Adriana Stan and Tom Goodwin wrote an article for World Economic Forum titled This is what’s wrong with Human Resources – and how to change it.
« The worst thing we ever did in corporate America was to take the most vital part of any company – the people powering it – and label it so dismissively as “human resources.” »
« We reduced talent to a simple asset: one to be standardized, controlled, commoditized, and managed like any other form of capital. We created a department whose sole purpose is to extract value and enforce compliance, and put them in charge of an ecosystem built around formalized processes, sameness, common practices, and conformity. »
« The result is the institutionalized mediocrity plaguing many legacy companies today. »
« The characteristics necessary to survive in large corporations are not just unhelpful, but downright detrimental in startups and agile tech companies. When we embrace the new needs of a post-digital world and build skills that support it, we will quickly see the value of remarkable people rise, while the value of those who blend in, who hide in org charts and shirk responsibility, diminish. »
« The post-digital economy thrives on difference, diversity, and divergent thinking. It embraces exceptions and loves anomaly. It breaks down boundaries, subverts hierarchy and strips it of centralized control. It triggers wild mashups and unlikely combinations, it challenges conventions, revels in spontaneity, and it actively seeks out tension – because that’s what breeds invention. »
« “We want the most creative out-of-the-box thinkers, the most inventive agents of change; people with ambition and big ideas to help us disrupt, transform and solve big challenges. But they need to have 10-12 years of relevant experience in this very precise, narrow field and a record of keeping the status quo. An MBA is of course also required. Because we need to make sure we don’t deviate from the norm, and the way we do that is covering our bases, following rules, and minimizing risk. Which is what we expect you to do once hired.” Sound familiar? With job ads that send this message, no wonder the people companies need the most are the least likely to be attracted to work there. »
« We recruit people to fit into a space, instead of reconfiguring, expanding or reshaping the space. We’d rather hold on to the job spec than bend it around a remarkable person. »
« The companies that can get people to feel empowered, to feel free to show their passions both in and outside of work, to drive change by employing the full range of their talents, to express their curiosity and uncensored enthusiasm, are the ones best positioned to thrive in the future. »
Articles of Interest 