"The things you can always count on in life: death, taxes and lousy HR leaders in your organization." This message allegedly appeared on the T-shirt of a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference participant - at least according to Tim Sackett, American blogger with twenty years of experience in corporate HR and supplier of services for HR, on TLNT.com. Sackett claims the reason for the presence of "lousy" HR managers in companies is the way people are selected to work in HR management. He thinks that, unlike other managerial positions, people in HR are too often promoted based on length of service in the HR department rather than outstanding performance. So how to tell whether HR managers are lousy?
They make decisions based on poor metrics and do not track real results
They count on subjective measures because their aim is to show their superiors how successful they are, even if this is not true.
They are afraid of risk-taking
Companies face risks every day. The role of HR is not to get rid of the risks but to face them directly just as other senior managers do.
They are afraid of difficult conversations
This is a problem for many managers but one which HR cannot afford. A superficial HR manager who can't explain their own views and recommendations or ask others for explanations has one outcome: all sorts of rumours spreading in the company.
They have a different vision than the company
A leader who fails to integrate their own vision with the corporate vision at the level of their department, team and role, has a major problem. A similar sign of lousy leadership is an inability to transfer the corporate vision to a functional level.
They treat all employees equally
A lousy HR manager believes everyone should be treated equally. However, treating everyone equally and ensuring everyone feels equal are not the same thing.
What do you consider a sign of poor HR management?
-kk-