“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy”

–Paul Getty

Last Friday, I was interviewing a younger group of those ‘just starting out’ types for a role in my consulting Startup. During the course of the interview, when I asked one casually clad aspirant, “Why you want this job?”

I got a startling reply, “Not a job. I am looking for something unfamiliar and undefined…Want to discover myself.”

 At that moment, rather than dismissing his reply as naïve, I considered adjusting my thoughts.

 Let’s first come to some agreement with few unembellished testimonials.

We are in the 21st century and living in an increasingly fast-paced and ever-changing world.  It is predominantly driven by an interminably “disruptive” business warfare. Entire world is witnessing an unprecedented economic dynamics. Today innovation is virtually tantamount to survival for any business.

The market dynamics are changing so dramatically that if your products /services can’t keep up with the realities, you might not be in the business much longer…You are, in fact, absolved straight to the garbage pit.  To thrive and excel in today’s business climate, it is imperative for companies to adapt differently than they have in the past. Today’s survival mantra is to innovate and grow by capitalizing on the rapid speed of change. The intimidating challenge for most of the enterprises is to adapt to the change unpretentiously. More a company pigheadedly remain cemented to old ways, the uglier are the penalties. Today best of the companies are overtly feeling being pushed to the wall as never before. More than change it is the consequences of the change that are flattening them hard.

Companies are either disrupting or being disrupted.  

Even to comprehend the level of innovation which is obligatory for competitive advantage, hemming ‘flexibility’ and ‘responsiveness’ in the collaborative organizational systems is unescapable. However, it is too wild a crack for any large predictable organization to experiment. It demands unalloyed cultural elasticity to be at ease with such an expeditiously shifting environment. By continuing to depend on existing systems, processes and mechanisms (consciously oblivious to the realities), companies are in endangerment of offering nothing of value.

The catchphrase, “disruptive change is the new normal” has become an incontestable shared leitmotif in our lives. The deviations are common and evident. They are not anymore thinly veiled, but a stark naked certainty in front of us. The future scenario is likely to be incomparable and market complexities will certainly further aggravate from here…probably may come with a premium. 

In this entire business climate upheavals, where do we see HR? 

Today’s organizations are moving so fast that they do not mind cannibalizing their own product just after a mega launch. They are increasingly intersected with real time information availability. Projects evolve quickly and endlessly. Expertise is valued and rewarded over the conformity. More transaction-heavy HR processes are being outsourced. Employees are having major say in all people processes. Even the HR function itself is gradually limiting to specialists. Analytics and “big data” are reigning the decision making. The real ‘in-charge’ of determining your success is no more from “within” but outside- the customer. We are in the era of self-managing teams, agile organizations, and vibrant Startups. Witnessing an altogether new breed of effervescent young minds. Despite insouciantly wearing a carefree persona, they are fully engaged and candidly identify with their life goals. Use of complex systems and managing their own urgencies are so routine to them. They are well networked and exposed. They are more concerned about their own success standards and much better armed than their managers.

Unfortunately, they find our existing HR practices as weighty, thwarting, and uninspiring.

Alas! Once self-evident truths are being cast aside.

We are often hearing about upsurge of ‘disruptive HR’ from number of soap-boxes. Host of talks, conferences, debates, and claims and at the end you have nothing to display for it except few orphaned dossiers, speckled empty hall, and wrinkled-up name tags. Reflections in actual actions at work are never that obvious. Overcoming inertia is one of the most demanding stumbling block in enthralling an evocative change in the function. It is not uncommon for business leaders to pronounce HR as reactive, unfertile and lacking in business sensitivities to add true value.

Is HR nervous about mutating unpredictable demands of the business and the consequences of failing to meet expectations of the business in an effective way?

It is time for HR to take a giant leap forward.

HR has milked enough out of all so called well calibrated 20^th century best practices. Yet, myopia is still prevalent. HR loves to remain locked-in with the past, insuring great loyalty to the proven best practices, but offering little hope for current unpredictable business scenario. Are these practices relevant anymore? The answer is a big NO! Because all these ‘best practices’ evolved under very different business milieu. They are insufficiently equipped to meet the contemporary volatile expectations of people and business. It is “the right time” to question all these unadventurous HR practices. In short, it’s time we challenge ourselves. If we don’t, someone else will start doing our role outside of HR. To be worthy of a defining function , we need to radically re-think and re- craft what HR should be doing and continued to remain relevant to business and future.

With all earnestness, it is time for a fundamentally new approach to people management that takes into account the looming improbabilities of today’s business climate. It requires change of course and experimentation. HR needs to mentally annihilate deeply prophesied and equally well- perfected old practices. No point riding on irrelevant notions till the edge of departure point. Function has to incessantly forestall and refabricate new models of people management opportunities apropos for the emergent environment. We need to look at people management as a movement and not as the bundle of tasks. It has to be more of an intelligible constellation of imagination, innovation, and experimentation than an assembly of distinct solutions. The top-down goal alignment, KRAs/KPAs, performance appraisals, and many “standard” processes are misplacing its relevance. The new age employees are fervent about their work and future. They look forward to a more unified process to frequently revisit their goals and performance. They want systems with radical transparency, elasticity, and speed. They are peckish for the best, most effectual and logical approach.

Other functions have already taken the lead, why not HR? 

I believe, innovative HR obligations lie outside the wrapping of conventional carry outs. All these eventual developments are very exciting and also a potential challenge to be addressed by all of us. It is very difficult to predict “what will work”, but HR has to be creative enough   to give it a shot. There is too little a time to wait for validated processes. Experimenting inventive options is the only choice to hypothesize a success trail.

Yes! It is right time to resuscitate HR to grapple with the promising demands… and that would certainly require a momentous thinking revolution. Transformation is no more a choice, it has become an imperative for HR.

I plead sorry to all the HR advocates for my brutal expressions. I know you have multiple arguments to pin me down. But, we are essentially serving the “lifeless” practices to the companies. Perhaps, cleverly masking with few props and fashioning it bit more ornamental. Are we not cherishing a “dead” past in the disguised formats? I am fine if you are happy tagging your decayed, transactional, and procedural endeavours as strategic “present-day” initiatives.

Yet, I am convinced that HR has only one truth left: transform before you are erased.

“In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” -Warren Buffett

What do you say?