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Ever since the industry shifted from Personnel to HR (and maybe more so IF we are moving to people and culture), there’s been at least one thing that HR is supposed to do; help. Personnel was seen as mostly an administrative function, the people who manage the paperwork, collect paperwork, adjust the paperwork, and overall passively respond to the decisions the organisation makes.

Modern HR means doing, and being, more than just administrators, it means helping with the decision process. Getting involved earlier at the contemplation stage, helping with the thinking, not just enacting other’s decisions, so that we can help grow and support the people part of the organisational process.

Getting let in

Here’s the tricky part, involving HR is voluntary. Some functions that you perform require managers to contact you (e.g. recruitment), but for functions, your involvement can be at their discretion (e.g. employee conduct, informal complaints), and whether they choose to involve depends on what value they think you will add.

The biggest barrier is trust. That some people don’t trust HR; calling HR can be analogous to calling the police- the willingness to make the call is dependent on their trust, their perceptions of what we are like, and their prior experiences.

You’ll never find me more amenable, friendly, upbeat than the first time I call a manager I don’t know- it doesn’t go downhill from there, but I am on best behaviour. This is because I need them to come away from that conversation with the impression that I am here to help them, and I don’t know what their start point is. I recently called a manager (and not a junior manager- they managed people who also managed people) who almost starting panicking because they were receiving a call from HR- like she was contacted by the secret police.

The point to take away here is that you need to be ‘let in’, to be trusted, for them to be confident that you can help them.

Coach and mentor

We talk about the role of HR as people SMEs and manager coaches elsewhere so this will be brief. Managers learning from doing, and difficult people situations are good learning opportunities. If you approach every situation as an opportunity to coach and mentor managers into how to get better and people management, this helps them see the benefit of engaging with you.

Demonstrate your alignment, that you’re an ally

In zero gravity, astronauts align their heads. When the question of up and down is arbitrary, it still helps human communication and understanding to look at each with heads lined up the same way.

When business partnering, it’s important to do the same; to indicate to them that you see the situation from their perspective, and also see what is important. This shows that you’re on the same team, and that you also want what they want.

If you don’t agree, explain why you think it isn’t what they want, by their priorities. A common situation is the manager’s frustration with a difficult employee, and a wish for them to go, because the damage they are doing (see here for heating up and cooling down). Often it’s our job to protect the company from legal risk, so by explaining the potential damage to the team of a penalty or dismissal that is successfully challenged, we are disagreeing but framing it as adverse to the manager’s long term interests.

Be approachable

I’m a big fan of managing by walking around. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s the idea that manager should get out from behind the desk and get out and about in the company- to the sites, on the factory floor and so forth, because it’s important to be available and approachable. This isn’t limited to the big boss, it’s good for HR to do as well.

This is important for a couple of reasons; first, the sooner we know about something the better, and we are more likely to be told about something if we pass someone in the corridor, than via email. Secondly it builds familiarity with us, and with them- it’s very hard to gauge tone from emails or over the phone. When we’ve spoken to people a few times, we get a read on how they act, and vice versa. I would often say that my office is other people’s doorways, because that is where they tell me things.

Listen

This is a whole subject by itself, and we do cover this elsewhere, but for this article, the key point is to take the time to listen. Everyone has an opinion, some are strong than most, and everyone has reasons for their opinion. Their rationale, their priorities and the conclusions may not align with yours, they may be flawed, or even just wrong, but everyone has a reason for why they do what they do, or why they think what they think. Listening to these is critical.

Discuss, reason, seek consensus, agree, and rarely overrule

HR has a reputation as a ‘no’ department, and I’m certain sometimes this is fair. If we unpack what that means, an ‘no’ entity (whether a person, an department or organisation) says no without consideration of reasons, circumstances, or explanation. If you want a good parody of this, look up ‘computer says no’ skit from the british comedy show ‘Little Britain’.

In addition to listening, should there not be immediate consensus, it’s important not to jump to disagreeing, or fixing your opinion. Listen their side, reflect on their perspective, explain your perspective, try and reach consensus where possible. Maybe even agree. If you don’t agree, establish who’d decision it is; sometimes it’s yours, sometimes it’s theirs.

From the perspective of building a partnership relationship, be very hesitant to escalate. If you go over their head to their manager, or call in your manager to back you up, this will very likely damage your relationship with this manager. You may need to escalate, and if you do, explain this and why, focusing of how it’s just you doing your job, and it’s not personal.

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HR partnering- how to build trust