Hi Andre

There are certainly roles in HR where one doesn't need to be a line manager - I was a HR Analyst for many years, specialising in MI Systems and Reward. I reported to the HRD but didn't have any direct reports. So that sort of specialist role is certainly a way forward. Also I suspect there are a great many HR Business Partner roles which don't have line management responsibility. And then there's being a HR Manager in a small organisation where there HR Department only consists of one person. I think there are definitely opportunities to advance your career in that direction, but I think reaching to HRD level without having had experience of managing people might be s stretch.

However, I fundamentally believe that the skills you need to be a good line manager are needed to be a good HR Professional and potentially in greater depth. How can we advise managers on how to be good managers and deal well with their people if we are not good at dealing with people ourselves? In some ways it is harder for us as HR professionals - not only do we have to understand what is motivating employees to behave the way they do and help managers address that, we also have to understand what is driving managers and come up with strategies to guide and persuade them in the right direction. We need to have excellent negotiating and persuading skills and a deep understanding of what makes people tick in the workplace to be effective in our roles.

I guess what I'm saying is that if we want to help managers become better managers, we ought to already have the skills to be line managers ourselves if needed.

I'd be interested to hear other people's views - I think this is a question that could have some really fascinating answers.

Kind regards

Jackie

Andre said:

Agree broadly with Jaaqui's comments and would add the following.

• Doubling headcount at HRD level in order to accomodate someone who dosn't wish to lead the team, but wants to be paid similarly to the HRD would not IMHO represent a reasonable adjustment. Firstly for cost reasons and secondly for added complications in decision  making.
• Top level HR subject matter experts (C&B, L&D, IR etc.) don't work in a vacuum behind the closed doors of their office; a major part of their job will be the coordination and driving of multi-function project teams inside and outside the company in order to deliver final results which rarely depend on a single function

Junior and middle level specialists on the other hand can often be expected to have their responsibilities potentially limited to thinking and proposing, but certainly not the more senior jobs who will need to be more delivery oriented.

"Can one still advance to HRD level without having direct reports?"

I would say yes, if you don't think of it as having direct reports, more colleagues who you can share workloads with, providing support and guidance, allowing them to make mistakes (within reason) and suss out their own way of working so they can learn on their own as well as with your input. If you're good at team-working and personable, you'll be a good leader, and if you're a good leader, you won't have many awkward situations you need to 'manage' (which is what puts me off being a manager!).

How can we advise managers on how to be good managers and deal well with their people if we are not good at dealing with people ourselves?

This.

I think Jaqueline has explained it completely.

The role of HR (as a profession) is not to "manage people" (line managers' role) but to manage "how" people are managed.

That certainly can be done without having line management roles oneself (as also described by colleagues) through working alone in a small organisation, or specialising an some aspect of HR that focusses on research or statistical analysis for instance, but just as you would not trust the designer of an aircraft to fly it unless they had also trained as a pilot: How can other managers trust advice from someone who has never managed? Because in telling those managers "how" to best manage their people, we are in fact managing them.

For example: A manager needs to discipline one of their reports: they steam into our office spitting fire about: "...that damned Joe Bloggs...." and what they would like to do to him... Or maybe they enter quietly but with the same message: They want 'rid of him (by tomorrow). How do we deal with either situation? Do we simply pass them (or read from) a copy of the ACAS Code? No: We address their ire, we identify the key issues raised by Joe's conduct; we warn them of any associated problems that need to be addressed....  (Like Joe's disability or mental heath problem)... and we do it all in a way that responds to their attitude, needs (both as a manager and personally), and understanding (both academic and work-cultural). 

Those are skills no book, or degree of study, can provide. They are learned from "dealing with" people, specifically at work but in general terms also, and they are being applied as a means of managing Joe's line manager's approach to his misbehaviour, or lack of capability, and in either case, performance.

It would certainly be possible (in theory) to take on the (essentially strategic "hands off") role of an HRD based purely on academic qualification, but the result would possibly be better provided by AI, since AI can store more information than can a human, and collate it (all) in a fraction of the time; so should be able to spit out uniform answers based on strategic analysis alone far faster and more effectively, leaving less senior practitioners (and LMs) to make the oracle's pronouncements fit. (....and do I hear whispers on the breeze that this might be the way HR is heading? ....I hope not). But the difficult is that most companies looking for an HRD want one who has actually experienced working with (and thus, inherently, "managing"... as above) people or other (line) managers. So whatever one's "route to the top" I think it would be highly unlikely that anyone could become a competent and practically effective HRD without having "line managed" someone, in some context during their career.

P