Thinker or achiever - HR stereotypes revealed

HR people are a diverse bunch.  The Centre for High Performance Development (CHPD) has encountered more than most in its eleven years of existence.  The organisation has worked with thousands of HR people and believes that HR professionals are a special and under-rated group of individuals, who provide their organisations with a special insight into the lives of their greatest asset, their people. 

CHPD believes the diversity of HR people is often a result of the many and varied routes into HR: “Some will have chosen HR as a career because they truly love working with people, others found themselves calmed by the HR world after years of turbulence in the sales department – after all, it’s easier to train sales people than to make sales!  Then there are the ‘people-minded’ professionals - lawyers, accountants or engineers - who swapped the client ‘war zone’ for internal HR battles.”

Whatever their route in, their competence is often defined by where and how they served their apprenticeship.  Broadly speaking, and this can only ever be in general terms, there appear to be four HR ‘types’ – see if you can recognise yourself or your colleagues, but remember, don’t take it too seriously:

The Thinkers
This HR professional is truly well read.  They are great fans of HR theory and there isn’t much this HR Professional cannot quote from the academic or industry literature.  They have models and frameworks coming out of their ears!  You’ll find them of huge value at the beginning of projects – they speak the language of the consultants – and can set you on the right track with their initial thinking.  If you need to know which model and framework is right for the job – they’ll have the answer.  The big danger for HR ‘thinkers’ is getting stuck in planning and never getting to the implementation, so make sure you push on to get the job done! 

The Counsellors
As their name suggests, the ‘counsellors’ are firm believers in the consensual approach.  In meetings, they are very aware of different views and keen to get everyone moving together in the right direction.  They have great empathetic skills and will always find the positive in a situation or person.  Remarkably, they are one of the few groups in HR that actually take time to coach their own staff.  The risk they run is in not being able to make a decision when it’s necessary.  In a crisis, the counsellor who’s gone too far, ‘decides’ on another meeting to ensure everyone is onboard, just when you think a decision has been reached – be warned! 

The Inspirers
Impoverished HR departments are lucky to have an ‘inspirer’ as they will persuade people to give them resources.  Inspirers tend to be HR professionals who never originally chose HR as a career - they might have been a lawyer, accountant or sales person for example.  They then moved from the ‘business’ side to the ‘people’ side.  The value of these types is that they are great communicators, especially when it comes to dealing with the board.  If you need to secure buy in – and budgets – from the board, you need an ‘inspirer’ on your team.  Unfortunately this enthusiasm means ‘inspirers’ can be less than patient, in particular they will get frustrated with ‘thinkers’, who they consider too woolly.  They need to remember that variety is the spice of life!

The Achievers
‘Achievers’, as the name suggests, want to get things done.  Not only that, unusually in the world of HR, they want to measure the results of what they achieve too.  This ensures they are well regarded by people in the wider business, particularly at the top, who see the ‘thinkers’ and ‘counsellors’ as more typical of the HR professional.  They are carried along by their natural enthusiasm and ‘can-do’ spirit.  However, they can end up being frustrated.  ‘Achievers’ CVs tend to show frequent job changes. This is usually as a result of frustration that they cannot achieve all they want – so they move on in the hope that ‘greener pastures’ will bring more ticks in the ‘target achieved’ column.  

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