There
currently seems to be a particularly worrying trend in writing about our
beloved HR Profession that should be giving us all some cause for concern.
The
defining characteristic of this genre is a tendency to describe HR in a very negative
light, painting a portrait of a lumbering giant of a function, populated by
sluggish employees who are resistant to change, generally have a can't do
attitude, heavily reliant on policy and procedure, risk averse, out of touch
with the commercial demands of the business they are in, technologically
illiterate. You know the sort of thing because you've read lots of this type of
stuff.
Once
the ogre has been sufficiently fleshed out, the author conveniently offers us a
simple solution which will rescue the profession from the edge of the abyss and
miraculously transform it from ugly duckling to beautiful swan in one easy
movement. The
silver bullet of salvation is frequently a variation on the theme of Getting
Disruptive, Getting Social, Funking up the Workplace or Doing Something
Wonderful with Big Data.
Well,
there's some good news and some bad news.
First
the bad news.
As
the saying goes : For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear,
simple and wrong.
Rarely
is there one single initiative that will Make Everything Right. Complex
problems generally require a range of complex solutions to remedy the
situation.
But
here's the good news:
Generally the highly negative portrait of sluggish HR is one of a function that actually
died many years ago.
I
don't know about you, but my experience of 21st Century HR professionals is
largely at odds with the negative view described above.
The vast majority of HR professionals that I have the privilege and pleasure to
encounter are positive, switched on, smart, proactive, constructive,
challenging, eager to help, keen to develop their own capability,
solution-focused, innovative and open to change. And much more.
In reality, most - but admittedly not all - of those that were anything else
died out like dinosaurs when they failed to respond to the challenges and changes
of the contemporary workplace. There's actually no place for those matching the
negative description outlined above in the present day, be they an HR
professional or one from any other function.
So here's a plea : if you encounter one of the doom and gloom merchants
narrating the story or painting a picture of a moribund HR function populated
with uninspiring dullards, ask them how in touch with reality they themselves
actually are, or what they are currently doing to enlighten the final few specimens
of a bygone age and drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.
Just ridiculing them will achieve nothing, will it ?
