By Payal Sondhi
Of the people, and for the people; that is what HR is all about. Let’s elaborate on how you should learn to manage that when you begin your HR career.
Understand your people:
First and foremost, to begin with, understand your people, know that an HR’s role begins with empathy. Get familiar with your employees – their personal lives, milestones and work anniversaries, roles, calibre, strength, weaknesses, comfort and discomfort, etc. Value the diversity and learn to develop a balance in it. This is an investment you need to make from day one as it will help you in the long run when it comes to creating the right culture, increasing employee engagement and productivity, and achieving the overall goals.
Recognize your role:
HR now is recognized as a strategic partner, the focus is more on employee engagement, talent management, fostering innovation, breaking stereotypes and developing a collaborative culture.
Understanding the strategic definition of your role and then connecting these to the business plan will assist you in planning a strategy that is completely results driven.
Comprehend the business:
It is difficult to capitalize on the human capital unless you have a completing understanding of the business. This means identifying the respective stakeholders i.e. the top management, employees, potential employees, and everyone else who falls under the corporate umbrella. Understand their specific needs and requirement, develop a bridge between all of them and based on it comprehend the year’s targets of the organization. If you have a clear understanding of the vision of the business, you will then also be able to develop the culture that will help achieve the defined targets easily and at a faster pace.
Be technology savvy:
Understanding the technological know-how has become a must, especially for an HR Professional. You need to incorporate an end-to-end software in the organization through which you can operate your payroll, systemize the attendance, employee information, taxes, scheduling and more. This will help track most of your important processes and save the investment of time that otherwise is given for organizing and processing.
Widen your skill-set:
Make every effort to increase your expertise. This could be through e-learning, sector based seminars, training courses or simply taking up projects that are complementary to the HR profile. This will not only give you exposure to different verticals but ensure that you keep growing. Schedule skip level meetings every quarter with the top management, this will help you understand if you are in track when it comes to your management’s vision of the organization and also your profile.
Increase your network:
Investing time in networking with professionals in HR field across sectors is the fastest way to increase your knowledge and your skills and also expand your business connections. Discussions with ‘like-mind’ HR professionals is extremely rewarding, it will give you different industry insights and perspectives which will eventually help you build a knowledge base and confidence to become a strategic partner in your company.
Embrace your role:
This is the textbook definition of being an HR. Ensure that you are well-organized, good at multitasking and multiple focusing, self-disciplined, good at negotiations and dealing with ambiguous areas, are an excellent communicator, problem solver, receptive towards your profile and above all, transparent. This is your basic checklist that will give you an advantage not just with a new career but will also with every new role.
Know that when you are an HR Manager you need to have knowledge and be strategic to make an impact in an organization; this requires focus and a long term commitment. A simple suggestion to achieve this? Have a mindset of a start-up owner. Be determined, passionate, goal setter, hard worker and a hustler!
