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HR As Change Agents: What Competencies Do We Need?

According to Ester Kruger, Dave Ulrich's HR competency model forms a benchmark and an ardent appeal to our industry to ensure that we not only keep up with the times, but also take control by enabling our organisations to navigate successfully through rough seas. She highlights four competencies that we need in order to be successful change agents.

by Ester Kruger

Ester Kruger, Bioss Southern Africa.  Contact Ester at ester.kruger@bioss.com or visit the Bioss website http://www.bioss.co.za/ Bioss Southern Africa http://www.bioss.co.za/ Level 2 B-BBEE Contributor, Empowerdex Rating AAA

In absolute despair, after a frustrating day of trying to convince a management team to use effective engagement discussions as part of our newly established talent management process, I took a good look in the mirror. Catch phrases were flying through my mind forming mantras as I tried to make sense of what was going wrong, "understand before being understood", "the meaning of your communication is in the response you get", "if what you are doing is not working, do something else". It dawned on me that, "doing something else" can only happen if I am able to change and learn "something else". I decided to revisit my role within our HR team as that of a fine-tuned change agent.

HR practitioners as change agents
HR practitioners taking on the role of change agents is not a foreign concept. Dave Ulrich has placed HR in this role at the core of his HR competency model for many years. It is evident from his writings that the evolution in the HR environment, from the early 1930's until today, required a paradigm shift by professionals operating within this environment, as illustrated below:

Figure 1:  Shift in HR Skills Base »

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