Deborah Wilkes - Empowering HR: Building the Value and Strength of HR

Empowering HR

First published in 2021 by

Panoma Press Ltd

48 St Vincent Drive, St Albans, Herts, AL1 5SJ, UK

www.panomapress.com

Book layout by Neil Coe.

978-1-784529-30-7

The right of Deborah Wilkes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright holders written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers.

This book is available online and in bookstores.

Copyright 2020 Deborah Wilkes

For Paul

and for all the dedicated HR professionals out there

My first thanks go to Lisa Wyatt Sherman, who said one day, You should write a book, and to Liz Priest, who then put me in touch with Mindy Gibbins-Klein, who made it all happen. More about Mindy later. Others who have been generous with their time and thoughts are John Dolton, Cherry Iley, Lorraine Green, Carl Kneeshaw and Robert Kelly. I am so grateful for your encouragement and support.

A book like this is the culmination of many years of learning from others, and with that in mind there are many others I would like to thank. My clients have provided a rich environment for learning; it is a privilege to work with chief executives and with talented human resources (HR) and learning and development (L&D) people and to be trusted with their projects and their people.

I must thank The Oxford Group for a wonderful associate relationship for 25 years, and in particular Nick Cowley, Nigel Purse and Gill Webb for their wisdom, talent and compassion, and for trusting me with fabulous as well as demanding clients.

Ive enjoyed active membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) for many years and thank my professional body for providing opportunities to learn, connect and deepen relationships with HR professionals. Particular thanks go to Peter Cheese for transforming its relevance and building the credibility of the profession.

Thanks also go to Dave Ulrich for his immense contribution to HR over many years, and recently for his kind and generous engagement with my posts and his support and encouragement in the writing of this book.

I also want to thank George Naylor, my fellow founder and director of Enable-HR International, and friend and colleague for 30 years. George has a rare ability to get to the crux of reality in his surveys and brought that to our research, as well as the depth of his organisational understanding and commitment to people at work everywhere.

Finally, more about Mindys amazing contribution as coach and publisher. She is inspiring as well as practical, and the writing process she shares enables you to write your best book. Thank you also to the team at Panoma Press for their wonderful support and for bringing this book into the world.

Its been an exciting and scary journey, and my husband and family have supported me all the way. My love and thanks, as always, go to them too.

These are exciting times for human resources. There has never been a better time for HR leaders to take their seats as strategic drivers of business performance. Indisputable evidence now proves that the best organisations have the most dynamic human resources functions. However, HR professionals cannot succeed alone. They can deliver only when their work is embedded in the organisation, embraced and lived by its leaders and managers.

To deliver real value, HR must operate from a position of strength. Those HR leaders who can take on their chief executive and other business leaders and help them think more clearly are worth their weight in gold to their organisations. Their understanding of the business and of people wins them a hearing and leads to a powerful people agenda, which in turn improves business performance.

This robust partnership can then be created at every level between HR and the business. Whatever their level, HR people build on their professional platform of expertise with skilled challenge and by asking the right questions.

If you are an HR leader or professional, this book will help you build powerful relationships that deliver results. If you are a chief executive working with HR, you will see how to get more from your HR function.

Lets not pretend that this ideal is easy. Chief executives are surrounded by issues and want HR to clear them up. HR people have a myriad of governance, performance and management issues that weigh them down every day. There is a gravitational pull towards process and entrenchment. This book will help you to fight this reactive cycle to create opportunities for HR to rise up and lead.

Now is the time. Huge changes in the world of work are building into a landslide. These unstoppable developments have urgent implications for how we organise work. This will demand collaboration of the most courageous, curious and generous kind between clever minds. Sharing expertise, insight, intuition and humanity has never been more vital. HR is at the fulcrum of this, but the ideas in this book apply to all.

Lets start with some challenging questions for our key players.

First, for the chief executive:

What if I empowered HR to play its full strategic role? What if HR people were in the room with me every day, pushing me, helping me to think about my leadership as well as the business? What impact would that have on creating the best conditions for our people and therefore our profitability?

Second, for the chief HR officer or HR director:

What if I empowered my chief executive to be the best leader they can be? What if I facilitated their thinking about people and business? What if I understood the business well enough to be seen as a future chief executive? What impact would that have on the influence of my HR function and our ability to drive profitability?

Imagine if these questions were the starting point of a conversation between HR and the business at every level.

I use the terms HR and the business and business leaders throughout this book to draw an important distinction between HR leaders and those not in HR. I dont mean that HR leaders arent in the business. They are.

Similarly, when I talk about business, I include all organisations. I know from working within the government and the public sector that they do consider themselves businesses too. Great HR is vital to all organisations.

Whatever your role or level, I urge you to challenge your ambition and your determination to make this relationship between HR and the business reap the richest harvest of its potential. You cant achieve the change you want by staying in your comfort zone, and I hope you will occasionally find your thoughts provoked. I will share my experiences and learning from my own HR roles and consultancy, with some questions for your own reflection. One size doesnt fit all.