PLEASE stop calling it HR

Here’s why I feel so strongly about this: the words ‘human resources’ have NOTHING to do with creating a great experience for your team; nor with attracting, developing and retaining talent. 

And I get it. It comes from the administrative part of the job that makes sure payroll is taken care of, benefits are paid, everyone’s name, address, birthday, etc. is in the system, and performance reviews are completed on time (and DON’T get me started on performance reviews!).

But let me ask you this: how does it feel to be called a human resource?

It doesn’t infuse you with a good dose of pride and confidence, does it? It makes you feel like a cog in a machine. But your team is NOT an assembly line.

Can a simple thing like the label of a department really get in the way of your talent development? 

I have two clients making this change right now. They each have a perfectly good head of human resources in place, but they realize that to truly scale and create a healthier business, they need someone with a different skill set. 

Someone with a more strategic approach to talent development. 

Their first step? They’re changing the function name from human resources to talent development. 

In your company, you might call it… 

• Chief People Officer

• SVP of employee experience 

• VP of talent development

Call it whatever you want. But make it about PEOPLE. 

Make it about talent development instead of benefits, payroll, and tracking people's information.

Often, what happens after you do that is you realize that no one is truly focusing on talent development.  So you get serious about it. You start asking:

…How can we improve our chances of hiring A-players? 

…How can we better assess the talent on our team? 

…What coaching and development do we need to put in place to help people get to the next level?

And yes, sometimes changing the label leads to changing the person too. Because if you just give your HR director a different name, you haven’t solved the problem. 

But as long as you keep calling it ‘human resources’, you’ll continue to think about it in the old way. 

No, changing the title is not the solution. But it's a necessary first step to set you off on the right path. One step that can create a ripple effect of long lasting and profound change in your company.

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