Credible Activist, When I read these words, I really liked them and thought they clearly expressed the role I wanted to take as a human resources professional: someone who is listened to, respected and admired as well as someone who takes chances and moves projects and ideas forward.

It’s not enough to be one or the other, to be admired but make no impact or to have great ideas that no one listens to. No, it is important to be credible as well as active if you want to be a strategic business partner.

In fact, according to the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) the newest 2007 Human Resource Competency Study by RBL Group and the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, which gathered information from 10,000 human resources professionals and line management employees from around the world, indicates that “Being a credible activist, culture and change steward, talent manager/organizational designer, and strategy architect accounts for more than 75 percent of an HR professional’s success.”

So the next question is …  how do you get there?

First, understand what your department has to offer. Determine what tools and resources (people, time and financial) you have available at your fingertips.

Next, develop relationships with all members of your organization. That means getting out of your office and interacting face-to-face with the people not sitting behind your desk sending emails. Be actively involved. Develop trust and understanding by learning how the business operates. Find out what issues your internal client base faces. Attend their meetings and events. Develop credibility as the go-to person.

Finally, take an active interest in the organization and make an active effort to find solutions and implement them. Figure out how what you know can best be used to help your internal client be successful. Act on it. Follow up and follow through.

To be a credible activist, you have to be both. You have to gain the trust of your internal clients by becoming actively involved in their business. In other words, make their business your business.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 8:13 am and is filed under Recruiting, Company Culture. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.