Innovation in HR: Doing Something Old Better

Another good posting by Valeria Maltoni of Coversation Agent. Her blog title was "Sometimes Innovation is no More Than Doing Something Old ... Better". She gives several examples of what she means:

• Apple's new thin notebook computer, same computer, just thinner


• Google as the search engine of choice instead to the old powerhouse Altavista


• MS Word instead of Wordstar

In his book Human Resources Champions , Dave Ulrich talks about the skills that effective and progressive HR professionals need to have. But one of the key points he makes is that to be considered a "partner" you must do the basics of the job well. You must be an administrative expert. His steps for being an administrative expert include:

• Reengineer HR work through use fo technology, process engineering teams, and quality improvements.


• Define the HR role in creating value for the firm.


• Creat a shared services HR delivery mechanism.


• Measure HR results in terms of efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (quality).

Administration has been what HR/Personnel has been about from its inception. Many, many companies do it poorly. So how about being an "innovative" HR department by taking Ulrich's and Maltoni's advice and do something old ... better.

How To Increase Creativity: Tips for HR

Valeria Maltoni, author of the blog Coversation Agent (and other blogs), wrote a great blog on Creativity and Outcome . She stated that creativity can be hard work, however, she gives some tips for how you can introduce creativity into your daily "routine" by getting out of your daily routine. Click on the link above to see what those tips are.

I am a big believer that being creative and being non-routine is a vital skill for the human resources professional. When I am teaching classes to HR professionals and HR professional wanna-bes I talk about the importance of environmental scanning. This is necessary to be a proactive, forward thinking HR professional. You have to be able to recognize what is happening that may affect your employee population and your company's ability to attract and retain those employees. And this skill takes creativity! It requires you to get out of your routines, which for many of us have become ruts, and to view the world from a different perspective. As Maltoni says "Creativity happens by design." So read her tips on becoming more creative or elastic by freeing yourself from your routines and start on the road to being a better human resources professional. You will be more interested, more interesting, more valuable and as a result probably better paid.