A few months ago on Google Wave, Victorio Milian asked: What does HR need to get better?
Since Google Wave is still closed to the public and in beta testing mode, I thought I’d share my answer to Victorio’s question with you here.
BTW, I have a few Google Wave invites left. If you want one, let me know if the comments section.
How can you improve HR?
I think we spend too much time talking about “what we need to do to get better” and not enough time actually putting all those ideas into action.
HR doesn’t have to be as complicated as we seem to make it.
- Understand how the business you support makes money.
- Figure out what people need to do to make the business successful.
- Help them become rockstars.
That’s really what HR is all about. Obviously it’s a lot more nuanced than that, but understanding and operating in the nuance comes from experience, and you can only get that by getting out there and doing great stuff (or trying and failing – hard).
So in terms of what sort of things we should actually be doing and aren’t always great at, here’s my short list:
- Using a variety of tools (including but by no means limited to social media) to create a pipeline of great candidates before you actually have a position to fill. That means networking and employer branding.
- Using valid, reliable selection criteria when choosing between multiple job candidates. This isn’t just HR’s domain. Help your managers understand how to make better hiring decisions.
- Management/Leadership skills. HR needs them, and we need to help managers get better at managing, too.
Three actionable items. Let’s get to work!
Your Thoughts?
So those are my thoughts on how we can improve HR. What are yours?
Do you disagree with anything I said? Have anything you want to add? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Chris this is great. “HR doesn’t have to be as complicated as we seem to make it” is something I say to my teammates almost every day. I’ve become a big champion of “not doing things because that’s the way it’s always been done” and I dont’ want to be seen as the dept that tells everyone NO. I wouldn’t add anything to the list, but maybe before you get to any of that stuff, we should be asking “why we do what we do, the way we do it?” from there you can start to take action and hopefully make an impact.
Dan – That’s a great point! Taking stock of what you’re already doing (and why) is probably the best first step. Before you go adding more stuff, probably makes more sense to figure out if what you’re already doing is effective, or just getting in peoples’ way.
Sounds like you’re making great things happen in your organization – keep it up!