Article: 10 things HR should stop doing today

Strategic HR

10 things HR should stop doing today

It is time to start changing some old but entrenched habits and redefine ourselves
10 things HR should stop doing today
 

Stop the mad race to productivity by cutting the workforce before cutting the work itself. No point pretending we’ve improved productivity

 

It is the perfect time to redesign and redefine. If you want a new blueprint for creating impact, now is the time. And what better way to start than to identify what needs fixing. For starters, here are the top 10 things all of us in HR should stop doing.

  1. Stop trying to innovate all the time. Seriously, innovation for the sake of it never helped anyone. Coming up with a new process, a new model, a new form or format is not really what the business wants of you. Let’s use the good ideas of the past in figuring out where innovation is truly called for. Ask yourself: “What business problem are we trying to solve with that change?”
  2. Talking of which, stop trying to do everything yourself! It’s the era of crowdsourcing — consider that your key HR process and strategy. Co-opt the employee base as co-creator of your design.
  3. Stop coming up with new buzzwords and jargon. All employees and, in particular, business leaders, prefer simple approaches that create impact, over your knowing or using the latest buzzwords in town. 
  4. Stop owning all “fun@work”events. Let other functions take turns at anchoring these events and activities. We don’t want to be known just for fun events, parties and outbounds. Let us focus instead on tangible ways of balancing employee advocacy with productivity, building a powerful talent brand and driving business sustainability through performance differentiation.   
  5. Speaking of which, let’s stop accepting non-performers from business roles as potential candidates in HR. Really, HR is not the place for ‘leftover’ talent. We must find ways of attracting strong business leaders with an aptitude for talent and HR in leadership roles instead.
  6. Stop the mad race to productivity by cutting the workforce before cutting the work itself. There is no point in pretending we have improved productivity merely by reducing the workforce. Unless work is redesigned, much of these initiatives won’t last and will at best lead to cycles of reduction followed by periods of rehiring!
  7. Stop enjoying complexity of ideas. Being complex does not automatically make you either valued or impactful. We have to simplify ruthlessly to win employees’ hearts and get things delivered for the business. 
  8. Stop having separate HR Tech/ HRIS verticals in your structure. It is about time we integrated tech into HR seamlessly and ensured all HR talent is tech-savvy. Time to ideate on WebEx and learn through webinars and podcasts. It is time to review engagement through online surveys, connect and co-create by leveraging a blend of online and personal connect modes. Let’s leverage SMAC to its full potential in 2015.
  9. Stop sitting around so much. Seriously — no HR ever got done at one’s workstation! Go out and interact with your customers and stakeholders to find out what needs to be fixed and how. And finally
  10. Stop getting defensive. No one is taking your seat at the table away if you are able to make impact, even more so in today’s talent economy. So stop reacting to comments on the lines of “Is the HR function needed.” The more you ignore them and focus on delivery, the less power those voices will have anyway.

Lets together reshape the power of HR

Read full story

Topics: Strategic HR, #HRIndustry, #HR Ready

Did you find this story helpful?

Author