HR In The Boardroom: R. Karl Hebenstreit of Perform & Function On Why And How HR Should Help Drive Company Decisions
An Interview With Rachel Kline
Learn the business. Connect the dots and the people, starting with HR/P&C. Remain objective, consistent, and strategic. Elevate the HR/P&C Function. Speak up!
Most leaders don’t see how to employ HR as a strategic pillar of the business and this leaves a lot of professionals feeling somewhat frustrated. In this interview series, we talk to HR professionals, business leaders, and anyone who is an authority on HR who can share what companies can gain by having HR in the boardroom and why and how HR should help drive company decisions. This time we had the pleasure of interviewing R. Karl Hebenstreit.
Karl is a certified Executive Coach, Organization Development Consultant, and international speaker who has over 25 years of experience in Human Resources and Organization Development, primarily from working internally in large organizations including Merck & Co., Inc., AT&T, EMC, Kaiser Permanente, Bio-Rad Laboratories, and Genentech/Roche, and currently serving myriad companies and industries as an independent consultant. He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology, a Master of Science in HR Management, and has authored two books: “The How & Why: Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram” (now in its second edition) and “Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision.” Karl is motivated by seeing his clients and their teams identify and achieve their full potential, professionally and personally.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we drive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Thank you for this opportunity! Well, as it has been for many others, it was a difficult start for me to get into my target profession of Human Resources. I graduated from Rutgers College in 1993, when the US economy was less than ideal, and fell into the well-known paradoxical trap of how do I get professional work experience when every entry-level job requires previous work experience? My Bachelor of Arts degree is in Psychology, French, and Political Science; I was originally a double-major in French and Political Science, and fell in love with Psychology after taking a few elective courses in it. “Industrial and Personnel Psychology” really piqued my interest (thank you, Dr. Nora Rubinstein!) and led to my decision to add Psychology as a third major. Not being able to land a job in the Human Resources field with just my BA, I decided to leverage my relationships with the temp agencies through which I worked during school breaks, to find a “long-term temporary position in the HR department of a large organization headquartered in central New Jersey” so I could gain practical work experience while I pursued a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management at night at Rutgers’s School of Management and Labor Relations. That led to a series of temporary gigs at Merck & Co., Inc., over the next two years, covering for maternity leaves at their headquarters locations in Rahway and Whitehouse Station, NJ. I basically crafted my own HR rotational program, gaining practical work experience in Labor Relations, Employee Communications, HRIS, Employee Stock Option Programs, and applicant tracking software (at its rudimentary beginnings!). This work experience, coupled with my pursuit of my MS in HR Management, attracted several offers from other companies, and I ultimately left Merck to take on the role of Recruiting & Staffing Manager at Bellcore, until I was recruited away from them by AT&T two years later (from their strategy of hiring students from the Rutgers MS program). That led to a variety of HR roles of increasing scope and responsibility at AT&T, my relocation from New Jersey to California, and my decision to pursue a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology (where I was randomly and fortunately introduced to the Enneagram) so I could transition into an Organization Development role. I continued working full-time in a variety of HR roles at Cushman & Wakefield and Kaiser Permanente, while I worked on and finished my doctorate degree part-time at night and on weekends (over eight years!). The combination of my work experience in Human Resources and my continuing education led to my transition into leadership development and organization development roles, starting at Kaiser Permanente, and continuing to EMC Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Genentech/Roche, and now as an independent consultant.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I definitely didn’t consider it to be funny at the time (in fact, I was pretty distraught then), but something that became emblazoned in my memory as a lesson learned — and has led to the way I start every workshop — was my very first experience as a presenter at a major industry conference. I was 26 years old. I knew what my company wanted me to do: present our technology platform and try to recruit new organizations to join the existing network of member companies. I launched, excitedly, into my presentation, overcame a few technical challenges and some jitters, only to watch person after person leave the room. I was devastated. I let the participants down. I let my company down. I let the conference down. In retrospect, it really was a sales presentation … at a conference that promised information and best practices sharing and skills building. Fortunately, I had one more chance later that day for a redo. That’s when I decided to be up front and explicit about my intentions at the beginning of the next concurrent session, so that participants could decide for themselves if this was the best use of their time, or if they should go to another workshop. I also asked those who showed up what they wanted to get out of the session, and ensured I touched on those points and answered those questions during the presentation. As a result, only a couple of participants left the second session, and those who stayed were very engaged and had their needs met. What I learned, unbeknownst to me at the time, was the Platinum Rule, in practice: “Treat people the way they want to be treated.” Not everyone wants to be treated the way that you want to be treated. We don’t all share the same motivations, drivers, values, interests, ideologies, etc. And none of us is a mindreader to be able to know what others think and want. So it’s best to start every engagement, meeting, relationship, etc. setting clear and explicit expectations and intentions and to verify/validate those of our audiences. Making this a constant practice will ensure that everyone is on the same page and that everyone’s needs are being met — or be clear that this isn’t the place for some expectations to be met and they should be met elsewhere.
None of us is able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without the support and love of my family (especially my parents, James and Domna Hebenstreit, and grandparents who helped raise me in Greece). For my journey into Organizational Psychology/Organization Development, I am grateful for Dr. Nora Rubenstein’s inspiration at Rutgers. For my introduction to the Enneagram, and the subsequent amazing people I have met along the way because of this incredible community, I am grateful for Helen Palmer (and Dr. Jo Sanzgiri who invited her to our class at the California School of Professional Psychology). I am also grateful to all of my hiring managers who took a chance on me and mentored/supported me in all of my roles, especially Janet Konopka, Rich Elderkin, and Rachael Allison. I am also grateful to all of my talented, passionate colleagues, partners, and friends, with whom I have grown, learned, practiced, succeeded, failed, laughed, and commiserated at various points of our lives and careers.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson quote is really an intersection of a few key mantras. We already discussed the Platinum Rule, whereby we find out about others’ perspectives and needs to ensure we understand where they’re coming from and how we can best work with them. To optimize our effectiveness, and build our emotional intelligence, we also need to be self-aware about our own perspectives, motivations, and needs, and how we are being perceived by others. Taking these two factors into consideration, the onus is on us to take action appropriately to produce the optimum result from that interaction/relationship. All of that takes READINESS. A readiness to be open to the concept that our point of view is not the only valid one and that others are equally as valid. A readiness to understand other points of view. And a readiness to act accordingly, integrating all perspectives. As Maya Angelou’s famous quote goes, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” This integrates self-awareness, empathy for others (as we engage the Platinum Rule versus the Golden Rule), and relevant action of doing better to match the real situation. This has become so relevant in my life in terms of continuous learning and my studies of the Enneagram. My introduction to the Enneagram, as a system of understanding my own and others’ true motivation driving the behaviors we see, has been life-changing — I can now better connect with friends, family members, and colleagues with a deeper understanding of how they see the world, minimize misunderstandings and miscommunications, AND I can integrate their perspectives into my own for a fuller understanding of the world and any situation. I love sharing this gift with my clients for their self-development and so that they, too, can create stronger, more trusting, and higher-performing teams and organizations.
Thinking back on your own career, what would you tell your younger self?
One of my personal lifelong challenges is boundary-setting. I would advise my younger self that it’s not necessary for everyone to like you and that it’s impossible to please everyone. Identify what’s important to you and what your needs, values, and goals are, and prioritize them before foregoing them to help others meet their goals and further their agendas instead. It’s OK to say no to requests that aren’t healthy or prevent meeting your own needs and goals. If others only like you for what you do for them, that is not a relationship (business or otherwise) that you should be in. You will be respected for setting and maintaining boundaries, rather than be taken for granted and seen as a pushover.
Let’s now move to the central part of our interview about HR. Why do you think HR deserves a place in the boardroom and in high-level decision-making? Can you help articulate how a company will gain from that?
Just as we spoke earlier about the need to integrate all perspectives in order to have a better, fuller, and more complete understanding of any situation, the Human Resources (or People & Culture) perspective must be one of those perspectives to be included and integrated in the Board Room where high-level and pervasive, widely-impacting business decisions are made. Human Resources/People & Culture serves as the arbiter between competing business functions (factions, even), and instills the knowledge and perspective of how employees and the company culture impact and influence — as well as are influenced by — any business situation or decision. The most obvious, visible, and poignant example of this is mergers and acquisitions; we see that 70% — 90% of all mergers and acquisitions (where $2 trillion is spent annually) fail, primarily because they are fixated on financial factors and neglect the people and cultures aspects of the organizations involved. And, as the saying goes, “culture supersedes strategy every time.” I have seen and worked at some companies where the Human Resources/People & Culture perspective was so well-ingrained in all business functions, that the explicit presence of an official Human Resources representative was not always necessary. Alas, that’s not the case in every situation, and, in reality, the business function being represented by each leader will always be that leader’s primary focus. One of the key competencies being called for in effective leadership today is a systems perspective. And that system includes and needs to take into account and leverage the Human Resources/People & Culture element. Many Human Resources/People & Culture-encompassing business strategies (i.e., Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion recruitment and retention strategies, employee engagement programs, succession plans) will be negatively impacted if this perspective is not taken into consideration in Board Room strategic business decisions.
From your experience, how can HR people and culture professionals ensure they’re involved in strategic planning processes?
The goal and aspiration is that Human Resources and People & Culture professionals are naturally part of the executive leadership teams responsible for strategic planning, and that this isn’t even given a second thought. It will take the CEO’s readiness to recognize the importance and impact of Human Resources/People & Culture on business strategy and operations.
A lot of folks believe that CHROs would make great CEOs, but often they’re overlooked. Why do you think that is?
Money. And (mis)perception. We live and work in a capitalistic economy that is focused on making money and producing high returns on investment for its stakeholders. It’s very easy to measure whether a company has achieved its financial goals or not. Traditionally, it has not been as easy to measure the effectiveness of Human Resources impacts on the achievement of financial goals AND human resources are traditionally seen as a spend/expense, not a revenue-generating function. Business functions even have money taken out of their budgets to spend on Human Resources support. And, in most organizations, employee compensation and benefits are their greatest expense. Furthermore, there may be a misconception that Human Resources/People & Culture leaders are not as immersed or knowledgeable about the business as a COO or CFO or Sales/Business Development leader.
What skills can HR folks work on to become more effective business partners?
Human Resources and People & Culture professionals must continue to focus on the “business” part of business partnership. Leaders in business functions want to engage with an equal who understands their business so that they can partner together on solutions to their challenges and strategize for future growth. They do not want to have to catch someone up or explain their business over and over. Listening and getting to know the business as quickly and completely as possible will be critical for Human Resources/People & Culture professionals, so that they can gain the trust of and build relationships with their technical colleagues. Quantifying the business results that Human Resources/People & Culture strategies, initiatives, and programs produce will also go a long way to show the function’s business and strategic value. This can also include connecting the dots between themes they learn from their interactions with different disciplines, and sharing these learnings to co-create enterprise-wide applicable solutions. Human Resources/People & Culture professionals have a unique opportunity to bring together their organization-wide learnings from all of the tentacles they have in all aspects of the business; they just need to find ways to share all those insights and learnings within the HR/P&C organization and bubble it up to leadership so that it can be used effectively.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important ways that HR can help drive company decisions? Please share a story or an example for each.
1 . Learn the business. Get a solid understanding of the organization’s business, including the current and past strategies, capabilities, weaknesses, competitive landscape, challenges, opportunities, etc. This way, HR/P&C professionals can speak intelligently and strategically about the people and culture impacts of new strategic directions, and even initiate those conversations.
2 . Connect the dots and the people, starting with HR/P&C. From its unique standpoint of spanning across all aspects of the business through a variety of Human Resources functions (talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, business partners, learning and development, organization development, etc.), HR/P&C cross-functional colleagues can communicate their findings with each other, to identify themes and challenges, and proactively collaborate on solutions for their clients. This should be an easy task to accomplish, yet surprisingly not executed well in most organizations where the various HR functions rarely talk to each other …
3 . Remain objective, consistent, and strategic. HR/P&C needs to be seen as totally objective and consistent in its treatment of employees, without playing any favorites. Everyone must be treated equitably, with consistent policies and practices that are applied to everyone equally. Once stories (or myths) of inequity start circulating, the organization’s employees will lose trust of, faith in, and credibility of the HR/P&C function, resulting in reduced employee morale and engagement, ultimately negatively impacting business results. The organization also needs to see HR be strategic in its involvement, engagement, and impact, to have even greater confidence in the function and organization.
4 . Elevate the HR/P&C Function. Proactively anticipate, prepare for, and address business challenges, especially recurring ones. Make sure you listen to and address what the business and clients need and present them with solutions to problems and challenges they don’t even know they are about to have; don’t have them even think to create their own shadow HR functions and circumvent you. Furthermore, pick the low-hanging fruit! Some of the biggest gripes I hear from the business is how annually recurring processes aren’t prepared for. FAQs, scripts, and support materials aren’t ready prior to deadlines for critical conversations (around performance reviews, annual increases, bonus conversations, etc.). Aspire to have any function in the organization sing the praises of HR/P&C and not imagine not including you in any strategic and important decision/initiative, rather than avoid and grumble about it. Show how the HR/P&C strategy and its effective execution have contributed to the bottom line of the business as a value add, not an expense line item.
5 . Speak up! Many times I’ve witnessed HR being the quietest voice in the room, taking a back seat to “the business.” By addressing the preceding points in this list, work up the confidence to challenge the status quo and current ways of thinking that may not be moving the organization forward. Foster and model an inclusive environment where speaking up, especially with a diverse or challenging point of view, is encouraged and rewarded, not punished. How can an organization state it has an inclusive culture where diverse perspectives are encouraged and celebrated, when this doesn’t exist on the top leadership team?
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen businesses make when faced with hard decisions? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
The most common mistakes I’ve seen leaders in business make when faced with hard decisions are:
- Lack of involving others (especially HR/P&C and/or other key stakeholders) in finding/co-creating other/better options and solutions. Feeling like they need to be the ones to come up with the answer because they are the leader. Feeling like they know better (and not even involving key stakeholders to identify/validate their needs/concerns and get their opinions on solutions). I’ve seen this happen many times during organizational restructures, to the detriment of the success of the change and the frustration of the business. Also, position eliminations due to a change in strategy or business need sometimes end up with the loss of succession candidates (oftentimes BIPOC) for whom another open position does not exist.
- Lack of transparency and open/honest communication. When a difficult decision has been made, and the company rumor mill has picked up on it prior to its official communication, it’s embarrassing to experience leadership deny and avoid it, only to confirm it a little while later. So is a disconnect in leadership messaging around “the why” or reason for the decision. Everyone needs to deliver the same, consistent messaging so that every employee understands the reason behind the decision and how it ties to the strategy and mission of the organization, so that it makes sense.
- Lack of humility/vulnerability/empathy/emotional intelligence. When communicating, not revealing their own humanity, their own emotional journey and the effect the decision has on them, not showing true empathy and understanding for others’ situations, and not making space to hear and address others’ concerns and learn from them. On-going visibility, availability, and humble support and resources are key to success in this area.
We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.
Wow! What a far-reaching question! Which leads me to a far-reaching answer. I am energized by seeing people get a better understanding of themselves and others, realizing that people have diverse perspectives, gifts, and superpowers to contribute to their teams, their organizations, and the world, and ideally integrating those into their own, and increasing their emotional intelligence. I would love to have a private lunch with a VC funding group who can help me to get the word out about how the Enneagram can be used to increase individual and organizational emotional intelligence AND business results. Also reaching even further by helping our younger population, getting Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision out to even more people, so that these concepts are taught to us earlier on in our lives, we have better relationships from an earlier age, and that we don’t have to unlearn and relearn later, when it’s even harder and we’ve made some hurtful mistakes. Getting The How & Why: Taking Care of Business out into the hands of even more Organization Development practitioners will also help create organizations that are more emotionally intelligent, inclusive, and successful.
How can our readers further follow your work?
The best way to connect with me is via my website: www.PerformandFunction.com — it has my contact information, links to my books (“The How & Why: Taking Care of Business with the Enneagram” and “Nina and the Really, Really Tough Decision”), as well as a wealth of free resources for career management. LinkedIn is also a great way to connect: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rkarlhebenstreit. I’m not often on “the gram,” but when I am, I like to post some of “the best of” photos that I take during my travels or just around town: r.karl.h. My twitter handle is rkarlh.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Thank YOU for this wonderful opportunity to share some of my experiences with your readers! And continued success and good health to you and your readers, as well!
