevant criteria and behavioral interviews. The line manager’s inputs were given weight. Simple task like overtime was paid accurately and in a timely manner. Actions such as these helped to move HR out of the shadows.
My experiences gave me the ability to grasp and appreciate business issues. It turns out that making money is difficult! HR needs to have a strong business acumen. It needs to understand the drivers of the company’s growth: profit and sustainability. If an organization has issues with productivity, it’s HR’s job to come up with solutions that reduce costs and boost profits—all the while ensuring that it’s sustainable from the perspective of employees.
The last piece of the trust-building puzzle is commitment. HR is famous for coming up with grand new initiatives that fizzle out once everybody loses interest. HR is in fact very good at making excuses for why things didn’t go as planned. To be trusted, we must be willing to stand up and be counted. Live and die by our word. In so doing, we will earn the respect and trust of our employees, peers and senior management because we have integrity, business acumen and deliver results. Our input will be taken seriously and our opinions sought after. We’ll no longer have to say “trust me” because they already will.
Suvit Chansrichawla, next-generation HR consultant under the brand Serendipity&Co., partner of the Curve Group in Thailand.
*According to Line Leader HR Business Partner Effectiveness survey conducted by the Corporate Executive Board in 2013
