Challenging times: Changing mindsets can be difficult.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as an HR professional was introducing change and injecting new initiatives. Changing the mindset and perception of HR professionals – since many perceive the HR job more as an operational task rather than a business partner – was an enormous challenge.

Essentially, meeting the key performance indicators is seen as a top target within the HR department compared with bringing additional measurable value to employees and the organisation.

Running a random HR check or audit, coupled with collecting feedback on HR’s performance to identify its drawbacks and measure performance, was one of the more daring business moves I’ve made.

On top of this, an annual organisation-wide survey is another method in collecting data and understanding the existing noteworthy contribution of the HR department to the organisation.

But perhaps these only lead to identifying and understanding the underlying issues within the HR team, yet don’t provide any solutions.

Setting more comprehensive and valuable KPIs that provide a holistic approach of the HR department’s overall function was my solution to improve the situation, while also highlighting the outcome of the organisation-wide survey results on the HR department.

Educating oneself by keeping abreast with the latest HR insights globally, while understanding HR functions and practices in various organisations, is a key step in improving HR. Having a clear line of sight, an overall understanding on job scope, roles and responsibilities, coupled with the mindset of perceiving employees as internal customers and striving for the best to fulfil their requirements and uplift the organisation, are essential elements of a good HR practitioner.

Initiative is the magic word every HR practitioner should always bear in mind in handling HR matters.

Aside from that, the ability to work closely with employees and business units in aligning industry and business needs and HR’s contribution towards an organisation’s needs and direction, are the key components of any HR team.