HR Speaks

When we hear the term Human Resource Management, the very first thing that strikes us is leadership and communication. While everyone talks about these terms, their exact meaning is not always defined. While these two terms are shrouded as ambiguous, charismatic and inexplicably different, the demand for them in the corporate world continues to grow.
As a junior, our only job is to be good at our job. We are given training—how to use the software, how to sell, how to make a presentation etc. and if we excel at our job, we move up the hierarchy. We get a higher position where we may hold more decision-making power than our earlier colleagues. This is likely to cause a retaliation from them, making it difficult to lead.
Although it is unfortunate, it is also true that very few companies actually teach us to lead. The current leadership scenario is such that it is like putting someone in front of a machine and demanding results without showing them how the machine works.
The above phenomenon is why we get managers and not leaders in small and medium scale companies. The promoted individuals do know how to do the job better than the others; but not how to lead their subordinates. Instead, they manage us because no one taught them how to lead us. This is one of the hardest lessons to learn when we get promoted to a position of leadership—that we are no longer responsible for doing the job, we are now responsible for the people who do the job.
In this case, how do we expect the technically efficient employees to suddenly become effective team managers? Do they have to necessarily pursue the highly competitive and costly path of an MBA while working, in order to be promoted? Or is there an alternative way to prepare on these lines while working as a subordinate?
Taking HRM as a skill, it can be developed like the others: through reading and practice. Gaining knowledge from experiences and learnings summed up in books on HRM is sufficient to train your mind to identify likely situations and to construct infallible ways to tackle them.
However, the current times are a testament to the fact that exceptional problems also arise. While books make us ready in the head, sometimes the reality, when it strikes, gets the better of us. Going by the book does not always help and is not very prompt either. This is why we programme ourselves through practice; by learning to create our own solutions, being proactive and responding in time.
As a junior, a simple way to practise is to observe how your leader addresses situations, to analyse them and to build your own solution for the same. Diligently following this can save you time and money for pursuing higher education and knowledge, while at the same time not jeopardising your chances of becoming a leader in the near future.
To conclude, leadership combines the analytical side of vision creation with the passion of shared values, creating something that is meaningful to the people being led.
Leadership is hard work. Not the hard work of doing the job but the hard work of learning to let go, of training people, believing in people and trusting people. Leadership is a human activity. And, unlike the job, leadership exists beyond whatever happens during the workday.
HRM can be learned sooner as a skill. It is after all, a combination of interpersonal skills and the knack of correct psychological evaluation. Even in our previous example, the newly promoted employee can use their knowledge of the working styles of the other employees to rebuild good and new relations with them that are suitable to the new hierarchy. A work plan curated to boost efficiency (giving them opportunities to learn new things, develop and perform to the best of their abilities) goes a long way. The subordinates not only accept the new leader but also respect them. Furthermore, better results and a comfortable and more involved atmosphere is created in the workplace.

-Team Professional Development