Among all the departments which are responsible for running a smooth day-to-day business, Human Resources has its vital role. Human Resources or what we generally term as ‘HR’ as a department plays an important part towards achieving the objectives set by the leadership team of an organization.
The HR department is the most misunderstood branch under business management branches. Normally, if you ask a person about their perception towards HR managers and the roles they play, most of the time their answer would be ‘interviewers’ and the so-called ‘Rangoli artists’. Well, this is nothing but a half-baked understanding which is far from the truth.
An HR manager is someone who is not just responsible for interviewing candidates but also someone who looks at the bigger picture according to the business’s objectives works on the strategy front and establish roles that would be essential for the organization to meet their set goals. They act as the support system to the organization and take care of all the things related to the employees for example their onboarding and exit process, their training, managing the payrolls, compliance to name a few.
An organization is as good as its employees. Hence, the HR manager’s role becomes quite crucial when it comes to the growth of a company because they are responsible for the hiring process of employees.
Through this article, we will try to understand what some of the qualities are essential to be a good HR manager and do the full justice to that role.
LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE
As an HR manager, the first important thing, who are into this role is to look at the bigger picture which should be synchronized with the targets and ambition of their current organization. Without a proper understanding of that, the decision making even at the micro-level will not get aligned to the organization’s end goals and hence, get affected.
GOOD AT COMMUNICATION
Communication acts as one of the most important interpersonal skills, particularly for HR managers. But why particularly for HR managers? Because they are the face of the company who is acting as a spokesperson when they are hiring/interviewing someone and it is important on their part that their communication should be clear and concise so that the person sitting in front of them should be able to comprehend the picture clearly which the HR manager is presenting to them. When it comes to difficult conversations, having good communication would always be a plus point. Also, when it comes to collaboration with the other internal departments, communication can help in attaining the desired goals.
POSSESS A DATA DRIVEN MINDSET
We all are aware that in today’s world ‘data’ is the fundamental fuel that drives the majority of business decisions. As an HR manager, it would be your job to understand the importance of different roles and positions within the organization and establish them with the use of quantitative and qualitative data. Also, when it comes to cost, the HR managers are expected to be effective while they are hiring or planning to establish roles. Utilizing the data effectively can prove to be quite impactful for their job.
SHOWING EMPATHY
Showing great empathy at the workplace means getting one step closer to doing proper justice to the HR professional role. Empathy can help you with developing effective relationships with the employees, promoting diversity and inclusion, managing conflict with the organization. Understanding others’ viewpoints can also help to understand and use the resources effectively.
ABLE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
As an HR professional, most of the work would be related to employees. Drafting such policies that can able to solve problems of employees, able to solve employee conflict, etc. are some of the tasks that HR might have to deal with. Not being biased and being an active listener can definitely help an HR professional to be able to solve problems at work which will ultimately help the organization to achieve better results.
