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HR Strategy: Approaching the HR Role with a Strategic Mindset

Debra Jacobs Hamby

What is a strategic HR mindset?

A way of listening, seeing, thinking, advising, doing and being that enables the HR professional to offer to business leaders exemplary solutions to high priority problems.

What business problems need a more strategic HR mindset?

Opportunities•  Byeffectivelydevelopingemployees,managerscanbebettercoachesandimproveperformancebyupto25%

•  Deliveringoncriticalonboardingactivitiesboostsnewhireperformanceby11.3%

•  77%ofmidsizedcompaniesuse(orplantouse)wellnesstoreducecosts

•  Leaderswithstrongpeopledevelopmentskillsare50%morelikelytooutperformrevenueexpectations

Challenges•  Oneinfourhighpotentialsplanstoleavetheirorganizationinthenextyear

•  Threeoutoffiveorganizationshaveeitherrestructuredorplantorestructurewithinthenextsixmonths

•  Recentdeclinesinemployeeengagementfurtherdecreasedoverallproductivityby3to5%

•  46%ofmidsized-companyCFOsanticipateamergeroracquisitioninlessthansixmonths

Business partners are eager for HR leaders to lead

TODAY the overall goal for both Human Resource professionals and their business partners is the same – get HR leaders at the senior table that can confidently offer clear and workable points of view about talent management needs. •  Proactively enhance the overall performance and productivity of the organization. •  Leverage talent selection and development processes that capitalize on

opportunities and address challenges.

So why aren’t all HR leaders operating strategically?

Started in the 1940s and 1950s. -Controlling and keeping track of time—controlling tasks and administration. -HR very quickly became a regulatory compliance function called personnel administration; evolved to an administration and risk mitigation function with a strong focus on regulatory compliance. -Takes time to change both behavior of incumbents and perceptions about functions.

So why aren’t all HR leaders operating strategically?

By 2013, the compliance and regulatory environment is off the charts. -A day doesn’t go by in the United States when either at the municipal, state, or federal level there isn’t some new requirement for reporting or another kind of organizational behavior that gets you in trouble if you don’t do it. -Just as HR really understands that it needs to be part of the strategic leadership of the organization, the compliance and regulatory piece keeps pulling it back down into administration. So, why isn’t HR acting more like a strategic leader of the business?

So why aren’t all HR leaders operating strategically?

And, many organizations haven’t had their HR budgets recover from the recession of 2008 and 2009. -HR staff haven’t caught back up with where they were before the recession hit. -There isn’t an HR person alive that doesn’t understand the need to be more strategic and to be a greater part of the business. But, the regulatory and compliance laundry list of stuff that has to be done keeps growing and HR doesn’t have the budget or the staff to do much more than the day-to-day tactical—get people paid on time, make sure we’re not overspending our benefits budget, understand what the requirements are for the new health care environment, understand the staffing requirements coming from regulatory entities.

What is/isn’t a strategic mindset?

Offering unique value that comes from the disciplines that are the foundation of HR •  Psychological , interpersonal communication, social systems, work processes, org

structure, leadership, continuous improvement, etc •  Business mastery - running the business- must know how it operates and its

strengths and weaknesses, but the real value add is in the HR area. Being strategic about business is not the same thing as possessing a strategic mindset when operating as an HR professional

How to develop a strategic mindset

Pay attention to HR Mechanics and Dynamics Mechanics are the actual work of HR, the results that are required. Dynamics are the way the HR professional goes about doing the work.

Practice Mechanics

Position the HR team as zealots of ROI

•  Use ROI in discussions, •  Measure things related to productivity •  Report the progress of key indicators of performance. Example - calculate productivity numbers like dividing a division or company sales by payroll or number of employees. This will provide a measureable number to track regarding industry trends, standards, and the quality of management policies upon performance. Also, track the trends and be prepared to explain changes.

Mechanic 1

Discover patterns & change opportunities

•  Anticipate more and react less. •  Detect breaks in continuity – think and talk about business models; network with

others to learn new ideas about your profession. •  Beware of biases and strong preferences! Bias can include simple

misunderstandings as to the purpose of a project needed to improve the performance of a specific team or key individual.

•  Remaining true to the status quo shows a lack of leadership skills. Leaders are constantly thinking about how to improve their area of responsibility and you should also.

Mechanic 2

Guide Communication and Culture

Assist in the creation and nurturing of a high energy and performance preferred culture. •  Use communication to exchange information, deal with conflicts in an open and

honest manner, trade off issues for the good of the whole, and make better decisions for the good of the organization rather than maintaining the status quo.

•  Formalize the culture with expressed norms and behaviorally anchored values.

Mechanic 3

Match Jobs and People

•  Systemize the selection process and use objective data as part of the process. •  Know the non-negotiable criteria of each job or position. •  Deal with poor performers quickly and decisively. •  Make sure high performers are in every interview. •  Be careful and manage your reputation at all times.

Mechanic 4

5. Influencing Other Leaders

Mold high-energy, high-powered, and sometimes high ego people into effective leaders and teams. Learn to gain rapport with all the different types of executives and managers. Speak the language of business leaders with authority and authenticity to gain the rapport necessary to speak candidly and openly about issues or concerns. Robust dialogue is a necessary communication technique with the outcome being greater respect for each other as issues are discussed openly and can better lead to a synergistic solution to the issue.

Mechanic 5

Developing Goals with Purpose

Goals are about the future and should be constructed with a strong over-riding purpose in mind. What is the purpose of the HR team? What are the priorities in the business that HR can serve? .

Mechanic 6

Pinpointing Priorities

Rise above the daily chaos and work with purpose. Set 3 to 5 high priority projects to complete. Set deadlines for their completion. Discipline yourself and keep your projects prioritized with a limited number

Mechanic 7

Prepare for Social Issues

The greatest leadership and management guru of all time – Peter Drucker – forecasted in 1995 that Social Issues would be the next big issue for leaders. And, as always, he was correct. Social issues are just that – they impact the quality of lifestyle of people. It involves health, the environment, family, immigration, and the big one – ethics. The most popular vehicle for spreading of current feelings about the social issues is the internet and the social media outlets which have grown to meet the desires and needs of the public.

Mechanic 8

Attend to Dynamics

Questions to fine-tune business acumen

•  How is success measured? •  How does it make money? •  How do the business units work together and/or rely on one another? •  What are the challenges? •  How does the external market impact internal decisions and •  strategy? •  What are the critical positions? •  How do they impact the bottom line?

Listen and look for answers to key questions

•  What's important to leaders? •  What's going well for managers/leaders and associates? •  What are their challenges? •  How do they make decisions and why?

Move from Powerpoint to Spreadsheet

•  Develop HR analytics and systems that not only support your organization's operations but help to drive its strategy.” Embrace the Big Data trend by recognizing that “you can't have strong predictive analytics if you're not owning foundational items like metrics and benchmarking.”

•  Align HR goals with the goals of the business. “Your toolbox should match what you want to build!” If the company’s goal is to be best-in-class, HR must embrace the technology they need to get there. “Great organizations need great HR leaders in tune with technology and how that technology can reduce transactions and build value.

Show up as a confident advisor

•  Take on the role of the advisor; “Ask probing questions and get your business partners thinking about how their business decisions will impact the actual people in the roles.”

•  Tie numbers to the big picture. “Help your business understand the ‘why’ behind the metrics. How do the people metrics tie to the business metrics? For example, how does turnover affect customer satisfaction?”

Model behaviors business leaders should exhibit

•  Humility •  Resilience •  Humor •  Friendliness •  Fairness •  Agility

Create multi directionality of hard and soft information

•  Input •  Output •  Feedback

Be strategic-in-the-moment

Recognizing context

: Great leaders are able to recognize the impact of context on communication choices. In business environments, three pervasive contexts are: •  Presentation •  Facilitation •  Interpersonal

Drawing from knowledge and experience

Great leaders use knowledge and past experience to guide their communication choices across contexts and situations. They are able to: •  Identify the requirements of differing contexts •  Act in the context according to requirements •  Know when problems arise

Knowing the what, how, and when aspects of action:

Great leaders are able to: •  What: Key into the relevant issues and stay focused. They are able to note but not

be distracted by extraneous issues. •  How: Determine the most effective approach or strategy for intervention. •  When: Time the intervention for maximum benefit.

Key business impact of using “strategic in the moment” capability

•  High levels of agility allow for a response to rapidly changing conditions. •  Business decisions are efficient and well reasoned based on the leader’s ability to

perceive complexities and act with confidence. •  High dimensionality maximizes an ability to anticipate and respond to market

changes. •  High dimensionality fosters creative solutions to problems. •  Trust is gained by stakeholders because they feel heard and addressed. •  Leaders are able to make decisions in the moment while keeping the long-term

perspective in mind to guide choices. •  Leaders who operate well in the moment can become models for their organizations.

Destructive to constructive power

•  Example: While facilitating a meeting, the leader asks for the opinions of others before expressing his/her own.

•  Example: When a direct report asked for a meeting, the leader came out from behind the desk and sat at the table with the employee.

Knows how expressions of power serve to support communication goals.

Sabotaging to building relationships

. •  Example: While delivering a presentation, the leader gives credit to everyone on

the team who contributed to the customer satisfaction scores. •  Example: During a consumer watch dog interview about a customer’s rising gas

bills, the leader explained reasons for higher prices and then offered to check on the customer’s bill personally

Understands how to develop and maintain relationships

Rigid to flexible expectations

•  Example: During a selection interview, the leader recognized skill sets better suited for another position and invited a colleague to meet the interviewee.

•  Example: During a lively discussion on a conference call, the leader decided to postpone less pressing items to another time to allow for more in-depth dialogue.

Expects unpredictability and knows how to adapt to chang

Fully planned to extemporaneous

•  Example: While presenting a PowerPoint presentation to a small group of direct reports, the leader stopped the talk, turned off the computer, and asked for their questions about the new benefits package.

•  Example: During a training session, the leader realized that some of the participants were the company experts on the topic so on the spot, rather than leading the discussion, she asked the “experts” to form a panel to field questions from the participants.

Sees multiple ways of conveying the essence of a message.

One-dimensional to multi-dimensional

•  Example: While listening to a team report, the leader heard a comment supporting a negative stereotype and asked the group to consider how others might have reacted to the generalization.

•  Example: During a meeting to understand a dispute between two employees, a leader was guided by knowledge of each employee's history with the company, their relationship with each other, and their current work stressors.

: Sees many aspects of an issue.