It's time for an HR Revolution
In another article I suggested the Banking Royal Commission shows it is time for the HR profession to step up and lead a revolution in people management “best practice” in organisations. This revolution should not be based on a knee jerk reaction however, but rather on the research evidence and on common sense about what drives human behaviour, well-being, and performance. Because many of our current ideas about “good practice” in HR are contrary to common sense and research evidence, I have called this a revolution, as we would need to challenge many established traditions, beliefs, and ideologies about the people management practices in many organisations.
I mentioned I am in the early stages of researching a book on this topic and called for leaders, HR practitioners, or academics who have tried or are investigating such new approaches to HR and people management to contact me if you are willing to share your experience (either anonymously of otherwise), as it is hard to start a revolution on your own.
What was your response?
This newsletter goes to several hundred people. A number of you contacted me after my last newsletter to say such a change is definitely needed and provided their stories to back this up. But I have had very few people contact me to say they, or someone they know, are trying such new approaches and would like to share their experience.
Does this mean you are a shy group, or that there is not much change happening? Or maybe I need to give a bit more information about the kind of shifts I am thinking of, so you can recognise if you are already making these sorts of changes.
So this week I will give a bit more information about what such change could look like and ask again if you could contact me to share your experience.
What would this change in people management look like?
Because the change will look different in different organisations, I thought the best way to describe it is to enunciate some principles behind many current people management practices compared to the principles that underpin the change that I think we need to be making in redesigning our HR processes. These principles would apply to activities such as job and organisation design, staff selection, staff development, reward systems, leadership, staff engagement and performance management.
To simplify things I have identified six dimension for change in the table below. These are not definitive – just a thought starter to help you identify if you are working in this general direction. They are based on my understanding of more than fifty plus years of research evidence from leading social scientists, combined with a common sense understanding of how human beings behave in groups.
What to do next?
So I ask again, if you are doing some interesting work in these areas, or you know of someone who is, and you would like to share your experience, please contact me.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Coach | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan works as an executive & consultant on people & culture, strategy & implementation, transformation & change, and human resources. She brings practical experience and thought leadership gained from many years of leading successful performance improvement and change in some of Australia’s leading businesses and government.
So I ask again, if you are doing some interesting work in these areas, or you know of someone who is, and you would like to share your experience, please contact me.
Susan Kehoe
Consultant | Coach | Change Leader
Work with Susan
Susan works as an executive & consultant on people & culture, strategy & implementation, transformation & change, and human resources. She brings practical experience and thought leadership gained from many years of leading successful performance improvement and change in some of Australia’s leading businesses and government.