In Praise of “Quotidian” HR

HR has labored for so long under an existential crisis, that it has developed a standard armory of superlatives and intensifiers to signal its worth. One hardly hears about an HR project without the word “transformation” bolted on for good measure. We feel bashful about referring to our work without such dramatic qualifiers to atone for marginalization or irrelevance.

Quotidian HR is equated with the anathema of transactional work, personnel admin, etc. How prole! How unbecoming for us social scientists busy inventing the future of work! So we wax lyrical with theories fed by mountebank consultants making excessive truth claims for their latest piece of snake-oil “thought leadership” to help insecure HR people feel buttressed and superior in their interactions with hard-nosed business leaders intent on quantifying HR. This may sound harsh towards consultants, and certainly not all fit the bill. I have a great esteem for those rare gems – the consultants who know when to on-ramp and when to off-ramp without turning the hapless HR function into a dripping roast. But for many of the mediocre ones the business model depends on fostering dependency, upselling or engineering other lock-ins.

I do not wish to sound unreasonable, because I do believe consultants are often needed. But they should be used like we do medical practitioners. The use of good ethical doctors is limited to a procedure or a treatment, because they are there to heal not to grow a business. The consulting ethos is bereft of such intuitive moral governance. Many consultants display a parasitic temperament, using Trojan Horse or Rasputin tactics. Depending on which consultant the bewitched HR person (or the “enlightened” business leader) happens to be smoking at any given time, they feel transported to a different Xanadu just within range (eminently achievable with a couple of juicy RFPs, and wholehearted adoration of the pseudo-science). Of course, this intoxicating world of alabaster perfection and oddly satisfying jigsaw puzzle pieces clicking into place can never be conjured up with the flourish of a wand-like project (without, inevitably, massive amounts of backsliding – i.e. the fancy coach turning into a pumpkin at the stroke of 12 – after the consultant leaves).

Consultants sometimes become addictive precisely because they make us believe that the right incantations and ceremonies of change management etc. will bring forth the future for us, without facing the reality of the intensely mundane but courageous daily inner work needed to chisel a different reality at the coal face, stroke by painstaking stroke. Not wanting to sound melodramatic, but what emerges is almost a scam of infantilizing HR, and preventing smart people coming together to do the right things, because some un-breachable intellectual chasm is thought to lie between them and the goal, which only a consultant can bridge.

Unfortunately this pattern thrives on the self-reinforcing dynamic of co-dependence of weak HR leaders legitimizing the role of these types of consultants (fighting the ancient dynamic of the prophet not accepted in his own land), with the consultants making the HR person look and feel like a hero (at the expense of anything lasting or deep-rooted taking shape). Cave Consultant Kudos! Beware blandishments from consultants. There are many exceptions of course, – both HR departments that go solo, and dignified consultants who stay clear of the hard sell even when they need it. Only recently a consultant told me after a wonderful pitch and multiple detailed sessions: “please take your time and see if this really works for you or not” – left me speechless in admiration.

So a salute to “Quotidian HR” – the grubby, imperfect but sustainable boot-strapping done by courageous and self-reliant HR people with average IQs, a good work ethic, a passion for working with others, the humility to keep improving, and supportive leadership (no “heroes” needed – thank you – I’d rather focus on making the system more navigable for the average Joe, than bring in heroes who can survive the treacherous terrain). It’s high time the scam is busted of denigrating “run of the mill HR” in favor of the quixotic, the chimerical and the seductive.