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CASE: Why Doesn'tThisHRDepartmentGetAnyRespect?

byRobertGalford

ThenewheadofHRhastriedeverythinghecan thinkoftochangehisdepartment'sreputationasanadminis-

trativebackwater.Buthe'sstillswimmingagainstthetide.

WHY

DOESN' TTHISHRDEPARTMENT

GETANYRESPECT?

ByROBERtGAlFORD

I

" don't know whichproblem

totacklefirst,"LukeRobinson

said,sighing.KateRose,sittingacross the table from him sippinghercoffee,gavehimahalfsmile."You're definitely in a pickle," shesaid. He rolled his eyes. "Thanks alot," he replied. "You have an excel-lent grasp of the obvious. But whatshouldIdo?"

Robinson and Rose had been at thecaf for almost two hours; the lunchrushhadabatedlongago,andthemidafternooncoffeedrinkerswerestarting to trickle in. Robinson, man-aging partner of human resources atLoftSecurities,hadcalledRoseinpartbecauseshewasafriend,butalso because she was the vice presi-dentofhumanresourcesatasuc-cessfulpublic-relationsfirm,andhe

knew that she was a first-rate man-ager.Overlunch,hehad recappedhisstory.

ARewardingChallenge?

BeforeRobinsonjoinedLoftjustoverayearago,hehadbeenapartnerat the Powell Group, a well-knownHRconsultingfirm.Hisspecialtythere had been working with finan-cial services companies, but whenPowell's own head of HR resignedabruptly for personal reasons, thesenior managementteam askedRobinson to take over HR and helpPowell retool its recruiting and de-velopment processes. Robinson hadworked very effectively as HR direc-tor, helping the company's consul-tantsevaluatepotentialnewre-cruitsandputtingtogethersome

veryattractivedevelopmentpro-grams.ThePowellGroup,withRobinson'shelp,hadquicklybe-comearobustcompetitorfortalent.DespitehissuccessatPowell,RobinsonacceptedthejobatLoftbecausehethoughtitwouldbeare-wardingchallenge.Formostofits30-yearhistory,Lofthadenjoyedastellarreputationwhenitcametoattracting-andkeeping-highlyqualifiedpeople.Butin1995,whenCEOPhilipWashingtonretired,thingschanged.WashingtonhadpersonifiedLoft'sculture;itwashisleadershipandcharismathatpeoplethoughtofwhentheythoughtofdoingbusinesswiththefirm.Anditwasthatsamepersonalityanddrivethathadattractedtoppeople.Whenheleft,someofthecompany'svi- brancywent with him. And withinayear,twoofthefiveremainingse-niormanagershadresignedaswell."Itdoesn'tmatterwhythosetwoleft,"RobinsontoldRosebetweenbitesofgorgonzolaravioli."Butfortherecord,oneretiredandonewentintoteaching.Itwasn'tbecausethingswerebadatLoft.Infact,the

RobertGalfordlivesinConcord,Massachusetts, and workswithseniormanagersonperformance,organizational,andcareer issues.He also teaches in executive educa-tion programs at Columbia Univer-sity's Graduate School of BusinessinNewYorkCityandatNorth-westernUniversity'sJ.L.KelloggGraduateSchool ofManagementinEvanston,Illinois.

transition at the top was one of thesmoothest I've seen. Bernie Shargall,the new CEO, was - and is - a per-fectlygoodtopmanager.Hewasre-cruited from the outside, but by allaccounts his appointment was wide-ly supported.AndI know fromworking with him that he's highlyskilledandhighlymotivated."

The problem was, Robinson toldhis friend, the new CEO didn't haveWashington'sflairforattractingandretaining talented people. And thehuman resources department hadn'tbeen able to pick up the slack. Thecompany had never paid much at-tention to HR because it hadn't hadto. Under Washington and the twoCEOs who came before him, the de-partment was simply an administra-tivefunction.

"Shargall,tohiscredit,recognizedtheproblem,"Robinsonsaid."That's why he hired me. But I'vebeen there a year, and I haven't beenable to stop the slow bleeding: we'velost two other key employees in thelast six months. And what's worse, Ihaven't made much progress at help-ingthecompanyrecruitnewpeopleor at changing the perception thathuman resources is just a bunch ofclerks processing benefits forms andtracking vacation days. It's frustrat-ing, because you know as well as I dohowmuchHRcancontribute."

Rose nodded vigorously. "In fact,'humanresources'madeLoftthecompany it is," she said. "The prob-lem is, the most important human-resourcesmandate - attractingandkeepinggoodpeople-wasn'tperformedbyLoft'sHRdepartment.Norwasitbeingperformedbytheseniormanagementgroup.ItwasallWashington,anditseemsasifnooneisquitesurehowtomoveon.""I'm trying to show them," Robin-soncomplained."ButevenShargall

doesn'tknowhowtouseme."

NotForLackofTrying

tions or provide counseling. He im-plemented an "HR ambassador" pro-gram, assigning individual membersof his staff to develop relationshipswiththepeopleinaparticularareaof the company so that they wouldhave a voice speaking for them with-inHR.Andhesetupa

regular schedule of

revealing his frustration. "The groupofpeopleI'veputtogetherwoulddonosuchthing!"

ButRosehadn'tsaidmuch,justencouragedhim witha"Thenwhat?"ora"Couldyouexplainthatabitmore?"ashetoldhisstory.

RoseaskedRobinsontooutlinewhathehaddonesincejoiningLoft,and he quickly described a variety ofactions. When he had first joined thefirm,hehadspentagooddealofone-

meetingsbetweenhim-selfand eachofthefirm'sbusiness-unitheads.Healsobeganacomprehensiveassess-mentofthequalityof

Loft'sexecutivesseemedto

belistening,buttheyweren'treallypayingattention.

on-one time with each of the seniorexecutives, asking them about thekind of people that made the com-panysuccessfuland howtheyviewed the talent they currently em-ployed. He had also met with manyotheremployees - managers,bro-kers, administrative assistants - andall the members of his own depart-ment. And he had spent time withmostoftheHRgroup'sprincipalexternal contacts, including searchprofessionals,campusplacementofficers, benefits providers,and train-ingorganizations.

Duringthosemeetings,hehadgottenthesensethatrecruitingwasn't Loft's only problem. Thereseemedtobeconflictingopinionsabout whether Loft was, in fact, agood place to work. And it seemed tohim that most of the people at Loftwerenotaccustomedtoanyone

theHRstaff,bothindividuallyandcollectively, and replaced two under-productiveemployeeswithpeoplewho had solid experience in develop-ingprofessionalsinservicefirmslike Loft. Finally, he drafted plans foraprogramtohelpeducateallthecompany's employees about the roleofHR - specifically,howitcouldcontribute to creating and upholdingthe firm's strategyfor success.

Rosehadlistenedprettymuchwithout comment as Robinson wentonandon.

Shefrownedwhenhetoldherabouttheexecutivecommitteemeeting he had participated in afterthree months on the job. He had pre-sented his findings and outlined hisplans,thinkingtheywerewell-re-ceived because at the time they metwithlittleintheway of challengesordiscussion."Shargallandtheoth-

ers were being polite,

buttheyweren'tpaying

Throughout the lunch, Robinson'sfoodremainedalmostuntouched.When the waiter came to check onthem,RobinsonlookedatRose'scleanplateandwavedawayhisown.

AnUphillBattle

Astheyfinishedtheircappuccino,Robinsonleanedbackinhischair."Well?"heprodded."Well,what?"Rose asked. "I know that you're do-ingmanygoodthings.Butyou'refacingabattlethatfewbeforeyouhave won. Do you have any idea howhard it is to turn around a reputationcreated by someone else? HR in par-ticularisadifficultarea - althoughmostinternal-service functionswould argue that they are underap-preciated as well. Does Loft respectitsITdepartment?Itsaccountants?Lookaroundyou.You're probablynotalone."

"I have to tell you, I'm thinkingaboutthrowinginthe towel,"

ThepeopleatLoftwerenot

accustomedtoanyonefromthe HR department askingprobingquestions.

attention," was his takeonthemeetingnow.

She raised an eyebrowandmurmured"ouch"when he confessed thattheyear-endbonuschecks for the managingdirectorsandvicepresi-

Robinson said. "It's not that I missconsulting per se. But I was accom-plishingsomethinginthatworld,andyouknowthesaying,Thosewho can, do, and those who can't,teach? Well, I'm beginning to thinkthatitappliestome."

"No,no,"Roselaughed."I'msure

fromthehumanresourcesdepart-mentaskingprobingquestions.

SoRobinsonhadtakenanumberof steps. He established a set of inter-nalservicestandards,performanceguarantees,andongoingcustomer-satisfaction measurement programsfor his department. He created "lis-teningposts" - thatis,hesentamemberofhisstafftoeachofthefirm's locations on a regular basis toholdofficehoursandanswerques-

dents had been inaccurately issued."It took us almost a month to sortout the problem with payroll," hesaid. "And I know it was a simpleclerical error, but it certainly didn'thelpmycause."

And shenoddedin sympathywhen he told her how HR had mis-handled an investigation of a dis-criminationchargeshortlybeforehejoinedthecompany."Butthatwasn'tme,"Robinsonsaid,hisvoice

that it doesn't. But I will give yousomeadvice..."

HBR's cases present common man-agerial dilemmas and offer concretesolutions from experts. As written,theyarehypothetical,andthenamesusedarefictitious.Weinviteyou to write to Case Suggestions,Harvard Business Review,60Har-vard Way, Boston, MA02163, anddescribe the issues you would liketoseeaddressed. WhatIstheBestAdviceRoseCanGivetoRobinson?

FivecommentatorsadviseRobinsononhowtoupgradeHR'sroleatLoft Securities.

It'snotthatacentralizedHRfunc-tion is necessarily less effective thana decentralized one. In many cases,the opposite is true. But if RobinsonputstenHRpeopleinaroom,allpresentingtheirfindingstothese-nior management group and offeringto help, people are going to screamabout costs. Every senior manager isgoing to wonder if his or her depart-mentisgettingoptimalsupportortheshortendofthestick.Ontheotherhand,ifhetakesthatsamegroupofHRpeopleandhasthemwork in a way that is tailored to indi-vidualmanagers'needs,he'llcreate

Inhiseffortstoexpand

theroleofHR,Robinsonmust not forget thatadministrative duties arethe function's bedrock.

laURIEBROEDlINg

has served as vice president for em-ployee involvement and people sys-tems at the Boeing Company and assenior vice president for human re-sourcesandqualityatMcDonnellDouglas Corporation. She is now aconsultantin northern Virginia.

Luke Robinson is doing many of theright things at Loft Securities. Lis-tening posts, ambassador programs,and one-on-one meetings with de-partment heads are all good initia-tives. His good work will be in vain,however,unlesshechangeshowCEO Bernie Shargall and the rest ofthefirm'sseniormanagersviewhumanresources.ShargallhasaninklingthatHRneedstoexpandits

role,butLofthaslongbeenrunonthepowerofpersonality-particu-larlythatoftheformerCEO.Ac-cordingly, it will take some effort toconvincethoseatthetopthatanorganizedapproach,withHRlead-ingtheway,iswhat'sneedednow.HowcanRobinsonpullthatoff?First,heneedstogatherdatathatwillshowtheseniormanagementteam-inaconciseform-thediffi-cultiesthefirmishavingrecruitinggoodpeopleandkeepingthemmoti-vatedandsatisfied.Thesearefinan-cialservicesfolks:theyaren'tlook-ingforanimpassionedspeechaboutthecompany'ssoul;they'llwantin-formationinaformtheycanrecog-nize.Rightnow,theydon'tseemuchvaluebeingcreatedbyRobin-son'sdepartment.Instead,theyseeaflurry of administrative activity andaroundofbonuschecksthatweren'tissuedproperly.Ouch,indeed.

Robinson needs to clarify what Loftreallyneeds.

Thenheneedstopresentthedata - and follow up - in a way thatshowseachseniormanagerthatHR'seffortswillbenefithisorherown bailiwick. How? By decentraliz-ingtheHRdepartment.Robinsonshould take his ambassador programonestepfurtherandassigneachmember of his team to a particularsenior manager. They should do forthat manager what Robinson will bedoingfortheCEO - educating,lis-tening, counseling, and guiding - un-tilthecompanyisbackwhereitshouldbe,andbeyond.

WhydoesRobinsonhaveto gothat route? Because in this situation,perceptionisasimportantasreality.

theperception- tobackupthereality - thattheworkoftheHRdepartment is vital to the organiza-tion'ssuccess.

Now,awordofcautionaboutdecentralization. The danger is thatthe firm's line managers will washtheir hands of the responsibility forattracting and keeping good people.Robinsonmuststriveforthemiddleground: his people should be part-ners with the firm's line managers -nothingmore,nothingless.

That danger, however, is no reasonto shy away from decentralizing. Infact, the potential rewards far out-weigh the risks. Loft's senior man-agers don't seem to recognize thatthey badly need help in developingand maintaining a positive corporateculture, which is the heart and soulofanorganization.Anup-close-and-personal HR presence will help im-provethe company'scultureasnothingelsecould.Financialser-vices professionals, like engineers,are analytical types who often do notpayenoughattentiontoissuesofhuman relations and group dynam-ics. That doesn't mean their corpo-rate cultures are bad; it just meansthat the need for HR to play a largerole on behalf of employees is moreacute. Companies are like families:all sorts of difficulties arise unex-pectedly - interpersonalproblems,problems at home that affect work,technical problems that become per-sonalbecausetheycreatestress,conflict between departments, youname it. Organizations that are pre-pared to deal with such issues arewayaheadofthegame. It's interesting: people who, earlyon in their careers, find out what ahuman resources expert can do real-lygethookedonthevalueofthefunction.Bythetimetheyarelinemanagers,you'llfindthemworkingintandemwithHR,expectingsup-port and input when crafting strat-egy and turning to HR for guidancewith all sorts of management dilem-mas.Ontheotherhand,peoplewhoseearlyencounterswithHRleadthemtobelievethatthefunc-tion is made up of people who pushpaperandlivewaydownthehallhave the opposite view. By the timetheybecomelinemanagers,theyeither activelydislike HR orthinkit is irrelevant. At Loft, my sense isthattheemployees,fromtheCEO

If Robinson goes aheadwithout a clear mandatefromseniormanagement,he'llbeheapingconfusionontopofconfusion.

EDWARDE.LAWLERIII

is a professor at the University ofSouthern California'sMarshallSchool of Business in Los Angeles.He specializes in human resourcemanagementstrategyandorganiza-tionaleffectiveness.

If I were advising Robinson, the firstthing I would do is remind him thatheusedtobeanexcellentconsul-tant. Then I would try to make himunderstandthattosucceedinhis

ondown,thinkthatHRisirrele-vant. Robinson has the potential tochange that perception - if he keepsatit.

Onefinalwordofwarning.EvenifRobinson follows all my advice, hecould still blow it if he allows hisstaff to make another mistake likethe one they made with the bonuschecks. In his efforts to expand therole of HR, he must not forget thatadministrativedutiesarethebedrock of the function. Sure, thebonus-check snafu was one error outof thousands of potential opportuni-ties to make a mistake, but it wasthe wrong error to make with thisgroup. Another one like it will ruinhis credibility - no matterwhatprogresshemakesinotherrealms.

current position, he needs to returnto that role. Robinson shouldn't betryingtobecometherecruitingarmof Loft Securities; nor should he betryingtopositionhisdepartmentassuch.Instead,heshouldbeteachingthe senior managers, beginning withthe CEO, how to represent the com-pany to its current and potential em-ployees.HeshouldbehelpingLoft'smanagersdefineandexpressthefirm's mission and culture. And heshould be aligning his own staff todothesame.

Inlarge,bureaucraticorganiza-tions,thejobsofrecruiting andcounselingemployeesnaturallyfallonthehumanresourcesstaff.Butinacompanymadeupprimarilyofknowledge workers, it is very diffi-cult for the HR department to carryoffthejob.Itsimplycan't providethevisionandthedirectionthatknowledge workers look for and getexcitedabout.MeetingRobinsonisn't going to do it for a financial ser-vices whiz scoping out potential op-portunities.Andcurrentemployeesaren't going to get all fired up whentheyhearhimspeak.ThatkindofleadershiphastocomefromLoft'smanagers,andRobinsonwoulddobesttousehisexpertisetoensurethatitdoes.

Even if Robinson agreed with myline of thinking, he couldn't simplyjumpupfromthelunchtable,rush

backtotheoffice,andbeginsteeringhisshipinanewdirection.Robin-sonsaysheisplanningacampaigntoeducatethecompanyabouttherole ofHR.Ifhegoesaheadwithoutaclearmandatefromtheseniormanagementgroup,he'llbeheapingconfusionontopofconfusion."Idon'tknowwhichproblemtotacklefirst," he told Rose. How is that sen-timentgoingtoplaytothemasses?

Instead, Robinson must step backandrenegotiatehiscontractwithLoft'ssenior-managementteam.Hemustclarifyexactlyhowheenvi-sions the functioning of the HR de-partment at Loft, and he must detailexactlywhatheiswilling and ableto do as its leader. And he should askfor the senior managers' formal com-mitmenttohisplan.Only thencanhe proceed to educate the companyabout why he is there and what histeamcando.

From a practicalstandpoint, Iwould suggest that Robinson meetfirst with Shargall to brief him onwhat he intends to say to the largergroup. That way, he'll have the op-portunitytofine-tunehisplanusingfeedbackfromthepersonwhosevoicecountsmost. Duringthatmeeting, Robinson should reiteratehis commitment to improving thequality of the transactional side ofHR. He has made some good movesin that area, but his department'sone blunder - the bonus-check blun-der - has hurt him. Efficient admin-istrativeworkbuildscredibility;Robinsonmustn'tforgetthat.

Ultimately,RobinsonmayfindthatthecurrentCEOandtherestof the senior managers, regardless oftheirintelligenceandcapabilities,aresimplyunabletorespondinanymeaningfulwaytohiscounseling -evenifhesuccessfullyredefineshimselfandhisdirectreportsasinternal consultants. But before hegives up and returns to consulting,heshouldtakeonelastshotatmak-ing HR at Loft work. Positioning thenontransactional work of the HR de-partment is the make-or-break issuefor HR in any organization. Loft hasa solid reputation, even if it is in aslump right now. Robinson has ex-perience on his side, and he knowswhathe'sdealingwith. "Thosewhocan,do,andthosewho can't, teach," he said to Rose attheendofthecase.AsLoft'sheadofhuman resources, he shouldn't bedoing. He should be teaching. Andthesoonerhebegins,thebetterchancehe'llhaveofsuccess.

Robinsonmustbalancethetactical work that isnecessary for short-termresults with his desire toplayastrategicrole.

TIMRILEY

is the vice president for strategicgrowthatForrester ResearchinCambridge,Massachusetts.

If Robinson is going to gain the re-spect he seeks for himself and for thehumanresourcesdepartmentatLoft

helptherestofthecompanyim-proveitsperformance.

Sure, some of his initiatives havemadesense:there'snothingwrongwithlisteningtoemployeecom-plaintsorcreatingpresentationsabout solutions. But Loft's senior ex-ecutiveshiredRobinsonbecausetheyrespecthisfunctionalexper-tise. If he doesn't redirect his think-ing and find a balance between thetacticalworkthatisnecessaryforshort-termresultsandhisownde-sire to play a longer-term strategicrole,heisn'tgoingtosucceed.

Managing means delving into theheart of a problem. Sometimes it'smessy. Sometimes it means causingconflict or jumping into the middleof a conflict. Robinson needs to ac-ceptthemessyparts ofhisjob.Whether or not he realized it at thetime, dealing with conflicts is whathesignedontodo.

Second, Robinson needs to turnhis attention to employee morale,which is in a downward spiral large-ly because so many respected em-ployees have left and have not beenreplaced.Howcanhetacklethisissue? One obvious place to start iswithcompensation.RobinsonshouldbenchmarkcompensationpracticestoensurethatLoftisoffer-ing competitive salaries and bene-fits. (I would recommend that he useoutside consultants in order to per-formtheanalysisquickly.)Giventhe history of benign neglectofLoft'sHRfunction,thecompanyhasprobably fallen behind the market. Ifithas,itwillbeupto

offers. Robinson must take owner-shipofthoseprocessesatLoftandbeformallyaccountablefortheirproperfunctioning.

Once Loft's compensation is com-petitive and it has an efficient re-cruiting process, Robinson can focuson finding and hiring more talent.Given the slow bleed of personnel,my sense is that most of the moraleproblemsarerelatedtostress.Aris-ingnumberofemployeesatLoftareprobablydoingtwoorthreejobs -theirown,plusthoseofworkerswholeft.

To free up his staff to focus on re-cruiting,Robinsonshouldeitherau-tomate or outsource as much of theroutine administrative work of theHR function as possible. As we'veseen from the bonus-check snafu,when an HR-related administrativeprocess functions as it should, noonenotices; butwhenitbreaksdown, the HR department is blamed.Robinson needs to assess how muchhis staff can do at once while main-taining a high level of performance.If the burden seems too great, heshould either reengineer the admin-istrative processes or put them inthe hands of outside specialists. Forexample, he could have employeesdeal directly with insurance carrierson claims resolution, put companyforms on-line, push payroll activi-ties back to the accounting group,and outsource COBRA and 401(k)administrationtoathirdparty.

Finally, Robinson must think ob-jectivelyabouthowhecantruly

Securities, he needs to take the fol-lowingsteps:

First, he has to approach his jobdifferently. Robinson has a consul-tant's mind-set. He needs to lose it,andbegintothinkandbehavelikeamanager.Asaconsultant,hispri-

Robinson to persuadethe CEOtodosome-thing about any gap be-tweenwhatLoftoffersandwhatthemarketpays.Recruitingwhenyoucan'tofferacompet-

Robinson has a consultant'smind-set. He needs to startthinkinglikeamanager.

mary job was to analyze problems,formulatesolutions,andpresentrecommendations on how to imple-mentthosesolutions.Asthedirec-torofHRathisformercompany,Robinson seemed to maintain a dis-tance between himself and the nutsandboltsofday-to-dayoperations.At Loft, he needs to managethe in-ternal HR processes - and a staff, aswell-sothathisdepartmentcan

itivepackageislikegivingyourcompetitors a 20-yard head start inthe100-yarddash.

Third, Robinson should also im-pose more control over each phase ofthe recruiting process. Right now, itisunclearwhoissupposedtobeidentifying desirable competenciesandotherhiringcriteria,andwhoissupposed to be sourcing candidates,selectingfinalists,andmaking

contributetoLoft'sstrategy.It'sasafebet thatunder the leadershipof the firm's last CEO, the strategy oftheorganizationwasimplicitanddriven by personality rather than ex-plicitandactionable.ThenewCEOdoesn't seem to have done much tocommunicateaclearstrategyorevenstrategicpriorities.Robinsoncan - and should - sit down with theCEOandhelphimclarifythefirm's

strategy; then, using the balancedscorecard or a similar methodology,heshouldtranslatethatstrategyinto concrete initiatives with clearperformancemeasures.Robinsoncan make himself the keeper of thestrategic performance measures: nooneelsehassteppeduptotheplate.He can connect the key HR levers -recruiting,rewards,performancefeedback, training and development,andcommunications- to thosestrategicinitiativesindirectandpowerfulways.Hisownstaffshouldbemeasuredandrewardedaccordingto how much they contribute to thesuccess of those initiatives. Robin-sonwillthenbespendinghisre-sourcesinwaysthatareundeniablyvisibleandnecessary.

Robinsonmustbeabletotalk to the firm's otherstrategicexperts- attheirlevel-abouttheirareasofresponsibility.

general increasingly need their hu-man resource specialists to operateatbothadministrativeandstrategiclevels. Robinson is likely to face thesameissueswhereverhegoes - sowhynotstay?

That'snottosaythathedoesn'tfaceadifficultchallenge-orthathehasn'tmadeanymistakes.Butthesituationisn'tasbadasitmayseem.WhatdoesRobinsonneedtodotogetthingsontrack?First,heneedstolearnLoft'sbusiness.Howdoesthefirmmakemoney?Whatareitsbiggestchallenges?Whoarethepri-marycompetitors?AllofRobinson'sinputtodatehasbeenfromanHRspecialist'spointofview.Indeed,hispresentationtotheseniormanage-mentteamseemstohavebeende-velopedwithoutintimateknowl-edgeofanyotherfunctionsatLoft.Tohiscredit,hehasmetwithallthefirm'skeyplayers.Butinaway,hehasplayedoutthatoldjoke:"Okay,let'stalkaboutyou.Howdoyoufeelaboutme?"IfRobinsontrulyex-pectstoworkasanequalpartnerwiththefirm'sotherstrategicexperts,hemustbeabletotalktothem-attheirlevel-abouttheir

areasofresponsibility.

Second,Robinsonmustbegintoinvolvelinemanagersfromotherdepartments in the de-velopmentofhisplans

should call people who have left thecompanyandtalktothem abouttheirexperiences.Thereisalot oflivedatatobecaptured - datathatcouldhelpRobinsonslowtheturnoverrateandbuilda culturethatwouldattractandmotivatequalifiedpeople.

Fourth,Robinsonneedstogetthe administrative duties of his de-partmentfunctioningsmoothly.Itdoesn't matter that the employee-relationsfiascohappenedbeforeRobinson joined Loft. It doesn't mat-terthatthebonus-checkmistakewas a onetime error. The tarnishedimageexists,andifthebasicsaren'thandled properly, HR's reputationwill never shine the way Robinsonwantsitto.

RobinsonseemstohavejoinedLoftwiththeexpectationthathewouldimmediatelybegivenaseatatthetable.Itjustdoesn'thappenthatway.Althoughhehasthesup-portofthe CEO,Shargallwasbrought in from the outside as well.Heisstillprovinghimself;hissup-portcantakeRobinsononlysofar.Finally,Robinsonshouldreassesshowheismanaginghisowndirectreports.Thereisevidencethathehasbroughtinsomenewtalent.Butthereisnoevidencethathehas

forLoft.Again,despitenumerousone-on-onemeetings, there is no evi-dence that any managersfrom other departmentshad a hand in developingRobinson's actionplans.Ialmostnevertacklea

Robinsonhasplayedout

that old joke: "Okay, let'stalkaboutyou.Howdoyoufeelaboutme?"

JIMWALL

is the national director of human re-sources for Deloitte and Touche inWilton,Connecticut.

ThebottomlineisthatRobinsonshould definitely stay at Loft. Why?Two reasons. First, he has a great op-portunitytohelpitsHRdepartmentgrowintoanimportantstrategicrole. In fact, there is already a goodfoundationforthatgrowth.Shargallwouldn'thavehiredhimifhehadn'tseentheneed.Second,businessesin

problemunlessIhavelinemanagersatmysidehelpingmefigureitout.IfRobinsonwantshisrecommenda-tionstogeneratemorethanpolitenods,hemustensurethateachse-niormanagerunderstandshowthoserecommendationshelphisorherownpositionanddepartment.Theonlywaytodothatisbyinvolv-ingthematthedevelopmentstage.Third, Robinsonshould learnmoreaboutthecompany'sformercultureandthereasonspeopleleftthefirm.Hecan'ttakehiscuesfromShargall;thenewCEO'sperspectiveisaslimitedashisown.Robinson

assembled a team. Robinson seemstothinkthathecantakeonthechal-lenges of his job sequentially: first,influence the senior managers; sec-ond,motivateLoft'semployees;andthird, create a unified group of HRexpertswhoareknownfortheirad-ministrative and strategic prowess.He can't. He must involve his ownpeople while he involves managersfrom other departments and tries toimprove morale and strengthen re-cruitmentefforts.That'stheonlywayhecanattainhisgoals.

In addition to the action plan I'vejustoutlined,Robinsonneedsa

heartfeltpeptalk.Hisrecentexperi-ence - whether or not a result of hisownactions - seemstohaveeatenawayathisconfidence.SoasRoseisadvisinghim ontheactionsheshouldtake,sheshouldalsobetalk-ing to him about the kind of impacthe wants to have on Loft and aboutthelegacyhesomedaywantstoleavethere.Sheshouldhelphimbe-

istrative operations such as the is-suanceofbonuschecks.Ifhefailsin the flawless delivery of transac-tional HR work, he will lack boththecredibilityandlegitimacyheneeds to champion more powerfulHR agendas. A recent University ofMichigan study that I directed hasconfirmed that personal credibilityisakeyfactorinhow

not go into great detail on this point,let'sassumethatsomeoftheem-ployees who left the company sim-ply retired and that others moved ontodifferentjobs.Butthedetails oftheindividualcasesmayilluminatea more threatening problem. For ex-ample, if 65-year-old employees areleavingLoftforteachingpositions,

lieveinhimselfagainandrevuphisenthusiasm. He'll need both confi-dence andenthusiasmto goforward.

Robinsondoesnotseemto

people assess the compe-tence of HR profession-als. We found that 60%of personal credibility isa function of doing whatyou say you'll do, suchasmeetingcommit-

Robinsonsimplycan'tallowmore glitches in basic HRadministrativeoperations.

begrapplingwiththe

challengeofwhatthefirmneedsonthehumansideofbusinessstrategy.

WAYNEBROCKBANK

isanassociate professorattheUniversityofMichiganSchoolofBusinessinAnnArbor.Hespecial-izesinthelinksbetweenthecom-petitivemarketplaceandhumanresourcemanagement.

Robinsonknowsthathehasaprob-lem, but he has yet to pin down theparticulars. The first thing he needsto do is map out the complexities ofthesituation andthephasesinwhich they must be addressed. Infact,Robinsonfacesthreesetsofchallenges at Loft: one short-term,one I'll call medium-term, and onelong-term.

In the short-term, he must fix thebasics. Robinson simply can't allowglitchestooccurinbasicHRadmin-

ments and doing work that is free oferrors.Robinsoncan'taffordaddi-tionaltransactionalmistakes.

ItappearsthatRobinsonhasat-tempted to upgrade the quality of hisdepartment'soperationalworkthroughinternalcustomer-servicestandards and performance guaran-tees. But it does not appear that hehas been adequately involved in en-suring their accuracy and efficiency.Perhaps because Robinson has comefrom the world of consulting, his in-stinctsmaybetrainedtowardthestrategic rather than the tactical. Buthe can't let himself be sidetracked tohigher-levelagendasuntil he getsthetransactionalsideofHRworkundercontrol.

Oneofthewayshecangetthatcontrol is to communicate the criti-cal importance of error-free work tohisdirectreports.Robinsoncannotaffordtohavepeopleonhisstaffwhowouldputthedepartmentinjeopardy by committing what I callthe"intolerableoops."Heshouldimmediately institute a total qualityprogram for his department. And, tofurther reduce the risk of human er-ror(because,afterall,thereisnosuchthingasaperfecthumanbe-ing),heshouldautomatethebasicsystemsandprocesses ofHRasmuchaspossible.

Make no mistake: the basics aretough. Some of the best HR profes-sionals in the business have troublegetting that piece of the job right.Butithastobedone.

Robinson'smedium-termchal-lenge centers on hiring and retaininggoodtalent.Althoughthecasedoes

Robinson need not be unduly con-cerned.Butif47yearoldsareleavingthecompanyto"pursueotherinter-ests,"hehasseriousworktodo.

Ifthelatteristrue,Robinsonshouldrecognizethatkeepingcer-tain employees is going to be moreimportantthankeepingothers.Companiescreatewealthforcus-tomers and shareholders at differentstagesofthevaluechain - throughservice,inmarketing,inmanufac-turing,and so on.Robinson needstoidentifythekeyindividualsonwhom the firm depends for its cre-ationofwealth.Hemustkeepthestars of the company happy and en-gaged.Ofcourse,hedoesn'twantother people to leave either, but atthis juncture, he needs to focus hisattentiononthewealthcreators.

Retaining high-quality employeesis,withoutadoubt,animportantanddifficultissue.Howdoesacom-pany keep stars? The necessary butinsufficientpartoftheansweristhrough salariesand benefits.IfRobinsoncan'tcompeteonthatlevel, he might as well throw in thetowel. Going beyond compensation,companies today must ensure thatpeople at all levels have the opportu-nitytofaceandconquertoughchal-lenges.Peopleneedtheauthoritytomeetthosechallenges,aswellasaccess to the information, training,and incentives that provide the mo-tivation to take them on. In short,employees, especially the most tal-ented Generation Xers, must be of-feredtheopportunitytoenhancetheir market value.Employee loy-altyisrarethesedays;self-interest

is the reality. Robinson should rec-ognizethatfactandplaytoit.

How does a company attract stars?It'slargelyamatterofbeatingthebushes and finding the equivalent ofthe best talent. I say equivalent be-cause it is extraordinarily difficult toget better people than those at yourmain competitor. If you get equallytalented and qualified people, you'redoing fine. You can lose the businessgame by not hiring the right people.Youwinthegamebased onwhatyou do with good people once youhavethem.

Onemorenoteonhiring:Busi-nesseslikeLoftoftenrelyheavilyontheperformanceofarelativelysmallnumberofpeople.Insuchcompa-nies,lineexecutivesarealmostal-wayscentrallyinvolvedinhiringde-cisions.IftheCEOisn'tinvolvedintheprocess,noworthyrecruitisgo-ingtosignon.Robinsonneedstoen-surethatShargallembraceshisownresponsibilityinthehiringprocess.Havingmettheshort-termandmedium-termchallenges,Robinson

mustthenchampionapowerfulandstrategically relevant HR agenda. IfRobinson wants to be a partner atthestrategytable,heneedstobringa thoughtfully conceived and high-value-added HR agenda to the man-agementteam.Sofar,hehasnotdoneso.There aresubstantialchanges occurring in the financialservices industry, but Robinson doesnot seem to be grappling with thechallenge of what the firm needs onthehumansideofbusinessstrategyto succeed in an increasingly turbu-lent environment. He needs to beasking himself and the other seniormanagers, "What individual and col-lective capabilities do we need sothatourpeoplenotonlywillbeableto respond to the changes in our in-dustrybutalsowillbeabletocreatethe turbulence to which others mustrespond?"Onlybytacklingthatquestion will Robinson and his col-leagues make progress toward creat-ingacompanythatdevelopspeopleasasourceofsustainedcompetitiveadvantage.

Robinson has a full plate of chal-lenges and tasks before him. But Iwould leave him with one final pieceof advice: If he is to succeed in anyand all of his endeavors, he mustbecomemoreknowledgeableaboutthe business he is now in. He needsto understand the nature of Loft'sexternal competition - including thechanging demands of key customergroupsandthechangingrequire-ments of financial markets - so thathe can go forward with his actionplansinacompelling, informedmanner. And he needs to ensure thatas he educates himself, he also edu-cates the other members of his de-partment. His HR team needs to beabletodeliveronoperationalexcel-lence, on the development and train-ing of other Loft employees, and onconceptualizinganddeliveringanagenda for the human side of thebusinessthatwillputLoftfaraheadofthecompetition.