Like any other professional, a HR Professional, should also aim for reaching the top of the ladder in the corporate hierarchy. And investing on intellect is the way forward
If we study the recent past, we will find that the HR Function has gained immense importance in business organizations. HR is being treated as a business partner and is involved in all the business decision-making and strategy. In most of the forward looking/growing organizations, rather it is the HR which is driving the business.
Like any other professional, a HR Professional, should also aim for reaching to the top of the ladder in the corporate hierarchy. If one doesn’t have any ambition/aspirations, he will keep on doing routine things and add no value to the organization and the self. Further, as a HR Professional, one should always try innovative ways to keep the employee morale high and make them happy. In today's scenario HR persons are role model for others. In the time of crisis, people are looking towards HR. So, they are carrying huge burden on their shoulders.
A couple of months back, as a part of the promotion of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, actor Anil Kapoor had visited our office. The very next day, the HR team had a discussion and all were saying that in spite of being 50+ how Anil Kapoor is maintaining himself and doesn’t look-like a father of an actress. I replied by saying that these film industry people are earning due to their outer appearance, it is their bread and butter, they are investing heavily in maintaining themselves. They need to look young and smart to remain in the business else no one takes them in their movies. Vis-à-vis, a service class person is said to be earning through his mind/brain but unfortunately we never think of maintaining/grow it by investing in the form of skill/knowledge up-gradation through learning, reading and networking. We engross ourselves so much in day-to-day activities that we forget that aspect of development.
In a corporate set-up, you must have observed that the organizations keep on upgrading technology, plant and machineries, IT software and hardware to keep them ahead in the business and remain afloat in the market. On HR front, the HR person's biggest asset is his intellect. As a HR Professional, have we ever given a thought that how much we are investing on our intellect in terms of time, efforts, money, learning, development, etc.?
We are investing heavily on clothess, toiletries, perfumes footwear, dining, touring and travelling, etc. Instead of personal intellect growth, we started thinking of having vehicles, homes, etc. from the very beginning of our careers. Have we ever given a thought that what percentage of our earnings are we investing on our real asset i.e., our intellect? If we closely watch and observe the successful senior HR professionals, we will find that they all are spending couple of hours every day in reading / other developmental initiatives and it is in the range of 3-4 hrs during the off days
Every professional should start investing at least one percent of the monthly take home salary in learning and development initiatives.
Some of the basic areas where we can make the investment are:
• Books - Try to read the management and HR best-sellers. This will give you an edge over others and believe if you keep on reading books on regular basis you will feel rejuvenate and full of energy
• Business Daily - Reading any business daily will keep you updated on the current business and economic scenario. You may use the information in your HR planning and in any business linked strategic decision
• Magazines - One should read atleast one general magazine, one business magazine and a couple of HR magazines. The magazines will give you the current insight in details of the respective fields
• Networking - One of the effective way of networking is to take the membership of the professional bodies like National HRD Network, Indian Society for Training and Development, National Institute of Personnel Management, All India Management Association etc. Attending and interacting with fellow professionals during the meets will update you on the latest happening in the HR Field and the practices followed by the different companies
• Distance Learning - This is one of the formal ways of enhancing knowledge in the field of HR. One may join HR specialized courses of reputed Institutes. This will help them in enhancing/refreshing the HR concepts
This will certainly help in seeing HR Professionals as great business leaders in the future.
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