How often are we saying: “those HRs are not helping me” or “this
fXXXingly stupid new HR report drives me crazy” or “there is too much on my
plate: happy people, happy customer, happy bosses...”.
That’s a usual staff. Outsourcing manager has all of these,
and in disproportionally high manner. Someone may say that it is a challenge,
someone more educated - that it is a cognitive dissonance. To sum up, that’s
all bullshit and, we know, it is. The company wants the bottom-line (profit),
it also wants a topline, sales, revenues, market share… this is what investors
want. These contradicting demands crystalize somewhere around middleman (or,
middle manager), who experience this cognitive dissonance. An advanced company realizes
this, and it aims to help poor guy or girl, as much as it thinks it can… This
is where an HR is supposed to step in, with its amiable and supportive function
– “we will help you with the people problems: motivation, agitation,
reinvigoration and rehabilitation”.
The reality is poor. Nobody knows your people as much as you
do. HRs are, regularly, well uneducated and inexperienced to help you. They are
also paid way below your regular middle engineer… so their illiteracy could be excused.
You end up having unsatisfied people, bosses and customer with HR providing
their gloomy “service” on top of this mess. The mess, which is, by the way,
affecting your KPIs, bonus, family plans and your own professional ego.
Time to ask yourself a simple question. In the ideal world,
what do I need? You know a lot about what your wants are. But, the question is very
direct and uncompromising. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO ALLOW YOU
PROFESSIONALLY PERFORM YOUR DELIVERY MANAGER’S FUNCTION IN AN OUTSOURCING
ORGANIZATION?
Nobody asked you this. And, as a first reaction, you say: “Oh,
gosh. I need to think…”
As a second thought passes thru your mind, you realize your
need is very simple: “Let those people working on the project, be happy and
never leave it”. As a third thought, it comes a really revolutionary one, “I need
time to develop the business: client, relationship, expansion of service, some
funny agile and follow-the-sun staff, try new delivery model, team layout etc.
etc.” This is the TOP LINE. But… you never thought about it, right? And, you
know why - you simply didn’t have the time, just straight uninterrupted 2 hours
of work dedicated to a funny preso to help the client solve their problem. You were
busy motivating people to do their job and fighting with HR to push back their
stupid requests. Day after day, week after week, year after year … until a
shiny start-up embraces you for a sexy
half a year of really funny staff.
The reality is poor. Start-ups end up in 2 states: investors
(see above) or dissolution.
Enough being said, and the context is set. TOP LINE is in
the top interest of a delivery manager, and the bottom line is apparently is
NOT. Stop the cognitive dissonance, you really don’t need to “motivate”
the people, you just want them to perform their duties up to the top line. Your
KPIs is the top-line, which are: 1) your commitment to maintain and expand the
business, 2) the happy customer and 3) the state-of-the-art delivery process,
driving the customers and engineers crazy, satisfying theirs and yours egos,
and helping all these conglomerate to earn their wages, bonuses and extra
vacation days. Fair enough! If you do so, you do a significant half of the company
targets – the topline.
Ok, nice picture but where is the bottom-line? ( “ha-ha…
ups… so, where is the money?”, Knocking
on Heaven's Door ). Folks, this is HR. Keep steady but, how do you think HR
can follow the Adam’s Equity Theory, or Expectancy Theory of Motivation, or 4
Types of BMod Reinforcement, or, simply, satisfy Herzberg’s 2-Factor Model of Hygienes
and Motivators without having the authority to develop competence, own
the compensation and other fringe benefits, and maintain career development
plans for your buddies? BTW, is not this fair as well? Everybody is doing their
job. Your job is the customer, HRs' job is the people. Your job is the topline,
HRs are truly dedicated to the bottom-line.
For the sake of the post, enough is being said. The concept
is here, and consequences are spatial. Deriving the interface between Delivery
and HR (or, correct to say, Human Resource Cost Managers) is up to yours and your bosses' imagination, education and common sense judgment.
A sample is on the surface though. You are ready to start an
INFORMATICA project, and, if you assume the people are there, you commit that you hit
the topline. Fair. HRs estimate the training costs, hiring costs, labor
market and organizational capacity of doing so, and come up with the COSTS. If
they are committed but failed to fill the competency gap, they have underperformed on their KPIs.
If your customer's opportunity didn’t materialize, you failed your KPIs due to the
risks you haven’t estimated properly. In a glorious world, everything is vice
versa but the idea of responsibility distribution is all the way the same.
Everybody is doing their job: you earn revenue, HR justify and maintain the expense.
