What makes a great HR leader?

I can recall pivotal moments in my career, when I had fantastic bosses who inspired, challenged, supported, recognised and encouraged me. My first CHRO when I worked in the media industry many, many years ago.  The Executive Director of the first recruitment search agency I worked for.  A VP at a retail and manufacturing organisation. 

These bosses weren’t just interested in my own development and achievements though.  They were each passionate about improving service and knowledge standards right across their companies, and their niche industry areas – not just because it was a smart way to improve profits, or because they had kind hearts…..but because they really wanted to make a long lasting difference.  To create and leave a legacy if you will, and take things “to the next level”.

What did the best HR executives excel at?

I’ve been thinking about what it was that actually made each of these professionals so exceptional as people leaders, and in hindsight they actually shared common traits:

1. readily available for queries and to bounce ideas off, regardless of their own workload pressures

2. they never made me feel silly or that I was wasting their time

3. gave me a variety of tasks and responsibilities that played to my strengths, but also gave me projects that really stretched my abilities and kept me interested

4. clear in setting expectations for what needed to be done, but let me have responsibility for how to do it

5. in the event of work I had no experience in, they set clear guidelines that helped set me up for success

6. offered continual, unsolicited constructive feedback; without me ever needing to wait for a formal evaluation event

7. celebrated my successes generously and were quick to share credit

8. helped me focus on the “hindsight" learning” from my failures and pushed me to “move onwards”

9. were not afraid to show their own weaknesses, never covered up their own mistakes nor tried to profess that they had all the answers

10. always kept me informed on the big picture and how my efforts were contributing to that

11. shared their reasoning and rationale for decisions and directions

12. remained constant in their professionalism, with respect, compassion and fairness in all interactions that I saw with others; but also stayed consistent in non tolerance of poor behaviours and performance

Everyone likes to be managed differently

Personally, I don’t perform well with micro management, nor with “this is the way we’ve always done it here”. I also get bored if I’m not regularly learning. So the traits these leaders shared, for me meant I was:

• empowered to make and fix mistakes

• trusted to use my judgement and/or comfortable that I could ask for help

• given confidence to go way out of my natural comfort zone, to embrace change and innovation

• fiercely loyal and protective of these leaders, and wanting to make them even more successful

• wanting to work harder and smarter to fulfill their expectation of my potential

• incredibly flexible and accommodating when things weren’t going to plan for promises made by the company to all staff

• an authentic brand ambassador for the team, division and company

So to all up and coming professionals across the HR functions – is the work you’re doing today of a calibre that sets a new standard, and that will inspire others for years to come?  Are you really working to make a long lasting difference, not just for yourself or your current employer, but for all people around you and within your profession?  Are you consistently and constantly working to achieve improvements?  Will you be the kind of leader that people remember fondly in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now?