HR Leadership: More Than Tea

HRDictionary is pleased to announce its first guest post by RChilli , a resume management and automation firm specializing in giving resumes a social touch .  Vinay Johar, CEO of Rchilli enjoys talking to people about their Recruitment Software challenges and proposing simpler ways of automating things around. Apart from work, he loves playing with his kids and relish traveling to new places. Click here to check complete company profile. You can also follow RChilli on twitter @RChilli

HR leadership did not begin with David Ulrich’s first book on HR; it began with people management in hunter-gatherer societies. The British Industrial revolution started the shift towards standardization and productivity, paving the way for the modern notion of HR leadership. Employers realized (or labor unions pressured them to realize) that their workforce would be more productive and perform better if employee satisfaction increased.

The British introduced the concept of tea time in the workplace; giving workers a chance to rest and have a tasty drink while increasing overall workplace productivity. The British HR tradition lives on as I sit in my office in India drinking tea be. Of course HR leadership is much more than giving complementary tea to employees. Good communication and listening skills, confidence, positive outlook, honesty, inspirational character, and being able to identify others strengths are just some the qualities that make a good leader according to Forbes. But what sets HR leaders apart from leadership in general? HR has changed even in the last twenty years with globalization and improved technology. HR leaders need to think globally in how they manage their global corporate cultures, such as making policy adjustments based on the culture of a specific office or country. With increased international relocation of employees, HR leaders must speak, act, and carry out goals in a way that is inclusive to workplace diversity. HR leadership should be customized to be responsive towards people at an individual level while taking their culture into consideration too. This means that HR leaders should strive to continuously increase their cultural awareness through education and observation.Technology has changed HR leadership by making it much easier for leaders to be in the know about what is going on across departments, and for HR leaders to share their information. Consumers have become more conscious about ethics in purchasing decisions, which means HR leaders are under more pressure to not only meet but exceed standards.

Simplification is the future of HR leadership because many of the tedious HR processes will be streamlined. It will become easier for HR leaders to find applicants who could someday become HR leaders because resume parsing and other related management services will become increasingly necessary simply because of the globalization of the workforce. Technology has made it easy for applicants to apply from anywhere in the world, and good HR leaders will need to be able to articulate what exactly makes a good leader so that they can find the best talent.

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