HR is a LOT older than you think
500 years after Leonardo da Vinci hand-wrote the first recorded resume in 1482 seeking a patron for his work, solutions like LinkedIn make CV's all but obsolete .....but most organisations still ask for that document as credentials for every job… even from people who have worked for them for decades.
Similarly Performance Management, the most hated people process in most industries, remained virtually unchanged for over 40 years despite hostile reactions in industry press, workplace (de)motivation and turnover problems plus decades of scientific evidence of procedural and validity problems.
Modern Organisations Run by Processes from the Past
At a recent Digital HR conference in Perth Australia, I made the case that the majority of people management practices are much older than people realise, either generations or centuries old.
In fact, this timeline goes so far back that a kind of corporate amnesia has occurred, each workpalce generation assuming that HR and management products were invented by the one before. To this day, most people still believe that they are using contemporary approaches to manage work and people.
This amnesia has created decades-long product backlog of tired or obsolete HR and workplace products. This is evidenced by the influx of new ways of working, ‘rebellions’ against unpopular processes like performance management plus explosive growth of the various product and software markets.
So if you think 'There's got to be a better way' chances are you are probably right. Call out a bit of bureaucracy or maybe get your team to challenge lame, tired processes.
Spread the message, cure this amnesia and maybe along the way you can introduce something lighter and better. Go on!
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Damien writes regularly about people at work and how we change. He strives to create better Australian workplaces through his company RethinkHR. He has a passion for people, evidence-based practices plus fresh thinking and design.
