Admittedly, I’ve become a news junkie over the past year or so. And because of that, I constantly have the news on in the background. A strange side effect of watching cable news is all of the commercials you encounter time and time again. Within any given hour, you’re likely stumble across a few HR-related commercials.
The one that confounds me the most, is the ad SHRM has been running recently (and the series this is a part of). It’s titled: SHRM-CP & SHRM-SCP: The Key to Great HR (click below to watch it).
In the ad, SHRM is trying to tell business leaders and news watchers that in order to have “great HR,” your HR professionals need to be SHRM certified. Which is a larger debate I know, but at its core, it’s a false statement that we can’t keep staying mum about.
Nowhere in the SHRM commercial or in the exam, are there true forward-thinking competencies, skills, strategies, and so on, about the work that great HR people do – and need to do in the future of work landscape. SHRM talks about getting the latest skills and know-how from being certified, but that’s not true at all. Maybe for continuing education credits, an HR professional can learn something on the cutting edge of the HR field, but the certification itself isn’t about the future of HR. It’s about this strange idealized version of the current HR systems, programs, tools, and framework.
The “Key to Great #HR” isn’t about competency-based HR learning. It’s about H(R)evolution. Click To TweetIn fact, the “Key to Great HR” isn’t about competency-based HR learning. It’s about the next H(R)evolution. It’s about how HR professionals can start doing “HR like a marketer” and being held accountable for the decisions the department makes and the results they deliver. It’s about using HR metrics to measure people-related activities that matter to the business, specifically. It’s about being able to create meaningful connections and relationships with their employees – not having a fear-based or a compliance-based relationship. It’s about becoming a profit center, not just a profit taker.
#HR, as done by “competencies” and “certifications” ALONE, is NOT great HR. Click To TweetThese are the things that are more important now than ever before, and will continue to grow in importance as the future of work changes. HR, as done by “competencies” and “certifications” ALONE, is NOT great HR.
