HR leaders need to reposition themselves and be aggressive about HR issues in executive committees, says leadership coach Nosipho Damasane.
HR is in turmoil and must take responsibility for the impact of poor processes, lazy hiring, redundant technology and a general lack of commercial credibility. If HR professionals want to succeed, then things need to really change and change fast, says Nosipho Siwisa Damasane, Institute of People Management CEO of the Year 2014, who is one of South Africa’s most exciting leadership coaches.
Ahead of her presentation at the HR Indaba, we chatted to Iconoclast speaker Nosipho about what HR professionals should do to rewire themselves to truly unlock potential in people.
What are you busy with at the moment?
“I have just finalised my book ‘Finding the woman within – how to thrive in a male-dominated society’. It will be out in October! Since the end of June, I am not working in corporate anymore, but I started my own business: NS Enterprises. I am focusing on people, change management and engagement. I want to help the next generation of leaders that is coming through, to act with more confidence.”
“The personal development industry is not where it should be in South Africa, so I have spent time with Les Brown and John Maxwell in the United States to enhance my technique. I am focusing on mentoring women and young people. As a CEO, I have always been a turnaround specialist and all of the turnarounds I have done have been based on people. Employees are the silver bullet for productivity.”
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What was your own biggest HR blunder?
“I have employed wrong people, sometimes knowingly. Sometimes you see the signs, you see the red flags, but you still hire the person. There is no silver bullet, but you can’t underestimate the power of assessments. Sometimes you are personally impressed with someone or you are pressed for time and you end up making mistakes. Don’t recruit and then skip the assessment.”
“Another thing I have worked on very hard during my time as a CEO, is the shortening of the length of meetings. When I started out, I decided everything by consensus, but here are more effective ways to get to a good decision. Part of my Finance Indaba presentation talks about the cost of HR to the business. Where are you losing money? If you want to be taken seriously as an HR professional, you need to be able to address that.”
What is wrong with HR today?
“HR professionals have not understood their role. Business performance starts and ends with HR. For customers to be happy, staff needs to be motivated and HR plays a massive role there. However, HR is usually treated as a support function, a department that can help solve problems. Often, HR is not integrated with strategy and I don’t think CEOs have understood the impact of that. One of the best interventions I did as a CEO, was to call an Imbizo and allow people to talk. Absence is just a number. You only discover the underlying cause through conversation. Those Imbizos took a lot of effort, but it boosted our productivity as a business dramatically.”
What can HR leaders do?
“First of all, HR leaders need to reposition themselves and be aggressive about HR issues in executive committees. It is important to be able to talk about the numbers: this is how much we are spending on people issues and these are things we can do for the business to be more productive. That way you get attention. Traditionally, HR just reports on things like absenteeism and staff turnover, without talking about underlying causes, solutions or cost to the company. Another important step is to partner with corporate affairs and internal communications, because those departments are also key for employee engagement.”
Why should HR professionals come to the indaba?
“If you don’t go to places where people talk about your subject, you get rusty. So many people are talking about digital, but what does it mean? If you sit in your corner and say my organisation is not affected by changes in the world, you are going to miss out. The HR Indaba is a perfect place to gather information, network and learn from other people’s experiences.”
