3 Golden C's of HR - Future of HRM in Post COVID Scenario...

on July 5, 2020

When the SARS virus hit China in early 2000, a small e-commerce company called ‘Alibaba’ came into existence. It is now firmly established as a leading retailer in Asia. The most innovative ideas and solutions sometimes take birth in times of crisis or when we face great constraints. The current pandemic has crippled the way businesses operate and has forced people to think of new ideas and bring fresh perspectives on the table.

In Present times the Key Questions in front of HR are:

1] How can HR professionals contribute to the highest value?

2] How can they create and deliver people strategies that upkeep the achievement of business strategy?

3] How can they turn people management into a differentiating advantage, a core competence that drives superior performance?

4] How can work from home (WFH) be equally effective as regular work from the office?

5] How can HR move from being seen as just an implementer of decisions already taken by business leaders to be a source of capability and competence that enables ever more ambitious strategies to be accomplished?

Current crisis has also laid down the need for pre-requisite of thorough expert education and background for HR professionals that can prepare them to be analytical and strategic, ready to face challenges, thoughtful communicators, skilled negotiators, savvy business professionals, astute Change Agents, and Expert HR generalist or Specialist.

Human Resource Professionals today are supposed to manage business interruption, Re-invent Work From Home strategies, Redesign jobs to suit the need of the present environment and manage productivity. They are also supposed to manage New age performance management system, New Career models, and a new model of leadership.

As the transactional spectrum of HR is largely getting outsourced, the role of HR can be broadly defined in 3 categories.

CONSULTANT

As a consultant, HR will play a multifaceted role - develop contextual strategic people intervention, facilitate skill development amongst managerial teams to solve complex human differences, improve business performance through enhanced employee morale, help Managers in managing change and at the same time, consulting them on how to become people leaders who command respect, not because of their position but a disposition, thereby, enhancing overall organization profile. Business Acumen, Ability to anticipate trends, Change Management, Research orientation are the few skills that will play a critical role in making HR Consultant a success.

CONSCIOUS KEEPER

As a Conscious Keeper, HR will celebrate vision, mission and value and ensure that same is weaved into organization culture. The employee will imbibe these in their code of conduct across the level. While working across the level, HR will also need to ensure that they do not hesitate in being conscience keeper of the leadership team who may have their line of sight on short term performance metrics keeping in view ever-evolving business landscape amidst gigantic technological shifts. HR will help Leadership to navigate through the change while remaining a torchbearer of value system in the organization ensuring that behaviuors of its leaders never transgress the bounds of decency irrespective of their hierarchical positioning.

CUSTODIAN

As a custodian, HR will not only ensure compliance with global regulations that govern employment relationships worldwide to avoid any potential harm to organization reputation but also act as a custodian of "people experiences" as progressive organizations are quickly shifting away from the idea of "people as assets" to "people as the fuel" driving organisational growth.

[Views expressed are personal]

About the Authors –

It is always a pleasure to work with Raj. We wrote Leadership Book “ Go and Get Your Success: A Kaleidoscope of Leadership Models that Unshackles Usual Patterns”(Published on Amazon).

Now we are collaborating on writing articles series on different topics. This collaboration will provide many useful insights to HR Professionals and working professionals.

(Dr. Arun Sacher)

Raj Gupta, Author of Multiple Books & Award-Winning HR Leader with 25+ Years of Experience

Dr. Arun Sacher, An Educationist , Management Consultant and Author of many books and articles, with 30+years of experience with Top multinationals and premium academic institutions.