What you leave behind
Eugenio Pirri on the importance of legacy in HR
Legacy can be a huge deal. It’s your imprint on a business, your contribution to taking the HR sector forward, the difference you’ve made to the world by just living.
But hyperbole aside, legacy – in any role or in any lifetime – can be summarised simply as what people will say about you after you leave.
When you start a new job, colleagues will tell you all about your predecessor. But what will they say about you when you leave? How many people will you be replaced with?
Your legacy is about more than just you. The decisions you make as a leader could fundamentally alter the culture of your business. You have the ability to set the foundation for the future of the business from the things you do today.
Essentially, legacy gives us the opportunity to realise that our jobs are bigger than we are, and the things we do can have an impact on people throughout the business for years to come.
Our strategies, then, have to be not ‘one hit wonders’ but sustainable long-term plans.
Living strategies
When it comes to legacy, what you put in place – style, leadership, formula, strategy – will all be tested.
Anyone can formulate great results when they’re there because they’re managing every step of the process. When you’re not there – that’s when your true legacy will be felt.
Every strategy has to be living, so it can change depending on law, politics, environments, society, people, leadership and boards. If the CEO changes and everything changes with it, your legacy is weak.
New people will come in with their own ideas, but if you’ve set a good foundation, then new ideas can be incorporated into it.
You shouldn’t be offended if you leave a role and your successor does things differently. I was succeeded by someone once who did completely different things to me, because she had a different style and it was a different time.
I know I made the right decisions for the time I was there – good practices and sustainability – but the economy changed and she had to make changes. I hope I gave her a good enough platform for her changes to be easily made.
You kid yourself if you think things will never be as good when you leave. That’s not a great way to think as a leader. Legacy is more precious and important than that.
Pay it forward
Take the time, when you’re thinking about your career path and your legacy, to think about how you can collaborate and how you can share with others. In other words, how you can enhance both your career and the careers of others.
I believe very much in the idea of an inclusive company culture based on shared values and a mission, where everyone is engaged together in the same ethos.
(And in my opinion, the ongoing conversation that Generation Y and Generation Z have to be treated differently from their predecessors (and, let’s not forget, colleagues) counteracts this belief.)
In terms of an intergenerational workplace, the greatest opportunity presented to employers is to realise what you can and cannot change. Then work with your people to align them towards the common goal whilst allowing them to be themselves.
Business success is a journey. Just as you were faced with challenges and took risks, you owe it to others to give them the same opportunities.
Don’t be afraid to work with those who know more than you. At the same time, look for potential in others who will grow through working with you.
The decisions you make today will have an effect in the future: especially when it comes to policy, procedure, terminating people, and so on. These will all have impact five years from now.
Embrace generations. Their youth and knowledge will help you both to grow. After all, we should all be training our replacements and preparing the next wave of leaders.
And collectively, surely our legacy should be to leave the entire HR profession in a much more strategic and dynamic position than it was when we started out.
That’s something to think about.
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