A recent UK report arguing for HR to add more value to M&A deals is extremely revealing.
Not only does it show the lack of effectiveness of HR in M&A’s, it also reveals the secret ambition of HR – to be the leaders in their corporation.
The article suggests the HR professional should coach senior leaders in their own corporation. That is nothing less than practical leadership of the senior leaders. To me that’s leadership of the corporation, plain and simple.
Most HR people are not equipped to do that.
Firstly, if they are members of the corporation of whose senior leaders they are coaching, they most likely haven’t yet earned the respect that they would need, having spent most of their time nurturing their HR bureaucracy, often to the silent disapproval of the very leaders they may attempt to coach.
Secondly they are compliance driven and mostly lack the interpersonal skills to lead anyone or even advise other leaders on the ‘how’, instead focussing on the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.
Thirdly they don’t have sufficient interest or exposure to the realities of operational requirements.
HR in most large enterprises has grown to an oversized department of bureaucrats who now must continuously seek to justify their existence, and thus seek roles beyond their original design, such as leadership of the corporation itself.
I urge HR people to recognise their value in the administration of people and their well-being, and support leaders, and not attempt to do their job for them.
If HR people seek to be business leaders then get out of HR and get into operational roles.
What do you think?
