Ten Surprisingly Engaging Things HR Practitioners Can Do

Angela Schettino writes:

We include for you ten things that HR professionals, business leaders, managers and employees have told us they find engaging about HR practitioners. These things make the difference between being present and being a force for positive change.

We challenge readers to take a few minutes to read them all and consider whether you can nod to all ten. It’s a rare and beautiful HR breed that can actually pull off all ten, but consider that we have a responsibility to the profession and to our organisations to promote behaviour which distinguishes the top performing organisations from the rest. If you can...we’d like to talk to you about a job with us!

• Get to know your business ‘really’ well. Make it your mission to be able to properly engage in the commercial discussions and add value to strategic decision making. This may mean getting clued up on financials or learning technical details that have been a mystery so far!
• Ask for some regular one to one time with department heads, managers, your MD and / or Chief executive. Find out what’s beneath the surface, what makes them tick. Discover their true ‘working wish list’ and consider if there are trends which merit policy change or simple changes which can facilitate the wishes becoming a reality.
• Become an expert in fields which will matter to your organisation, be it TUPE legislation and practice, Performance Coaching, Psychometric testing, Contract Law. The full list is long.
• Make it clear that you have an ‘open door’ policy. Don’t pay lip service to that. Physically leave your door open if you have one, or have it removed!! Make it clear that when people do dare to drop in and discuss matters openly, this has been greatly appreciated and welcomed.
• Be present. Get out amongst the teams. Make your presence felt.
• Get beneath the surface of issues, as early as possible rather than getting bogged down in bureaucracy. Honest dialogue early on is still feared too much and hugely underrated.
• Actively network. This means challenging yourself to make more connections in your industry, your field and beyond. How many new connections did you make last month? Become involved in groups which drive the profession forward and share best practice. ‘Social’ is good. Whether it’s online or around an oak coffee table.
• Aim to be a ‘game changer’. Rather than meeting expectations, question the expectations themselves. Ask yourself, are they right in the first place? ‘Is this adding value?’
• Don’t be a walk over. Know your stuff and don’t be afraid to professionally challenge your colleagues.
• Take some time out of the quotidian. This time can be used to simply think and plan more strategically or can be personal development time. Take your pick, either can move mountains.