A new mandate for the future of organisations

Article by Patrizia Sangalli – “A NEW MANDATE FOR THE FUTURE OF ORGANISATIONS” – December 2020_HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

The debate on the role of the HR manager in organisations is certainly not new. A figure originally characterised by a predominantly regulatory administrative profile, over time it has had to change its skin because it is inevitably involved in profound economic and social changes.

The epochal transformation we are witnessing, which has seen globalisation and the processes of technological innovation as the great engines of a revolution with very often unforeseen and unpredictable contours, of which the Covid-19 pandemic is but the latest, no longer exempts us from serious reflection on what should be the new and true “mandate” for HR managers. It was only a few days ago that the latest report by the Observatory on Smart Working of the Politecnico di Milano estimated that 5.35 million workers will continue to work remotely even when the emergency is over. Before the pandemic there were 570,000. We are facing an extraordinary transformation that under normal conditions would have taken many years to realise. The amount of change at a technological, logistical, organisational and social level, and the repercussions on other categories of work that will inevitably be involved, cannot yet be calculated.

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It is not difficult, on the other hand, to imagine the enormous amount of work that awaits those who, in the field of human resources management, will have to deal with a change of truly historic proportions, capable of generating organisational, psychological and cultural effects. It is the world ‘VUCA’ beauty! We could respond in this way, recalling an acronym coined in the 1970s that was capable of predicting, at least on a scenario level, the world we were heading towards: Volatile; Uncertain; Complex; Ambiguous. Such a vision confronts us with the need for organisational excellence for survival. Efforts to achieve this excellence, which passes through the ability to learn, to rethink, to change, to systemise, are driven not only by what the organisation does and how it does it, but also and above all by how it chooses, develops and manages its people. All this belongs to the HR world, now more than ever.

I have been close to this world for a few decades now, I have lived in it, I have always felt and still feel like an “HR manager”; well, this need for change was identified a few years ago. Even then, there was already a desire for an evolution, a transformation that could foster a real partnership with management, through rethinking andreconfiguring the role.

A design oriented to free the function from the mere administrative and legal-contractual role, to project it, in a strategic key, to protect the corporate values in the commitment to the achievement of objectives, in the present, but above all in the future. Without people, no organisation can function, so the urgency is to invest, to become champions of increasing the capacity to learn, to change, to manage differences, complexity and ambiguity. I like to think of HR’s role as a kind of architect, participating in the design of the strategy, supporting it and ensuring that it is grounded. Growth and profitability, evolution of technology, management of Intellectual Capital, innovation and continuous change are but a few of the challenges that organisations will face.

The question that arises is: why is this not the case? What makes this transition difficult even today? It is a question I personally have given much thought to.

An almost Hamletian dilemma, which we could simplify with: to do HR or to be an HR? The reality is that it is a complex and difficult profession, because it is necessary to learn to integrate opposites, the yin and the yang, to be aware that the whole, completeness, is achieved by integrating the rule and the vision, the present and the future. Two souls that must compulsorily dialogue in order to generate synergies so that results and values cohabit in a single synthesis. This dance of opposites, moreover, belongs to the everyday life of this role. In fact, HR managers know very well that taking care of people means seeking contact and empathy even when the set of rules in force would seem to leave no room for emotional intelligence and its skills. Ingredients capable of guaranteeing success, while keeping the helm of the ship steady even when the storm rages around.