I would make HR better by….

I was recently approached by the inimitable Steve Brown about making a contribution to the January 2015 HR Carnival.  Since I’m hellbent on selling myself out this year (see here), I thought why not?  Well, that and the fact that it was a great opportunity to participate alongside other HR bloggers.  We were give the challenge (I say challenge and not theme, because for me it was a challenge) of tackling how we could improve HR….. So without further ado…here is my Ms. HR Canada answer to: “I would make HR better by….”.

I know that since it is January and everyone wearing their sweaters of good intentions, I should say something uplifting and profound about what I would do to make HR better.  It’s a New Year after all.  However, every time I sat down to write this post my mind would drift to comments that were basically a polite way of saying it needs a good swift kick in the arse.

Does HR need to be made better?  Is HR broken? Does HR need an upgrade? Is HR tired? I’m not entirely sure.

What I do know is that HR people can always be better, some HR people are broken (or at least serious bent), and again, many HR people need to be upgraded – they need to be refreshed.

What HR and HR people need is to not focus on rebuilding a new structure, but improving their attitude and remembering that we are here to be influential and involved in the business of human resources…people.

Stop worrying so much about where you are sitting and focus more on standing up. (Btw – did you know that too much sitting has been linked to an early death? ) Just saying.

Stop worrying so much about whether you should be on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, a blog, LinkedIn or Google+ and develop your actual voice and messages.

Stop the navel-gazing, worrying about what we should be called, and the circular talking about things like employee engagement.  Get out there and talk to non-HR people, learn something that doesn’t earn you credits towards your HR designation, and invest in something beyond your HR association’s L&D programs.

The best advice I have received was from non-HR folk and some of the best work experience that I apply to my HR career was when I didn’t work in HR.

You see there is a wide, wide world out there and for a group of highly connected folk, HR people can forget that.  Go beyond the shire of Talent Management, the village of Compensation & Benefits, and the valley of Big Data.  There’s a lot to be learned when you are walking around and talking to people.

So to get back to the original opening line, I would make HR better by..well..giving it a swift kick in the arse.