HR Warrior Development

Author Keri Ohlrich asks whether you’re an HR warrior or HR weenie in her new book, “The Way of the HR Warrior.” Workforce Editorial Director Rick Bell caught up with Ohlrich via email.

Like every other profession, HR has its share of rock stars. We can all name them, and we are likely to agree on most of them, so I won’t bother doing it here. But what is endlessly fascinating to me is how some HR leaders grow huge, expansive and impactful careers.

Keri Ohlrich & Kelly Guenther, co-founders of Abbracci Group, join The HR Risk Podcast to discuss the HR leader’s potential and the book The Way of the HR Warrior.

For a long time, HR was the steward of the organization. It ensured that rules were followed, laws were complied with and people-related processes ran smoothly.

Undertaking any significant changes in HR can be exciting — and unsettling. Project failure is a real possibility. In fact, a study conducted by the Project Management Institute shows that only 69% of businesses achieved their project’s original goals, while 15% of projects were classified as failures.

These days it feels like if you blink, you’ll miss an important development in business. Business paradigms have changed — and will continue to do so. Traditionally, a company’s value has come from its tangible assets: holdings, property and inventory. Massive companies such as Google, Amazon and Uber have proven that this isn’t the only place value lies. There is true power in intangible assets.

Providing HR for a small business can mean running a one-person show. Human resources can be a stressful job even when you’re adequately staffed with experienced people, but in many small businesses, HR duties are handled by one person or simply handed off to anyone with an administrative job title.

From day one of employment, the human resources department plays a vital role in a worker’s organizational experience.

HR Career Development in the New Future of Work

At the heart of Dr. Ohlrich’s work is to improve the environment of organizations which in turn improves the lives of employees. Whether it is coaching and training leaders, performing cultural assessments or helping develop HR professionals into HR Warriors, she wants all to reach their potential.