Flag it off!

Some mornings when I walk into my office reception, a bright yellow sign post greets me as I step out of the lift. It says, "Caution, wet floor ahead". I thank God for its presence, coz the gleamy surface would have never had me guess that there was water on it.

And I'm thinking, shouldnt we in HR be doing just that?
Raising red flags when we see something that the line managers may not be in a position to see?

Do we know what the early warning attrition signals for our markets are, and have we been able to educate our line managers about them?

Do we know the skills and competencies our people will need to possess in the context of the business imperatives in the coming months? For example, if global mobility is going to be a thrust area for the organization, then have you helped your people cultivate a global mindset and make cross cultural assimilations?

Do we know who our future leaders will be? On a lighter (some may say crass) note, if your entire management team gets wiped out in a deluge - do we know if the organization has people who will run it from the next day?

Can we anticipate the impact of various key organization changes - eg, introduction of a stock option plan, senior management moves, new product line launch, etc?

I think helping Line Managers work with these issues is "real HR" - it is proactive, it is bang on - in the sense that it impinges on areas which are crucial to the business, and most importantly, it impacts the bottomline. And ofcourse, here's the best part - it is a skill. So lets be happy to have it, or cultivate it if we dont. And get to work.