Hey HR, Less Finger Pointing

Joe,

We have both railed on this blog at time about why human resources isn't living up to it's potential to be a leader for business. One of the key problems, I think, is the type of questions HR is asking. I think that if HR pros would change the questions we ask, we could transform HR.

Example 1:

Question being asked:

• Why doesn't HR have a seat at the table at my company?

Questions you should be asking:

• What can I do to earn a seat at the table?
• What am I doing that is keeping me from the table?
• What relationships do I lack that might be critical to being viewed as an executive leader?

Example 2:

Question being asked:

• Why won't managers follow the rules?

Questions you should be asking:

• What about these rules might be difficult for managers?
• How can we make it easier for the manager to comply?
• What reasons might our managers have for not following these rules?
• What are we doing in HR that might make it harder for managers to follow these rules?

I'm sure you see a trend. HR needs to spend much less time worrying about why others do what they do and focus instead on their own role and accountabilities. HR needs to start thinking about what they can do rather than pointing fingers at everyone else. By simply changing the questions being asked, we can change our whole approach.

Jason