HRevolution, I can sum it up in one word; bifurcate, oh wait, not that word, awesome was the word I was looking for.
Fifty HR people in one hotel discussing blogging, the future of HR, and whether or not HR is dead; wow. Most of the people had never met each other in real life yet it was like old friends getting together again. The conversations you see on Twitter and in the comment sections of blogs were taking place across dinner tables, in hallways, and across conference room tables. We laughed, we drank, we cussed, and we talked about tough subjects. Would I do it again? You bet your ass I would, in a heartbeat.
I’m still trying to decompress and make sense of everything that was discussed but the one thing I know for sure, HR has a bright future if these 50 people all get on the same bandwagon.
My favorite discussion was the last, The Future of HR, facilitated by Mark Stelzner; particularly the discussion on separating HR into transaction and transformational. I don’t know if it’s possible. For one thing, one person HR departments would have a hard time separating themselves into two people. For some companies it’s just not feasible to have two HR people, that one person does everything.
The debate of transaction vs. transformational is one we could all discuss at length, or at least I could. HR people, even the one person departments, can be both; I did it for many years. I certainly would have enjoyed the work more had I been able to focus on the transformational work more than the transactional work. But not everyone in HR is cut out for or wants to do transformational work. Some people are content doing payroll and handling the 401k census and ERISA audits. I don’t think those people were at HRevolution though.
I don’t remember who said it, please forgive me, but I wholeheartedly agree. If you are unhappy where you are, if you have tried to make change and tried to show the strategic benefit but have had no luck, leave. There are CEO’s and CFO’s out there that see HR as a strategic partner. There are HR people in executive leadership that have a place at the table and their teams are viewed as strategic partners. I know because I’m fortunate enough to work for one of those companies and I see firsthand the way HR moves the strategic plan forward and how we fit into the wheel that is our company.
HR is more than payroll, HR is more than benefits, HR is more than a party planner. We are thought leaders, we are business people, we are key players.
Transactional HR and Transformational HR; I guess the word bifurcate was oddly appropriate. Something to think on after more rest and decompression.
Be sure to check out Trish’s blog on November 18th for the compilation of HRevolution posts.
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YOU. GO!!!!!
Smokin’ post, April. It was great to see you again!
@Amanda – Thanks!!!
@Ben – Thanks Ben! It was great seeing you chugging Diet Mt Dew too
April,
I am thrilled that I finally had an opportunity to meet you in person. Your post is spot on and who would have thought that we’d have a word that becomes part of the HRevolution folklore….bifurcate. Great post and great idea of the current state of human resources bifurcating into transactional HR and transformational HR.
I like your statement that, “HR is more than payroll, HR is more than benefits, HR is more than a party planner. We are thought leaders, we are business people, we are key players.” That’s pretty empowering stuff. Imagine if every department throughout a company adopted that mindset. Imagine if we all showed up to work ready to lead and be a key player. What an impact we’d have!
It’s great that HRevolution had such an effect on so many, even those of us who just couldn’t get there. Thanks for the post, April!
@Lorne – Thanks for the comment! I sat and stared at that sentence for a good five minutes after I wrote it, I had several follow ups but they all seemed to take away from the impact I was looking for. If we all took the HRevolution midset we could rock the HR world!
@Trish Birfurcate will forever be known as the HRevolution word of the day