Soft Skills for HR

Professionals
Nine Qualities all HR Professionals
Should Have
 1) Clarity of Thoughts
 In most of the situations and circumstances, we come across
two options; either we want to do or we don’t want to do;
either we agree to it or we don’t agree to it; either it is
acceptable or it is not acceptable; either you want or you don’t
want. It has been seen that many HR Professionals are
confused. They are not clear, where they want to take their
company. They don’t know what role they like to play in the
organization. They don’t have clarity of role. They don’t have
clear expectations, neither from themselves, or from their team
or from their internal customers (employees). With this
confusion, they fail to take decisions. They fail to take stand
 2) Efficiency in Time Management
 HR professionals is expected to be efficient in time
management. Most of the time, I have seen that they don’t give
any time limit. You approach them for any work and they
respond by saying, “Ok, it will be done”. But when? I agree that
“Good HR Professionals” have many things to do. Recruitments,
Employee Relations, Talent Management, Career Development,
Benchmarking, etc are the things, which takes lots of time. But,
all goals, all dreams, all activities, all commitments looks good
and are achievable, if there is a closing date for that. For
Example, I want my company to be in top-10 companies in the
world. It’s a Vision. It’s a good dream. But, if I don’t specify, by
which year or in how many years, I want to achieve that goal, it
will only remain as a dream and will never become a reality.
Uncertainty, Ambiguity, Open-Ended commitment, Confusion,
these are things, that are not expected from any HR Professional.
 3) Compare Performances /
Compare Situations
 People – Knowingly or unknowingly but quite often, instead
of Circumstances and Situations, we tend to compare two
different people. Instead of analyzing the behavior of a person
we tend to analyze them as an individual and take this as our
right. The very basic principle of science and management
says that no two individuals are same.
 4) Knowledge about the Business
and Industry
 Everybody should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
They should be aware as what they want in their life and
career. It is a well known fact and has been proved in various
surveys that HR professionals don’t care to understand the
business of the company and the industry that they are
working in so its imp
for HR to knowledge abt the business and industry .
 5) Vision and Goal for the
Department
 Team and Organization – What you want to do for the
organization? Are you planning to implement a competitive
compensation plan? Do you want to take your company in the
bracket of 25 “Best Employers in the Country”? Are you
planning to acquire best of the talent from market? Do you
think that you need to control the growing Attrition Rate of
your company? Have you thought about “Organization
Development” and “Talent Management”? Usually, that is the
confusion. HR professionals and HR heads don’t have that
vision.
 6) Love for Number / Data / Figures /
Calculations / Analysis / Projections
 You talk to any person in any other profession and tell them
that you are in HR; two things will automatically flash in their
mind – Theory and Politics. One reason why HR professionals
in India have not been able to enter into the Board Room and
make their presence felt in the organization is because though
they have ideas, they have strategies and policies but they are
not able to support those strategies with data. (It is just
because of the fact that there is no mathematics and
calculations involved in this subject that many people [mostly
females] love to join this profession).
 7) Enthusiasm to Share / Develop /
Coach and Mentor
 We have heard and read in our schools and colleges that
“Knowledge is a wealth; the more you distribute/share the
more you gain”. In this profession of HRM & D; we are
privileged and are in a very unique position where we can
develop people. We can develop their career. We can develop
their life. We can help them in changing their perception and
behavior. We can groom them, so that they can be successful
in their life. Don’t you think that we have very important and
crucial role to play?? How many of us have actually thought in
these lines? Do, think about it, you have one life, give what
you can. If 10 people will remember me once I bid adieu to
this world for helping them in developing their life.
 8) Self Discipline
 This again is a common quality that everyone should have,
irrespective of the profession they are in, but it is more
appreciable in HR Professionals and is like a must have
quality. They need to set standards for others to follow; they
need to benchmark their own behavior and if they start
flowing with water, everything else will go for a toss and
things will go out of control. I have heard, people saying that I
am doing this or that because others are also doing it but that
is not expected from HR Professionals. Discipline in life is a
must to grow, prosper and being successful.
 9) Trust Worthy
 This is very important quality and must have for all HR
Professionals. Candidates, at the time of interview share
important information with HR; Employees share lots of
information, personal, professional, ideas, suggestions, future
related, dreams etc. Imagine, if the HR professional keep
sharing that information with everyone in the team of HR; will
that employee ever comeback to HR to share anything with
him. NEVER. HR professionals need to win that trust and then
maintain and keep that trust. This is very true for HR
Professionals, who are working in “Employee Relations”.
 Conclusion
I have mentioned that for HR professionals to stand-up and get
counted, there are miles to go. Some HR professionals have
started this journey but many have still to take that “FIRST
STEP”. Believe me, we are in a very good profession and if
we can try we can changes in many ways. We have an
opportunity to give jobs, give careers, professional growth,
coach and mentor people. On other hand, we can increase
productivity, motivate employees, manage talent, build brand
for the company and also make the company “Best Company
to work for”.
So, kindly stand-up, take that first step and get counted.
Thanks