Busting the Myth: HR as More Than Just an Administrative Function
Summary:
In this session of HR myth-busting from HR Transform 2024, Dr. Jim is joined by Regina Ross, Chief Culture and People Officer from Khan Academy to unpack some pervasive misconceptions in leadership and HR. The episode offers insights that challenge traditional thinking patterns within corporate leadership circles.
Regina underscores the relationship between business outcomes and people management, debunking the oft-held belief that business strategy functions independently of HR. By integrating a people-first perspective, drawn from her diversified experience in engineering and logistics, she encourages aligning HR strategy directly with business objectives. The conversation builds a case for why and how business leaders should be intricately involved in managing teams to ensure that employees are well positioned to advance business goals.
Chapters:
0:00:00 Introduction to the conversation with Regina Ross
0:00:35 Regina Ross shares her background and experience in HR
0:01:07 Starting with the business strategy to inform the people strategy
0:01:48 Practical ways to align HR strategy with business priorities
0:02:31 Busting the myth that people management is solely HR's responsibility
0:03:01 Incorporating talent metrics in business reviews to involve HR
0:03:42 How to get in touch with Regina Ross for further discussion
Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk
Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung
Connect with Regina Ross: linkedin.com/in/reginaross
Music Credit: winning elevation - Hot_Dope
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Transcript
Regina, thanks for hanging out with us.
Regina Ross: Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
Dr. Jim: Appreciate you giving us a hand in busting some myths, but before we get into the myth busting part of the conversation, what I'd like you to do is share with us a little bit more about your story and some of the cool things that you're doing .
Regina Ross: I'm not your traditional HR leader. I say that I'm a business leader who happens to work in HR. I started my career in engineering, went into operations, logistics and was tapped on the shoulder and given the opportunity to step into the HR space. And I love it. I say I crossed over to the dark side and I've never looked back.
you spent time in logistics [:as now the chief people officer?
Regina Ross: I start with the business first and then determine how as an HR leader, can the HR strategy help enable the business outcomes? That's it.
Dr. Jim: Let's get a
little tactical on that. Yeah. So you start with the business strategy first, and then that informs your people strategy.
What are some practical ways that shows up?
Regina Ross: One thing is just doing a listening tour. If you're a CPO or HR leader, Listen to the business, ask the questions. What are your business priorities? What are the pain points and how can HR help eliminate the pain points or reduce them and enable the strategy for the business and then build the strategy around that.
And that's what I've done over the past several years at the various companies that I've worked for.
Dr. Jim: Awesome stuff. Regina, you ready to bust some myths?
Regina Ross: I am.
bout Leadership and HR myths [:Regina Ross: So one is the myth that as a leader, as a business leader, it's all about managing the business. No. I've been a business leader and I was taught that if you take care of the team, they will take care of the business and take care of the customer.
And so a myth that I want to bust is leaders. You cannot relegate people management to the HR team. It is your first and foremost responsibility to be a leader to your team so that they can lead and manage the business.
Dr. Jim: I really like what you said there. Especially your point about business leaders always wanting to shift the responsibility to HR.
When we talk about people, when we talk about culture, Oh, that's an HR thing. We don't want anything to do with that. So one thing that I'm curious about, if we're trying to kill off that myth and actually bring that into the real world and have business leaders take more responsibility, what are some actionable steps that HR can do to make
sure that [:Regina Ross: One of the things that I've done is typically we have a quarterly business review where you're looking at the business metrics and we do this as a senior leadership team. I have added a quarterly talent review to that. So if you're talking about, the certain KPIs, the talent metrics have to be incorporated in that.
So how can you execute on the business strategy and talk about business outcomes without talking about talent? So you have a seat at the table and make some room for you to bring talent to those discussions, whether it's a monthly metrics review or a quarterly business review.
Talk about talent in those discussions.
Dr. Jim: I know we're just scratching the surface of this conversation. If folks want to continue the discussion, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Regina Ross: I
live on LinkedIn. That's where I'm, that's where I hang out. So find me on LinkedIn. I also am an executive coach and change strategist.
So walkonpurpose. com is where I live. And this is how I help clients that I don't work with on a day to day basis. So that's where you can find me.
ing out with us, Regina, and [:
