Brad Jones, the Head of Operations at “BestRetail”, bounded into Annalise Miller’s office with a furrowed brow. He took a seat at the round table next to Annalise’s desk and began to describe his issue to the Head of HR at the national retailer. Brad tripped over his words as he explained “I’m rolling out 15 new stores and I’m under the pump from the CEO to open them before the Christmas rush. We’re running behind schedule and part of my worry is that I haven’t even seen a plan from HR for the people side of the change yet!”
Jones continued “As you know Annalise we need to deliver the store openings in rapid succession and it’s a complex project from a people perspective. It involves hiring, inducting and training the new recruits so that they can hit the ground running for an expected bumper sales season. I’ve asked Ed Williams, your HR guy, for the people plan several times now but so far all I’ve seen are presentations on best practice change management and options for psychometric testing.”
What was going on
Annalise frowned and tapped her pen on the table as she listened to Brad’s story. She wondered what was going on with Ed Williams, the HR Business Partner who was working on the store roll-out project. Ed had been hired from one of the best Organizational Psychology courses in the country and had blitzed the battery of tests that BestRetail put all new hires through. She believed he was one of her HR stars but it was clear that Brad was fast losing confidence in Ed’s ability to deliver.
Annalise asked Brad what he needed on the project from a HR perspective.
“I need a clear change plan and delivery on the people component for goodness sakes Annalise or else we won’t be opening the stores by the due dates! I’ve already asked Ed but to be quite frank with you, I’m just not sure he’s up to the task. I’ll leave it in your hands to sort this out but I need a solution fast!” he exclaimed, putting both hands in the air, before marching out of Annalise’s office.
The meeting with Ed
That afternoon Ed sat opposite Annalise at the round table with his notebook open and pen in hand. Annalise began, “Thanks for catching up at such short notice Ed. I wanted to talk with you about the progress of the store rollout and your role in ensuring the project is on track to meet the proposed deadline. Can you talk me through what you’ve been doing on the project to date?”
Ed responded, “Well I’m the HR Business Partner providing the business with the best practice thinking on how to manage change and recruit the best people into the stores”.
Annalise continued “Can you tell me about the business case for the store roll-out Ed – you know, the costs and benefits of opening the stores and when they need to be delivered by in order to give us the expected returns?”
Ed’s jaw dropped.
“I have no idea about the business case Annalise. No one has taken me through those details.”
Partnering to the business
Why was a talented, skilled and energized HR employee not producing the work that was required to deliver on the store roll-out plan? Annalise had a hypothesis that the problem lay in how Ed was framing his role and not in his capability to deliver.
Ed was defining himself as a HR Business Partner who was “partnering to” (rather than as “part of”) the business. He saw himself as the HR specialist on the leadership team rather than as a commercial business leader whose job it was to deliver the people component of the store roll-out. The pattern of “partnering to” the business (as a HR specialist) was keeping Ed on the outer in the Operations team (shown in the diagram below).
The penny had dropped for Annalise.
She now saw the pattern and how the problem lay (in part) in the way that Ed was framing his role. She responded, “Ed you need to take up your commercial role on this project, as an equal member of the Operations leadership team. You are a business leader, not just a HR specialist. The task ahead of you is to deliver on the change plan and get the right people into the right roles to meet the store opening deadlines.”
So what happened next?
A few weeks later Brad Jones bumped into Annalise at a company farewell function and he was beaming “I don’t know what you’ve done with Ed but he is a changed man. He delivered a brilliant change plan to the leadership team last week which will see us opening 15 stores by the expected deadlines. On top of that, he says he can achieve this result within budget. It looks like we are back on track with the roll-out and all set for a bumper festive season!”
Annalise gave Ed a call to give him the positive feedback.
He responded “I’ve reframed my role from a HR Business Partner, who was separate from ‘the business’, to a leader within the business, and this has made all the difference Annalise. I’m now taking up my commercial role to ensure that the new stores are delivered on time and on budget”. A light bulb had gone on for Ed and he was seeing himself as a business leader, with HR expertise to help to solve the people issues faced in the store rollout.
What are the implications for HR?
The future of HR is to make the collective shift from business “outsider” to “insider”. This means reframing our role from PARTNERING TO the business to becoming PART OF the business. The more we see ourselves as business leaders (rather than as separate HR specialists) the more likely it is that we will move to an “insider” position.
The shift from business “outsider” to “insider” (depicted in the diagram below) begins with HR taking up its commercial role to bring solutions to the table to solve adaptive and people challenges. This is how the most effective HR practitioners see and take up their role.
How can HR make the shift from business “outsider” to “insider”?
This shift from “outsider” to “insider” can begin with the following 3 steps:
1. Take up your commercial role
The change must begin within the HR community. If you find yourself relegated to the sidelines of “the business” (maybe along with other enabling functions such as IT, Finance, Procurement, Safety) then start by examining how you are taking up your role.
The most successful HR professionals see themselves as part of the business and take up their commercial role to bring HR expertise to the table to solve complex, adaptive problems. Look for ways to get closer to the commercial side of the business such as building your financial acumen, researching how the business is tracking in terms of its financial targets or developing a hard-nosed business case for your improvement ideas.
2. Frame HR as part of “the business”
Change begins with refusing to collude with the pattern of separation in the system. This means being conscious how we define HR and not positioning it as sitting outside the boundaries of “the business”.
Tune into how you and others are describing HR’s role within your company and be careful about how you refer to the function. The opportunity for change exists in each conversation and in how we choose to frame our role.
3. Move from partnering to leading
When Annalise reflected on her own learnings from the Ed situation she decided to reframe the role of her entire team. At the next HR meeting she told team members “HR is not the ‘order taker’ sitting on the sidelines at BestRetail. We are not partnering to the business, we are part of the business. I expect each of you to step into your business leadership role to enable better commercial decisions and outcomes”.
Annalise had sent a clear signal to the team that they each had a business leadership role to play at BestRetail.
In summary
Business leaders today are dealing with massive, colliding change forces and they can benefit from HR’s unique expertise to help navigate in these turbulent conditions. HR urgently needs to take up its commercial, business leadership role and to move out of keeping itself separate from “the business”.
The more we can see ourselves as commercial leaders (rather than framing our roles as HR specialists partnering to the business) the more likely it is that we will move to an “insider” position. This is how the most effective HR practitioners see and take up their role. Remember, HR’s expertise can help to better manage change in these volatile and uncertain times and move you from an “outsider” to an “insider” position.
About the Author
Siobhan McHale is a culture change specialist with a vision to make workplaces better. She has a track record of creating healthier, happier and more productive businesses across four continents. Her work has been featured as a case study at Harvard Business School by the change management guru, Professor John Kotter. She is the Executive General Manager of Human Resources at DuluxGroup, an international consumer goods company (headquartered in Melbourne, Australia). You can follow or connect with Siobhan McHale on LinkedIn or Twitter if you are interested in workplace culture and change.