After 15 years of working in various roles within the world of in-house Human Resources I needed a change of scenery and a new challenge. I embarked on a new journey, my first operational role and my first time being supported by an organization’s HR team.

Although the job didn’t work out long term, this career diversion was the best thing I ever did for my HR career. I am now happily back working in an in-house Human Resources role and I see things from a very different perspective.

Here are three important lessons I learned along the way:

1. When launching new programs think of EVERYONE

I LOVE when employers come up with new and exciting ideas to improve employee engagement and motivation, and champion employee wellbeing and social interactions. One thing to keep in mind when launching and promoting new initiatives is to think of those who are unable to take part because of their job role restrictions. It is important that there are alternatives for those who can’t take an hour out of their day to attend a work out session, or leave the office early for a happy hour. Believe me, from my experiences in operations there is nothing more disappointing to a leader than seeing an email blast from HR telling everyone to meet in the break room for margaritas, and having to tell your hard working team that they can’t join in.

2. Performance Reviews

I completely understand the value of performance reviews, in fact I am a huge advocate of the performance management process, but as HR practitioners we need to consider how to implement them effectively in our organizations. I truly believe that each performance review should take no longer than ten minutes per employee to write, and that the value is in the performance discussion. In my operational role I spent an average of 90 minutes writing each performance review and for ten employees that results in a PAINFUL weekend!!! Additionally, if you need managers to calibrate scores they should be given advice and training before the process starts, and not be told to go back in and change their reviews after all their hard work. To deliver a review that you are not totally bought in to defeats the object for managers.

3. Business Comes First

First of all you need to understand the business that you are supporting. Learn the functions and understand the roles of the employees you are supporting, especially if you are responsible for hiring and developing people. Next.. learn the annual cycle of events of each team so that you can fit your initiatives around their calendars to eliminate conflicts and encourage participation. Launching a strict timeline for projects, online training classes, performance reviews etc. needs to be carefully considered. Is there a business deadline you need to be aware of? Is your company in the middle of a pitch for new business that needs the full focus of leadership? Is the finance team working on year end reporting and budgeting? Consult with each division on when the best time to launch your initiative would be, and stagger the timeframes if needed. Extend deadlines (to a certain point), be flexible and understand that your initiative doesn’t come first, the business does…. because that is why we are all here after all.

Following my operational experiences I now understand the benefits and challenges of working with an in-house HR Department, and what an operational leader needs from their HR business partner. I can honestly say that it has made me a much more effective HR practitioner!