Monica Frede - The Way of the HR Warrior: Leading the Charge to Transform Your Career and Organization

Copyright 2018 by Monica Frede and Keri Ohlrich

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Published by

LifeTree Media, an imprint of Wonderwell

www.wonderwell.press

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 978-1-928055-32-7 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-928055-33-4 (epub)

ISBN 978-1-928055-34-1 (PDF)

Copyediting: Judy Phillips

Cover and interior design: Naomi MacDougall

Author photos: Jerry Camarillo

Distributed in the US by Publishers Group West and in Canada by Publishers Group Canada

To all HR Warriors who are making an impact, big and small, every day in the workplace. We are in this together!

Contents

Charging into the HR Revolution

HELLO HUMAN RESOURCES professionals!

We are very excited you are reading our book, because we love and respect this profession. HR professionals like yourselves do great work every day. How challenging and rewarding it is! Our combined experiences in HR have led us to believe that the profession can do so much more, and this is why we wrote this book. We want to do what we can to improve our profession so that it makes more of an impact, garners more respect, and is used more wisely in a business setting.

We want to share our personal experiences, along with practical (and, at times, funny) examples of what weve seen workand not workin companies. Human Resources is an honorable and altruistic function that has a difficult task: influencing, coaching, encouraging, and advising people to make good choices in the workplace. Thats no small task.

How many times have your friends and relatives said Anyone can work in HR? We know that statement is simply not true. The rules, the interviews, the rules, the phone calls, the rules... Some days feel anything but human. As important as rules are, they use up time and energy. And just as important is the strategic work of the HR professional.

Ah, strategic HR. Thats a popular term. Industry conferences, networking events, online blogs, and social media groups all emphasize and promote the strategic work HR can doand how we must have a seat at the table.

And yet there are varying ideas about what strategic and nonstrategic work is for an HR professional. A business leaders answer may be very different from that of an HR leader. Why is that? Because of different expectations, based on differing perceptions of what HR can, and should, be doing.

HR focuses efforts on the elements that catalyze a companys success: its employees. No company can flourish without successful employees. HR focuses on hiring the right talent. We focus on training and developing that talent. We focus on keeping that talent. And, when necessary, we focus on excising the wrong talent. People are the soul of any company, and if that soul isnt healthy, the company isnt healthy. From senior leaders to interns, every employee has a hand in shaping the culture of a company. The key to understanding a company today is to determine what its vision isthen you can figure out how you can help achieve it. And HR is in a great position to do just that.

The title of this book, The Way of the HR Warrior, refers to two things that may not at first seem like they go togetherHR and warriorsbut we believe they do. Many HR books offer exceptional information, academic research, business and operating models, and discussions of trends, tactics, and data-driven results. We respect the authors of these booksthe HR thought leaders, past and present. And this book does not replace those resources. Rather, it complements them by exploring what makes the foundation of an HR professionalor as we think of it, an HR Warrior. And that foundation we call CHARGE.

The acronym CHARGE refers to the key qualities we believe are essential to the HR Warrior: Courage, Humility, Accuracy, Resiliency, Goal-oriented, and Exemplary. In The Way of the HR Warrior, you will learn about each quality and how it may or may not be operating in your HR career. Master the CHARGE, and you will accomplish great things for your career and for your organization.

For those of us who are passionate about our work but dismayed at the low expectations and obstructions we encounter from management and other staff, perhaps including our peers in HR, or for those of you who want to work in HR but havent started yet, read on: this book addresses what we can do to change that negative perception, and its also clear about what it takes to be an HR Warrior.

In this book, we ask you to evaluate yourself using two assessments. These assessments will help you see how you operate in your profession. How much of an HR Warrior are you? How much of an HR Weenie are you? That last one may sound harsh, but stay with us. We will tell you all about the HR Weenieat the opposite end of the spectrum from the Warriorand why, with some work, you dont have to self-identify as one. Then well walk you through the six CHARGE qualities, offering you some of our own stories and examples along the way, to spur your creativity and imagination.

We encourage you to make notes throughout this book. Mark it up! Write down any ideas, questions, or creative ways you can bring the qualities of an HR Warrior into your workplace. We understand that your time is valuable. But when an idea hits you, we encourage you to take a few seconds to record it. Your future self will thank you. Taking the time to read this book is an investment in you. And that is one investment that will surely pay off in a big way.

We challenge you to take CHARGE of your career. No more sitting on the sidelines, letting the marketplace decide what HR can and cannot accomplish. Lets take CHARGE of the roles we play in our companies. No more settling for job-description-specific work duties. HR can be leveraged in even more significant ways. Lets take CHARGE of the environment around us. We can encourage and inspire our HR partners, and by doing that, we can turn the HR revolution into the HR evolution!

Here is an important consideration to keep in mind as you make your way through this book: we dont have all the answers. This book is a compilation of our collective experienceour successes, as well as our ups and downs and mistakes. And by mistakes we dont mean the time the wrong date got filled out on an employment verification form (or I-9, as HR professionals call it). It means advising a senior leader to hire an unknown character, whoshockinglydid some sketchy things in the workplace and cost the company a lot of money. Yikes.

No one is perfect, including the leaders, teams, and industries you work for. But during our careers we have discovered something important: being an HR Warrior is within reach of all HR professionalsif you take the time to build a strong foundation. Yes, it will take a lot of hard work. But you deserve to be an HR Warrior, your company deserves it, and the profession deserves it.

As your HR coaches, we will, through this book, help you create a development plan for your career. We are in HR for the long haul, and refuse to point fingers at a seemingly broken HR function. We are in the fight with you, leading the CHARGE to transform your career, and organization. So lets get started.