Members Click Here for Additional Tools
Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!
HR as a strategic partner is something that many people have written about, many organizations talk about, and few companies actually achieve. Below, we discuss some of the variety of reasons why HR departments fail to become a management strategic partner, but if people really are an organization’s most important asset, then this is a problem that requires attention urgently.
Why Care about HR?
Why should organizations care about having an HR strategic partner? In many cases HR is viewed a necessary evil in a company, and is simply part of the overhead cost of doing business. This is the case in poorly run companies that do not have HR as a strategic partner. There are no world-class companies with weak HR departments. Excellence requires great HR, or an HR strategic partner.
Here are some other reasons to strive create an organization that has an HR strategic partner:
- Employees are expensive, and good leadership/management maximizes the value of organization’s investment in people.
- Great HR has better firm performance*
- 63% less unwanted turnover
- 400% greater sales per employee
- Over 3 times greater Market Value:Book Value
*Becker, Brian E., Mark A. Huselid and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard – Linking People, Strategy and Performance (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass. 2001)
Top 10 Reasons HR Often Sucks
There are a variety of reasons that people become frustrated with their HR departments. Here are our Top 10 reasons why organizations end up without an HR Strategic Partner:
- Organizations don’t know what they want/need from HR. As companies evolve and grow, the focus of HR and what management needs them to do changes. Often, there is no thought given to what are the key drivers of human performance. Being an HR strategic partner requires a clear understanding of what the HR group will do, and what they will not do.
- In the absence of clear direction, HR is reduced to arranging picnics and Christmas parties. Because there is no direction from the organization, the HR group ends up becoming a “catch-all” where all the administrative jobs fall into. Once the HR group becomes overwhelmed with useless trivia, they do not have the time or talent to conduct more vital and valuable work. Being an HR strategic partner requires elevating above mere administration.
- We make HR the policy-cops. There is no doubt that HR should be involved in the drafting of policy, but their role in enforcement should be that of an advisor, not an enforcer. It is the job of individual managers to enforce policy. An HR strategic partner coaches, supports and advises managers through the enforcement of policy issues.
- There is no HR business plan. HR needs to have clear deliverables and measures just like any other business. The HR business plan needs roll out of the greater organizations strategic, tactical and action plans. An HR strategic partner enables the achievement of the overall business plan through superior people practice.
- Managers like to use HR as a scapegoat. It’s much easier for managers to tell their people unpleasant news if they can pin it on someone else. Usually the target of such finger-pointing is either higher-level management, or the HR group. In either case it is inappropriate. Managers need to take responsibility for the leadership and management of their human assets. An HR strategic partner is a trusted advisor to getting this done well.
- HR is not properly staffed. If your HR group is filled with able administrators, but not people with any real business training or experience, you will not have an HR strategic partner (although your staff picnics will probably be great).
- HR reports through finance. The practice of having HR report through Finance is far too common. If you want an HR strategic partner, HR needs to report to the people responsible for executing the strategy. If HR isn’t at the senior leadership table, then it is highly hypocritical to claim that “employees are our most important asset.”
- HR people do not know the core business. In order to provide quality, professional advice to managers in the core business, an HR strategic partner needs to understand that core business. It is not necessary to be expert, but there are many organizations where the HR people do not fully understand how the company operates, or how it manages and measures its success.
- HR should be a place for high performers, not the company ghetto. If an organization expects outstanding performance from its HR group, it needs to staff it with outstanding people. If HR becomes the ghetto of the organization where we put people who couldn’t make it in the core business, or a place where we hire less than the best to try to meet diversity requirements, you won’t have an HR strategic partner.
- HR needs to be better at selling itself, and influencing others in the organization. An HR strategic partner is an influencer more so that s/he is a decision-maker. As such HR needs to become much better at “selling” its viewpoint. Moreover, for organizations that don’t’ know how they should best use HR, it is up to the HR people to define and sell its role in the company.
What’s to be done?
If you find that your organization has an HR department that sucks for any or all of the reasons above then action needs to be taken right away. As a starter:
- Have an HR business plan that is attached to the organization’s strategic plan. Without a clear focus, there is no chance of having an HR strategic partner.
- Get skilled business people into HR. If you staff your HR department like an organizational ghetto, your results will match. An HR strategic partner is a highly skilled, high-potential human asset.
- Get HR to the table. An HR strategic partner needs to be included in all important discussions. If HR’s not at the table when those discussions take place, there is no change of maximizing the value of the human asset, and no change of truly being a high performing organization.
Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!
