HR competencies…

I was working on a HR reward and recognition model recently and while doing so referred to the HR competency framework in the organization I work for and research that Dave Ulrich, professor of business administration at the University of Michigan, and his associate Wayne Brockbank, also a professor of business at the University of Michigan did. Last year they released an all-new 2007 Human Resource Competency Study (HRCS). They came up with findings and analysis that tries to unravel the new set of skills that high achieving HR people need have in next few years to come. Here is a look at the competency model: http://www.shrm.org/competencies/
What's great to see in the model is how it has evolved over the years and kept pace with the dynamic nature of the function. Ulrich states that someone who was a successful HR person even 10 years ago may be wont be so successful unless they have some of the new competencies the model talks about.

The model places credible activist at the pinnacle. The Credible Activist is respected, admired, listened to and offers a point of view, takes a position and challenges assumptions.
Ulrich says if you have to prioritize then its the Credible Activist. And one cannot agree more, while all others are important, I cannot imagine an HR personal without credibility. It’s practically dangerous to have HR leader without credibility or strong ethics. Imagine a great strategist but with poor ethics and you have a time bomb waiting to go off.