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AUTHOR: Ameya Karambe

3 important things common in successful HR professionals are

  1. Mindset
  2. Skills
  3. Domain Knowledge

1. Mindset: When I write about mindset the first question which comes to my mind is why brain and talent don’t bring the success alone. When Carol Dweck speaks in the book Mindset it is about the same thing, why not hard work, talent and brain brings success.

Mindset is a belief that an individual carries about self- the self image.

Mindset can be Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset.

People with fixed mindset will say I am this way only- if you want accept me or forget it, some typical ways are “My way or the highway”, they avoid challenges, they panic easily, they give up easily, they think effort is waste and fruitless.

Such a mindset usually has developed static intelligence which may result in plateau and achieve less than their potential.

Growth Mindset individuals will continuously improve and create positive feedback loops, that keep them learning and improving.

Now think what mindset are you carrying and which is helpful for a successful HR professional.

2. Skills:- Skill is an ability to do something. Ability is a skill to do something. It is believed that in order to perform any task the person must have the ability to do so. Most important about SKILL is it is a “LEARNED ABILITY”. Skills are further divided into domain specific & domain general. Everyone needs a range of skills to contribute today. Skills is an ability and capacity which is usually acquired through a systematic process. We are today hearing Mr. Narendra Modi speak about “Skill India”, A multi-skill development programme on mission model for job creation, the new scheme is expected to move beyond the target of skilling 500 million youth by 2020. For a particular domain you will require certain must have skills, from my experience and observation in last few years, must have skills to be in HR and be a successful HR professional are as under:

1.Organization skills: A HR professional needs to be organized, as the HR role has to deal with people’s lives and careers. here. Here it cannot be said that I will do it as randomly or whenever I have time.

2.Multitasking: Though I know it is a controversial topic to touch, yet it is a must have skill for HR professionals (atleast for operational HR guys). When HR is aligned to business needs, HR needs to multitask as priorities and business needs move fast and change fast.

3. Negotiation Skills: It is a very important skill to have, All HR professionals will constantly need to negotiate and find an acceptable middle ground.

4.Communication Skills: This is the most important skill for any professional, be HR or any domain.

5.Conflict Management & Problem solving skills: It is believed that you can’t be effective in HR without conflict Management & problem-solving ability.

6. Change Management Skills: We are today living in VUCA times- time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. Without the Change management skills, it is almost impossible to survive in VUCA

3. Domain/ Subject Knowledge:- Knowledge is facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education. Domain in simple words we can say, particular area of work or specific area to be worked upon. Domain knowledge is the valid knowledge in a specified area, lets say HR. According to me it is a very important thing but undervalued today. While some domains are quite straightforward, others are rather complex, HR falls towards complex domains though it is perceived towards being a very straight forward one. The very important thing we should keep in mind is – every piece of information about domain is valuable. Gathering this domain knowledge is a very expensive process, requires an investment of time and money. It is also believed that people who are 100{8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} focused on a certain domain may subsequently gain excellent knowledge of domain. We all know that this knowledge is omnipresent and we should have the ears, eyes to gulp it.

To sum up the article I would like to emphasize that a HR professional is successful:-

1. 60 {8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} because of the Mindset

2. 20 {8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} because of his skills

3. 20 {8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} because of his domain knowledge.

Now we can introspect and check where do I need to concentrate to go to the next level and Be Successful HR professional.