HR or Human Resource is one of the most crucial aspects in a company, arguably the most important. It comprises various human elements, as the name suggests, Human Resources. HR is the backbone of an organization.

●   Human Resource: Definition

Human Resource Management comprises the formal systems designed to manage people in an organization.

●   Human Resource: History and Origin

What is now called human resource management has evolved a great deal since its beginnings around 1990. It’s believed that the first Personnel Management Department began at the National Cash Register Company in the early 1900s. Personnel departments that are merged were clearly defined in the 1920s, in the United States. HR, which primarily began as a clerical operation in large companies concerned with payroll and employee records began to face changes with social legislation of the 1960s.

HRM or Human Resource Management developed in response to an increase in competition experienced by the late 1970s. It was a result of deregulation and rapid technological change.

In the 1990s, globalization and competition required human resource departments to become more concerned with costs, planning, and the implications of various HR strategies for both organizations and their employees.

●      Human Resource: Roles and Responsibilities

The role of human resource management professionals has dramatically evolved over the years. Human resource management majorly plays three different roles in an organization. Which of the roles predominates or whether all three roles are performed depends highly on what management wants HR to do and what competencies HR staff have demonstrated. The potential mix of roles is shown here.

1. Strategic Role: The primary role is strategic which helps define business strategy relative to human capital and its contribution to organizational results. The strategic role helps link human resource strategy with organizational mission and of the work of people.

2.  Operational Role: the operational and employee advocate role manages most HR activities in keeping with organizational strategy and serving as an employee champion. It is to balance the issues of employees and employers.

3.  Administrative Role: the administrative role focuses on clerical administration and record-keeping including essential legal paperwork such as compliance and policy implementation.

Apart from these roles and responsibilities, HR faces another great hurdle, which is developing leaders in an organization.

●   Why is Developing Leaders Integral?

1.    It Helps in Develop Team Spirit: a leader develops a sense of collectivism in the employees to work as a team. Individuals within the group may be shown varied interests and multiple goals. A leader has to reconcile their conflicting goals and restore equilibrium.

2.    It helps in Representation: a leader represents the group to his superiors. A good leader is the guardian of the interest of the subordinates. He is the personal embodiment of the impersonal organization inside and outside the organization.

3.    It helps in Motivation: a leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. They motivate the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby get the work done from the subordinates.

4.    It helps in Providing Guidance: a leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates on the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

5.    It helps in Coordination: coordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective coordination. A good leader helps in achieving that.

Though after knowing the advantages and importance of leadership, one must realize why it is so crucial in an organization. But, developing leadership is not a piece of cake. Thus, the following are the reasons or hurdles that arise when developing leadership and finding proper future prospects as leaders.

●     Why is Developing Leaders Hard?

1.    Lack of Vision or Overlooking: Finding great future leaders becomes exceedingly difficult if we view employees (our pool of potential leaders) as problems and challenges rather than solutions and opportunities. The problem lies in the attitude and perspective of the already existing management that may and may not be inefficient in finding and nurturing future leaders.

2.   Inviting mediocrity: because mindset tends to be contagious, employees who could be outstanding leaders may sink into an inward mindset and therefore underperform. Consequently, they might never be considered for leadership positions. At the same time, an inward mindset causes creativity and innovation to suffer across the organization.

3.  Inward training: leadership training in an inward culture can drive talent away or, at best, fall on deaf ears. With an inward mindset, leadership training often subtly tries to “just get people to do what we want.” But people can smell manipulation from a mile away. As Arbinger founder Terry Warner once wrote, “People can’t be successfully manipulated or controlled, no matter what sensitive and benevolent techniques may be used.”

Now that we have gone through the hurdles, let’s take a look at some ways to overcome the problems to become and make great leaders at an organization.

●   Ways to Overcome the Hurdles and Develop Leadership Efficiently

1.    Discover. Develop. Dream. The 3D process is a process where we ask about the employees’ life. It is a trust-building relationship. Trust in a relationship is important to long-term leadership development. You have to listen to them as a leader and how the employees perceive the world.

2.    Analyzing the employee is a major part of developing leadership. As you can’t develop employees to the extent necessary or to the organization’s needs if the employees just don’t have it in them to be good enough leaders. Thus, analyzing becomes an integral part of the process as it helps in picking up potential future leaders.

3.    The employees’ goals and expectations also need to be analyzed as the goals they have should also align with the organizational goals and should go hand-in-hand. An employee with a different set of goals in their minds that don’t coordinate with the organizational goals is not a suitable leader for the post.

4.    Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses is arguably the most crucial aspect of developing leadership as it gives you an overview, an idea of what to do with the employees and how to nurture and hone their skills in a way that they become effective leaders in the future while keeping their limitations in check and working on them.

5.    The introduction of Leadership Development Programmes in the organization helps the employees learn from scratch with proper guidance and training from professionals. It makes the employees self introspect and identify their own strengths and weaknesses and work accordingly on them. The lectures, seminars, and development exercises shared in these programmes help the employees in honing and developing their leadership skills.

●   Conclusion

Having great leaders at an organization is what every business owner loves. Leaders help the organization reach their goals in a satisfactory manner that benefits both the company and the personnel. Thus, developing leaders becomes an integral part of Human Resource Management and that is the biggest hurdle the department faces- Developing Leaders. A good HRM will be efficient, effective, and visionary enough to find the right talent to develop and nurture the employees’ skills and make them into leaders of tomorrow’s world.