I was listening to POTUS 08, today, and I heard John Zogby talk about his polling company.
What does a polling company do when there’s no big election? Well it turns out that only 9% of their business is related to political campaigns. Much of the work in the polling industry is related to Corporate America (e.g., Gallup coordinates employee engagement surveys at many big companies), and pollsters have plenty of work to keep them busy.
Mr. Zogby also said, “In our field, there are innovators and there are auditors.”
That’s so brilliant — and it true for most industries and careers, including Human Resources.
So I ask:
- Are you an innovator?
- Are you an auditor?
- Do you know the difference?
Maybe there’s a more honest question, which is, “Can you be an innovator in Human Resources?”
I’m not sure you can.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Laurie,
Just read this in the NYTimes -
Can you spell INNOVATION?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10silver.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
Innovator in HR? I doubt it. The only person I can think this close and he probably doesn’t count in HR is Theo Epstein. He uses the Moneyball method for getting free agents and drafting players, but has made tough decisions to win championships like trading Nomar and Manny. He also change the culture of “Red Sox Nation” giving hope and not fear. I think every HR Manager should follow his lead.
Of note: Nate Silver I would put as well in the innovative side since he got the percentage of the popular vote almost exactly correct by doing a bunch of statistics from his time in Baseball Prospectus.
That is a good quote. I’m definitely an auditor in my current role. I’m doing a bit of innovating, but it’s on smaller stuffs. Heck, I’m only here for 90 days.
I truly believe that you can innovate in HR. Not let me qualify that: by HR I mean recruiting, which is my field of expertise, I’m not a generalist, I don’t pretend to be one, and I do not play one on tv (but am open to offers). I think what drive us (in recruiting) is competition; competition for candidates, and competition against agencies (or if you are with an agency, against internal agency models).
I believe some of the great innovation that has been driven in the field that I’ve been involved in is:
*Development and usage of candidate relationship management tools
*Taking the best of what we learned as third party recruiters and bringing it in house to companies, and forming internal agencies
Sadly, I could go on and on, as I am a recruiting geek extraordinaire. But I do really believe we can, do, and will continue to innovate.
Innovating isn’t just creating something new, its reinventing and packinging something that exists, but having the savy to apply it differently…I think there are lots of innovator’s in HR…I innovate every day as do many on my staff…And i don’t belive we are so far off the curve from the rest of the industry…
@Sully Nate Silver is my new husband.
@Tracy see above
@Jenn This is the longest 90 days of my life.
@Jimmy There is “doing new things in HR” and there is innovation. When I think of innovation, I think of a water-powered car. I don’t think of candidate management tools.
@Mark I think you could be right about repackaging, but innovation must equal value. If you’re not lighting the world on fire, you’re only auditing.
Righteous, thanks.
We are having a Punk Rock memory contest, now that the election exhaustion is clearing:
http://fullbodytransplant.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/punk-rock-pioneer-o-thon-a-contest-of-wiles/
Do it yourself.