Go Ahead, Copy from the Best. It’s Allowed. What’s More, It’s Smart!
Posted February 6th, 2012
If you have a big HR project to do, don’t try and reinvent the wheel. That’s the message from Tim Sackett, a human resources specialist.
You need to take advantage of the work that has already been done, and then apply it to your particular goals and needs, he says. Usually, what gets in the way of adapting someone else’s plan is simple human nature – our pride is hurt if we cannot take ownership of any initiative. Sackett says get rid of that attitude, it’s inefficient. Don’t worry about pride, worry about the task at hand.
Usually, whatever human resources project you have in mind has already been done by a larger company, one with more resources to use. In fact, the other company probably already has designed it, tried it out, and reworked it until it got what it liked, Sackett says.
What Sackett says is the smart thing to do is to take advantage of the hard work others have already done that will help your company. He gives four steps for doing this, from the magazine Fast Company.
First, stop thinking that because a competitor has done it, you cannot. The important thing to consider is whether the plan works or not. Will it help your customers? What you need to do is take the plan and make it your own, tweak it and adapt it to your particular situation. But don’t try to go and make something brand new, from the ground up. It takes a great deal of time and resources to invent something completely new, and why do that when you already have a template at hand?
Also, you need to keep your long-range goals in mind. Make it clear to everyone in human resources where you want to take the department with the project, what your ultimate goal is, what you want to achieve.
Then, reach out to people who have done the kind of thing you would like to do. You may not be able to go to a direct competitor, but at non-competitors they will most likely be more than happy to talk to you about what they did and how they did it, what worked and what didn’t. It gives you the added advantage of being able to present to your leadership something you know has been tried and has worked.
Drawing up and implementing a human resource project is not easy, don’t make it harder than it has to be, Sackett says.
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