The 6 traits every CEO wants to see in HR
June 25, 2009 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: Management, Special Report
A researcher asked several highly successful HR execs how they made it to the top. They identified six traits that made them stars in their profession. Which ones do you have? Which ones don’t you have? The research comes from PersonnelToday.com. Consistently, successful people said they advanced — and got the boss’s attention — by practicing these six principles:
- Don’t expect or try to change people. You can give people opportunities to change. You can give them encouragement. You cannot change them. Those who insist they can force change are doomed to failure.
- Get to know your organization’s customers. You can’t fully understand your employees’ problems and needs if you don’t understand the customers they deal with and have to satisfy. Further, without that knowledge, you can’t fully understand the business.
- Learn about the company’s finances. If you don’t like being referred to as a “cost center,” sit down with the CFO and figure out how HR can help the bottom line. You may have to learn how to read and interpret a balance sheet, too. But, hey, no one said this was going to be easy.
- Develop a thick skin. HR people are known for getting along with others — after all, the word “human” is in their title. Still, you have to be prepared to take some tough stands and say some things that people may not want to hear.
- Don’t wait for your boss to give you tasks. Initiative and ideas are the building blocks of success — in HR and in life. Grab problems by the throat and develop ways to fix them.
- Develop a system for prioritizing. It’s easy for an HR manager to get pulled in a million different directions. It’s also a path to failure or obscurity. Determine what has to be dealt with first — money matters, the boss’s demands, whatever.
Tags: CFO, HR, PersonnelToday
June 29th, 2009 at 10:19 am
In my mind those listed above are pretty weak. Understanding how to read a balance sheet is a nice to know but doesn’t do anything for the org. If it doesn’t add value – don’t do it.
1. Be a Business Partner and add value. It’s important to understand the business you’re in, but it’s more important to show your management team how you add value in dollars. For example, you designed, developed and implemented a training program that was absolutely needed instead of going to the outside. The result is you saved the company $200,000 on course fees, accommodations and travel. Twelve people attended the course and they can now perform xyz which was a required skill needed to satisfy customers ABC.
2. Performance Management -Lead this very important initiative by being the expert in the org and train managers to generate goals and objectives that are directly tied to business deliverables. Develop metrics and measure results and hold people accountable for delivering.
3 Training and Org Development – Be the expert and lead the organization in establishing a process of defining org and position needs (Competency Models), analyzing gaps, and putting solutions in place to bridge the gaps. The organization now has the skills, knowledge, and ability to (fill in the blank)
4. Be the conscience of the organization (tied to #4 above) – Ensure that EVERYONE, including the CEO is doing the right thing. Be prepared and have the backbone to call management out if they are not doing the right thing especially if they put the company at risk. This is tough, but they need to understand this is your role.
5. Be creative and look for opportunities to continually improve systems and processes and make HR an organization that is “Easy to do Business With”
June 29th, 2009 at 11:08 am
I agree with Alan that the CEO’s responses are weak. I don’t believe the CEO’s polled really understand HR’s full role. Unfortunately, that is not uncommon. But it doesn’t keep them from wanting what they want. Often times HR’s role is to educate. Even CEO’s.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Alan, that was so well put I may need to make a few of them my personal goals for FY10!!
June 29th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Ditto, Alan & VJ. I’m saving your pointers to share with my PHR/SPHR certification class. Your points mirror my mantra. Can’t repeat them often enough to both HR professionals AND their bosses.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Alan you are right on with your points. I am saving them for reference.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Concur with above statements — first list is nice, but not truly linked to business partnership. Understanding the market, the drivers, the resources and the economy is key to helping shape business decisions and bring insights and true strategy to the business table. I don’t want to be an “execution of tasks” function — I want to be in the middle of creating our future organization and adding value to that conversation. No one should be in a better position than I am to set the HR agenda — and when my managers see that agenda they should be excited about the things they see.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
While I agree that Alan has shared some good basic task-oriented pointers that any HR professional would be wise to follow, I believe the six high-level wisdoms shared in the article are on point, at a higher level. No matter how effectively you execute at the task level, if you don’t “get it” that to earn a seat at the table you have to operate in the manner described in the article, you won’t “get it” in terms of credibility and career advancement in HR.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Hey Carl – When I first read the article I, too, thought those 6 traits listed were from CEO’s. However, I re – read it and these came from TOP HR execs. Unreal.
All – thanks for your positive comments. If you know of anyone who needs a decent HR person – please let me know. My BU is shutting down in 3 months.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Thanks Alan! Good Stuff!
June 29th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Thank you Alan – the best HR Professionals are business partners with the CEO, GM, etc. Good reminder in these times!!
June 29th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I’ve been in HR for 20+ years in Fortune 100 and small firms. They all had one thing in common. Dedicated, effective and unappreciated HR staff and management. I’m done with HR. I’m tired of all these types of articles. It’s a female ghetto trying to prove its worth forever. I am ready to move on. Yeah, yeah, there are HR success stories, but I would never recommend a new grad to go into HR.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I would also expound on #5 to include: Learn how to pick the right initiative. Initiatives that go beyond an event, but those that leverage resources towards a competitive advantage. Then learn how to plan and execute on the plan.
It is one thing to simply use buzz words like this is our “strategic plan.” It is quite another to know what that really means and actually execute the plan. While buzz words sounds nice, at the end of the day it is substance and delivery that counts.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
VB – “female ghetto”?
June 30th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Alan, brilliant reply – you nailed it far better than the original article. VB, you are also correct that more often than not, the HR department is truly underappreciated. I came into HR late in the game, almost by accident, and I absolutely love it. No, it is not easy and because of the tough stand we must often take, we are either loved or hated by management and staff. I am very lucky to work for a company that knows the value of HR and includes us in their management meetings.
HR is often seen as the buffer between needs and wants in policy and staffing and the harbinger of doom for many bright ideas from management’s brainstorming meetings on labor and overhead costs. We’re not the actual bean counters however; we are directly responsible for many of the beans being counted. Often, we’re called upon to remind management of the true value of the beans and identify the rocks masquerading as beans. Rocks are dead weight and must be culled from the pot – the one everyone likes to stir yet become conspicuously absent when its time to serve – so HR must take over spoon duty. It helps to be an adventuresome cook and to never take it personal if what you serve isn’t appreciated by all who dine.
The only thing that I can guarantee to anyone entering HR is that there will be days you will hate what you do, days you can’t quantify or qualify your value to your company and days where you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else for a career. If you focus and truly want to make a difference, you will make that connection and you will become an integral part of your company’s success. A company’s mission statement is only list of lofty goals unless there are strong people to help lead others to achieve them.
Great thread, everyone, good topic for self evaluations … have a great week!
July 1st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Regardless of whether or not your company appreciates your role in HR, you know that your contribution is invaluable. How many lawsuits have you prevented? How many potential fights have you derailed? How many employees are still there because of you? Without HR, in this litigious society, we’d all be in court all the time and nothing would be accomplished. Unless you can be gratified by knowing your value, even if others don’t, HR is not the field for you.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
VB – If you truly feel that way, it’s probably being reflected in your work and in your interaction with your employees. Sounds like you are right that you need to explore other options. Personally I know just as many men in HR as women and don’t understand the “getto” reference. What you have learned in HR will be transferable in a lot of different jobs. Good luck to you!
July 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I have enjoyed all of my HR Positions and I wouldn’t want to do any other job. Funny, people tell me, they wouldn’t want my job and I in turn wouldn’t want theirs. I think it has to do with the company you work for and whether Sr. Management will back you up like the company I work for. It took me years and years to grow my thick skin and not take things personally. Yes, HR can be thankless and sometimes, I feel like I am on my own island because our company is Sales oriented and HR is a Non-Income Generating position that doesn’t have anything to do with sales. On the other hand, HR can also be gratifiying when you help out employees and the company for the better in tough situations. I took a seminar called Dealing with Difficult People. The teacher gave each of us a Q-TIP and we were all trying to figure out why. The QTIP stands for: Quit Taking It Personal! I have the Q-Tip taped to my screen and it’s a great reminder that it’s not YOU that people aren’t happy with it’s the Situation at hand.