Renegade HR is a simple approach to HR: Recruit great people, and help them do amazing things that drive your business.
Here’s how to start practicing Renegade HR at your organization today.
Recruit great people
A great organization starts with the people you bring into it.
Here’s what I believe: An A-player is worth at least twice as much to your organization as a B-player. The rockstar employee gets more done, and does better quality work, too.
I also believe B-players can become A-players with a little coaching and a lot of hard work.
I believe these high potential people get at least four times as much work done as the C-players. Not a rockstar or high potential? You might not want to hire them. But there’s a catch.
Rockstardom is relative
Here’s the catch: Performance can be situational.
I don’t believe many people are innately rockstars or poor performers. It’s about finding the right person for the right job at the right organization.
Some people soar in one organizational culture and flounder in an other. They fail spectacularly at one job and knock it out of the park with another.
If you want to recruit great people, you need a top notch sourcing and selection process.
Help people do amazing things
Often, organizations – and HR in particular – get in the way of people doing amazing things.
We write crappy policies. We don’t provide resources people need. We tolerate bad management.
We need to give people what they need to work effectively, and then get the hell out of their way. If you get your hiring process right, and then provide people with the right tools and resources, you’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish.
Here’s what employees need to do amazing things:
- Onboarding. Not a boring HR orientation program. Real onboarding. Get them up to speed on how to do their job as quickly as possible.
- Clear goals. When you’re new, abstract doesn’t work. Be specific. Say, “This is what you need to do to be successful.” And don’t say stuff like, “Be a team player.”
- Feedback. Goals only work if you provide feedback about how people are doing against them. Regular feedback. For new people, almost constant feedback. Daily. Or at least weekly.
- Big picture. Goals need to be concrete and specific. But many people need to understand how those small picture items fit into the big picture. How do their individual goals fit into those of the organization. Boil your mission down into a one sentence mantra.
Drive business results
It’s not just about helping people do amazing things. It’s about helping them do things that drive your business.
This is that big picture thing. What’s your company’s mission in one sentence? Can you say it without using words like leverage and shareholder? Go for plain English.
As you think about your policies and programs, what you reward and celebrate, and how you train and lead people, always keep this in mind. That’s why you’re here. That’s what Renegade HR is all about.
Recruit great people, and help them do amazing things that drive your business.
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Regarding “Rockstardom is relative” you may enjoy this Harvard Business Review article by Ashish Nanda from several years ago. It’s stuck with me over the years and it supports your “performance is situational” statement as well.
http://hbr.org/2004/05/the-risky-business-of-hiring-stars/ar/1
@Steve, it’s times like these I wish I had a subscription to HBR. Thanks for the hat tip. From what I read (just the first page), seems like a very interesting article!
Chris,
great stuff! simple and concise. Question – have you had success implementing some of this at your organization? it seems really hard to try and influence some of this behavior at larger organizations. I try everyday but I can only do so much as 1 of like 200 people in HR across the country in my company…curious about your thoughts
-Dan-
@Dan – That’s a great question!
I’m actually in the same boat that you are. I work for a 40,000 person organization, and I’m a junior level HR pro. Here’s what I do…
Rather than focusing on making organization-wide changes, I put all of my effort into improving the little corner of the organization that I support.
I don’t recruit in my current role, so that piece of the equation is out of my hands. But I do run a career development community on our company intranet. I’ve been focusing on providing mangers with the ability and tools to more effectively onboard employee, provide clear goals, and give feedback.
You can’t do it all yourself – as HR pros we should really be empowering managers to positively impact employees. I’d say don’t even start with your whole corner of the org. Start with one manager. Help them create a team of rockstars, then move on to the next manager.
I’m fortunate in that EMC has damn good HR programs and processes in place already. But your question is definitely valid.
Start small. Recruit people who believe in what you’re doing to help. If you haven’t yet, you may want to check out “Tribes” by Seth Godin.
Chris,
I completely agree – there’s only so much I can accomplish from where I’m sitting. We are getting there, as an org., and our HR programs have come a long way – which I’m also trying to put my mark on =)
It’s nice to hear others are in the same boat – we really can, and should be talking more about this kind of stuff and learning from each other – talking about actions and results
I’ll definitely check the book out, after I finish “Made to Stick” – thanks for the recommendation!
Dan, before you buy the book, you may want to do a quick Google search for some video. Seth did a great preso at TED on it. There’s a longer form version (which is more informative, as well) floating out on the web somewhere.
The basic premise is that change happens when you can start small and build a “tribe” of people who support what you’re trying to do. Leaders of a movement often don’t invent the movement – they just find people who believe the same things they do and bring them together and help provide direction.
I agree wholeheartedly – we need to talk about these things more. I think many of my readers are in small HR departments. I sometimes forget that there’s a whole segment of people out there like you and I… in large organizations and feeling like there’s only so much they can do to make an impact.
Good luck!