The HR Legacy

“The greatest legacy is that which benefits the widest number of people for the longest period without limit to value”.

Many of us are so caught up with daily work that we often fail to see the purpose of our very existence. We may argue that we are hired to do a job, to get things done – nothing more or less. For many of us, that works just fine, as that leaves us with room for our family and other things that are important to us.

Yet, for many of us who are HR leaders, the profession is no longer about getting things done. It is about leaving a lasting legacy. But again, that’s something that many of us would think wishfully, yet few would ever achieve. Those of us who are not in a position of organisational leadership may think that legacies are for CEOs; after all Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca are not HR directors. But you are far from right.

All of us, regardless of our place in the organisation and society have the ability to leave a lasting legacy. As HR professionals, we can create values so powerful that we will be remembered for generations. Leaders and legends come from all walks of life. But they have a few things in common: strong personal values, inextinguishable passion, and a burning desire to succeed. Key here is having strong personal values as opposed to merely supporting business values – to be able to define ourselves and our organisations instead of being defined by the rules that we sometimes inevitably help create.

ARE YOU UP TO IT?
However, many of the legends as we know them – people we read in business school textbook, people whose name adorn great halls and public buildings, have made sacrifices so great many of us would shudder to even consider. Many of these have shattered families, spouses who cannot live along with a seemingly selfish character, children who grew up never seeing their parent. Many of the greats lived a life misunderstood, hated even, and generally fighting to correct the perception. So how would you juggle this mismatch of public perception and reality?

Often, however, we can create our own legacy by just doing what we do, but a little differently, a little more passionately. That way, we leave behind a lasting history – be it in the systems that we create, the values that we instil, the culture that we build or simply, the leaders that we help mould.

When we set out to create HR Asia, for example, we know we are not just merely creating a magazine, but a mean to create a profession that is rich in leadership in thoughts and actions. Perhaps, that will be the legacy that we will leave behind.

Ultimately as HR professionals, all of us have a choice. To live a conventional life, or to leave behind a legacy. But if we live our daily life with the conscious effort to create a legacy in whatever we do, then we are already a step closer to creating one.

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This appeared in my note on the editor's page of the latest HR Asia. To get a copy, visit your nearest bookstore, or alternatively if you are a senior HR professional, email chro@hrasiamedia.com for free subscription.

HR Professionals: The World’s Most Hated People?

I don’t think this is news to you. Everyone in every organisation hates HR professionals. Maybe it’s not universally true, but it is generally so. And during times like these, when we have to play the broom, down-sizing, right-sizing and generally keep our organisations lean and mean by getting rid of employees, we have certainly been moving up the ‘hate-o-meter’.

All of us know that HR can be a thankless job. Do it well, and colleagues and bosses expect more of the same. Do it badly, and we are the scapegoat for anything that’s rotten in the organisation. When there are happy news to announce, we are but scriptwriters for CEOs and perhaps the PR-types. But when there’s a bad news to announce, we’re suddenly the official spokesperson of the organisation.

This hate tag is unlikely to go away anytime soon as well. By definition, our constituents are most unpredictable – ‘human being’. Unlike finance who deals with numbers, and production who deals with machines, we are faced everyday with emotions, irrationality, cultural differences, etc. On top of that, we have bosses and investors to deal with, and governments and unions to worry over. With so much juggling to do, we can’t really play the Mr. Good Guy role, can we?

HR – THE MOST LOVED PEOPLE IN ORGANISATIONS?

A lot of these hatred are misplaced, as you would know. In most cases, we are powerless to correct the perception. However, I would like to think that we can, if we want to. Through the 3Cs of communications, commitment and compassion.

If we learn to better communicate the reasons for many of our actions and decisions, our stakeholders will be better prepared to understand our roles, and hence, alleviate some of the misgivings. If we can show compassion in delivering the bad news (read Cassandra’s article on page 46) and in our everyday dealings with employees, perhaps we can become the most loved people in the organisations (like many HR professionals already are!). Remember how HR was once considered the ‘mother hen’ within organisations – the place to go to with your grievances, personal or work-related? Perhaps technology and the need to keep up with other organisational functions have dimmed this role – making HR the last place to go to! A lot of the perceived unfairness – that HR professionals are henchmen of financial controllers and CEOs can be corrected if we show stronger commitment to justice: if we uphold what is good for the organisation in the long term rather than immediate issues. Yes, easier said than done, I know. But we can’t continue being ‘the most hated department’ if we are to progress as a profession.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Since this issue is about talent management, perhaps we should put first priority to managing talents within HR. We are expected to acquire and retain the best talents for the organisation. How about starting with our own departments? It’s time HR are staffed by the brightest of candidates. Not just future HR VPs, but future CEOs and captains of industry. That’s talent management. And a challenge worth taking up.

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This article appeared in the Editor's Note of HR Asia Vol 2. For more articles on HR across Asia, get a copy from your nearest bookstores - now available in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. If you are a senior HR professional - email chroclub@hrasiamedia.com for free subscription.