Avoiding the IRS Syndrome
My observations over the past quarter century is that HR hasn’t really changed that much in terms of philosophy. Because of a lack of proactive stances and interventions, the function is viewed by employees as a shill of management, and by management as a biased advocate of employees. It’s not easy to have both constituencies suspect your motives!
The management cynicism is largely a result of the “I’m sorry but you can’t do that” school of thought. When a manager needs to hire people outside normal guidelines for exceptional circumstances, or needs to hurry through an appointment to meet a window of opportunity, or doesn’t want to send people to mandatory training that bears no relevance for the operation, the best HR staffs find ways to accommodate the request, so long as it’s legal, ethical, and not at the expense of other parties. But the worst departments play Big Brother, and decide that the means—the rules—are more important than the ends— the results.
Moreover, HR is not well supported by one of the main professional trade associations, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), which has done little to foster standards or improve the quality of leadership other than stage conferences and events. For example, astonishingly, the ASTD doesn’t even have the mechanism to throw out a member on the basis of ethical violations. The association believes in “aspirational ethics,” whatever that means, and will not even remove people from membership for proven acts of plagiarism.
The problem with the employee perception is that HR has not been in the forefront of leading change or even responding to abuse. In the case of racism at Texaco, sexual harassment at Astra, or massive layoffs at AT&T due to executive fiascos not employee productivity, HR wasn’t anywhere to be seen or heard. And I’ve chosen these selections only because they were so egregiously public and broadcast.
Finally, the expertise of HR has been suspect, which has led to widescale use of ombudsmen, external Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), external consultants, and outsourcing. In fact, transactional HR (benefits administration, moving and relocation, etc.) is a diminishing field. It’s consultative HR that still holds some hope, and so we’ve come full circle to the real need.
Reaching the buyer constructively is a process, like any other. You must know where you are in that process and what’s required to go to the next step.
The relationship aspect is crucial, and the trust required demands that you methodically gain credibility, although that may not be in the traditional manner you expect.
The best ways to avoid the IRS syndrome and achieve credibility with the people who will hire you (management) and the people who will implement (employees) include:
Take unpopular stands as required. You can’t please everyone, and that’s not the job anyway. Most external consultants who are really good will argue, debate, and push back at management. You can’t be concerned about CRM2 if you want to be respected.
Don’t show up only when there’s a problem. (The IRS shows up to audit me, not to compliment me on my accurate reporting or to offer suggestions about how to minimize my taxes.) Inaugurate distinguished performance awards, provide feedback for excellence, and proactively provide ideas for improvement.
Develop line relationships. Don’t sit in the cafeteria with the same people you sit with during the rest of the day. Spend time developing ties with front-line people. Consider taking an extended rotation (e.g., 90 days) in a line area. Ideally, manage your career to include line management somewhere along the way.
Don’t play “gotcha.” Your job isn’t to catch people, but to help people. You don’t enforce rules for their own sake, but support rules intended to maximize performance toward corporate objectives (which include fairness, equity, ethical behavior, and so on).
Develop the ability to take the pulse of the organization. Line management will find tremendous credibility in someone who can accurately reflect what the state of the organization is and even more importantly predict what it’s likely to be, given a certain scenario. If you want that seat at the table, it’s highly effective to point out, for example, that the new compensation system will pay more money for the same performance and will be ineffective in helping the people who are most inequitably treated.
Span interest groups. Become familiar with the union, sales, R&D, manufacturing, call centers, remote offices, subsidiaries, and so on. Put yourself in the position to synthesize the organization’s complexity and make sense of the interactions so that you can quickly discriminate between turf wars and legitimate conflicts of interest. Most leaders will see only their own landscape clearly. Become the person who can view the panorama.
Read widely. You should be reading the Wall Street Journal and your local paper daily; Fortune or Forbes semi-monthly; industry newsletters and trade magazines monthly; and various Internet and collateral sources on a regular basis. I’ve been astounded when a manager will bring up a recent economic development and half the people in the room fall mute because they are either unaware of it or don’t know how it relates to them or their organization.
Become a leader in your profession. SHRM provides recognition at a certain level of performance (SPHR) and other honorifics. On the local level you can be a chapter officer. Publish in industry publications.3 Serve as a speaker or discussion leader at forums. Demonstrate that you’re taking your position in the profession to higher and higher levels of excellence.
Find a mentor. While many HR departments support mentoring programs, few of the professionals take advantage of them themselves. Identify a strong line manager who can serve to guide you and support you as an internal consultant and advisor.
Become a strong coach. This is the converse of the previous point. “Executive coaching” has developed quite a bit of cachet, but is no fad. Executives have been coached by trusted advisors for as long as I’ve been in this profession. It’s simply more recognized and publicly acceptable now (a sign of strength, not of weakness). There is no more valued internal consultant than the one who can serve as a discreet, intimate, and personal coach to powerful people.
We’ve now examined the role and relationships required to be an outstanding internal consultant. Let’s turn now to the resources. Always bear in mind playwright Tom Stoppard’s admonition: “Age is such a high price to pay for maturity.”