We’re seeing significant shifts in thinking about some long-held policies and practices in HR. First we were hearing about firms like Netflix abandoning policies on things such as holiday allowances, and now a number of major organisations are apparently ditching their performance management processes.
When big companies such as Accenture and Deloitte start to scrap long-enshrined practices like the annual performance review and performance rankings, many managers – as well as those on the receiving end – will probably be hoping their employer will follow suit. But those responsible for performance management, and for ensuring the fair distribution of pay and reward in organisations, will doubtless be questioning what the alternative is. At this point, these businesses are few, but what they are focusing on is the purpose or outcomes of these policies and processes.
The challenge for us all is to recognise where our policies and processes (often handed down over many years) are effective in achieving the outcomes intended, and where they are not. The main aim of performance management should be to improve performance, but it has too often become a ritualised and bureaucratic process that can distract managers from the regular connection, engagement and feedback conversations they should be having, as well as the deeper periodic discussions about development and growth opportunities.
What is also happening is the move towards what some might call putting the human back into human resources: focusing on the person, enabling them to do the best job they can, and giving them the opportunity to develop. That is the wider purpose of much of what we do in HR and L&D. It’s one of the reasons we’ve been stressing the need to get back to a deeper understanding of human behaviour, but also why we need to get better at measuring and understanding outcomes and value. The future has to be a lot less about control, and a lot more about enablement.
The long drive for efficiency and too much focus on so-called ‘best practice’ have constrained thinking into a ‘one size fits all’ approach, in which it’s easy to lose sight of purpose. Good HR is contextual, individually and organisationally, and the world of work is evolving so quickly anyway that focusing on finding best practice versus most appropriate practice, or ‘best fit’, makes less and less sense.
Rather than prescriptive processes and practices, we need to start with broad principles that are sensitive to various stakeholders and are focused on good business purpose and outcomes. They’ll help us all make good decisions when faced with the kind of dilemmas illustrated in this month’s People Management magazine – not only when there are conflicting interests at stake, but also where there is no law, process or ‘best practice’ to tell you what to do to achieve a particular outcome.
The debate about principles and what we stand for is touching an increasingly common zeitgeist for business and society at large. All the established professions, from medicine to accountancy, are founded on core principles. Of course, principles alone do not define a profession – they’re backed up with a solid knowledge base, standards, qualifications and CPD, and a deep understanding of context. But as we debate the future of HR, we think principles are a very good place to start.
