The Working Week 42: Chris Seabourne

What is it about HR?. That's the question Wayne ponders this week as he talk to Chris Seabourne, a former HR director who is now a partner with CTPartners, an international executive search firm.

As a former human resources director, Chris has some strong opinions about the bad press that HR departments seem to receive.

One of the problems for HR departments, Chris says, is that it is so hard to measure the benefits of much of what HR does.

But business IS people – in fact the only difference between many organisations – their key competitive advantage – is the people they employ, which includes their CEO.

But while people ought to be kept at the top of a company's agenda, the fact is that many of those who run large organisations simply aren't turned on by "people issues". Why? Because they usually got to the top thanks to their specialist business, technical or financial skills, not because of their people skills.

Chris' advice to HR professionals is to ensure that they make the 'process' side of their role as efficient and lean as possible. Then they can address the more intangible aspects of HR such as managing performance and developing talent.

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