I’ve been thinking a bit about competition and adversaries. Laurie over at PunkRockHR picked my brain about it a little bit. The article on CFO about how we shouldn’t trust HR made me think a little bit more about it. And then Kris over at HR Capitalist posted about the CFO article (and referenced the Fast Company article as well).Â
First of all, about the CFO article: I couldn’t care less. The professor criticizing HR is an HR professor. People like him are out to get a name for themselves but when you sit and think about it for a couple seconds, you realize he must be part of the problem. Somebody who is responsible for the education of HR people is bashing the preparedness and usefulness of HR people? Seems kind of funny.Â
I was talking with a student last week about entering the HR field and he mentioned his school didn’t have many (or any) classes specific to HR. That’s not surprising. Very few colleges offer specific classroom education that helps people wanting to enter the field. Post-secondary education is a major issue in the HR field but that is a major subject in and of itself.
Adversaries Are Always There
The issue is that adversaries (and really, competitors for the dollars and attention that HR gets) are always going to exist. There are people that want to take you down a notch. There are people that want your budget money or that want to empire build. And these highly publicized criticisms come all of the time.Â
As Laurie and Kris say, you should own that you’re great and just be that. There is something to be said for that too. One of the ways to get on the nerves of adversaries is to simply perform day in and day out and be great. It is the cold dagger approach.Â
I don’t have a problem with that approach necessarily but some
times you need more. Sometimes you need that touchdown dance, statement dunk or a little “pause and look” on the home run ball. And look at where I am going with this post…
The Unnecessary Sports Analogy
So let’s say you’ve got two comparable players in the NBA with Brandon Roy and Vince Carter. Brandon Roy knows he is great and is loved by his teams and his fans. Humble and talented, I don’t think too many people who work with him have bad things to say. Then you have Vince Carter who, while statistically similar to Roy’s game, gets talked about a little different. Why is that?
Carter is a little more flashy. He doesn’t do anything in basketball very ugly. He has a smooth game. It just looks better. Roy will work hard and play scrappy but he isn’t going to look as good doing it. Especially at the beginning of the season, he didn’t have the attitude of “I am going to get the ball at the end of the game and I am going to make you pay.” He didn’t get the kind of respect from the referees that Carter gets.Â
Brandon Roy got pushed around more than anyone with his level of talent because he wanted to let his work speak for itself. The thing that is transforming him into a superstar player is that he his getting that attitude that not only is he good enough to play with the best, he is good enough to deserve the same treatment and respect from opposing players, coaches and referees. He’s gotten that respect because he has demanded it through words, actions and adding a little flash to his game. And HR shouldn’t be afraid to add a little to their game as well.Â
Let Your Inner Competitor Out
Not all of your adversaries are going to hand you their respect just because you’re smart and you work hard. You should be able to stand up to them and demand their respect. If that means adding a little bit of zing to your part of the agenda at your management meeting, than do it. If that means aligning yourself with all of your adversary’s allies, than do it.Â
Why? These are the ways people and their departments get respect in the corporate world. In my book, there is nothing wrong with putting down a statement dunk in the middle of a corporate meeting on two conditions:
- You are actually good
- You are doing it for respect, not for show
Obviously, this is a gut check on your part. If you’re no good or you are just doing it to get in the face of your adversary, your actions will be completely transparent and you will be called out. But if you do it right, it will be…well, a slam dunk.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Here’s what I know about life: no sports analogy would be complete without the obligatory mention of Michael Jordon and Scottie Pippin.
Lance,
Thank you for this. Finally a triumph of substance over style! One added caveat to your conditions for a statement dunk, (which normally should be a given, but often is needed as a reminder)
3. You should know what you are talking about and be able to answer any questions or objections in an intelligent, coherent and respectful manner.
There is something to be said for flexing the muscles of your competence, skill, and knowledge for all to see.
Beatty is right in so many ways. I have seen most HR departments either transactional in nature, or they are the people police, or are so desperate to “be at the table” that they continually look for a magic pill for operational people to use that will fix all of the people problems they have.
All functions in an organization have transactional requirements but that should be minor in nature to their overall responsibilities. People don’t recognize the Sales Department for filling in order forms, yet that is one of the things they do, but people do recognize HR as working with benefits, or government forms. HR needs to take away the focus on transactions and focus on business results.
As the role of People Police, HR is seen as a hinderance to getting the work done. “I can’t fire that person because HR says I need to do performance management on him for the next few months.” I remember a time when I had to do HR audits to ensure all the forms were filled out, the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed. This does not help the organization make a profit and should not be the focus of HR. HR is as responsible for profit as any other department. If someone needs to be fired, it is not up to HR to say they can’t be, it is up to HR to find a way where the person leaves legally and with dignity in tact. HR is responsible for the how, not the why.
My biggest pet peeve is the magic pill syndrome for HR. Always looking for the new thing that will help operational departments work better and love HR. Think about it, we have had: MBO, 360 degree feedback, Key Performance Indicators, Teams, C6 Model of Accountability, Balanced Scorecard Management, Benchmarking, Integrative Leadership etc etc. The list goes on and on, I can see some people smiling as they think of all of the new things that have come out. It just doesn’t end with all these consultants coming up with a new magic pill to solve all of the people problems and then HR running to others declaring they have found the answer. I will tell you, they are all useless if there is not a very sound base of good basic supervision techniques by all levels of management. The difference between a front line employee and a supervisor is a weekend. Most managers believe a good front line employee makes a good supervisor and that is just not the case.
Most people do not leave jobs because of money and benefits. In my opinion most employees leave because they can’t stand their boss or coworkers or the work is no longer challenging. HR can play a huge role in fixing those two problems.
Just my humble opinion.
Lance – More NBA, all the time. Who cares if no one else gets it? You’ll always have me as a reader..
Proof – I voluntarily drove 3 hours last weekend to attend a Hawks/Pacers game.
Word.
Great post. I am a former Fortune 1000 Head of HR and a part time professor. I teach Influencing and Negotiating to HR executives and MBA students at Seton Hall and in an HR program at the New School. I also teach at Columbia. Everyone in business, especially in HR, needs to establish their legitmacy if they are going to be effective. For HR the way they can do that is to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in both HR and about the business issues in general. They can also establish it by building relationships with key people and let other people know. I use to make sure I sat next to the CEO at corporate events which i was responsible for.
Legitimacy is not about what or who you know but about what others know you know. That doesn’t just happen. you need to make it happen.
Lee E. Miller
Author of UP: Influence Power and the U Perspective- The art of Getting What You Want
Great comments everyone. Greg, I don’t like making a big deal about people who have an agenda or bone to pick so I didn’t spend too much time with the substance of Beatty’s criticisms. I do agree with some of what he says but I disagree with some of his ideal solutions. Not to mention that I think this guy has been a part of the problem.