Has HR chewed more than it can eat?

BHRP– Does this mean anything to you HR folks?

Possibly, you might shrug it off as a typo error instead of HRBP! Are we that consumed in our own selves that we even refuse to recognize assembly of alphabets in a certain fashion?

Let me clarify to you, BHRP stands for Business Human Resources Partner. Without even going into semantics, this particular arrangement of four-words makes strong case for ‘self-discovery’ by Human Resources function at best and a common-sense meaning at worst. Let’s go into the literal meaning of BHRP and it turns out to symbolize each business representative as a human resources partner. You might wonder if all these efforts as mere jugglery of words! Hey, no way, pause a while and try to see the deeper sense coming out of this pattern.

All this brings us to the topic-Has HR chewed more than it can eat?

Name HR today, and you can visualize the guys attempting to play catch-up in possibly every hue of business function. Sometimes, it goes to the extent of being over-jealous in guarding and furthering its own turf. HR in business process re-engineering, strategy meetings, reorganization, cultural sensitization, diversity & inclusion besides the usual stuffs such as hiring, staffing, performance appraisals, L&D, talent management and the list goes on. Time is ripe for setting the house in order and it calls for a transformation in approach.

While no hint is being made that HR shouldn’t proactively engage business, listen and learn from it and then accordingly, intervene through multitude of programs and initiatives. There are certain scopes where it needs to create space, enable and let-go. BHRP is one such concept. Simply put, it seeks to create every business-representative a HR custodian- be it, talent management, L&D or performance appraisal . HR needs to democratize itself within and outside of the function. Difficult to let-go of things, right?

Here comes handy the digital technologies- SMAC 

acronym for Social, Mobile, Analytic (read, Big data) and Cloud. These technologies have level-played the game. Every constituent right from the prospective employees, new-recruits up to the CEO every-one is as empowered or as much vulnerable. Recent developments at Mozilla are still fresh in minds. What it means for HR? Philosophically put, let-go of the control to gain command and be more effective in partnering the business.

The trend is deepening and showing up in some progressive and out-ward looking companies.

Social: Internet of Things has made possible that everyone has a voice. Business had never been so ‘social’. Co-creation is the name of the game. Various technological platforms- ESNs (Enterprise Social Networks, read the likes of Yammer) and other open media have actually democratized the process of information creation, distribution and action. Employee activism had never got this power before. Flutter created by a group of employees becomes the drowning sound across the organization and its external stakeholders that made the expulsion of Mozilla CEO so effortless and fast (within a week of assuming office!) Are you as an HR folk ready to leverage of the power of social?

Mobile: Mobile apps and technologies have made time and boundary redundant. Physical presence has lost much of its meaning (by the way,no hint to write-off human touch!) Gone are the days of employee attendance registered through punch-cards…employees at many of Indian companies now show-up through mobile attendance, an app created by Ramco system, a Chennai based global ITES company which has several Fortune 500 companies as its clients. L&D efforts have possibly gained the most with the mobile learning. A research by Gartner shows that by 2016, almost 60% learning initiatives will have some mobile interfaces.

Analytic: Read, Big Data. Talent management and staffing got newer meanings with the advent of big data. Companies are now in a much better shape to evaluate existing employees as well as prospective talents. Digital footprint does matter and influence many of the HR decisions. Reams of data generated about an employee through social feeds such as twitter, blogs, RSS feeds among many others can prove important yardsticks about talent engagement, development and sourcing.

Cloud: Digital platforms such as cloud-computing has spared conventional HR functions the time it can possibly engage in more meaningful core functions. Resource optimization is the biggest beneficiary of such technologies.HR database is no longer the sole domain of the function resulting into more accountability and transparency.

These digital technologies are cool but the big question that needs answer to – Whether HR function is ready to let go off many of the self-assumed ‘mandates’ to be more nimble-footed and effective in delivery of its core job i.e. creating an atmosphere within the enterprise where talent gets a voice without prejudices, fear of retribution and nepotism to bloom and benefit the whole organization.

For this to happen, BHRP is not mere rearrangement of letters but a whole new paradigm shift of approach and a new way of life for the function! Are you ready to print the next visiting cards with this new designation?

How to tap into the tacit knowledge of Allans?

I was listening with rapt attention to Allan, my colleague and a subject-matter expert on a technology stream of my organization. I was always impressed with his domain knowledge but today, I was spell-bound listening to his insights, anecdotes and recounts. He was in a kind of flow. No wonder, he was a much sought after speaker of his domain. He was an asset to the organization and had seen the technology group grow to its present state since its inception. The downside was that Allan was to retire from the company within next two years! This story is no unique to my organization alone and many readers can relate to such ‘Allans’!

This brings us to a serious challenge that many of the organizational leaders are faced with in today’s world. Peter Senge in his seminal work ‘The Fifth Discipline’ talks of the dilemma of Learning Organizations- How to continually learn from the individuals, groups and the environment? The challenge is further accentuated with the Allans of the world and their incredible ‘tacit’ knowledge and expertise ready to be shipped out either due to their leaving or retiring from the organizations. With them goes out a body of untapped knowledge, expertise and a piece of history. This ‘tribal knowledge’ used to be transferred in earlier days through ‘social-learning’ and socialization. Modern enterprises despite technological advances and platforms are still laggards to tap into this vast pool of organizational knowledge!

The questions that scrambled through my mind needed explanation and I came up with the following,

Tap into the tacit knowledge through a combination of formal and informal methods.

Formal ways could include creating knowledge repository through active knowledge management, database, interviews and mentoring.

Informal methods would mostly be successful through informal interviews, promoting a culture of ‘organization-wide-conversation’ and informal ‘water-coolers’ talks. Learning leaders should especially be sensitive towards the fact that all these techniques be done in non-intrusive and non-threatening ways.

Role of social media in tapping into the vast pool of tacit knowledge is gaining traction across industries- both old and new economies. These are ideally suited because of their informal and non-intrusive nature. However, persuading generation-Xs to adopt these technologies might pose challenges. Solutions can’t be in rigid formats rather should be highly individualized and left to the preferences of such individuals.

Whatever be the method and mechanism, one thing is sure that as organizational leaders you should ensure that Allans are encouraged and provided with appropriate environment where their tacit knowledge are coded and made explicit. Showing them a big picture and appealing to super-ordinate goals should be helpful. Through these acts they achieve self-esteem and it’s a win-win case.

Are the leaders listening?

I would be interested to hear your experiences, challenges and successes to this unique but pressing issue.

Why Twitter remains a niche ‘social’ platform among professionals?

Truth be told, I’ve been experimenting to usher in social media use in my organisation with a Luke-warm success! Personally speaking I’m a big Twitter fan for several reasons as we’ll see later. However, the adoption by my co-workers is anything but encouraging! It’s not that they are social media antagonists- they are all over the places Facebook, WhatsApp of the world!

My dilemma would find an echo in the corporate presentation made by the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo to the investors two days back. Its stock plummeted- still continues to be in red! User base stagnating! I wonder here, why at least a couple of dozen of my co-workers are not on Twitter? (or, even if they are, why not active <40% figure, remember?)

While they are turbo-active on media such as Facebook and WhatsApp my ‘bringing-them-on-board’ Twitter has met with little success. I have gone to the extent of creating Twitter accounts for some of my colleagues (Costolo and gang, listening?) Results…no guessing!

Over my interactions with them, I tried to reason why they should be active on this channel of instant and informal communication. No avail!

In my analysis of the situation, I can list a couple of factors they might be challenged with,

• 140- characters: A double-edged sword of things! While it encourages a certain type and genre of written communication, for a majority this is a big put-off! As one of them put it ‘I write my social updates heart-out!’
• Hash-tags (#): ‘I am lost seeing #s and @ tools’ as one of the senior colleague candidly admitted. Call for Twitter- tutorials! Not a bad idea at all.
• (Lack of) simplicity: ‘Unlike WhatsApp, I find use of Twitter complicated!’ one of them exclaimed and showed helplessness. Most of the users of WhatsApp are driven by the simplicity of use- text, audio, video…you name them. and the icing on the cake..it’s almost free. No wonder, one reports puts an estimated 33 billion dollar loss for the carriers.

Despite all of these, I remain a staunch supporter of Twitter format for two of the biggest reasons (strictly, personal)

1. 140-characters: For me the same limitation is a test of my communication abilities and be frugal with words. ‘A Twitter-like headline’ as Carmine Gallo would fondly call them.
2. Hash-tags(#): For me searching the web-world with key hash-tags has been a journey in self-discovery. I can sort out my preferences with this symbol.

In all, Twitter still remains and most likely will remain a ‘niche’ social communication platform (may be, to much dismay of Costolo and the gang!). It shouldn’t even try to ape the ‘Facebook way’. Of course, within this format it should innovate to turn its ledgers black.

Its strength and character are unique. Let it be like this way, Mr. Dick Costolo!