The must have paradoxical image
for a Human Resource Manager is very interesting and hazy thing to discuss. I can think of top three traits where the nebulous aura of HR is more evident but I am sure that there will at least half a dozen more. Anyways, here are my top three.
As head of HR for a small to mid
size firm, I was busy drafting the code of conduct for the company. A person
from marketing team who sits next to me and works closely with me on internal
branding, came and tapped my shoulder. I looked up. She was almost in tears and
I knew that she has come out from a KRA discussion meeting with her new boss. She
looked at me. Tears rolled down as she picked up a post-it from my desk and wrote “I am
resigning”. I read and said without any emotion,”kal aana. Kal baat karenge. Ghar
jao”(Come tomorrow. We will speak tomorrow. Go home). She was not expecting
this from me. A HR person is supposed to be an agony aunt (In my case -agony uncle)!!
I managed to infuriate her to an extent as I continued with my work. Ten
minutes later she tapped me again but this time for a cup of çhai. I said “Chai ke liye ok, but if you
want to discuss, kal aana” (I will come for a cup of tea but if you want to
discuss, come tomorrow). Anyways, we
had tea without any discussion. Next day she came and said, “I was anxious and irritated when I went
back yesterday. But now I am feeling fine. Let me see how much growth the new
KRAs give me over next six months. I will take a call accordingly.” Voila! My job was
done. Previous day no matter how hard I would have tried, she would not have
absorbed any of my HR gyan. Today it is automatically resolved. As per my guess
and some rational estimate, two-three out of five problems HR has to hear, need
not be responded. I am not saying that HR need not be responsive but these
situations need to be assessed before jumping into solution mode. The moment you try to give immediate solution, people stop exercising their brain and rationale and expect you to fix the problem for you. The worst is, most of the solution they seek is escalation against manager since they are source of most problems (actual or perceived). Hence, somewhere
HR needs to have show some indifference with proper judgement. Ek nanhi si jaan kya kya solve karega??
HR also needs to mingle around
with people and create guptchars around
in different teams. Yet another contradiction from what and how HR shall be. HR shall
not promote any gossip flowing in. But to know the real pulse, you need to have
your khabris working. Sometimes, some
really deep buried skeletons can be unearthed as gossips flow to the HR. That is why often HR people are noticed
teasing or joking with other people from different teams and going out for a smoke or drink
with them. Needless to add, the balance is important as reputation is at stake. If the mingling doesnt yield any information, HR has a dagger of being tagged 'gossip monger'or 'time waste conversationist' hanging on his head.
Last but surely not the least, I
will refer to legendary poet T.S Eliot’s great poem ‘Macavity the mystery cat’ here.
HR needs to be something like the poet description of the legendary villain.
His brow is deeply lined with thought,
his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect,
his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side,
with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.
In short, have a disguise-look absent but be
present. Ah! The fine balance part again. You shall not pretend to be so absent
that you actually become absent. Tough call but yes that is the fact. You need
to be a silent observer. Looking at all possible small and big happening
around, giving no reaction till time is right and ripe. Hey, I sound like I am
teaching HR to behave like king cobra! HR and Cobra !! Gosh ! But yes, with the
fine balance during execution, wait and watch is must for the HR person. Sometimes haste can only give you a fraction of the truth and we all know that most part of bergs are underwater and are capable of sinking the unsinkable leviathan like Titanic.
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