Think of organizational health as a game and you are the coach: Do you hand your team the whistle, tell them to win, walk away, and then blame them when there are losses?
Of course not! Even if you know nothing about sports beyond that the basketball team The Bulls is from Chicago, you know that great coaches do not pass off responsibility on their players. They work with them, practice with them, encourage and empower them, build them up, trust them, guide them. They’re right there, doing the work with them. They are accountable.
You already know this is true in sports, and you already know that this is true in business. "But," many leaders would add, "I can't be everywhere—which is why delegation is so powerful." Again... yes. But some things can't be delegated.
What we see time and time again is that leaders "delegate" most of the critical pieces of organizational health to human resources. In essence, many leaders are handing HR the whistle when it comes to organizational health and then blaming HR when they don't like the scoreboard! It's worth asking the question: how do leaders work with HR to build health, rather than animosity?
What’s Going On?
We have a few issues at play — pun intended — when it comes to the disconnect between senior leadership and HR. Generally speaking, HR tries to please senior leadership. They will only challenge someone if a leader who is higher up believes there is an issue. Otherwise, they’ll often let it go.
There is a hierarchy, and HR reports to someone. They can’t not be affected by that. If the organization is unhealthy — if it lacks trust and vulnerability, the space to engage in healthy conflict and disagreement, if numbers take precedence over people — then you just end up reinforcing these schisms throughout the organization.
Another factor to consider is the move towards digitalization in business, towards “anonymous” tools and intranets — that are most likely not anonymous at all. Many employees opt out; they are not willing to put their ideas out there. Perhaps they’re too busy; perhaps they’re too afraid; perhaps they’re wary of power dynamics. Perhaps the dysfunction perceived within the organization makes it an exercise in futility.
Regardless, HR is often tasked with digitizing feelings. This type of data is so easily manipulated and can so easily be molded to ensure senior leaders hear what they want to hear (or what HR thinks they want to hear).
Yes, everything’s fine. Yes, we communicate and collaborate effectively. Yes, I trust my leaders. Yes, I am invested. It’s not uncommon that this is the “feedback” that leaders receive from HR in an effort to shield or protect them (or to protect the HR folks from repercussions or yet more work) — and then they are blindsided when something goes wrong.
This isn’t HR’s fault.
Leaders, Take the Lead
In a perfect word, HR should have a significant impact on how organizational health is developed and how it grows throughout the organization. In reality, though, they have to report to someone, and this can skew the direction of the data they shape and share. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. HR cannot do it alone. You cannot hand over the responsibility, tell them to win, and blame them when there are losses.
What Can You Do?
Build a collaborative, honest relationship with HR first. You cannot execute change or make progress on organizational health without this piece. There must be a climate and culture of trust, accountability, truth. People need to feel safe saying to them, “This is what we’re thinking. This is what is going on.” And, in turn, they need to feel safe in saying, “Here’s the data. This is what people are saying. This is what we are dealing with.”
HR is often caught between doing what’s good for the people and doing what’s good for the company. These should not be mutually exclusive goals. Those should be synchronous goals. And in healthy organizations, they are.
