I’ve seen the quote ‘marketing is everything, and everything is marketing’. I disagree. I would argue that everything is people.

Tomorrow, I’m attending the CIPD annual conference, and I’m reflecting on my profession. In HR we are often criticised and much maligned. We get it from others and we do it to ourselves. We worry we don’t have a seat at the table, aren’t respected as a function, and so on, and so on. I stopped listening, long ago.

In a blog post yesterday, the always interesting @flipchartrick said that people management was moving centre stage. I couldn’t agree more. You can find the post, here: http://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/people-management-moves-centre-stage/

People are engaged or they are not. They give good customer service of they don’t. They innovate or they can’t be bothered. They learn or they ignore. They lead or follow, join in or disconnect. They are your external face, your internal message.

People talk, sell, connect, direct. Manage, teach, fight, write, think, debate, join, communicate.

People do stuff, and we do people.

HR can influence all of this. They can recruit the right people, induct them, train them, engage them. Devise the right policies, the right benefits, create the environment. We can challenge the culture, create the change, lead the way. We can communicate, challenge, connect, guide.

Forget what your values document says. People are your culture. And HR is all about the people.

I love working in HR. There. I’ve said it. I’m proud to be in the profession. Because everything is people, and people are everything.

Let HR lead the way. There is no one better placed.