( Fig 1)
The Dominant Perspective of professionals regarding self development and training , has predominantly been specialization in their chosen areas of competence. Even though this differentiation results in increased functional competence , it tends to create tunneled vision. A lot of obvious learning from integration of knowledge,possible through the enmeshing of the different perspectives of the different functions, gets overlooked.
Just as a new product such as a wheel chair emerges through the cross-fertilization of wheels and a chair , similarly, by cross fertilizing HR and Marketing , new frontiers for HR get created.
( Fig 1)
The phenomenon of vertical growth i.e , from AM(HR) to Manager (HR) and so on , is still widely prevalent in organizations . This is a surprising phenomenon , because it invariably leads to narrow perceptions and enormous difficulty in achieving shared perception at the top echelons.
More importantly , I think this is a "missed opportunity" for professionals to expand personal perception and see the reality around them. Quoting the words of a seasoned HR man of a Leading PSU "Our organization nominates us to training programs which are focussed on functional specializations ; other programs are difficult to sell internally"
This perception seems to be a short sighted view of learning and knowledge . "Knowledge is an integrated phenomenon . When we look at a tree , we are able to see the differentiated branches of knowledge such as Physics , Chemistry , Economy , Geography , Botany etc. integrating into it. Then , working at it only from the botany point of view , will result in our seeing some things very clearly , while the other points of view would be obfuscated.
This is what happens when we continue to grow in the HR Department and also attend the courses focussed on HR specializations only.
This realization dawned on me , as I transcended from being an HR specialist in a leading Textile Company to a Management Consultant and enterpreneur. While working on a project on "Services Marketing" for a client , I started closely examining some marketing concepts and tools. Every new tool resulted in "Mental clicks" as the new tool integrated with the earlier experience, resulting in new skills and perceptions. It is quite a beautiful feeling .The development of multi-functional perception tends to mirror reality while unifunctional perception tends to skew reality.
As one tries to read more and more about HR and its specialities , a feeling of boredom sets in . The entire effort becomes a herculean task. Moreover , it becomes even more difficult to convince the people of other departments , regarding the potency of certain HR initiatives. The reason is obvious; the HR initators and the denouncers look at the HR initiatives from totally different 'Reality Scenarios'.
Sharing with you an example of an HR prof. propounding the importance of,' Values in Management' in a workshop for sales personnel.The sales personnel were trying to find a method of dealing with ,"Undercutting",a widely prevalent phenomenon in the FMCG market.The Hr prof.continued to propagate the importance of values & that the sales personnel need to take a stand against undercutting while the sales personnel felt that undercutting was inevitable & an integral part of the sales game.The HR prof. further propagated the use of the problem solving tool,"Fish Bone" for solving the problem.After another half an hour of effort,the sales personnel remained unconvinced of the solutions suggested & privately voiced their reservations . Obviously,the HR prof. & the sales audience are functioning in different reality scenarios.Hence,the prevalence of the oft repeated word,"theory"doesn't seem too much out of place.
The dominant mental pattern of ."Training " for an HR.man is mapped in Fig.2.Such a pattern would invariably create repetitions of the case mentioned above. A direct exposure to other functional areas along with training programmes in those areas is an imperative requirement.This would create the capability of finding wholistic solutions.
( Fig 2)
Let us look at another example.When we look at the "Performance Management" from the eye of an HR professional and when we look at it from the eye of say , GM Marketing , we see 2 Totally different things.
Now , it would be unreasonable to say that Reality R1 , is more real than Reality R2. Reality is a combination of both R1 & R2 and a host of other realities , which perhaps do not even exist at the periphery of our perception.
It is surprising that we continue to look for VP(HR) who has 10 - 15 years of experience in HR related activities rather than VP(HR) who has 5-6 years of experience in HR with the rest of the experience being spread out among different functional areas as well as different sizes of organizations. The Result : An HR professional gets up from one MNC and goes to 2nd MNC , says the same things he was saying in the last organization and does the same activities. Only the people and the organization are different. No wonder a lot of HR professionals are getting alienated from their jobs.
Doing the same thing again and again results in a humdrum existance and a certain deadness in interactions. This results in the phenomenon of "Yawning" while discussing a training program.
Perhaps we need a new standard for Job Rotation ,i.e if an HR Person is found yawning 3 times during a functional discussion , he / she would be transferred to Production.
No wonder , love for one's job is scant behaviour these days. The job of an HR man is reduced to going to one's office and doing the same activities over and over again and getting the hell out of there and at 5 o'clock.
For breathing life into himself / herself , the HR professional needs to (re)discover other realities around him / her and integrate them with the HR reality. Let us see what emerges , when we integrate the Marketing reality to the HR reality.
MARKETING REALITY | HR REALITIES (New) |
|---|---|
| Need based Product development
|
Current reality: HR practices are based on assumption of personnel needs. Emerging Reality (R1) :
|
Product Promotion Mix :
|
Concept promotion Mix :
Emerging Reality (R2) : Creation of an internal advt.& publicity strategy to create employee acceptance and internalization of "Quality drives" , "waste reduction drives","cleanliness drive"etc Emerging Reality(R3):Concept Promotion of Purchase (POP) display to promote sales Tools such as Point of Interaction (POI) displays. So , whereever , Interaction occurs at 1to 1 & 1 to many and many to many levels, displays that promote a concept need to be created. Emerging Reality (R4): Organizing of Internal exhibitions related to : |
Even if we implement even one of these 4 new Realities created , we would have enough to think and talk about energetically for atleast 2 months. It is imperative that HR professionals need to find ways and means to do stints in other functional areas. This would not only develop the much wanted depth but would also trigger the expansion of the professional's HR frontiers. The greatest gift that an HR professional can give himself is the ability to see with new eyes what he / she has been seeing for ages and discovering new realities.