In uncertain times (VUCA) there are still some certainties. Any business has only 3 things it should be constantly concerned with and prioritising above other concerns:-
1. Customers. Staying close, knowing their needs, understanding value from their point of view. Also understanding how they make money and how they add value to their customers.
2. People. Ultimately it is humans that grow businesses through their ability to be creative, to collaborate, to communicate, to envision, to strive, to learn, and to care. People hold customer relationships in their hands. People are either spiritually growing or dying within the culture you have created. They are either helping to create a positive constructive place to work or the opposite. A lot depends on the leadership that is being role modelled. None of this is luck, chance or magic. If you have no credible plan to grow your people and create a great culture then your future relies on chance.
3. Cash. As we are all learning now with covit19, cash not profit or share price is the lifeblood of the business. Good governance and prudence and risk-management are essential underpinnings of a successful business.
It should be obvious that cash helps you stay in business and cash comes from customers. The critical leverage point is people. What astounds me all too often is that the people plans in businesses are all too often Wooley at best. Most CEO's cannot talk in detail about the 5 people and culture strategies that they are relying on for the essential success of the business - as if the soft stuff is fluff rather than the engine room. Part of the reason why is the business cycle itself. Most people initiatives will take 18-36 months to really bite hard.
So what can HR Directors do to ensure they are aligned with their CEO's and executive groups and Boards?
1. A Plan.
Have a strategy (how we win) for the people and culture element of the business plan. If the business plan has no people and culture strategy then it is a 2 legged stool and won't stand up under pressure. From that point on at least half of your challenges in the business will be "people issues". If the plan does not address culture, employee experience, talent and leadership in sufficient detail - throw it away and start again.
2. Time to think.
HR is, in my experience, usually under-resourced for the workload it does. Often that work is only ever noticed when something goes wrong - someone doesn't get paid, a government report is missed, a key employee leaves, customers complain about processes and standards, bad behaviour, accidents, incidents, turnover, or if Board or Exec members notice that things are a bit off. However, the way HR does its work is too often through inefficient, old, clunky processes.
This "busy work" keeps HR away from doing things that are more likely to add value: Yet it has to be done.
There has been a boom in HR-tech in recent years. HR should use technology to eliminate 60-80% of the tasks it does - starting with all forms, checking work, reporting, screening, sifting, classifying employees. Most of this can be done much easier by employees themselves and on their own phones - leave, rosters, pay, safety management, employee surveys, training records, personal details, communications, alerts, etc. Recruiting, for example, can be done at twice the speed and half the cost as now by changing the traditional TA model and adding some technology. All of this is the necessary first step towards the next phase involving advanced analytics.
Most importantly it changes the HR leader from a manager to an advisor and partner who has time to think about the bigger issues in the Company.
3. Agile and Adaptive.
One aspect of the people and culture plan is how to move to a more adaptive and agile workforce. Here are some thought starters and options:-
Throw out the org chart because it is making you think that the organisation is about employees, power and authority relationships, and is structural in its nature.
It is best thought of as
8 things successful HR leaders of the future will do differently
Help leaders be more ready to meet the CEO challenge of human capital
Are much more likely to use advanced workforce analytics, particularly those that involve forecasting future talent needs.
Build agile and adaptable workplaces that thrive in times of change
Put a stronger focus on programs that foster employee creativity and innovation, collaboration and communication
Are more likely to position leadership development as an integrated journey rather than an independent series of events
Are more likely to institute negative consequences for managers who fail to develop their leaders and / or build long term organizational capability
Help ensure that a higher percentage of leaders are promoted from within
Invest in innovative partnerships and networks that support development strategies geared for the future workforce
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