What’s in a name?

Does it matter if we are called, HR, Talent, People & Culture, People & Performance or something else entirely? To quote Shakespeare: ‘a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’; or would it?

Language / vocabulary / vernacular is a powerful tool. You only have to look to the great speech writers and orators of history to see that the words we use matter, and they shape the way you feel about things, consciously or subconsciously.

Information Technology or IT Teams are transitioning to be called just Technology, Chief Digital or Chief Experience Officers are now a ‘thing’ and a Data Scientist is a real job title; verbiage matters.

Just as the profession we currently know most commonly as Human Resources started out as Personnel or Administration, so too, should it’s title in the modern workplace reflect what our teams actually do. Historically, it was fair to be known as administration or personnel; the primary function of the department was to keep records, hire people (slowly!) and retire them when they hit a certain age. These days, if a People Team delivered that type of “administrivia” and lack of vision or strategic insight, they would not be genuine contributors or partners to the business and would not be deserving of any type of label that reflected more than the basic services they offered.

But what would a PeopleTeam offer, that a HR Team doesn’t? If you ask me, here are a few things that your contemporary HR Team should be doing, or at least trying that our friends who are stuck in the past might not be:

1. Deeply understanding the operations of the business and delivering People Strategies and Initiatives that help the business achieve their strategic goals;

2. Using data to predict outcomes and inform their decisions;

3. Not introducing procedures or programs simply ‘because X organisation is doing it’;

4. Crafting the journey map of your people through the organisation and delivering at the moments that matter most;

5. Understanding and applying human psychology and human behaviour to offer a perspective that is unique from other functions;

6. Acting as the custodians of integrity and culture in the business and protecting the small things that add up to make a big impact.

If you’re not seeing these things from your People Team, then I’m happy that they remain your HR function until they level up. If you want to move in this direction then it will require effort, energy, attention and resources to get there. I do think it’s critical not to change your title / team name until your service matches the label.

With one of my clients, I am referred to as their Chief of Happiness. I pointed out to them that sometimes, in doing my job well, I might not make all people the happiest they’ve ever been. Their counter was that for those times, the business owners and senior managers would be happy… ok, I can deal with that.

So you see, the language we use to describe ourselves and what our teams do, really does matter.