How strategic can an entry level HR profile be?

I was at an HR fraternity forum early this month and this was pretty much the question on most of our minds when we were discussing about how HR can make a difference in today's changing business environment and how HR folks may therefore be motivated to think differently.

It would be ideal if all HR profiles had a healthy blend of transactional and strategic deliverables. However, what we also know is that practically, expecially at entry levels, this seldom happens. Most impressionable youngsters in the field are bogged down in their formative years with heavy transactional work and pushing papers.

What is doubly challenging for junior associates is that sometimes when they're eager to contribute to new areas and be heard, the need for delivery and deadlines on their transactional assignments stop them from treading in that direction. I know this for a fact simply because I've been there!

How do we strike a balance then, make our jobs as fresh executives more relevant? Well, I sincerely believe that during goal setting, we must all incorporate a small percentage, maybe 10 to 15% to innovation i.e. doing things differently. for e.g. the deliverable could be suggesting and implementing one process improvement in one of the years' focus areas - Employee Engagement.

In addition, talking about the highs and lows on our jobs with team members is a great way to share knowledge and pick up interesting pointers. An organization I was a part of had a weekly highs and lows meeting every monday morning for the team where each member would talk about what he did best during the week and where he could have improved. The energy and enthusiasm in the room at that time had to be felt to be believed!

While all this may not take the focus away from the job at hand which is bound to be routine and standard, it will urge the professional to look at the same job from different angles, talk to people about where he's stuck and gain satisfaction when he is able to make himself and his process infinitesimally better everyday.

I thought I'd post a couple of interesting articles from www.jobdig.com which are on the subject.

http://www.jobdig.com/articles/1373/HR_Role:_Strategic_Versus_Employee_Advocate%3F.html

http://www.jobdig.com/articles/1435/Ways_Entry_Level_HR_Professionals_Can_Be_More_Relevant.html

Jai Ho!!

Aparna Krishnan