systematicHR

In the team time trial, a group of cyclists (usually 4) will ride as a single unit using the technology of their bikes and ever possible advantage of drafting they can get.  Like a well oiled machine, a single rider will be at the front of the group, taking the majority of wind slowing impact while riding as fast as she can.  In mere moments when her speed slows imperceptibly, the next rider will take over the front position allowing the prior lead to rest at the back.  This never ending rotation preserves the greatest speed and efficiency, but can only be done when coordination between all the cyclists is executed with perfection.

When it comes down to it, HR is seen as an administrative overhead unit.  We’d like to be seen as partners, but often we are not, either by our executives or by the managers.  Often the employees who are our customers perceive us negatively as a barrier to getting better pay or having a medical benefit approved.  The problem with all of this is that all of our customers (and even ourselves) don’t always realize that there is no single HR process that is contained within the HR department.

More than anything else, HR processes are about process and end to end cooperation.  We have our internal partners and for HR to truly work well, our managers, executives, employees and other corporate functions need to be firing at the same time, same pace, and same direction.  We serve multiple customers, but for them to expect our work product without their collaboration and input does not serve the best interests of creating great work.  When it comes down to processes such as performance reviews, there are so many players (finance and compensation for merit budgets, talent for review programs, managers for reviews and the org hierarchy for approvals, employee interactions, payroll to finalize the salary adjustments…) that any break in the chain of events creates room for errors.

Hate to say this, but when it comes to HR processes or even HR strategy formulation, we’re just a cog in a series of events (just like everyone else actually).  One of the things that make HR great is when HR is well attached to all the other cogs in the machine.  When it’s not, our cog just makes lots of noise and does nothing of value.