How HR Can Gain The Respect It Deserves

(Published April 20, 2009)

 

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"I get no respect."  Rodney Dangerfield is best known for saying it, but HR pros all across the country have felt it.  Getting HR recognized as a valuable part of an organization can be challenging, to say the least.  Fortunately, it's not impossible.  Tim Koirtyohann, Director of Human Resources for Cardiovascular Home Care (Fort Worth, TX), shared what's worked best for him.

My experience is that making HR a value-added part of an organization means creating an HR department that helps achieve organizational goals, as opposed to being a roadblock.  That doesn't mean that you create a situation where the organization takes all risks; some things simply cannot be done, legally or financially.  Here's what it does mean.

1. Act as a guiding light.  Since issues involving laws/rules are seldom black or white, don't demand 100% compliance with the strictest interpretation.  Instead, help key decision-makers understand the bright lines from the blurry ones. 

• What are the clearly defined terms of the laws/rules?
  
  
• What is not fully defined?
  
  
• What are others interpreting it as?
  
  
• What are the risks to the organization of taking various positions in the matter? 
  
  
• What are the benefits to the organization for each position? 
  
  
• How does this impact how others will perceive the organization?
   

Basically, I want to find the position that offers the least risk that achieves my company's goals.

 

2. Recognize what you can and cannot control.  Unless you are the owner, there are likely people above you.  CEOs, CFOs, etc., get paid to make the decisions and have the risk that comes from the results of their actions.  Your role is to give them data so they can make informed decisions, but you cannot control whether they make good ones.

 

Once a decision is made, it is your role to support/defend it.  If the decision is so fundamentally opposed to your beliefs or ethics, it might be best to find a culture that better suits you.

 

3. Ask questions.  The two greatest questions you can ask are "Why?" and "What then?" followed by a long silence.  Repeat it like a broken record.   

 

Example: "Why do you feel we should do XYZ?  Wow, that is a really interesting thought.  So if we did XYZ, what then?  Why do you feel that is likely to happen?  Really?  What then?" 

 

4. Accept imperfection in yourself and in others.  Even airplane designers/builders have an acceptable rate of failure.  Decide what your threshold is, and let the little things go in order to focus on the big things.  You will feel better, your employees will feel better, and, guess what, the trains will still run on time.

 

5. Be secure enough to train someone to replace you.  If you are so invaluable in your job, then how are you ever going to get promoted?