National Learning Institute

Surviving and Thriving in the HR World

Jim Suthers

Reviewed by admin Fri 19 Feb 10

Bob's Rating:

Jim Suthers in Surviving & Thriving in the HR World sets out his ideas on how to get the HR job you want and in the process, make life easier.  As I read the book I had some difficulty deciding whether the author was talking to someone wishing to get into HR, or wanting to be promoted within HR.  If it is intended to be the former, then the basic messages in this book could be useful.  If it is the later, then there is more depth of content required for a person being promoted or wishing to be promoted, within HR.  I also had difficulty with the author's definition of team as "your immediate subordinate staff, your peers or the rest of the workforce".  Whilst at times this made it easy to include everyone, there are also many times during the book when the exact nature of which "team" the author is talking about, is necessary.

The writing style did not appeal to me.  The book is written in the first person, in a somewhat homespun style, much like a father giving advice to his teenage son or daughter.  Initially, this style was quite easy to take, however as the book developed and the reader gets introductions such as "Now listen up for this part" and "Pay attention to what I am saying here", the style becomes more preaching-like.  In this context, many of the very basic messages (such as how to dress and behave) maybe quite appropriate.  On the other hand, some of the advice (for example on leadership styles and personalities) would not be appropriate for professional HR people. 

The book is sprinkled with the author's opinions on what a "class act HR person" should be.  Few could argue with two pieces of advice - develop networks and the need for both personal and professional credibility.  However, there would be plenty who would argue Suthers' recommendations to avoid such things as car pooling with colleagues, happy hour and laughing with colleagues at lunch time.  These Suthers claims, limit promotional opportunities.  There are also other unsubstantiated claims such as "poor HR people cause unions".

The general tenet being suggested for HR people by the author, seems to be one of having the HR person solve other people's problems, rather than helping develop managers to solve their own problems.  As an example, Suther talks about the need for the HR person to give corrective action - whereas in many organisations, it is the manager who gives corrective action with perhaps some advice on "how to" from HR.  Some would argue that this type of practice is the fundamental difference between an experienced HR professional and the old style or low level HR person described in this book.

I also at times found the book rather negative in its approach.  For instance, the book has some great examples of poor HR practices and criticism of poor HR strategies, but falls down in how to avoid these.  As an example, the author criticises "team building activities", yet gives little advice on how to build an effective team, an element one would think essential to any HR manager.  Or on the subject of meetings, plenty of things are described that are wrong with them but little advice on how to conduct either oneself or a meeting.  Conflict management too starts out well with sound advice about first talking to each person individually.  However, the reader is left with no advice on how to progress the resolution, other than a passing reference to mediation.

I found the book had some good ideas and there were some strong underpinning personal principles put forward by the author.  However due to its shortcomings in the area of "how to" I could not recommend it for aspiring HR people.