HRs job too
HR Is Everyone's Job — And It's About Time We All Showed Up - Even Managers
It is your job too! Yes, Managers, I am talking to you. Keep blaming HR, and shifting everything to HR, and maybe HR misses the boat. But the truth is Managers are missing the boat, too; HR is leadership! It is the interaction as a "human" resource. It is time for HR to start pushing back and calling managers in to talk about their HR role. Yep, this is harsh reality.
The shift in HR isn't just happening inside HR departments. It's happening in every boardroom, every manager's one-on-one, and every conversation where someone says "that's an HR issue" — and walks away. At least it should be.
Let's be real for a second. We've all been there. Something goes sideways with an employee, and without skipping a beat, someone says, "Just send it to HR."As if HR is a magical catch-all inbox where problems go in, and solutions come out. If only it were that simple — and honestly, if only that were the job. And then HR becomes the "bad guy", when all along the Manager was the "bad" manager.
Here's the truth nobody wants to put in the PowerPoint: HR being responsible for everything people-related is one of the biggest organizational myths still running. And it's costing your business more than you think.
The Hangover Nobody Talks About
The HR Hangover is real. It's what happens when HR teams are buried under transactional tasks — processing paperwork, fielding complaints, managing compliance — while the organization wonders why they aren't being "strategic." Um, if you cannot see it you can't be strategic when you're the only one managing the people experience for a 500-person company. That's not a people problem, that's an ownership problem.
"HR is not just a function — it is a capability that everyone in the organization must develop." — Dave Ulrich
HR thought leader and author of HR from the Outside In. Dave Ulrich has been saying this for decades. And yet here we are. Still sending it to HR.
Managers: You are HR too!
Every manager who sets expectations, gives feedback, recognizes great work, or has a hard conversation with a team member — that's HR. Every leader who builds an employee experience where people want to come back on Monday morning — that's HR. Every CEO who asks, "What do our people need to drive this business forward?" — absolutely, unequivocally, that is HR.
John Maxwell says it best:"Everything rises and falls on leadership."If your leaders aren't actively engaged in the employee experience, no HR department — no matter how talented — can carry that weight alone and not have an HR Hangover (a hangover is too much of anything, not just alcohol). Leadership isn't a title. It's accountability for people.
"The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don't feel valued, neither will your customers."
The Shift That's Already Happening
Here's the good news — and I genuinely love delivering good news with a little fire behind it: the organizations that are winning right now are the ones that have distributed ownership of the employee experience. They've moved from a model where HR holds all the people-cards (or human resource cards) to one where HR is the strategic architect, and every leader is a builder.
According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, engaged teams deliver 23% higher profitability. And here's the kicker — manager engagement is the single biggest driver of team engagement. (Yes, ROI just became your new best friend.) — Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace
Johnny Taylor, President and CEO of SHRM, puts it plainly: HR must be seen as a business driver, not a business fixer. But that only works when the whole business shows up to drive.
Mel Robbins talks about the 5-second rule — the idea that you have five seconds to move before your brain talks you out of it. The same principle applies here. You have a five-second window every single day to either step into accountability for your people or step back and hope HR handles it. Choose wisely.
What This Looks Like in Practice (The IMPACT Way)
Moving everyone into shared ownership of the employee experience isn't a speech — it's a system. The IMPACT Model gives every leader, manager, and yes, every HR professional a framework to stop waiting and start doing:
A Note for HR Professionals Reading This
This isn't a blog post that says you haven't been doing enough. It's the opposite. This is your permission slip — and your strategic advantage. When you stop being the department that absorbs all the people problems and start being the partner that builds organizational capability, everything changes.
Valorie Burton talks about resilience as a strategic asset (best book ever by the way). You've been resilient. Now it's time to be visible, vocal, and valued at the table where business decisions are made. Your seat isn't in the back of the room. It's at the head of it.
"HR's job is not to manage people — it's to develop the organization's capability to do that for itself." — Dave Ulrich
The Real Ask
The next time something people-related lands on a desk — anyone's desk — the question shouldn't be "should this go to HR?" The question should be: "What's my role in solving this?"
Because HR being everyone's job doesn't mean HR does everything. It means everyone shows up. It means managers lead. It means executives model. It means HR strategizes, elevates, and transforms — instead of just processing and reacting.
The shift is here. The only question left is whether you're going to lead it or wait for HR to send you a memo.
Ready to move from transactional to transformational?
Let's talk about how your organization can build a people strategy that every leader owns — and that actually drives business results.
www.thestrategichrcoach.com | 530-520-5775 | [email protected]
