Align your HR destination with your organisation’s destination.
While waiting to board a flight to Cape Town from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport recently, I had some time to watch the “passing parade”. The seemingly endless flow of people with facial expressions as varied as the backgrounds they came from made me think of the song made famous by Diana Ross in 1979:
“Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life’s been showing you?
Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you’re hoping for?
When you look behind you there’s no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?”
Every person comes from somewhere and is on their way to somewhere else. For a short while, at an airport, they all merge into a couple of restless queues at the various check-in counters, then file into an aircraft to settle into their numbered seats while listening to the sound of jet engines. Once they reach their destinations, they clutch their luggage and hurry off to face the day’s requirements.
Who are these people? Where are they going? It will be nigh impossible to get an answer from the public at large, so by means of assumption, we can safely say they are human, they come from somewhere and they are on their way somewhere –
Slow down a bit and think, if you will, for a moment or so about destination, yes, something as simple as destination. According to Google¹ the word destination started being used in late Middle English: from Latin destinatio(n- ), from destinare ‘make firm, establish’. The original sense was ‘the action of intending someone or something for a purpose’, later ‘being destined for a place’, hence (from the early 19th century) the place itself. It is quite evident that destination and purpose are closely linked – we do not have to dwell too much on purpose, maybe more at another time.
To reach any destination, an idea, a dream or a thought has to be mulled over, processed and converted to a series of actions with specific time spans so that the particular destination can be reached.
This also rings true for the field of Human Resources.
Without a decent, practical and collective HR destination, the likelihood of succumbing to side shows, politics, “internal terrorism” and fads is a reality. This should not be. That being said, is your HR destination clear, unambiguous and aligned to the organisation’s mission, vision and value statements and does every employee know where this destination is and how to get there?
To shed some light on this matter, let us consider what (or where) such a destination could be, by reflecting on the following questions.
1. Is the destination a place, an achievement or a state of mind?
2. Is the destination linked to the company mission and vision and does company culture feature somewhere in the equation?
3. Can the details of the destination be easily shared with and communicated to all levels of employees?
4. In the event of the HR Director leaving the company, will the destination remain unchanged?
5. Are there guiding milestones en route to the destination?
6. What happens once the destination has been reached and what happens thereafter?
There are many more questions one can ask, but let us think long and hard about the destination (strategic direction) in the context of Human Resources and the organisational strategy. To assist a bit with this thinking job of ours, Raymond Ackerman’s book, The Four Legs of The table² gives some valuable insight into the importance of harmonious relations between profit seeking shareholders and people, when he says:
“Profits are the bloodstream of the economic world, but social responsibility should be woven through a business person’s whole existence.”
In order for this to come to fruition, a company’s HR destination has to be aligned to the organisational destination. The HR destination should be reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that it is still relevant and valid. An outdated HR strategy renders the whole HR department useless. It would be a shame to eventually reach the most spoken about and publicised destination only to find it deserted and haunted – by the ghosts of competitors who reached the destination ages ago and have since moved on! Think of the bitter disappointment and unnecessary squandering of resources –
So, what can be done by the astute, agile CEO worth their salt, to support the equally astute, agile HR Director in ensuring the correct destination is on the radar?
1. Involve the board, Exco and relevant stakeholders in a debate, with the goal on agreeing to the destination;
2. Consider wider input such as the PESTLE factors;
3. Take into account contributing factors like staff morale, staff turnover, CCMA/LC case load, onboarding efficiencies and the state of training and development;
4. Put best practice and increasing productivity high up on the list of “scoping” tasks;
5. Compile an action plan with an expiry date; and
6. After inclusive consultation and refining of the plan (with reasons why it is now the destination), compile a short brief with three to five bullet points for distribution to all employees. Create a communication strategy and plan before this communication.
As the process to identify the correct destination makes way for the plan and how to track progress on the way to the destination, the CEO/HR Director combo (they should be a combo by now, with all the time they spent working on this matter!) can rest assured that they and the organisation’s people can now honestly answer the questions in the song:
“Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life’s been showing you?
Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you’re hoping for?
When you look behind you there’s no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?”
May the words of Steve Maraboli, the author of Life, the Truth, and Being Free, encourage all you Level Five Leaders in HR and organisations alike, when he states –
“When you establish a destination by defining what you want, then take physical action by making choices that move you towards that destination, the possibility for success is limitless and arrival at the destination is inevitable.”
Leon Steyn is the Group Human Resources Executive of TMS Group, www.tmsg.co.za.
References
www.google.co.za/#q=origin+of+the+word+destination;
Ackerman, R. 2005, The Four Legs Of The Table, p. 146;
www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/destination.
This article appeared in the October 2015 issue of HR Future magazine.
