Ulrich heads for Zim

By Tawanda Musarurwa
INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED human resources expert Professor Dave Ulrich is expected in the country next month for the Regional Human Resources Summit.
Human resources consultancy firm Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd is hosting the Regional Human Resources Summit that will run under the theme “Your People are Your Business”.
The one-day event, to be held on March 23, will comprise two sessions. The morning session will focus on approaches to being a leader and building leadership through the leadership code and the leadership brand.
The afternoon session will address issues of transforming the HR function for organisational success.
Dave Ulrich is a professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organisations and leaders deliver value.
In 2008, he was ranked the most influential person in the human resources field by HR Magazine.
In his latest work, Prof Ulrich ruminates on the importance of emotional control for leaders.
“Leading others in today’s uncertain, changing and risky world is not just about the actions or motions of leadership, it’s also about the emotions.
“Motion focuses on behaviours and actions; emotion focuses on passion and meaning. Motion is what we do; emotion is why we do it.
“Motion gets things done; emotion sustains what is done. Leaders in motion differ from leaders who care about emotions because the second leaders are meaning makers. Leaders who create meaning for themselves and those they lead will shift from going through the motions of leadership to bringing emotion and thereby meaning into their organisation,” he said.
IPC managing consultant Mr Memory Nguwi agreed with the professor.
“HR professionals need to note that most of the issues they are faced with can be dealt with if management, especially the executives, confront the root cause of these problems.
“All the issues raised above can be traced to the quality of leadership in the organisation.
“The challenges facing each organisation are a reflection of the calibre of leadership in that particular organisation,” he said.
Zimbabwean organisations have been facing a gamut of challenges in respect of human capital including contentions around remuneration, prevailing low production capacity levels, skills flight, limited training budgets and low levels of employee engagement among others.
According to Prof Ulrich, there are basically five outcomes that leaders deliver, each woven around a role that a leader plays.
These include strategists (that is, effective leaders develop a point of view about the future), executors (effective leaders build disciplines of getting things done), talent managers (effective leaders engage others in their agenda).
Others include human capital developers (effective leaders prepare the next generation of employees), and personal proficiency (effective leaders have personal skills and abilities that enable them to lead and others to follow).
“If becoming a more effective leader is half DNA and half learning, mastering these five roles will help any leader be more effective,” says Prof Ulrich.
Prof Ulrich has published over 175 articles and book chapters and 23 books. He edited scholarly book Human Resource Management (1990-1999), served on editorial boards of four journals, on the board of directors for Herman Miller, and board of trustees at Southern Virginia University, and is a fellow n the National Academy of Human Resources (United States).
In November last year, IPC hosted international leadership speaker Dr Stephen Covey at the same venue in an event that was well received by the country’s business leaders.