A Quote to Remember

Years ago I was an HR director of a large company, and our CEO was a gifted thinker and master of rhetoric. One day he said the following:
“HR’s role is to never make a decision for a manager and never let a manager make a bad decision”

I wrote this down as I sat at the foot of the ultimate tribal chief. But sometime later I privately questioned his logic. We all know that our role is to manage by influence versus authority, so how then can we be certain to change a manager’s direction if he is committed to it? And what if his manager is equally committed? And what if we’re completely out of the loop and don’t even know the circumstance?

The solution became clear, especially as it related to retention. By installing retention goals and accountabilities, “bad decisions” became apparent and were ultimately addressed. So sometimes the next best thing to having authority is to ensure that those with authority have the right metrics and apply the right accountabilities, so we can achieve the outcomes we need, and our company needs, without being squeezed in the HR middle.