What can executives learn from HR?
Holly Jones
102 Posts
We see a lot of articles that discuss what CEOs, CFOs, and other top-level execs wish HR knew. These articles are often filled with great information and insight, but I am also one of those people who believes that knowledge is always a two-way street.
So I found myself thinking, "Well, fine, but what do HR pros wish the C-suite knew?"
For example, Les Hayman spent some quality time in both seats—first as President and CEO, then as Global Head of HR.
He offers up a few key lessons that he learned while in HR that he notes would have helped him tremendously when he was CEO.
Some of these may have you nodding fervently:
1. Spend more time making recruitment a core competency in the entire organization.
2. Many people who move into management are uncomfortable when they get there and should be given the opportunity to move back out without penalty. Or, better still, should be allowed to stay in professional roles rather than being pushed into management.
3. There are no such things as HR problems, only business problems that HR needs to help resolve. (I love this one!)
4. Spend more time on underperformers.
5. Put less value on formal performance reviews and more on managing behavior as a moment by moment way of business life.
Good stuff, right?
So what about you—if you could tell your CEOs anything about HR, what would it be?
So I found myself thinking, "Well, fine, but what do HR pros wish the C-suite knew?"
For example, Les Hayman spent some quality time in both seats—first as President and CEO, then as Global Head of HR.
He offers up a few key lessons that he learned while in HR that he notes would have helped him tremendously when he was CEO.
Some of these may have you nodding fervently:
1. Spend more time making recruitment a core competency in the entire organization.
2. Many people who move into management are uncomfortable when they get there and should be given the opportunity to move back out without penalty. Or, better still, should be allowed to stay in professional roles rather than being pushed into management.
3. There are no such things as HR problems, only business problems that HR needs to help resolve. (I love this one!)
4. Spend more time on underperformers.
5. Put less value on formal performance reviews and more on managing behavior as a moment by moment way of business life.
Good stuff, right?
So what about you—if you could tell your CEOs anything about HR, what would it be?
