What the Best Human Resource Leaders All Have in Common

As a Human Resource (HR) practitioner and management consultant, I’ve met my fair share of HR leaders. Most are dedicated professionals trying to do their best under often difficult organizational conditions. A few, however, have been able to reach loftier heights. These are the HR leaders who are able to make a lasting contribution to the long-term success of their organizations.

While the people I’m referring to may vary greatly in terms of age, gender or personality, they also share three traits that I’m convinced play a role in facilitating their extraordinary accomplishments.

Uncommon Leadership Ability

The etymological roots of the word ‘leadership’ are believed to have their origin in the Middle English word leden, meaning leadership among other things “to guide” or “to show the way or path.” Popular usage over the centuries seems to have adapted this definition to describe a leader as one “who goes first” or who “knows the way.”

All the top HR practitioners I know seem to have an innate sense of the direction in which they want to lead their organization’s people practices. They also have one other leadership quality in abundance – courage.

According to Winston Churchill (former British Prime Minister and revered war-time leader) “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities…because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” John D. Maxwell, an American expert on leadership and prolific author on the subject, also puts it well when he says “Great leaders have good people skills, and they can get people to compromise and work together. But they also take a stand when needed.”

As HR practitioners, we are often called upon to take a stand in our everyday work. We may find ourselves having to show courage by standing up to management colleagues over a new staff policy that we are convinced will cause unrest within the workforce. On the other hand, we might need to explain to employees why the organization can’t afford to introduce a much-desired new welfare benefit due to its financial position. In both cases, the best HR leaders are willing to step up and take a stand, even at the cost of personal gain or popularity.

Managerial Prowess

We’ve all met and perhaps worked with managers who “talk a good talk, but can’t walk a good walk.” Such managers typically lack managerial prowess or the ability to get things done. This is particularly challenging when the manager in question happens to be an HR leader himself.

Fortunately, the best HR leaders are invariably very good managers. They take the time to plan their moves, think hard about how best to organize the work that needs to be done, know how to get the best out of their people, and don’t take their eyes off the ball until the results they want have been accomplished.

The top HR leaders are also very effective communicators. By this I don’t just mean that they have a superior ability to speak well or even to give the odd download inspirational speech, although many of the HR leaders I’m describing do have superb interpersonal skills. Rather, I’m referring to their innate ability to ‘create understanding’ whenever they must communicate with others. Whether they are explaining management’s position on a particular issue to employees or helping management colleagues to appreciate the employee perspective on a contentious new policy or program, the best HR leaders know exactly how to make sure that everyone involved “gets it.” It’s a rare quality that all good leaders share, but one that has added significance for the effective HR practitioner.

One of the best HR managers I ever worked with had an uncanny ability to constantly show me the big picture of our work while somehow managing to give guidance in even the smallest areas of detail.

I believe such managers are able to inspire tremendous effort on the part of those they lead for exactly this reason – they keep you looking upwards and trying to be your best self all the while providing you with the support you need when you run into difficulty. No little ‘Black Book’ for them.

Soft Hearts and Hard Heads

It’s often assumed that the most important qualifications for working in HR are the innate desire to ‘work with people’ and good ‘people skills.’ Indeed, many parents, teachers and career counselors still offer well-meaning career advice based on the extent to which they believe their children or wards have these very qualities.

Imagine, then, the surprise and sometimes utter dismay of many new entrants into the profession when they are rudely introduced to the “Realpolitik” of HR in many organizations.

Today’s top HR leaders may well be humanists at heart, but they are also realistic enough to recognize that they must be seen to play their proper role in ensuring that the organization is battle-ready. In practice, this means that the best HR leaders are keenly aware that management’s primary responsibility to employees is to create an enabling organizational environment for personal opportunity. Once this has been done, it then becomes HR’s responsibility to support employees who are willing to grasp the opportunities created or to rapidly replace those who can’t or won’t.

There’s a great admonition from Richard S. Sloma, author of No-Nonsense Management, that I try to keep close to heart: “One should manage an organization as nature would by showing neither malice nor pity; abhor a vacuum, whether of power or action.”

In the end, the best HR leaders are almost indistinguishable from any other leader within their organizations. They all share a burning desire to build a winning organization by practicing good management principles. The difference between them race and the average HR practitioner lies in their ability to balance a hardheaded approach to business with the know-how required to get the best out of people by creating the right organizational environment.

Conclusion

It would be impossible to describe the many facets of all the great HR leaders I’ve been privileged to meet over the years. However, the differences are often more about style than function, and I believe the three traits described above will, if practiced diligently over time, equip the serious-minded practitioner with a set of skills that will stand him or her in good stead no matter the organizational circumstances.