For enhanced credibility and influence, here is the opportunity to make a real difference

Issue date: 08 March 2007
Source: People Management magazine
Page: 44

Strategy is a popular word these days in HR – but what does it actually mean and can you really become a strategic business partner? It is a particular challenge for those who have previously worked only at an operational level and for those whose roles still demand a fair amount of 'firefighting' at the sharp end, but it’s far from insurmountable

Being a conscientious practitioner, you may be waiting until day-to-day HR activities are dealt with before tackling more strategic issues. But you can become more strategic right now: find a few activities that will be easy to do and will have a big impact on your organisation, and start doing them. For those who get it right, there is enhanced credibility and influence and the opportunity to make a real difference.

1. Get your house in order
If you’re working flat out on operational issues and there are problems with basic HR services, you will not get the time, space or opportunity to think and act strategically. For example, if people are not being paid, managers will understandably expect you to solve these problems first. This will keep you immersed in the very transactional activities that you want to reduce.

Facilitate sessions for the whole of HR so you can be clear how everyone works together and analyse how you spend your time – how much of it is reactive or operational HR? How much is strategic and how much is administration? Who else could be doing some of this work and how can it be reallocated? The balance will never be perfect, but every effort should be made to get the house in order.

2. Move to cause from effect
If you find yourself overloaded with absence issues, discipline interviews or grievances, in most of these circumstances you will mostly be operating on a reactive basis. But if there are lots of these in specific areas of the business, it gives you the ideal opportunity to stand back and look at the big picture. For example, why are there so many grievance problems? Why is there such a high level of absenteeism? What is the reason for this manager having to recruit a large number of staff in a hurry?
By identifying and working on the root causes, you can begin to reduce the level of operational activity required. Examining the reasons for these problems and finding solutions will add value to the organisation, and you will find yourself working more proactively and strategically.

3. Use what you already have
Many organisations collect lots of HR data on absence, exits and performance management. Some have great support systems in place to conduct a metrics analysis, but anyone can do this even with the most simple sets of tools and data.
Identify a key issue for the business, analyse the data and look for trends and hot spots. Explore the underlying causes of the problems and identify quick wins and opportunities to explore and engage with the business. Try using an employee opinion survey as a way of exploring organisational issues.

4. Align systems with strategy
We have all encountered organisations that seem to have contradictory policies and approaches – for example, spending a lot of money recruiting team workers and then requiring them to work on their own and rewarding them as individuals; or emphasising the importance of innovation but then promoting a blame culture that prevents people from taking risks. These are all examples of misalignment.

The strategy of the organisation, the industry or sector and the stage in its life cycle will mean that certain HR approaches are more important than others. For example, a company that provides bespoke solutions for its customers will have different processes from those that are trying to produce the cheapest products on the market. One will require a careful selection process to find skilled and experienced individuals needing tailored development solutions and a reward system that reflects their contribution. The other usually recruits individuals who have minimal skills and puts them through a standard selection process and an identical training programme. Find out what the organisation really wants to achieve, identify how HR helps these needs to be met and ensure HR processes are aligned.

5. Make the most of your people
How often do you hear people say that “our employees are our greatest asset” and then proceed to treat them as numbers? Look at the roles of all your staff, the skill sets they have and the skills your organisation will need in the future. How can you use the skills of the people you have? How can you develop them further? Help managers to make the best use of their people and to treat them as individuals. Create an audit of skills and develop processes to identify and deploy talent across the organisation.

6. Help managers to be strategic
Development of organisational strategy is not a traditional HR area, but it is a key skill and there are many opportunities to help not only the senior team, but also line managers to develop their own strategies. Find simple strategic tools and learn how to use them to facilitate workshops with managers. These could include Pest and Swot analysis, stakeholder analysis, scenario planning and competitor analysis. Map the strategy process and find ways to improve it. For example, if it is all top-down strategy, work out how you can better communicate it to others and help them to see the relevance of their job in achieving it. If it is a strategy that emerges from lower levels, then find ways to get key information to the people at the top.

7. Demonstrate your added value
There is little point in making improvements to the business if you cannot clearly show the value you have added. Look at the measurements of people-related issues such as staff surveys and focus groups, and find ways of identifying the data that is not collected. Take pre- and post-measures and publicise every success.


Key points
• Analyse your HR function – how much is strategy and how much is administration?
• Take a “big picture” perspective and tackle problems at their root cause.
• Find out what the organisation wants to achieve and ensure HR processes are aligned to meet these needs.
• Use the skills that already exist within your organisation.
• Get line managers involved and offer them some practical strategic tools.
• Compile data as you go along to show the contribution HR makes.


The experts
Shirley Dalziel and Judith Strange are directors of develop uk, specialists in business partnering and co-authors of the CIPD toolkit HR Business Partnering: How to Diagnose Skills Gaps, Develop Capabilities and Become a Genuine Business Partner • www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore • shirley.dalziel@develop.uk.com