'Courage' for a new SHRM and a new world: Ommy Strauch says HR professionals have answered a higher calling, and she wants them to be proud - Interview - Brief Article

HR Magazine, Jan, 2002 by Bill Leonard

Ommy Strauch, SPHR, brings an interesting perspective to the job of chair of the Board of Directors for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She is the first HR management consultant to be elected to serve a one-year term as the Society's top volunteer leader. Strauch has had a distinguished 21-year career as an HR practitioner and consultant. She was employed for 18 years as an HR executive with the Valero Energy Corp. in San Antonio and now operates her own FIR consulting business (Ommy Strauch & Associates, which also is based in San Antonio).

In addition, Strauch is the first SHRM chair who was born and grew up outside of the United States. She spent most of her youth in Northern Mexico and moved to Texas with her family when she was 15. She says that growing up just south of the border helped to heighten her awareness of international and free trade issues.

By representing two of the fastest growing minority segments of the U.S. workforce--women and Hispanics--Strauch is keenly aware that her term as SHRM board chair provides her a unique opportunity to have a positive and lasting impact on the HR profession. She recently spoke with Bill Leonard, senior writer for HR Magazine, about her new role as chair of the SHRM board and how HR professionals like herself are ready, willing and able to take HR to the next level.

HR Magazine: How do you think your experience as a consultant will help you in the position of SHRM board chair?

Strauch: When you become a consultant, you really have to work harder at what you do because people look to you to have all the answers. When I was the internal HR person, I could call a consultant if I didn't have the answer. So now my clients are looking to me, and they're literally saying "Tell me what I need to do."

All HR practitioners are consultants in a very real sense. You are either an internal consultant or an external consultant. The real key to being a successful HR professional and a consultant is that you have to add value. If you don't do a good job and can't prove you're adding value, then, as an internal HR person, your top management will probably decide to outsource your job--to another consultant. And if you're an external consultant and do the same thing and don't add value, then you end up losing clients.

One thing that is extraordinarily rewarding about working on your own as a consultant, and especially if you have the luxury of picking and choosing your clients and the kind of work that you want to do, is that the people who call you are really interested in making something happen and are eager to listen to your advice. Frequently, when you are an internal person, you have to really push and promote what you want to do. I now typically work with the executive team of my client companies, and since they have called me in as a consultant, they already have made the decision for whatever reason that something needs to change. I don't have to convince a CEO or a CFO that we need to take a new approach. I believe that my consulting work with executive teams and team building also has helped me to succeed as a volunteer leader within SHRM.

HR Magazine: Many people who read this might think to themselves: "You know, I've thought about becoming an independent consultant, but I'm not that sure how to go about it." What would be your advice to them?

Strauch: Well, I think that the first thing that you must have is credibility. And having worked with one employer and within one community for 18 years has given me a lot of credibility. Back in 1998, when Kathleen McComber was the SHRM chair, her theme was that you had to have heart. She talked a lot about volunteering in the community, and I have always done that, just because I thought it was the right thing to do. I've been board chair of a battered women's shelter in my community. I've worked with United Way fundraising campaigns, and I've also been very active in my church. So when I sent out a notice to my friends and colleagues that I was leaving the formal corporate environment and starting my own consulting business, I had so many phone calls from people who said: "I've always wanted to ask you to do this, can you do it for me?" So what really seemed to work and make me successful was that I had established credibility in my community and also demonstrated that I had integrity and was reliable.

To build credibility within your profession, you also have to perform at a certain level and to build and develop your skills and knowledge for all the right reasons. Gov. Bush [now President Bush] appointed me to a state board of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, whose mission is to protect children [and] older adults, and implement preventive kinds of programs. They wanted someone with experience and knowledge in HR management. And I was selected because someone valued my expertise and what I had to contribute.

Also to succeed as an external consultant, you must have some kind of technical functional expertise that you can sell to potential clients. A successful consultant really needs to be focused as to what it is that they want to provide.