This week's inspirational speaker, Helena Karlsson, shares her thoughts on HR as value creation in business. Helena has a background in HR and organizational development, as an HR manager and organizational consultant in several industries with an emphasis on the real estate industry. Helena runs the company How to Work Sweden AB where she helps companies get their employees on board and make what has been decided happen in practice in everyday life. Read on to find out more about Helena's thoughts.

-"Human relations are crucial to business and a company's survival, yet companies put too little focus on understanding and providing what people need," says Helena.

The interest and ability of companies to care for and respond to people will be crucial for success and sustainability in the market when the economy turns around. Today, too much time is spent looking at numbers and graphs of what has already happened, instead of solving the problems that prevent people from contributing to a better outcome.

HR should be more about making human relationships work, rather than getting bogged down in administration and the view that people are resources that can be replaced or used up. Employees are no longer arms and legs, they are knowledge carriers. What the employee carries in their brain is what we want access to. If we can get more people to share and collaborate, new solutions will emerge that would not otherwise be possible.

What will it take to become an attractive employer?

To be perceived as an attractive employer, you will need to stop with quick-fix activities that are checked off and instead prove that you build, maintain and retain long-term good relationships with your employees as well. This means seeing managers as people and giving them the clarity and support they need to manage their employees.

As a manager, you need to understand that the role of a leader is about ensuring that others succeed and to listen and solve human problems. As a manager, you need to work on your own self-awareness and realize that each individual needs to be seen, understood and understand limits, but also create development and the right conditions for the employee to reach their best potential.

Corporate culture is created by the behaviors we reward.

If you understand how people work and what they need to perform, and you can link it to the business, you are creating value for a company.

Understanding people's behavior is a skill and experience that the HR function can contribute with, and companies should be better at making use of that skill and ability. If you lack an HR function or need skills enhancement initiatives, you can hire in the expertise. No one knows everything and when you work cross-functionally you get the greatest effect.

The skills of a behavioral scientist are needed when working with people.

In short, I believe that HR creates value in organizations by helping to:

• At management team meetings, talk more about what employees need to perform and less about numbers that reflect what has already happened.
• Look at customers and the market as people and what the company can do to meet their needs.
• Treat employees as knowledge carriers rather than resources with whom you need to build relationships.
• Stop the quick-fix and work on long-term relationships
• Ensure that all leadership development contributes to self-awareness and behavior change that is followed up.
• Work on the company culture by rewarding the behaviors that create cooperation and better joint results.
• Knowledge of human behavior must be seen as a competence needed in companies.

‍