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You Talking to Me?? Why, Yes, I Am.

Too many consultants are thwarted when the buyer says, “Sounds interesting, I think you should talk to our human resources director (or training manager or whatever).” That’s not the time to ask directions to the HR department, but to say any of the following:

1. I’m happy to do that. In my experience, I often hear ideas and intent not consistent with your own. So it’s very valuable to debrief on my meeting. What’s the best date and time to schedule our getting back together?

2. This is a strategic decision, not something that HR has the means or capability to decide. They need marching orders on this from a comprehensive business perspective, and that can only come from you.

3. If they haven’t been able to address this issue internally yet—and obviously they haven’t or you wouldn’t be talking to me—why is it useful to involve them at this stage?

4. They are the executors and implementers for a portion of this, and I’m happy to work with them at the proper time. But right now we’re formulating what the project should achieve and look like.

5. If this is perceived as an “HR project,” it will fail. This must come from line leadership, as initiated and supported by you. It’s your team.

6. Every HR department has credibility problems, political preferences, and certain blind spots in terms of the daily operations. It’s not a good idea to burden a new project with those liabilities.

7. I guarantee you that HR will tell you to delay, study, and otherwise make this project more complex than it needs to be. Let’s tell them what to do to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

8. Anything you try to do through HR will wind up to be more expensive, more time consuming, less credible, and include two dozen of the latest fads, academics’ books, and buzzwords. People will recoil from that, or see it as “this, too, shall pass.”

9. Does your HR leadership regularly sit in on your senior meetings with your team, with policy initiatives, or with strategy formulation? If not, then they would be dysfunctional participating in the formulation of this project.

10. I deal with the person who has the fiduciary responsibility to make investment decisions and evaluate ROI. Ethically, I need to understand your expectations to ensure that I can help to meet them and to ensure they are reasonable. Those needs and this relationship cannot be delegated to a third party.

You cannot name for me, in the last ten years, ten human resource executives promoted directly to CEO positions in Fortune 1000 firms. You can name line vice presidents, actuaries, general counsels, CFOs, COOs, and myriad others. There is a reason for that. Don’t go there.

© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Alan Weiss on June 2nd, 2009 filed in Business of Consulting, Marketing Examples |

4 Responses to “You Talking to Me?? Why, Yes, I Am.”

  1. Denise Zaldivar Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Hello, Alan! Thank you for this very interesting perspective on HR you share with us. I am a big fan of HR becoming a strategic partner in a company’s culture dissemination, however, as so often it happens, this is rarely the case. I very much enjoy reading your opinions and insights. Have a great day!

  2. Alan Weiss Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    It’s rarely the case because the best and the brightest don’t usually go into HR and stay there. Companies tend to move people there whom they don’t know what else to do with.

  3. Jenn McGroary Says:
    June 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am

    I agree 100% with #10. Almost always best if you can meet and discuss issues with the person directly in charge of writing the check.

    Unless you are able to use the person you are talking with as a stepping stone to help sell your suggestions to the person in charge, it is best to go straight to the source ahead of time.

    ~ Jenn McGroary

  4. Alan Weiss Says:
    June 3rd, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    Amen, Jenn.

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