Information overload has become an accepted fact of living in a world that constantly blitzes us with news stories, research findings, sensory visual and sound media, and data from multiple paper and electronic sources about a dizzying number of subjects.
Leonardo da Vinci was often judged to be the very model of the ‘Renaissance man’, displaying brilliance in science, painting and music, as well as being an outstanding inventor. Sometimes called a polymath, a person whose expertise spans many different subject areas is a diminishing breed. It is still possible to develop expertise in a specialist field, but it’s now increasingly problematic to be widely read without also running the risk of becoming a dabbler.
On the basis of those cautionary thoughts, anyone who searchs for a guru to provide authoritative solutions to problems is likely to be chasing a spectre.
That said, I’m confident that it is possible to source strategists who are reliable and trustworthy in the advice and solutions they propose to enterprises. They include HR practitioners who have achieved a capacity for understanding the dimensions of complexity and a tolerance for dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity. They are professionals who have arrived at the view that no two enterprises are identical, and so creating a culture or an HR strategy that supports enterprises will not simply require the application of a pre-set formula that works for all.
Because HR solutions are not purely black or white, the professionals who work as HR business partners have the good fortune to work in an occupation that is consistently stimulating, but also consistently testing.
As part of AHRI’s mission to support practitioners in building sustainable organisations through people, we strive through our fourth Pillar to leverage our community of practice and infrastructure so that we are seen as the ‘go to’ place for HR solutions.
Drawing from Pillar 2 (HR Community) and Pillar 3 (Intellectual Capital) across our extensive member base, AHRI becomes a rich resource. Within Pillar 4 (HR Solutions), AHRI takes a leadership role in establishing a wide variety of strategic partnerships to ensure our members derive benefit from the best and brightest in the business.
On a formal level, the partnerships include tapping into our network of global thought leaders for the latest in HR thinking, or building partnerships with leading service providers who can share their knowledge at the most substantial HR exhibition in the region during our annual AHRI national convention.
On an informal level, options and solutions are talked through at the many member-only forums we run around the country each month. Or perhaps they are discovered within the 50,000-strong AHRI LinkedIn community, where an answer might only be a question away. And don’t forget our AHRI Awards, where case studies are showcased of how others have tackled HR challenges.
With AHRI operating as a conduit between our members and the market when it comes to finding HR solutions, members are privy to state-of-the-art products and services, and also to the feedback from other members who have used those products and services. And AHRI’s own resource portals such as AHRI:ASSIST which regularly receives between 15,000 and 20,000 visits each month, are evidently giving value.
It goes without saying nowadays that all these things are of use if they can be easily accessed ‘just in time’, and that is where our Pillar 5, AHRI’s infrastructure and enablers, comes into play. That will be next month’s column.
This article is an edited version. The full article was first published in the June 2015 issue of HRMonthly magazine as ‘The brightest and the best’. AHRI members receive HRMonthly 11 times per year as part of their membership. Find out more about AHRI membership here.