I had an interesting conversation this week with a discouraged senior HR executive. And by “discouraged,” I mean one or two complaints away from updating her résumé. The source of her irritation? Managers. Specifically, the ones who treat HR like a vending machine for high-performing employees – and then kick it when nothing good drops out.
You know the type. They’re not subtle:
“I can’t be expected to deliver great results if HR can’t give me the talent I need.”
On the surface, you might conclude these managers care deeply about their people – and in one sense, that’s true. They clearly care about the quality of employees on their teams.
But as we dug deeper, a more uncomfortable truth emerged. In another very real sense, many of these same managers don’t actually care about their employees at all.
The Missing Piece
MindSet’s third principle of leadership says:
Leaders work hard to help staff be successful at work and in life.
Simple idea. Deceptively simple. Wanting great employees is easy. Building them takes leadership.
When that commitment is real, a few predictable things happen:
- Average performers improve – you start seeing 4s turn into 7s.
- Strong employees gravitate toward each other (and toward leaders who invest in them).
- Retention improves – people stay where they feel valued.
- Effort becomes mutual – when you invest in your people, they invest back in the business.
That’s how strong teams are built.
The Blind Spot
Here’s where this falls apart: The loudest complainers about talent are often the weakest developers of talent. In fact, if you’re often unhappy with your people, there’s a decent chance you’re part of the problem.
Think of a football coach.
A coach can obsess over recruiting top players – and that matters. Poor talent makes winning difficult. But great coaches don’t stop there. They invest in developing their players, both on and off the field.
Some managers today are acting like play-callers, not coaches. They want HR to deliver “better players” so they can execute their game plan – but they’re not building a system where players improve.
When employees land under a manager who doesn’t develop people, they stop improving. Some leave. Some disengage. Some quietly downgrade their effort to match the leadership they experience.
And then – predictably – the manager says, “See? HR gave me another weak one.”
A Hard Truth
So what would I say to managers who blame HR for weak pipelines?
Yes, HR should absolutely work to bring in strong talent. But managers need to ask themselves a question: What is it like to work for me?
Not what you intend. Not what you say in meetings. What is it actually like?
Do people get better under your leadership? Do they grow? Do they stay? Or do they survive you…until they can escape?
You don’t build a strong team by simply demanding better talent. You build a strong team by becoming a leader who cares enough to help their people grow.
And if you’re not doing that, no recruiting strategy in the world will save you. You’re just wasting more good seeds by throwing them onto the same patch of concrete.
