Is that redundant? Ninjas and stealth are pretty similar no? Ninjas are known for their ability to strike and get out without being seen. Same with stealth planes, trains and automobiles. The idea behind Ninjas and Stealth tech is they can get the job done without leaving any traces. No one knows they were there and after they do their job, everyone sits around scratching their heads asking “what just happened?”
I wonder sometimes if HR is like Stealth Ninjas? (As opposed to the loud obnoxious Ninjas you hear coming a mile away – throwing beer bottles and singing Irish ditties.) Let me explain.
Don’t Tell Anyone…
I once was working with a large client a few years back on employee reward programs. One day the HR person came to me and asked about a special recognition program for a small group – about 100 people – who had been working on an accounting system overhaul. Now this was no small overhaul. We’re talking Oracle, not Quickbooks. This was a global company with over 20,000 employees. The system they were installing took over a year to put in place and would save them huge amounts of time and money. It was a big deal. Someone close to the project told me they were spending somewhere in the high 9 figures (that’s a number with 8 zeros -yeah – Zuckerburg type zeros.)
So the HR person tells me that the implementation staff for the new system had been working 70, 80, heck 100 hours a week for about a year, and they wanted to reward them for the extra effort. HR wanted to award the people with a travel option – for some around $1,500 in travel, others, who had really been the workhorses of the project, up to $3,000.
Easy-peasy I said. No worries. I’ll get right on that. And, I said, “You might want to consider doing something that they could put in their cubes to commemorate their recognition. Nothing expensive – just something a bit more permanent.”
I explained to my HR contact, that while the travel award was a great idea – having something that would stay around for a while and remind them of the travel experience after the fact would be nice. And, I suggested, the commemorative item would be viewed by others in the organization, who would then see how the company valued extra effort – and subtly communicate the behaviors the company valued. A huge win-win.
Well, you’da thought I’d killed their cat. I got a look that not-so-subtly communicated that the idea of a permanent award was the.dumbest idea.ever. The HR person went on to explain to me in the same voice you use with a three-year old…
“We don’t want anyone to know we’re doing this. We are going to tell the recipients not to talk about it. They aren’t allowed to tell ANYONE. We don’t want other employees knowing that we did this. Think about it. If this got out, everyone would expect to be recognized and get a reward. Everyone. I can’t handle that. I don’t have a way to do that – nor do I have the budget. We’re just going to keep this very quiet.”
Okaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy…. Stealth Recognition coming right up!
HR Is About Being Invisible
That was when I learned that for most companies, great HR is invisible HR. In many cases, top brass believes that the HR you never hear about is the HR that is doing their job. Keeping the masses quiet. Keeping the problems from surfacing. Keeping the lid on anything that might smell of teen spirit.
HR is the Stealth Ninja. They come in and do their job and leave and everyone wonders how it got done. No muss. No fuss.
And no change.
I’m convinced that the HR person in my story would probably have been a better contributor to the organization if they had made this recognition HUGE. They should have screamed it from the top of the building – and down the tony mahogany hallways. They should have made sure EVERYONE saw the award. But they wanted it stealthy, sneaky.
HR Should Be Loud and Proud
My recommendation – HR should be the loudest department in the building. HR should be out in front, leading the charge, taking the risks. HR is the one department in the entire company that represents the people – the employees – the real engine of differentiation. Each day that HR stays stealthy is another day your people are hidden from the top brass and another day they are NOT seen as valuable.
Be noisy. Be loud. Be radical.
Don’t be a Stealth Ninja.
Love the thought rationale! HR should be leading the charge and championing the most unique and valuable asset an organization has, it’s people.
I wish HR folks would be loud and proud! If only it were easier. The problem I see is an inherent conflict in the HR role.
The conflict is this: While HR professionals want to represent the employees and their needs, they also need to support the company mission. And sometimes, employee needs and the company mission are at odds. For example, one of my former clients was an HR director at a large energy company. An employee came to her, reluctantly, because she loved her work but found her manager’s angry tirades and constant criticism too harsh to take. She wanted some counseling. The manager was seen as a rising star in the company, and when my HR director client tactfully discussed with C-level executives in the company the possibility of counseling for my client, or coaching for her manager, the top brass defended the manager — and demoted the employee for complaining. This rightfully irked my client, and was one more straw in the camel’s back that got her to make a career change.
I spent a decade coaching high achievers & fast trackers who were weighing the decision of whether to remain in their companies or leave. In that time, I sadly heard too much grousing that “you can’t trust HR.” Too often, HR is in a bind, feeling at the mercy of entrenched corporate cultures and policies that dictate fairness and equity.
While I totally agree with you that HR ought to go to bat for employees, especially for giving them thoughtful recognition and incentives, until the incentives for HR professionals become aligned, I think these kinds of situations will repeat themselves.
I do see hope, however, among HR professionals who are proud, loud, and armed with good data about why they ought to be able to go to bat for their employees. It takes foresight to envision a new strategic HR role. And courage to stand up and create it, despite the entrenched cultures and policies. And the change is likely to be noisy — getting the masses to speak up, rather than keeping quiet.
Heh. So let me get this straight — these people essentially worked “double” the normal work week for a year, and all HR wanted to do was give them a lousy $3000 bonus? Yeah, I wouldn’t want to advertise that publicly either.
A very good topic about HR, and talent managing
system. The new era, managers for various organizations should be fostering on total human capital [THC].
Kampechara Puriparinya in Bangkok, Thailand.