Shawnee Love   •  
July 5, 2016

As I was watching BREXIT unfold, I was considering what HR could take away from it.  As I reflected, it occurred to me that BREXIT was potentially many things:

• A failed merger,
• An economic shock,
• A divestiture in-progress,
• A new project,
• A cultural change-management initiative, and so on

Your perspective (which is your reality) depends on:

• Your position in the event and
• How much control you have over the event and the company’s plan for getting through the situation.

Serious upheavals happen in business whether due to a new regulation, act of god, competitor strategy, or bad luck. In the chaos of the upheaval, HR plays the roles of:

• Contain and control on the crisis side,
• Calm support and organizer of those affected, and
• Clean up crew ensuring that the organization continues to move forward and doesn’t forget to take action to prevent future impacts of the same shocking nature.

Once the crisis is over, HR also will support the business and its people through the conflicting realities.  As such, we may be working with some people on moving through grief and loss for the old ways into anticipation and interest in what the new ways might offer.  At the same time, we could be:

• Supporting the leaders in their strategic planning process,
• Identifying people with the necessary skills or potential to handle future initiatives,
• Hhiring and/or planning for departures to ensure the business has the right people in the right places for the upcoming projects, and
• Overhauling our performance review and total rewards programs to ensure they are recognizing, rewarding and motivating the right behaviours.

These don’t look much like the activities of an old school “personnel department”, thank God.  It is these types of contributions that make HR interesting and challenging and important to the organizations they serve.

That’s why I still love being in HR.  How about you?