HR: More Implementation, Less Strategy, More Success

When Conventional HR Wisdom Isn't

You're in HR. You want respect. You want respect from all levels of management.

You want (gulp, argh): " A seat at the table!"

If so, first do some of the grocery shopping, set the table, help cook the meal, and wash the dishes. I think  you'll find a place card with your name on it--written in permanent ink.

But here's my cheesy rhetorical question of the day: Is that the message HR people are hearing from the profession?

• SHRM online: "Done right, workforce planning gives HR that coveted role of strategic business partner."

• Strategizing For HR from HR Magazine

• Sibson Consulting's in-depth How HR Leaders Are Getting And Keeping A Seat At The Table.

This isn't a rant about HR. I've been part of an HR department at a major corporation and work alongside  HR execs all the time.

What it is: A response to a real-life CEO's recently-expressed concern that HR needed to be more involved in helping managers and employees implement changes. His hope is for HR to use OD, employee communication, and behavioral expertise to be part of day-to-day  execution.

He's not worried about the strategy. He wants everyone focused on making it happen.

Is Strategy Just More Fun Than Implementing?

Have a look at the Google search results for a few variations of strategy vs. implementation:

When it comes to "change", strategy has the edge over implementation.

When it comes to HR, strategy shows up nearly 8 times more than implementation.

What Managers Say They Want from HR

Nick Burkholder wrote a Wall Street Journal article about the issue. He asked 30 line managers in different industries throughout the U.S. what they really thought of HR. There were positive comments in the feedback. For his (and our) purposes, here is a partial shopping list of the managers' remarks (see the article for the other comments):

• Don't say you want to be a partner, be one. Real partners don't just say it, they do it. No one cares what HR wants. I don't care what anyone wants except my customers. Stop obsessing about a seat at the table. Prove your value and when you should have one you will.

• Have some understanding of what I do. Every person is different and so is every business unit. Take the time to know what is different about us, how we work.

• Walk with me. Periodically be with me as I face the routine, don't just be there for the celebrations and troubles.

• Help me to do the right thing. I want to do the right thing, work with me so I can understand. Help me to help my people and very importantly, my management to understand.

• Be proactive. I value the HR perspective but all too often it is hindsight offered in the midst of dealing with a problem that probably could have been avoided. Think ahead, sit with me and plan ahead.

• Explain, don't tell. I don't want my employees to do what I tell them, I want them to do what they understand. HR should be the same way. "HR" is preachier than "Personnel" was.

• Help me to accomplish my objectives. Review them with me and tell me how HR may be able to help. I'm confident HR could be a big help with what really matters to my job and career. Everything else is at best secondary to me.

• You don't have to come to all my meetings. There seems to be two types of HR professionals. Those that attend all my staff meetings and those that are rarely if ever seen. Come if and when it will be of value -- to both of us -- otherwise don't. You must have something more important to do.

• Admit when you make mistakes. In my experience HR has a tendency to be the master of obfuscation -- such that I can only assume they're ducking responsibly. The rest of the business world knows it makes mistakes and is better at fessing up.

• Give me a chance to address differences before going around me. You have to give supervisors the chance to address issues with staff or management before blowing a whistle on them. Most of us learned this when we first started working and I really resent it when the HR police get involved.

The Lesson

Managers are looking for help in a lot of different ways. They want applied expertise, not philosophical advice. Strategy doesn't seem to be a burning, or even smoldering, issue.

Here's a related, personal aside.

My consulting practice has proven to be a parallel experience. Clients want a particular expertise and experience. They are willing to have a deep discussion about the situation at hand. Once the discussion is over, I'm expected to do something or help others do something. Without the action there's just no value.

When former U.S. President Harry Truman was asked if he had a rule of thumb for success, his response was Trumanesquely brief and poignant:

                "Find out what people want and then help them get it."

The conversation is open to Managers, HR, and employees: What do you think would be most helpful to HR folks when it comes to increasing credibility, effectiveness, and organizational influence?

For more on HR, check out the other articles in today's Carnival of Human Resources .

Comments

[Robyn]

In order not to seem too dictatorial in implementation - that is, being too locked in to one program, I would suggest that if you ask the corporate players questions about what they think might improve the process from what they're seeing, they may give the HR team insights the team may not have considered. So Steve, how about asking some two footed questions that draw from an organization's talents?

[Steve Roesler]

Well, Robyn, that is, indeed, the whole idea. Your comment would serve as a good wrap-up paragraph.

It's interesting how when we see the word "implementation" we think in terms of one-way direction. The point here was simply to alert HR folks to the fact that managers are looking for more hands-on involvement and not as concerned about HR spending undue amounts of time using Strategy as a means to acceptance.

Perhaps the closing question should be: What can you do to offer the right kind of service and how will you find that out?

As always, thanks for the brain tweak...

[Shane]

Hey Steve,

I see a lot of inexperienced leaders get stuck in "strategy mode". It's the safe harbour before you head out into the storm of implementation.

The danger is, it's easy to say it. You can look great and knowledgeable just by saying what should be done ... but can you actually do it? Will the strategy actually work in the real world? That's the real measuring stick.

Best advice (to paraphrase your title): Walk the talk.

[Shelia]

Mount Everest would be a good place to shout this from. Everybody wants to be the "ideas man," nobody wants to be the "front line" man.

[Steve Roesler]

Shane,

That notion of "looking great and knowledgeable just by saying what should be done" really strikes a chord.

How many times do we hear about or participate in great discussions of "what could be?" Then, everyone leaves the room and nothing changes.

I'm more convinced than ever that "successful" people are the ones who wake up in the morning and decide to slug it out, day by day, and reach their mountaintops by persistent "doing."

Thanks as always...

[Steve Roesler]

Great opening line, Sheila!

Isn't it a lot less risky to wax poetic than to take a chance on making something happen?

We probably all find ourselves falling into that trap at some time. Yet I can't help but think about all of the "average" people who end up being successful because they choose to get out on the "front lines" every day and "do."

The "ideas" people gaze in wonderment, aghast that their brilliance was overshadowed by people who simply got involved, made mistakes, and kept on going until "it" got done.

Now I'm thinking: Mt. Everest could really offer a great echo for our rant!

Thanks for joining in, Sheila...

[David Zinger]

I think the best use of our time is often implementation rather than contemplation or strategy. Of course, I think I will keep Everest as a contemplated peak for now!

[Steve Roesler]

David,

The temptation to upload "Climb Every Mountain" is beginning to overtake me.

In the meantime, your comment and the others has sparked an idea to continue the theme.

Thanks!

[Jim Stroup]

Steve - once again you've hit a nerve. Or more accurately, others have been hitting your readers' nerves, and you've hit a chord. High and mighty strategizing is empty talk without execution, without putting in the hard work - and a lot of it is wasted due to its neither comprehending nor integrating knowledge of what it takes to make things happen.

"Help me to accomplish my objectives." This is an excellent catch from the myriad concerns rushing through a manager's mind during the flood of daily interactions. It gets to the heart of your post.

I love seeing the comment strings as long or longer than the post - thanks again for a great dialogue.

[Ron Campbell]

Steve,

I couldn't agree more when you say less strategy + more implementation = more success. Generally, yes, this is true, particularly in day-to-day HR administration. However, I think this statement is generally too broad. HR is in an age where it must demonstrate strategic value to management stakeholders.

One instance when strategy IS a burning issue is during mergers & acquisitions activity. It’s important for HR departments to seize the strategic opportunity this transitional change activity brings to bear. HR’s role in a merger is strategic business partner and adviser to executive management. HR is wholly responsible for the “people issues” that can make-or-break the merger.

During M&A activity, HR must be able to offer strategy to the merger process before, during and after the merger. HR must plan scenarios and model the future organization and departments--as well as communicate integration and socialization plans to management for allocation and re-distribution of resources. Of course to accomplish this, the department has to be given access to HR data at the beginning of the process and be armed with an intelligent organizational charting solution.

More than two-thirds of mergers do not live up to expectations. But studies show that there is a direct link between strategic HR involvement and M&A success. Simply put, if a company wants to dramatically increase its chances for merger success their HR department must assert itself into all stages of M&A.

[Steve Roesler]

Ron, I'm glad you weighed in with that example. Once the M&A initiative kicks in HR is, indeed, expected to work strategic magic with everything from head count to integrating cultures smoothly. No small task and, quite honestly, I haven't seen--or been involved with--a lot of successful ones.

(How's that for true confessions?!)

It was my hope that the article would not negate the importance of strategy but instead underscore what managers say they is most helpful to them daly. The caution was to beware pushing Strategy as "the way" when the data are showing something quite different.

If you have some M&A stories and examples, please throw them in the mix here, Ron. And thanks for taking time to add to the conversation.