Justified Impatience

I was at a great panel at the Partnership for Public Service this morning on the federal human resources profession and its future, about which more to come in a story this afternoon. There was a lot of substance, but if there was one overriding theme, I would say it was severe impatience. As John Palguta, the Partnership's vice president for policy, said "We've been talking about this stuff for 40 years." Human resources leaders want change, in the form of more people with different skills, different roles within their organizations, they want those things now, and they want to do them themselves without waiting for the Office of Personnel Management, which they acknowledged can play a significant role, but which has other responsibilities, and cannot micro-manage HR departments.

"At this point, if there's a renegade group, I'm ready to raise my hand and say hey, Thelma, join Louise," said Suzy Barker, the deputy chief human capital officer at the Labor Department, calling on her peers to "make this community one that's going to be resourceful, and useful, and relevant."

Jeff Neal, the chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security seconded her, though picking a different model: "Apple computer, when they were developing a Macintosh, were flying a Jolly Roger, a pirate flag over the building where they were doing that," he said. "I think the HR community sometimes needs that attitude, that we're just going to deliver solutions."

Whatever the pop culture reference, it's clear that some human resource officers are ready to roll. If they actually get going on the difficult task of putting their own houses in order, it could be an interesting period for HR observers.