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Change the name of HR?

Posted by Jason Averbook Mar 18, 2008 3:31:37 AM

Seth Godin, one of the most popular leaders of the new world when it comes to marketing and branding recently had a post entited "Marketing HR". Seth is also the author of a great book "The Dip" that I highly recommend. Many of the Knowledge Infusion beliefs around engagement and change are detailed in Seth's book. In his post, he makes a number of great points that Knowledge Infusion is asked about and speaks about on a daily basis. A few key points being:

 

  • HR departments were created when people ran machines and we tried to limit the number of people needed in an organization. Today's knowledge economy means that HR must be flipped on its head as it is trying to attract and retain more people, not eliminate and optimize people.

  • Most HR processes were built at least 50 years ago, once again, during the manufacturing economy boom. They certainly aren't still the right processes for today.

  • What HR measures today has nothing truly to do with the success of the business for the most part. It measures its ability to count and report (which most still struggle to do).

  • HR has become much more embedded in the lines of business today which is a HUGE accomplishment in itself, but still is seen by many as Human Resources, not an organization driving the future of an enterprise.

 

Seth's point in his article is "how about renaming HR to Talent?". Seth takes a cynical point meaning that HR (or Talent) would then have to be responsible for this function of talent management, not just talk about it. Hmm.....

 

Love your thoughts and debate

 

 

 

Another infusion of knowledge...

 

 

 

Link to blog

Tags: seth_godin, marketing_hr, deployment_excellence, talent_management


Mar 18, 2008 11:21 PM Click to view Mark Bennett's profile Mark Bennett

Hi Jason,

 

<a href="http://talentedapps.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/whats-in-a-name/" title="">TalentedApps<a/> thinks that Seth makes a good point. A name change stands perhaps a better chance in its intended effect when combined with the notion of branching HR into a professional practice (”HR”) and a decision science (”Talent”.)

 

Mark
Mar 19, 2008 3:33 AM Click to view Teresa OKelly's profile Teresa OKelly

I have a client who has conducted a major internal campaign to change the name to “Culture and Performance”. The feeling is that this “HR” group drives the organizational culture and is responsible for the performance of the company. They believe it is the people who drive corporate performance.

Something to consider in the mix?
Mar 30, 2008 11:41 PM Click to view Suzanne Rumsey's profile Suzanne Rumsey

KI has another client that has renamed HR to "Organizational Effectiveness" (OE for short). But the name change, in my mind, really was just to replace two words with two different words. The crux of the matter is that HR (or OE or whatever you call it) has to revamp its entire self-image - what it believes to be true about itself as a function within an organization. This is, I think, the pivotal point of Seth Godin's argument: change the name of HR only if HR truly changes what it does within the organization.

 

 

 

While we're on the topic of change, how about HR changing to become the BEST at something? The whole premise of "The Dip" is that in order to become the best at something, one has to quit other things. If we apply the argument to HR, then for HR to become truly the BEST strategic partner to the business, HR would have to commit to becoming the best at some things, and quit other things. For example, if HR wants to define itself as the BEST at identifying, procuring, and development talent for the organization, then there are some activities that HR might need to consider quitting: employee relations, benefits administration, compensation / payroll administration and organization development may be possible sacrifices. However, if HR wants to define itself as the BEST at enabling an organization become more effective, then recruiting, compensation / payroll administration, benefits administration may become candidates for "quitting". In any case, one more thing HR should "quit": the idea that HR's core accountability is to mitigate employee-initiated litigation, which often is interpreted as "taking care of employees", "making employees happy", etc.

 

 

 

To become the BEST strategic partner, or better yet, the BEST strategic advantage, for a business, HR has to decide what it is going to quit in the process.

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