Several shifts have been called for in relation to HR Practices that are deemed to have far-reaching implications for organizational fortunes. By and large, these shifts demand a departure from traditional approaches to Human relations that have seen Human relations personnel put in an uncomfortable pantheon both in the eyes of employees and administration. The ultimate aim of these shifts, it needs to be emphasized from the outset, is to tap into the extraordinary potential of HR in achieving organizational goals.

The first shift is the appreciation that HR has ongoing relevance, and as such, ought not to be discarded or perceived as a nuisance in times of economic slowdown or slack in the labor market. Human relations management is by its very nature a long term affair that ought to prepare the company for the harsh and favorable economic circumstances. The latter ought not to delude executives that conditions are going to remain favorable and thus regard personnel department policies as superfluous (Capelli, 2015). In brief, HR prepares for the good and the bad and therefore crucially important to the sustainable growth of an organization.

To effectively play this role, however, HR has to ensure it has more than personnel knowledge. It has to incorporate business knowledge into its strategies to reliably predict trends and therefore help companies get ahead of market shifts. This ensures that HR is part and parcel of agenda setting and not just an afterthought in policy formulation. To this extent, HR is involved in such activities as recruiting, layoffs, performance management and work arrangements- areas that have tended to be marginalized in the recent past (Capelli, 2015).

In addition, HR needs to demonstrate the benefits of their policy recommendations to the advancement of organizational objectives, both immediate and long term. There is a notion that HR is concerned with the minutiae of organizational business. By pointing to the expected financial benefits of their policy recommendations, more attention is given not only to the recommendations themselves but the personnel department as a whole. Achieving this partly demands a concentration on the here and the now as opposed to futuristic plans that are unlikely to materialize which human resource departments have been associated with in the past. HR also has to invest in those programs that have impacts as opposed to juggling with issues that have little or no consequence (Capelli, 2015). This also ensures HR policy evolves with the business strategy which has today become a moving target while still not losing sight of its long-term goals.

In light of trends in the market, the HR has to keep abreast with the latest thinking and research. It is no longer possible to sit back and be impervious to evolving trends. While most Human resource personnel have done this, there is need to treat these trends with a degree of skepticism more as responses to organizational realities. Seemingly game-changing ideas and practices may not neatly fit into the specific realities of an organization. There is, therefore, need to analyze closely the specific problems the organization faces and choose the best responsive solution. The solution arrived at needs to align itself with the bigger picture of the organization. HR also has to ensure that implementation of the idea is done with caution so as not to unsettle aspects of the organization that are not targeted and to avoid the likelihood of conflict. Prototyping the application is an important first step (Boudreau & Rice, 2015).

Within such a landscape, human resource coaching becomes crucially important. Being able to meet the demands of a changing human relations practice may require the guiding hand of an expert. In addition, the skills and competencies of human relations personnel improve with time. The skills would entail the analysis of organizational culture, employees’ levels of satisfaction or even their demands. Such knowledge is necessary if the evolving needs of an organization are to be met and thus the need for such knowledge to pass down the system before inexperienced human relations personnel develop such competencies. Above all, human resources coaching is almost indispensable in such a changing landscape if the organization is keen on having every employee play a role in the furtherance of organizational goals. In simple words, it ensures that no employee is left behind in the process of change.