A Leadership Beyond

https://aleadershipbeyond.com/

We asked our network to respond with brief quotes on what is needed to Reimagine Human Resources in this new world. The responses were inspiring, intriguing, and thought provoking.

We have several conversations being scheduled and in the queue.

Today's video is an executive summary of what we have heard so far and an update on what is next in our series.

We invite you to join in on the conversation by suggesting topics, speakers, articles, asking questions or whatever moves you.

We intend to unite like hearted leaders to cultivate a Leadership Beyond…And it will be richer with YOUR voice in the mix. If the spirit moves you, please forward the link to this community to your friends, colleagues, and enemies (if you have any).

First, we zoom out. A core axiom of Leadership Beyond is that holistic people profit is as important as business profit, and though the two profits are ever challenging to align, they must not, need not, be antithetical.

We kick our quotes off with a soulful compass in our quest:

"Unleashing our full potential at work will begin when our jobs touch and inspire our hearts & souls." – Dr. Orly Maravankin, Global Business Executive Coach, Senior Advisor to Fortune 100

We asked for conversation, and right off the bat, we get it. Two brilliant people leaders, who have not yet met (may soon in an expert panel) shine the light on two sides of the same coin – Seek first to understand, then to be understood. The late, great Steven Covey listed this as one of his Seven Habits. We concur, but before the Covey organization sues us for co-opting one of their powerful habits, please remember St. Francis said it 12 centuries prior. 😊

We are reminded by the following quotes of a fundamental element of good improv. Rather than yes, but..., we say yes and.

"HR leaders must learn the intricacies of the business. it is not enough to have vague familiarity with the financial statements. For deeper effectiveness we need to understand – not just know – the methodologies, processes of how the work gets done. be embedded in the business to create solutions that yield more measurable outcomes that gain credibility."

– Jackie Kaweck, Experienced People Leader, Providing HR Consulting Support as she seeks her right fit role.

"I agree wholeheartedly that HR professionals should understand the key levers of the business. I do not think the burden should be 100% on human resources, however – understanding should be a two-way street. A business leader who takes time to understand his organization's "people levers" and the value HR can provide (beyond the nuts and bolts of hiring, compliance, reductions-in-force, etc.) will be infinitely more impactful than one who takes a more transactional approach with their HR partner. HR is often brought in at the tail end of decisions because leaders may not be aware of the people implications of the decision – and how these will ultimately impact the business. Yes, HR needs to understand the business, and business leaders need to educate themselves about human resources and people strategies."

-Lisa Padden, Founder & Principle, Big Toe Consulting

Yes, we have heard, "leadership is not a position". And we agree. Still, functionally it seems that leadership and culture are often treated like a project, assigned, replete with check the boxes, events. Ah yes, we did that "leadership thing" a couple of years ago. Leadership and culture are all our responsibility.

"A gap I've seen over the years in multiple industries is leaders putting all of the onus of leadership development on the HR team- ODL, HR Director, etc. Instead of focusing on straight leadership development for the manager through VP levels, I've started to deliver training and feedback about what the exec team member can do to influence organic leadership development to their direct reports. I've seen it nicely cascade then to the Directors to managers and starting to get some traction from the managers to supervisor level."

-Eric Zemaitaitis, Regional HR Director, Amita Health

Empowerment needs to be more than a corporate buzz word. Thanks to Dolores, we have an acronym to guide us.

"Organizations that give their employees "People Power" to address current issues and avoid future pitfalls recognize that its brain trust is their PEOPLE. This calls for "Reimagining HR" and HR to possess a LOCAL mindset."

-Dolores Priegnitz, Change Management, Program Management, Human Resources consultant, life coach

[LOCAL is an acronym] to guide us in this process. Dolores has agreed to an interview to deep dive this practice. Stay tuned.

Thank you for contributing these powerful thought starters.

Adrienne and Tom have some next steps in mind, interviews, panels, and more articles. Please let us know what would be most helpful to you in your leadership journey. And, please put your voice in the leadership mix.

The sail is set, our compass points to True North, People Power.

Cheers to cultivating A Leadership Beyond.

Together.

We invite your participation in the conversation "reimagining Human Resources."

Let us begin this conversation on reimagining Human Resources with a trusty google search for a baseline definition of Human Resources.

Here is what we come up with:

• Human resources refer to the department charged with managing personnel.

The first expansion of this definition immediately leads to functional, legal, and operational role of HR:

• The primary function of human resources is to ensure the company complies with federal and state labor and employment laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

A broader more generalized definition:

• A human resource department has many functions, including recruiting, overseeing compensation, monitoring performance, and providing training.

That doesn't feel right, does it? At the end of the great recession a trend emerged to give HR executives titles including the word "people", such as Vice President, People. Also, we noticed the word Talent is used for many Human Resource roles. Training and development became talent development.

The title and reality are often divergent.

Tension will always exist between narrowly viewing labor as a commodity and empowering people to do their best work and experience holistic fulfillment. This tension is not necessarily unhealthy, either for the organization or for its people. But without strategic leadership, short-term labor concerns drown out long-term culture concerns.

Two factors we can quickly agree on:

• We each are granted 168 hours per week. If we desire to expand our value beyond this time, no matter the number of productivity classes we enroll in, we must gain the cooperation of other people. (Influence, collaboration)
• A corporation (literal meaning body) is a group of people charged with profitably executing a mission. And, the largest investment is, you guessed it, people.

Regardless of position, function, or role, we are all responsible for people leadership. It is not all up to the HR department.

Emerging from the recent crisis provides unprecedented opportunity to reimagine leadership from multiple perspectives.

Leadership Beyond has chosen "Reimagining Human Resources" as our first community of conversation series. Check out this video of Tom and Adrienne starting this discussion.

Here is where you come in:

To cultivate a leadership beyond, we must include multiple viewpoints from a diverse audience of established and emerging leaders.

Adrienne and I began our collaboration with big ideas for our work together and the impact we could have in the business world. We thought big and intended to start big.

Boom! Pandemic. Change. Clients. Change. No more details and certainly. No pity party here, as we are aware that you have your own version of this unprecedented disruption.

Your world has changed. This change is accelerating. This so-called new normal will not just happen. To create a world that we would choose to live in, it is essential that we create new leaders as well as nurture a new leadership.

It's time to cultivate… a leadership beyond.

Adrienne and I had great temptation to say, "let's wait and see what happens". Maybe we can do something next year when things get back to normal. It is easy for us to react to change. But true leaders respond.

Watch the short video and you will see that Adrienne and I began this collaboration with a simple, but resourceful question: What can we do, right where we are, with what we have? Think big. And be willing to start small.