17 Dec 2019

Today I started a reflection piece to give to the CEO of the client I have been working with for the last 3 months and I have taken it from the perspective of adding value. It isn’t the first time I have had this thought but as I invoice for my time and I have billed 163 hours to date I wanted to stop and consider what impact I have had so far. I want to genuinely make sure that I have contributed and deliver what is required from me and my company and focus on the next 6 months ahead.

The commentary on how HR roles MUST add value for it to be effective I strongly believe is the margin between a good HR bod and an excellent one. I am frustrated when you hear, ‘I work in HR because I like people’, I agree it helps if you are approachable and personable and it is key to recognise people are at the core of successful businesses but HR is soooo much more than liking people.

If I am honest, sometimes I don’t like the people I work with, I tolerate them, respect them, avoid them but I am always fair in how I manage them or their situation. Sometimes you have to take the personal out of it as the decisions you are making are hard but critical to keep business being effective. No one really likes delivering a difficult message or dismissing someone, but again, sometimes these are necessary and link into the wider picture and it is important to keep that in mind.

HR functions need to work well with all areas of the business but there does tend to be a lack of partnership with Finance at times. I have worked with some very traditional finance teams who simply see people are a line in the budget and HR a bit annoying. On the flip side, I have worked with some really great ones, mainly as they were lead by experienced CFO’s who ‘get it’ and together we were able to implement change so much more successfully and with a smoother transition if we had worked in silo.

#challenge #100days #HR #value