The difference between the Human Resources Manager and the Director of Human Resources is direct access to the CEO. If you want to sit with the grown-ups, you have to earn a place at the table.
HR Manager
The HR Manager is perceived as a functionary. Like it or not, others in supervision see the HR Manager as managing a purely administrative responsibility. And, when this position reports to the CFO or COO, it only confirms the impression.
This doesn’t mean that the Manager can’t get “no respect.” Peers and senior leadership are grateful when HR policy and practice gets them out of a bind. For example, they like you to hire and fire, to resolve disputes, and to manage risk. When you are seen as responsible for payroll, records, and benefits administration, you are largely responsible for this limiting perception.
HR Director
An HR Director reports directly to the CEO and should be accepted as a peer with the c-crowd. But, given that most of senior management pictures the traditional HR functions, you have to shift the paradigm towards one of management and engagement.
The shift is from manager to strategist, displaying personal development and corporate value. You need to make yourself “indispensable” for the quality of your advice, your knowledge of the business, and your participation in their departmental and corporate goals.
You earn their attention and respect to the extent that you contribute something strategic, something tactical and outside the norm of their original paradigm and directly related to their departmental outcomes.
- Define and communicate departmental goals and performance targets.
- Show the strategy and tactics to meet and exceed the goals.
- Demonstrate personal energy, charisma, and self-confidence.
- Write short and long-term strategic plans for yourself, department, and personnel leadership development of peers.
- Make HR Department as transparent as privacy guidelines permit.
- Work productivity into all plans.
- Observe team behavior at different levels and in different divisions, so you can replicate the values in your department and in your peer relationships.
- Learn the language of productivity and quality improvement to see how Human Resources communications can be translated.
Reinvent the job
If you want to be treated like a strategic partner, you need to learn a new language. HR Managers have been trained in euphemisms and soft tones, and you do not want to lose that skill. But, you need also to develop a more assertive tone and use metaphors that reflect financial smarts, negotiation interests, and process orientation. You want to be recognized for a voice that facilitates and influences.
When asked to produce reports, produce results. When assigned to complete a project, compete for the edge. When asked for your opinion, reflect a team’s input. Management and engagement are, therefore, tactics to raise your profile and position you to have the influence you want.
