THE BIG IDEA
Taking a structured approach to ongoing Issue, Risk & Decision management can help HR teams cut down the noise and chaos, and stay focused on what adds value.
First, some definitions.
- An ISSUE is something which IS happening and IS affecting performance, either directly or indirectly – an issue requires a specific Decision or Action for resolution
- A RISK is something which is NOT happening (yet) and which MAY affect performance, directly or indirectly – a risk should have a contingency plan, even though this may not be enacted
- A DECISION is made by the appropriate stakeholder in order to affect performance
One of the main areas where self-sabotage shows up for HR is the mistreatment of RISKS as ISSUES. I’ve lost count of the number of times a project team or HR stakeholders have gone down the rabbit-hole of “what happens if…” when it comes to project deliverables or the working of the function.
Why do we do this? Well, more often than not, our descent into the hypothetical happens because there are no hard consequences for the discussion – by definition, the risk isn’t happening, so our point-of-view, no matter how well-reasoned, cannot be tested. As a result, discussions often spiral into a game of catastrophic one-upping: “who can think of the worst thing that might happen?”
There are significant negative impacts of this game, particularly if HR’s own leadership is playing it with their team members.
Firstly, it should go without saying, but nothing is getting resolved while we spiral off into what-ifs; I’ve seen many HR teams ignoring/avoiding a really thorny issue that’s right in their face in favor of debating imaginary scenarios – particularly anticipations of stakeholder reaction to potential change/deliverables.
Secondly, the tone of these discussions feeds a victim-narrative of learned helplessness – HR is always under fire, so when we spend all our focus and attention on how we may be even more under fire in the future, we can spiral into hopelessness and, once again, not make anything happen.
TRY THIS
If you aren’t already, I would suggest using a structured approach to track Issues, Risks and Decisions – I use a spreadsheet-based tool for this (it’s available for free at hrprojmgmt.com). Note: even though this approach is sourced from Project/Program Management, it is readily applied to non-project work, particularly when it comes to tracking decisions.
Why does decision management come to the fore?
Well, simply put: AN ISSUE DEMANDS A DECISION.
As I describe in my book, even though decisions facilitate progress, HR will often do anything and everything it can to avoid the finality of a decision. As a result, we have a tendency to debate what’s already been discussed to death, as a subtle way to avoid moving forward.
We can short-circuit this behavioral tic by using a Decision Capture approach and tool.
Here’s what we’re trying to achieve with this approach to decision capture:
- What is the decision?
- Who made the decision?
- Why did we need to make a decision?
- What did we discuss alongside the decision?
- When did we make/revisit the decision?
In some ways, decision capture looks like traditional meeting minutes, though it’s a little more specific – by all means fold it into your existing approach, but be sure to specifically detail decisions as described in the tool below.
USE THIS
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” ~Amelia Earhart
GO FURTHER
Read more about #improvingHR at viewbeyondllc.com