A reporter recently asked me in an interview about the proper role of HR in assisting in reviews of board directors. I told her that the proper roles included:

- Don’t even volunteer to do this, because there is no credibility and you are tainted by the company culture. Moreover, you probably have no experience dealing with feedback to powerful, outside directors.

- Do assist in a first screening of consultants to be utilized in this process, using criteria you can jointly create with the chairman and/or CEO (e.g., history of coaching senior executives, experience consulting to boards, etc.).

- Don’t try to choose the consultants, just weed out those who don’t meet the criteria, thereby saving the time of the board members, with whom chemistry will be critical.

- Do try to be an active partner in establishing the criteria and in institutionalizing the process, so that you are “in the room” as much as possible as the project unfolds.

The important aspect of knowing what to focus on is also knowing what not to focus on. HR people who insist on guarding turf, instead of acting as guides for the appropriate resources, do themselves and their organizations no good at all. This reporter happened to trigger just one such area, work at board level and executive evaluations.

There is a differences between process (the “how” of moving forward) and content (the “what” of the subject matter that you want to move forward). Some processes and some content are inappropriate at certain levels and with certain areas. As a rule, for example, executives want to deal with peers, especially when it comes to feedback.

HR can master both process and content to form new helping relationships. For example, HR people who take the time to serve in sales gain the experience and credibility needed to accompany the creation of, say, a sales development process. But if you don’t take the time to develop content expertise, and you use external vendors and trainers for your process help, then why are you needed at all?

You’re not going to be able to develop board content expertise, and the “traditional” HR processes of coaching and 360 degree evaluations are usually grossly inappropriate at that level. Consequently, as you develop your content and process skills, you also have to develop a sensitivity about where they are best applied and not applied.

If someone who is a veteran in HR is not continually increasing the vertical reach of his or her credibility, and the lateral scope of his or her content knowledge, then something is wrong. They’ve taken root. That’s why I’ve always favored a constantly rotating HR department, interchanged with line jobs, or even the reassignment of all HR into line departments.

HR is not a profession nor a calling. Sorry. I’ve never met anyone going through school yearning to be an HR professional. It’s a mechanism whereby bright and talented people, gathering experience, knowledge, and skills elsewhere, can apply their abilities to help others cross-functionally.

If you don’t believe that, then what is an HR person to do?


Alan Weiss, Ph.D. is the author of 25 books, including Million Dollar Consulting (McGraw-Hill), which appear in 7 languages. He runs the unique Million Dollar Consulting™ Colleges three times a year. You can reach him at http://www.summitconsulting.com., where you can also download hundreds of free articles. He was recently inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.®