Shu Yeung has over 20 years of
experience as a strategic and
operational HR executive with
experience from mid and large
sized companies such as American
International Group (AIG), Novartis
and IHS to small companies. Shu has
supported C-suite leaders and global
teams, and has worked in Europe and
Asia.
Would you like to comment?
Are You Selfless?
As HR leaders, we help draft communications to be
presented to employees. We also help leaders design
strategy sessions behind the scenes before they
are presented to their leadership teams. Although
the general themes of any communication come up
over and over again, each communication is unique
because each situation is different. The final product
will take into account all of the nuances of that
specific situation (i.e. audience, timing, actions that
have occurred to date, etc.) It is most rewarding when
a leader uses our exact words for a communication.
As with any communication from a leader, there will
be comments and feedback from employees. It is
best to listen to the comments, take the feedback
for future improvements and reinforce the messages
that were mentioned. What we should not do is
suggest that we were involved in drafting the
communication as this would end up tarnishing the
credibility of our leader, as well as the message itself.
The satisfaction that you receive knowing that your
leader took your advice and used what you wrote
should be proof enough of your leader’s view of
the value you bring. It is a great compliment when
we can give advice to our leaders about how to
communicate with their team members. Leaders
will end up respecting you and trusting you more if
you take on a selfless style. Granted, all of us need
a sense of recognition for our accomplishments
and it is important that people take notice of our
contributions. However, if you are selfless by putting
the good of the organization before yourself, it will
be recognized.
Another form that a selfless style can take is
defending the decisions made by your leaders. Even
when a leader makes a decision that you may not
fully agree with, you should always be aligned with
your leader in front of others. Sometimes, you will
need to explain the actions that your leader takes and
the business rationale for them. If you were to say to
your leader’s team members that you disagreed with
a decision that the leader made but that the leader
went ahead with it anyway, this will reflect badly on
you since you will be seen as working independently
and not in partnership with your leader.
Most importantly, being selfless is taking ourselves
out of the picture when making decisions for the
company. This comes into play when working on
compensation, promotions, succession planning,
career development, and company policies, to name
a few. For example, we may be involved in creating
compensation structures and job architecture
frameworks for all roles, including HR across the
company. In this situation, we should not personalize
compensation decisions. We need to step back and
always remember to think “big picture” (i.e. what’s
right for the company) in our decision-making and
actions. We should also encourage and influence
other leaders and managers to approach matters in
a similar fashion. Otherwise, narrow decision-making
will have negative consequences for the company.
Personal Excellence presented by HR.com SEPTEMBER 2021 27 Submit Your Articles
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