Peter Drucker’s well known phrase goes ‘doing things right or doing the right thing? The problem with this is that it isn’t one or the other. You have to do the right things and you have to do them right which isn’t always simple or easy.
Take the recent incident at the Gibraltar and Spanish border. This was the first time ever a British diplomatic pouch was searched by an EU or NATO member. This was an example of someone doing the right thing but doing it wrong. The procedure to check the bag was correct but the situation was inappropriate, as it was a diplomatic pouch, and the outrage caused only did more to stir up resentment and prejudice between the Spanish, Gibraltarian and British Governments over Gibraltar. This is one of many examples of our tendency to repeat ingrained behaviours which hold us back when we can develop and improve instead.
This got me wondering about the dilemma that the HR profession is facing. Are some of us trapped by ‘doing things right’ and therefore focusing on process? This in turn alienates the function from those in the organisation be they managers or employees and leads the function to be seen as rule enforcers or even worse still being trapped into solving the mess created by inept managers.
So in my mind the focus on process is like an ingrained behaviour or a comfort zone for HR professionals. This prevents us leading and deciding to ‘do the right things’. Drucker described this as a leadership characteristic. So how can we focus on leading the organisation and its people to doing the right thing too?
Some ideas to get you out of your comfort zone:
- HR professionals must be more in tune with the business and its people, this cannot be achieved by sitting in an office – get out and about – learn and listen this will raise your credibility
- Work on building trust in the organisation – managers to trust their people – people to trust managers and most importantly managers and people to trust their HR professionals. So gather the courage to challenge
- Get curious – do this by reading about best practice, talking to innovative HR professionals then share your ideas with managers and people – encourage collaboration to work to implement improvements
Just trying one of these ideas will stop you from getting in a rut and demonstrate your potential as a leader.
I realise this is a bit serious so also remember to have some fun along the way – you are human after all so the final thing is to remember we have to be able to laugh at ourselves every now and then! Humility is another leadership characteristic.