Academic perspective Comment
Everyone wants to feel understood,
that goes for CEOs as much as for cashiers.
We have to aim to understand the operation
better than the operation understands itself
“The uniform is itchy. We keep
giving that feedback but no-one
pays any attention.” This was the response
from one of the bank cashiers I spoke to
during a branch visit. I gave this feedback
back at headquarters and one of the HR
people actually laughed. This captured the
unfortunate yet all too common response I
get while feeding back such insights from
the front line.
If you have a vested interest in the
success of the organisation then this
example typifies a moment of truth that
either creates or destroys value.
As a stakeholder you hope for several
things. Firstly, that your frontline staff
smile, engage and ‘care for’ the customer
while being in an itchy uniform. The
customer also hopes that the person
serving them will be well mannered,
courteous and efficient.
Second, the shareholder hopes that a
positive in-branch interaction means the
customer is likely to want to take on
additional banking services from them.
The leadership team hopes that the
employee is living the values and is aligned
to some (costly and likely well thoughtthrough)
corporate vision and mission.
The community is also hoping all
this works out as they’ve been promised
a small slice of profits for important
local services.
All of these stakeholder dreams are not
actually achievable, mainly because of two
things. Firstly, the uniform was procured
through a brilliant process that smashed
down the supplier who agreed to the
bank’s terms but was only able to do so
with a poor-quality material. Secondly,
the staff have been giving this feedback
through surveys and their HR business
partners, who do care, but no-one is
listening to them.
While we’re in ‘moment of truth’ stuff
I’ll share a couple of my (generalised)
truths. HR business partners don’t feel like
business partners. They often feel that they
want to be seen and involved in a way
that’s still aspirational for many. Most feel
that they are still seen as personnel and
invited to meetings often because their
internal clients have to be perceived to
be taking them seriously.
But are they involved in really
important conversations to do with
strategy? Are they consulted with matters
of growth? Is it because they are not
good enough? The answer to each of
these is negative.
My second moment of truth is that
others in the meeting often feel that the
HR business partner doesn’t add value. Do
they involve them? Do they tap into their
deep organisational knowledge and knowhow?
Again the answer is no. And here we
have a heated conflict.
The same can be said for L&D, who can
get frustrated when they put on lots of
courses and programmes and people don’t
properly utilise them. The people feel that
blockers and poor managers stand in their
way of accessing the development they
really want.
Truth be told, most people don’t really
have a clue what they want anyway.
Thankfully there is a solution to this.
There is a fundamental disconnection
between ‘functions’. Most people in most
functions, especially HR and HRBPs,
would find it hard to talk to me about the
commercial and operational aspects of
the client, team or department(s) they
support. But this is the very thing that
builds both credibility and trust with the
leaders of those teams.
Everyone wants to feel understood, that
goes for CEOs as much as for cashiers.
As HR professionals we have to try to
understand the operation better than the
operation understands itself. That’s
always been my goal. Once I’m there, or
close to being there, I can engage and
most importantly truly empathise with
the people in that role.
Practically speaking, taking the time to
understand operations should be 20% to
40% of your time if you’re in HR. One to
two days a week should be spent deep in
the operation learning not just what your
customer wants, but what your
customer’s customer wants.
If this was more broadly understood
then the itchiness of the uniform
would not only have been of utmost
importance in getting the feedback
up the line, but it would have been
listened to and acted upon because
the messenger was a trusted and true
business partner.
Value will have been created not
destroyed. Happy staff, happy customer,
happy shareholders, happy leaders, and a
happy community. HR
Wayne Clarke is the founding partner of The Global Growth Institute
hrmagazine.co.uk February 2020 HR 17
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