Big Businesses Looking Outside of HR for Much Needed Business Acumen
Browsing through the Monday June 23rd 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal I was pleasantly surprised to find an article (from a well respected publication no less!) with a positive outlook on the direction HR is headed.
The WSJ reports on a growing number of companies - Quest and Microsoft included- that are looking outside of their HR departments when it comes to finding the talent needed to lead an organization's human resources.
It seems that large, well respected corporations are catching on when it comes to the ever pressing need for greater levels of business acumen in HR. Perhaps they read my recent blog on this topic...
Erin White reports:
When the CEO of Quest Communications International Inc. asked Teresa Taylor to run human resources a few years ago, she thought she was being punished. Ms. Taylor was running a Qwest unit that sold network capacity to other companies and had no experience in HR. "I thought he was mad at me for something," she says...
The shift reflects the increased importance that chief executives and boards place on recruiting, retaining and grooming employees. It also reflects a perception that some traditional HR professionals lack the deep understanding of business and financial issues that CEOs increasingly want, say consultants and recruiters.
"Many organizations are looking for their HR leader to be able to understand in great detail the business and the challenges of the business," says Fran Luisi, principal of Charleston Partners, a Rumson, N.J., search firm that specializes in HR executives. Mr. Luisi says he increasingly looks for candidates whose experience extends beyond HR.
There are a couple of important ideas that can be taken away from this article:
- Organizations are becoming aware of the need for leaders with strong business skills and a thorough understanding of their core business strategy to run their HR departments and most importantly manage their talent.
- When looking to fulfill this need, companies are increasingly likely to look outside of HR even though an individual may have no experience working in HR.
- An assignment in HR is still perceived as a "career graveyard" or some form of punishment by many - an important stigma that must be overcome if HR is to do a better job of developing business professionals.
With this in mind, several questions beg to be asked:
- Does your organization have a thorough understanding of the business skills that are needed to head up a critical role such as VP or Director of HR?
- What is being done to develop these skills in your organization's HR department?
- How can the placement of outside "star power" in a senior HR role positively impact an organization's bottom line?
- What challenges can be expected with such a move and how can they be overcome?
- Is such a move an effective way to instill and develop much needed business acumen in HR, or must such skills be developed from within?
Ready or not, HR is being thrust into the organizational spotlight as talent management becomes of increasing strategic importance.
The tactical skills, regulatory expertise, and risk aversion that have become the hallmark of HR simply won't cut it anymore when looking for someone to grab the reins and take an organization's talent to the next level.
Where are you going to look when you need to find a new head of HR?
Now go maximize possibility!
Other posts you may be interested in:
- Is Talent Management Too Important to be Left to HR?
- Wanted: HR Professionals with Business Acumen
- Would You Hire Fred Again?
- Improve Employee Performance Through Coaching Score Cards
Chris Young helps organizations Maximize Possibility through talent management, cultural transformation, and strategic intervention. Bring Chris in today!
