#NEXTCHAT: HR Leadership in the 21st Century: He Said -- She Said

Quite often, we get stuck in quicksand in the human resources profession while we endlessly gaze at our navels and debate whether we are in the Strategic vs. Tactical, or the Traditional or Cutting-Edge camps. We read, we discuss, we talk…but at the end of the day it becomes the ACTION we take, as individual practitioners and leaders, that can define HR for now and the future.

There are a number of authors, academicians and pundits who write about the human capital space. In June of this year, the group of Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger, Wayne Brockbank and Mike Ulrich released HR from the Outside In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources, the latest book encapsulating research into HR competencies which they’ve undertaken over the past 25 years. The current book outlines what the authors have defined as the six competencies for HR professionals/leaders:  Strategic Positioner, Credible Activist, Capability Builder, Change Champion, HR Innovator and Integrator and Technology Proponent.  And while human resource professionals may sometimes be chastised for having too many self-indulgent discussions about what they do, or (heaven help us) where they want to sit, these conversations remain an important undertaking.  Without an awareness of what we as HR professionals must focus on to contribute to business (and people!) success, there can be no resulting ACTION!

Several months ago Bill Boorman and I (Robin Schooling) began a series on our respective blogs (He Said/She Said: HR Edition) where we discuss an issue by approaching it from our specific frames of reference -- SHE as an HR Leader working day-to-day for a mid-sized organization in the U.S. and HE as someone who lives in the global space where he sees and experiences firsthand the changes brought about by a connected world where people in HR and Recruiting are doing “cool things.”  

At the intersection of traditional and cutting-edge lies the future of Human Resources, and so we’re asking, as we discuss HR leadership in the 21st Century:  “Is HR ‘New Cool’ or ‘Old School?”

Please join @weknownext at 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 3 for a "He Said/She Said" #NextChat with @BillBoorman and @RobinSchooling.  We’ll explore the questions surrounding HR’s movement along the continuum of change as the profession continues to evolve, as well as the competencies needed to deliver success.

Q1.  Where does HR begin and where does it end?
Q2.  Can a set of competencies be defined that covers ALL HR practitioners or does this vary based on location, size, or industry?
Q3.  What should HR professionals be doing to create and deliver value?  How has this changed over the years?
Q4.  How can HR pros simultaneously manage tactical duties while also responding to future strategic and technical expectations? 
Q5.  Do today's students want to work in HR? Do they consider it cool? Or do they view it as old school
Q6.  Are there “cool” new ways of doing things that allow HR professionals to look forward rather than looking backward?