HR Dilemmas

A high performance culture is sought after but promotions for key positions regularly arise because of politics instead of contributions.

Teamwork is encouraged and expected but the company operates in an individual-centric manner.

The company prioritizes promoting from within but there has been no succession planning with corresponding leadership and develop programs.

The company strives to minimize recruitment fees to search firms but does not develop adequate in-house recruitment capabilities.

The CEO pledges to provide 30-40 training hours annually per employee but the CFO institutes stringent guidelines to greatly minimize training expenditures.

HR staff is expected to shift from an operational expert to human capital partner but has not received additional training to learn new skills necessary to succeed in these new roles, i.e. translating customer expectations into employees’ behavior, executive coaching, data analysis, etc.

The company states "who we are" in all marketing collaterals but is unable to cascade this knowledge to all management levels; hence employees provide a lot of different answers as to what the corporate culture is.

The organization encourages staff to provide constant feedback but does not support application of tools (e.g. organizational climate surveys) to capture feedback systematically.

People are expected to think and act on-the-spot but there is a strong autocratic decision making process that does not empower people to take charge.

The company complains about the lack of talent but perceives any initiatives to enlarge the talent pool as too costly.

The organization recognizes Human Capital Management as highly essential and at the center of it all but places the HR team in some odd corner of the office with minimal visibility.

The HR Director is under every increasing pressure to demonstrate quick manpower results but does not have the authority to reward/penalize managers who exhibit exceptional/pathetic people management skills.

The HR Director must champion change and push forward the "people's" agenda but is too often one of the last to know about major changes and problems and is not kept "in the loop" until when all hell breaks loose.