Episode 4: The Evidence-Based HR Backpack – Professional expertise
As Evi, HR Manager at the bicycle manufacturer BisonBikes, gets familiar with Evidence-Based HR, she wants to apply it to other decisions and projects she’s working on. One of these is improving the employee selection process in BisonBikes, to have better performing new employees. Evi is meeting a senior consultant from a big consultancy who’s worked with all the important names in the sector.
At their shiny, minimalist offices, he walks Evi through his firm’s proposal of how to tackle the problem, offering ‘cutting-edge’ solutions built on best practices and latest trends. His presentation, like his outfit, is perfect. Stop and ask yourself whether the consultant’s professional expertise is strong and represents a good source of evidence for the solution he’s proposing.
In evidence-based HR (EBHR), one of the four sources of evidence, alongside scientific research, organisational data and stakeholders’ input, is the professional expertise of practitioners.
We’re talking specialised knowledge gained from education, and expertise acquired from dealing with similar situations over time. It can come from anyone, but it’s different from opinions, which do not automatically qualify as “practitioner evidence”.
Instead, to build professional expertise, you need to:
Repeated experiences and feedback build expertise and valuable opinions.
Okay, it might sound like no one in HR has “appropriate” expertise that counts as evidence – organisations are not particularly stable nor predictable. But expertise can be built in the HR field too. And here’s how to use it.
Just like the other four sources of evidence, professional expertise is useful throughout the 6 A’s process of decision making (ask, acquire, appraise, aggregate, apply and assess). Since we’ll be dedicating a separate article to dealing with the last two steps, we’ll now focus on using practitioners’ evidence in the first 4 A’s:
Input from professional experts is key in making decisions, but it needs to be handled appropriately. You, just as Evi, might find that a self-assured consultant offering ‘cool’ advice doesn’t necessarily mean evidence you can hang your hat on.
Read our previous article on how to identify trustworthy evidence from scientific research and organisational data and follow us to read more about evidence from stakeholders. At the end of the journey, we’ll discuss the final 2 A’s of EBHR: how to apply the evidence and how to assess the outcomes.
Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the ride.
For more inspiration and freely available resources, check the websites of our partners CEBMa and ScienceForWork.
Would you like to interact about EBHR and learn together with other people? Then you’re welcome to join our knowledge sharing forum for EBHR-learners on Facebook, and our open workshops. We're also happy to provide a custom session for your organisation, online or offline.