Why HR is the cockpit and not a black box of an organisation

The cockpit is the area where pilots and co-pilots sit to fly and control an aircraft. A cockpit offers visibility to the front and the sides of an aircraft.

On the other hand, black boxes are kept at the tail of an aircraft, where they are more likely to survive a crash.

Their main purpose is to record information for diagnostic purposes. We get to hear about the black box only when there is a plane crash.

It doesn’t help steer the aircraft. It is reactive, secretive, and only good at record keeping.

In this perspective, is your organisation’s human resource (HR) department the cockpit or the black box?

Here are the top ten reasons why HR should be the cockpit rather than the black box of an organisation:

Defining the vision of an organisation

HR is the giraffe of the organisation, seeing far and wide. By having futuristic thinking, the HR team aligns talent with the future of work and customers.

There are risks when HR is not represented in teams that define the vision of an organisation - the cockpit team.

There are also possibilities of misalignment with HR processes such as organisation structure, succession planning, headcount management and competency framework simply because there is no visibility of where the organisation is moving.

HR is the face and ‘Huduma Centre’ of the organisation

An aircraft is identified by its cockpit and wings and not by its black box.

The first point of contact with key stakeholders such as potential employees and guests in any organisation is mostly with the HR department.

The first impression that is made of the HR team influences subsequent engagements.

The physical location of the department should therefore be at the frontline, appealing and easily accessible to candidates coming for interviews, employees, and other stakeholders.

The quality and diversity of services and platforms on which they are offered will be influenced by the degree of awareness of what matters most to employees, the value proposition and the market intelligence of the HR team.

It takes cockpit character to identify and offer services that employees value.

Adaptable talent acquisition

Sustainable organisations acquire talent with the future in mind.

A cockpit HR department needs to be aware of company expansion plans, new products, or business lines and those being phased out to recruit with the future in mind.

This eliminates the risk of hiring employees who will not adapt or fit in the future operating environment of the organisation.

Regulatory compliance management

To achieve regulatory compliance, the HR team needs to continuously monitor changes in legislation affecting employment relationships and the industry.

This requires knowledge of labour laws, sustainable development goals (SDGs) and environment and social governance (ESG) dynamics in society.

Continuous scanning of the environment mitigates risks of failing to comply with legislation, resulting in litigations, penalties, and court fines which ultimately negatively affect the corporate reputation and bottom line.

Intellectual horsepower of the HR team and employee engagement

What is the calibre of the team that sits in the cockpit of your organisation? Pilots are drawn from category “A” in any class. At Isuzu East Africa, we respect the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) shortlisting through KCSE grades, much more than post-graduate qualifications.

The HR team in any organisation should possess an inherent ability to conceptualise and engage in technical discussions with peers and colleagues, not just professional certifications.

To drive employee engagement, the HR team should deploy processes and structures that allow employees to speak up, to share their feelings, hopes and aspirations.

This approach marks a shift from the traditional reactive exit interviews black box mentality to the proactive and preventive cockpit orientation of employee retention interviews which are more beneficial to the organisation.

Management of corporate communications

The cockpit ensures an aircraft’s internal and external communications are effective. Pilots communicate with passengers, cabin crew, ground installations and other aircraft. Delayed communication or miscommunication can result in irreparable consequences.

This calls for a shift from black box orientation. Embracing openness on product changes, changes in organisation structure, promotions, succession planning, training, change management, reward systems and employee welfare programmes.

HR policies and practices

An organisation’s HR policies and practices say a lot about the HR climate in the organisation.

Do the policies encourage innovation, learning, personal development, risk-taking, exploration, wellness, research, and work-life integration? Proactive, rather than reactive policies are made by a cockpit rather than a black box team seated at the tail end of the aircraft.

Management of organisation culture

A company’s culture is the foundation of business resilience and sustainability. A forward-looking HR team will build a culture that is aligned with current and future customers, the future of work, the gig economy, digitisation, diversity, and inclusivity.

A winning culture facilitates the implementation of strategic plans and is built by the team that has a seat in the cockpit.

Training and development

What syllabus is HR covering in training programmes if the team doesn’t have a good sight of where the organisation is headed?

Investment in obsolete skills, outdated job titles, and archaic HR processes will find a home in this kind of organisation.

A black box HR will focus on analysing training records, hours of training and training expenditure rather than getting training to contribute to the strategic direction of the organisation.

Employee relations, performance management and rewards

When HR is a black box, it resorts to a lack of openness and transparency.

Secretiveness kills trust which strains employee relations.

There will always be grievances and disputes arising from unmet and unrealistic expectations.

Union negotiations conducted in an environment of secrecy and mistrust take very long to conclude.

What makes a performance management system effective is alignment and harmony between employees’ goals and the goals of the organisation.

If the goals the employees are pursuing are not drawn from the corporate priorities of an organisation, you end up in a situation where employees are excelling in their personal or career goals while the organisation is making losses.

Having sight of an organisation’s corporate priorities helps the HR team execute performance management systems and reward employees on performance areas that truly contribute to the success and sustainability of an organisation.

This can only be achieved when HR has a seat at the cockpit of an organisation.

The writer is the Director, Human Resources and Corporate Sustainability at Isuzu East Africa Ltd