HR should not separate what work has united — a deliberate nod to the marriage vow.
Because ultimately, what all People professionals want is for people to fall in love with their work.
To this end, over time, truly remarkable models, approaches, and tools have been “layered” and organized into well-structured processes. HR has access to evaluation systems, development systems, learning systems, career systems, talent management systems, reward systems, engagement systems, welfare systems, and so on...
But Let’s Look at It from the Person’s Perspective!
These "human resource management" systems were born in a context where the work culture is based on exchange: time for work, results for rewards.
HR departments invest in vertical projects — for example, engagement, performance, learning projects, etc. These are projects that absorb the intelligence, energy, and budget of the newly renamed People & Culture Departments. For instance, CEB estimated that the Performance Management system alone in a company of 10,000 people costs an average of $35 million per year.
The same projects target specific segments of the company population in return for some kind of improvement: in skills, engagement, performance, etc.
The developing mindset is shaped by the "one-size-fits-all" and "closing-the-gap" paradigms: the rules of the game that apply to everyone (work and career) are dictated by systems and processes designed to replicate company-defined models.
This is, in other words, a standard recipe for the "HR stew": people are given a thousand different metrics about and on themselves, with the result of confusing them — or at the very least distracting them from the real focus of their work, which is to generate value.
On one hand, each person is asked to make a significant investment of thought and energy — especially those with managerial responsibilities — to form a clear idea of what working life, career, and development mean in the organization, delving into complex topics like compensation, performance and talent management, and other compliance-related issues.
On the other hand, HR continues to develop ideas and projects that only scratch the surface because they focus on limited aspects: leadership models, smart working, performance management systems, or diversity & inclusion. Even when well-designed and effectively implemented, such projects often struggle to create the real "turning point" the organization needs.
The New That Overtakes HR from Above
But sooner or later, the alarm goes off for everyone, interrupting dreams or nightmares.
And here come the new ways of working!
OKRs, Agile, Smart Working, Design Thinking, etc.
New ways of working that bring with them the need to change the rules of the game — that is, the organization.
Organizational models from decades ago, designed to reduce the variability of the external environment and make organizational action repeatable/plannable in order to achieve results through economies of scale, now resemble massive civil engineering projects. Structures too rigid to respond to the new “load variations” coming from unexpected directions.
The new ways of working push People professionals to develop a business mindset, where their business is the quality of people’s work and the effective functioning of teams.
People professionals must be ready to first transform their own HR department and HR roles.
A complex task, but possible.
I have walked through organizations where Performance Management doesn’t exist, yet excellent results are achieved; where HR talks business with the business, bringing analysis and insights based on data explored with method and rational thinking; where HR talks about development with interested individuals without a pre-packaged path, but with “only” co-design tools.
Simplify. People Analytics. Team
These are the three key principles for People professionals in today’s organizations, regardless of company size.
Three words that allow HR to leverage the wealth of methodologies and practices developed so far, putting them at the service of people and the quality of their work and teams.
SIMPLIFY
Look at working life from the perspective of the people to provide content, information, tools, and to shape an organizational culture that supports individuals and their performance.
We need to move beyond the logic of sensational, trendy, and fun projects driven by the latest buzzwords, and instead try to understand what’s really happening to people at work — give them only what they truly need.
Through Design Thinking and Service Design methodologies, it is possible to develop a complete and in-depth understanding of people in the organization, their needs, and the problems they face, developing a personal and original vision of work tailored to your specific organization.
Only in this way can new and unexpected “needs” emerge, while simultaneously laying the foundation for creating a personalized and meaningful relationship between people and the company.
Explore more here, and learn about real-world projects.
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
HR must reframe itself as a business actor. Its business is the quality of people’s work and team effectiveness. Data enables HR to define the right metrics and demonstrate the impact of its work on the business.
People & Culture departments already possess a vast amount of data. That’s where the real value lies. The priority should be to measure the quality of people’s and teams’ work, before measuring HR processes, and to identify how People professionals are having a tangible impact on the business.
Explore more here, and learn about real-world projects.
TEAM MOMENTUM
Many traditional HR tools focus on the individual. This originates from Taylorist thinking: first the job, then the person to fit into that position, and finally monitoring to fill any type of gap.
Today, however — even though we’re all aware we operate in a VUCA world — only a few offer guidance on how to actually deal with such complexity.
My experience in both Corporates and Startups leads me to point to the Team as the foundational unit.
Complexity, Ambiguity, and Exponential Change cannot be tackled by a single mind. One person may manage — even very well — their own area of expertise, but always within the limits of personal experience.
Only a multidisciplinary team given the freedom to operate within its own space of autonomy, aligned with the organization’s purpose and objectives, can respond effectively to today’s environment.
Explore more here, and learn about real-world projects.
"Takes Away"
HR departments must regain a unified vision of the person, abandoning the primacy of processes and control over methodologies. Only in this way can a positive employee experience be created.
This means using their skills, tools, and sensibilities developed over time with the goal of supporting the quality of people’s work. To identify the right actions, credibility and new approaches are needed — approaches that truly put HR in people’s shoes. It's time to move beyond the caring-vs-hyper-technical dichotomy: the former overly focused on relationships and protection, the latter distant and holding a supposed "truth" about people.
A true integration with business people is required. And to achieve this, new tools and new languages are essential — first and foremost, those of data analysis.
Finally, we must accept organizational "imperfections" when they allow teams to act autonomously, leveraging the resources brought by individual members and helping them maintain the necessary alignment and competitiveness — rather than clinging to systems and processes whose usefulness has long been lost.
A complex journey, but a possible one. We’ve done it.