HR Bartender conducted an unscientific, one-question survey earlier in the month asking what your top competency is as a human resource professional. The results were surprising; I have to admit.
I know that I wrote a post about the value of human resources, including a relationship component. Relationships are very important to me. It wasn’t my expectation that it would be the number one, as more factors are involved in creating value than just a relationship. The thing you are building the relationship is.
I was left with a question. What is the primary function of HR in managing relationships? Is that all they do?
It was also surprising that I did not end up number one. Human resources are often referred to as business partners. Business acumen is second. It was not even close.
It was also a little surprising to see global effectiveness at the bottom. Technology has enabled the world of business to be global. One commenter said that the low global rating wasn’t surprising because it is second nature to be global. It might explain the low rating for ethics if that is true. This raises questions about the dynamic between business ethics and relationships.
It is possible to have only one competency at the top. This was the purpose of the question. It’s been a good exercise for me to think about. If managing relationships is the number one skill, why are we seeing articles from The New York Times like this?