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Developing the HR Profession in 2007

HR Ain’t what it Used to Be

One thing that can be said about the UK HR community, is that it is quick to innovate, and to lead new global trends – even those that originate elsewhere. At one level this tendency to innovate (experiment?) means that the benefits of transformation come quicker; at another level it means that more outright failures and dissonance are likely than in most other places, where transformation is slower.

Five developments in the past decade have led to significant HR capability transformation, and to major HR career implications across the UK:

1. the ‘’business partnership’’ movement;
2. the growth of e-HR, and HR automation;
3. the centralisation of HR within shared services;
4. the prevalence of HR outsourcing;
5. the increased prevalence of HR offshoring to the Far East in particular - a more recent trend leading to an array of dramatic predictions about the future (or lack thereof) of the HR discipline.

A Narrowed World of HR Careers

At all stages of my career in HR before becoming a consultant, I (possibly naively) viewed myself as an agent of organisational transformation, a strategic advisor (partner?) to my organisation, and coach to my manager colleagues. At no stage of my career though did I feel that I was either strictly a specialist, or that my business advisory role was specifically circumscribed within a specific framework. This was a flexible and empowering place to be as an HR professional.

Within the current highly delineated HR landscape though; it feels that many of the career development  options I enjoyed, are narrowed – for example, how do entry-level HR careerists within outsourced HR providers gain the required experience to move beyond the transactional, how do specialist HR practitioners make a logical move into a strategically-focused business partnership role, without the opportunity to ‘learn’ via flexible experience-gains, how do generalist business partners make a credible move into senior strategic specialist roles, eg. Head of Talent Management, etc?  

Conclusion: Rethinking Professional Development

We have reached a point of dissonance – we have embarked on fundamental HR transformation, without having real clarity about how we now develop the expertise, knowledge, awareness and aspiration to create a ‘new HR’. This is particularly difficult for a discipline better known for its lack of empowerment than it’s commercial expertise. So, the challenge is a tough one.

Whereas in the past, HR career progression was flexible, the new reality means that old ways of thinking about HR careers are outdated, and must change. Effective career coaching and improved commercial awareness within the profession are key to its further development.

 

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