Kristen Carroll, of Elliot Health System, provides six questions to ask yourself about the role of human resources in your organization. We don’t have a scorecard on us, but suffice it to say if you give yourself a zero, that could be a bad sign.
- Does your top HR leader report to the CEO?
- Are HR reports and metrics reviewed and analyzed? Do they drive the company’s talent strategy?
- Do you have a compensation philosophy? Was it driven internally?
- Is the top HR leader involved in decision-making for C-level searches?
Carroll was speaking at ERE’s Fall conference today. She also spoke at ERE’s Spring conference (those Spring slides are online, by the way. And let me know if you want her slides from today). She also has a good article about succession planning, full of handy tools to tear out, coming up in the November Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
Here are some of the characteristics that Carroll says are associated with a human resources department that is healthy, influential, and if we can use an overused word, strategic.
- The human resources professionals and particularly the department head identifies solutions, not just problems.
- They understand and helps drive business goals and financial objectives.
- They’re a mentor to senior leaders.
- They don’t just implement changes, but create them.
- The department head is an effective, strong, determined leader.