Disruption for HR too is in the offing - Part III

It's just that if you're not disruptive everything seems to be repeated endlessly - not so much the good things but the bland things - the ordinary things - the weaker things get repeated- the stronger things get suppressed and held down and hidden.Robert Adamson

In my last articles on the "Disruption for HR too is in the offing", I touched upon 1) how the skills that were built over a period of ~ 10-15 years are no more required as Robotic process automation take a centre stage and present ITES industry with not only exciting possibility for non linear growth, however, also an opportunity to reshape the market and workforce landscape 2) as to what we should stop doing as HR professionals to remain relevant in the given context.

One of my ex colleague who is heading India mid sized business process services organization told me one day that Raj I have institutionalized the practices in the Company and have launched all key programmes, built people capabilities to execute these programmes and practices and now the functioning is in autopilot mode. Even if I quit this organization there will be no impact and things will keep functioning smoothly so I think I am no more required. I suggested, Leader’s job is not just to create practices and programmes however to keep building people capabilities and raising the bar keeping in view emerging future trends and technological disruptions.

When it comes to HR Leaders the responsibility increases many folds as they have to build capabilities of people who in turn are accountable for other people’s career and that is the key difference in Line Managers and HR. 

HR leaders have to keep themselves abreast of the changing mindset of generations and how workforce is evolving, what are their needs, what is relevant in current scenario and what has become obsolete. This means that a practice launched for a workforce may no more be relevant when the new generation starts taking over. So HR’s job never ends. They need to align the business demand to the ever evolving workforce need and strike a balance in a manner that they manage to retain knowledge and contribution which requires constantly revisiting our HR strategy, performance management and culture management.

With changing trends HR has evolved from Specialization to Generalization and now the need of hour is that we become flexible, have cross functional exposure, move across HR
value chain.

HR should play a role of being a conscious keeper- they need to ensure that policies practices framework are deployed across organization in letter and spirit; custodian – ensure application and alignment of laws of the land so that your CEO could sleep peacefully and be par excellence facilitator - more of a consultant role wherein you guide them and help them enhance their productivity and customer satisfaction through designing of contextual interventions in a fast evolving business landscape where efficiency is no more a luxury as there is an increasing demand to provide Japanese quality at Chinese price and last but not the least act as a change catalyst. 

The objective of series of articles on the captioned is not to provide answers however the key objective is to make sure that it tickle the cerebral psyche of our fellow HR colleagues and share a sense of direction to budding HR professionals and all those who aspire to join HR fraternity as Human capital has emerged as No.1 challenge followed by customer relationship, innovation, operational excellence and Corporate Brand and reputation as per The Conference Board CEO Challenge report 2014 wherein survey asks CEOs, Presidents and Chairman across the globe to identify their most critical challenge for the coming year.