Different speeds: What is the role of HR departments and why NOT all, together, at the same speed?
Barbara Malewska
Some companies resemble dynamic bolides, while others are like calm sailing ships. The role of HR departments is thus stretched between being a driving engine and a stabilizing gyroscope. But regardless of which end of this continuum we find ourselves on as HR professionals, we should not lose sight of the second perspective and constantly confront whether our way of operating gives value to the organization.
Different speeds of companies
Understanding the role of HR strongly depends on the moment in the company's development. Startups require fast, dynamic actions to scale the business - the need for such a company is recruiting, employer branding, fast and efficient onboarding, and purposefully building an organizational structure that enables agility and agility and creativity in the team.
Family businesses that are more established and based on non-business relationships and dependencies can expect HR to support them in building a decentralizing structure. This is to achieve business goals, professionalize the work environment, mediate conflicts (which may involve not only employees but also family members) or prepare the company and managers for succession-related changes.
In corporations, HR tasks will involve a more strategic level due to the greater complexity of navigating a large team of thousands of employees and global reach. HR in corporations works to ensure that policies and procedures comply with local labor laws, implement global change and transformation, manage an extensive compensation and benefits system and talent development, performance and employee evaluation.
In summary, the speed and area of HR activities depends on the needs of the specific organization. In startups, HR needs to keep up with dynamic changes, but in corporations, it's precision and predictability that counts - it's like the difference between a rocket launch and the smooth flight of a passenger plane.
Different speeds of the HR itself
We HR professionals also work at different speeds. Some of us are responsible for HR, payroll and administrative matters. Others work in areas related to recruitment, selection, employee development. Others coach managers_rki and work with managers. For some, the main focus is on creating and implementing changes or policies, while others focus on well-being. Where we focus our efforts in the HR world has an impact on how much of a driving force we become for the organization.
The more and more often we can work with managers, the more influence we have in shaping the organization. In my opinion - this is the best part of being an HR professional. Being able to listen to the team's perspective, looking for ways to increase their autonomy and sense of belonging, and on the other hand, understanding the business perspective and delivering the expected results to management and advocating for initiatives gives you a unique space in the organization. It is a place where HR has a unique optics that connects many different levels in the organization. HR's role is to create solutions (regardless of which area HR works in) that reconcile these two perspectives. Our job is not to conform the organization to one pace, but to build strategies that respond to its current needs and the challenges of the people who are members of the team.
How to operate more effectively? How to be the engine that drives the organization? First of all, adjust your work pace to the people you are working with. In addition, it is important to:
- Understanding the business - only by understanding what your organization does, where it gets its profits, what costs it incurs, where its opportunities are and where its risks are, do you become a competent partner_r to talk about the organization's strategy and operations. Without this element, HR activities cannot be well aligned with the organization. Unfortunately, I have the impression that often we HR professionals lack precisely such business competence, so that we reduce our own position in organizations.
- Listening to needs - listening and hearing are two very different concepts. We should not only hear, but really listen to the people who make up our organization. Have time and space to talk quietly, look for opportunities to ask questions (necessarily open-ended!) and be open to other perspectives ourselves. It is very valuable to talk to people from different places in the company, so that we do not rely only on the picture presented from one point of view.
- Using tools and automation - the center of our work should be people. We work to confront people's perspective with business realities, and explain business decisions in a way that the team can understand. Wanting to have time to talk and be between team members is worth accelerating those activities that tools or AI can do for us.
- Individual approach and attentiveness - our organizations are not homogeneous. Our team members differ in their work styles, ways of thinking, needs. The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to create solutions that take individuality into account. However, these are the only ways that give real value to the organization, because they allow people to use their unique talents.
- Courage and ability to argue - it is not simple to talk about what is challenging. It's not simple to explain the need for more changes, investments especially in a situation where the HR team is not directly generating revenue. In this situation, it is crucial to argue so that budget managers understand how the changes in question will come back to benefit them.
HR departments, regardless of the pace at which they operate and the pace of their organizations, have one common goal - to foster growth. The role of HR professionals is to create a space where people can feel safe to work effectively, enabling the organization to flourish. The growth of the organization, in turn, enables the team to continue to progress with more resources and opportunities to develop competencies. An efficient and effective HR team drives this entire process. Whether a company resembles a Formula 1 car or a staid sailing ship, the key to HR's success is the ability to adjust its pace - not always faster means better, and not always slower means more stable.
