How to achieve expert status, HR Zone

Author : em-admin

Posted : 10 / 06 / 10

Browse the business aisles of any bookshop and you’ll find an array of ‘how-to’ titles. Whether you’re hiring or firing, there’s guaranteed to be a text extolling the latest methods, explains Rob Ashton.

It can be tempting to think that these gurus are cut from a different cloth to normal folk. But the reality is that they’ve achieved their expert status – in large part – by putting their thoughts and ideas in writing.

Imagine that you’ve launched a company-wide initiative that will reduce labour turnover by 10 per cent over a six-month period. The managing director has asked you to share your success at the annual conference. But as the big day looms, you decide to let a colleague take the daunting task of speaking at the podium. Your colleague not only presents the project in all its glory, but speaks with such authority that people automatically associate her with being the expert. And you’re left with little, if any, public recognition.

The moral of the story (aside from always accepting public speaking invitations) is to make sure you own your ideas by getting them down on paper. For example, you could have distributed reports to all the employees in your company to demonstrate that you were the expert in that particular initiative.

Cultivating expert status through writing is a smart move. It can lead to promotions, awards and all manner of challenging opportunities. You may not want to be a Sunday Times bestselling author, but you can still gain credibility within the HR world by writing reports, articles, white papers and blogs.

So here are five steps to help you write your way to expert status in your organisation – and beyond.

One

Always ask what employees need and want, even if you’ve been working with them for years. People change, so keep finding out what really makes them tick. Then, consistently take action to develop original HR practices. Don’t be afraid to do things differently (provided of course it’s not just change for change’s sake).

Two

Think beyond the nuts and bolts of your job and ask yourself how your work truly affects the lives of others. And always focus on the needs of your readers before you write any document.

Remember, to gain authority in your organisation, you need people to connect with your writing. So be clear about who will read your document, how important it is to them and how interested they are in it. Use this information to help you shape the content. And make sure you speak directly to the reader by using words such as ‘you’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’.

Three

Give power to the people by including them in your writing. For example, it’s more effective to write that one in five people are now happier in their jobs than using the term 20 per cent. And use the active voice as much as possible. For example, you’ve ‘helped to create over 700 new customers this year’ is far more effective than ‘Over 700 customers have been created this year’ with your help.

Four

Write letters to HR magazines to comment on industry stories. Use the SCRAP formula to help structure your letter. The acronym stands for: situation, complication, resolution, action and politeness.

Situation

Begin by explaining the current situation or particular issue. For example, you may wish to highlight typical grades of the current graduate intake.

Complication

Introduce the idea that there’s a problem. In this case, the problem could be that personnel managers are wasting time interviewing candidates who don’t have the required skills, as grades seem to be a poor indicator of ability in the workplace.

Resolution

State your resolution to the problem. This could be forging links with universities to conduct undergraduate training in core workplace skills.

Action

Suggest what action the reader can or should take. You might want the reader to carry out your suggestion locally and report back to you.

Politeness

Finally, end with a polite, but thought-provoking sign-off.

Five

Cast your net even wider by contributing full-page articles to HR magazines and other business titles. Always send a synopsis of the article to the magazine first. Write an attention-grabbing headline and standfirst (the two lines under the headline). Then write a snappy opening paragraph and a few sentences about what your article will include. If the editor likes your idea, they’ll work with you to decide on the exact content.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a director or working your way up through the ranks, now is the time to start positioning yourself as an expert. Your ideas and recommendations are powerful, so take the time to tell people about them and document them effectively.