So They Made You a Human Resource Director

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Congratulations!  After years of hard work, you’re saying goodbye to the role of “Manager” and hello to the new title of “HR Director.”  While you are undeniably excited about taking on the responsibilities associated with the job, you also want to ensure that you make an impact on the success of your organization. 

So how should a newly-named HR Director, or those aspiring to be HR Directors, prepare for their new position?  

“Traditionally, an aspiring HR director would build their general knowledge of HR practice, gaining expertise in recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits, employee and industrial relations, etc. They would rotate through these functions gaining an insight into the business before stepping into an HR director role,” explained Niall Fitzgerald in his PersonnelToday.com article, “Making the Jump to HR Director.” This knowledge is vital since the director of human resources often oversees several specific departments, each headed by an experienced manager.  These managers most likely specialize in areas such as recruiting, compensation, benefits, training and development, or employee relations.

However, the role of HR Director has changed significantly over the years.  Once thought of as merely the liaison between upper management and staff, more and more HR Directors are finding themselves vital players in strategic organizational planning.

“A good deal of HR in the past has included being the ‘soft and fuzzy’ area of the company,” explained Tim Bentley, in the B&C Solutions Magazine article, “Howdy Partner.”  “It’s been, ‘Send them down to HR and they’ll handle it.’ And in fact, you used to see HR directors and employees coming from social sciences backgrounds. [Now] you’ll see that more and more HR directors have business, economics and marketing experience. HR is often being asked to help drive the business.  It requires demonstrating a sound understanding of the business and business model and how people can contribute to it.”

Many experts agree that one of the keys to success for any HR Director is getting on the same page as the CEO. 

“If HR professionals are to become business leaders and eventually CEOs, they need a radical change in focus, thinking, language and in the way that they act. HR needs to study the success patterns within organizations to see what it takes (critical success factors) to develop power, influence and to get resources. In most organizations, you'll find a significant dichotomy where CEOs act, think and talk dramatically different than HR professionals. If we are to lead the organization, we must begin acting like CEOs. That means ‘doing the hard things first’ and doing whatever it takes to give us a competitive advantage in people practices over our competitors. HR people have moved a long way toward becoming business partners. They must continue up the ladder to the next rung, and become business leaders.  HR needs to stop thinking like an overhead function,” said HR visionary, Dr. John Sullivan in his article, “HR People Are From Mars, CEOs Are From Venus.”

In order to connect with CEOs and drive positive corporate change, Dr. Sullivan believes that HR needs to adopt a “competitive advantage” approach by taking the following steps:

1.       Doing competitive analyses

2.       Measuring results

3.       Demanding #1 or #2 ranking in key HR areas

4.       Expecting at least a 10% continuous improvement rate in all key HR programs

5.       Rewarding results

6.       Shifting priorities and resources from low ROI programs to high ROI ones

7.       Dropping HR programs that can’t prove their ROI

8.       Focusing on top performers

9.       Hiring HR professionals with the business mentality (and skills)

10.     Terminating bottom performers

While having a “business warrior” mentality is an important aspect of being a successful HR Director, it is of equal importance to be sure that your department never overlooks the “human” aspect in human resources. After all, you don’t want to be looked upon as your organization’s “Catbert,” from the comic strip Dilbert.  Catbert is the “Evil” feline HR Director that cartoonist Scott Adams created because “like HR directors, cats don't care if you live or die. And they enjoy playing with you before downsizing you." 

By keeping your organization’s strategic vision in mind while still maintaining the connection with your employees, you will be the catalyst for positive change. Take the knowledge that you’ve gained over the years and look towards the future.  You have earned the opportunity to make a difference… now it’s your turn to make your organization shine.