Many companies call it different things now, from People Operations, People & Culture through to Human Capital.
For me Human Resources has three areas 1) Core HR, 2) Functional HR and 3) Strategic HR.
Core HR I define as where all the employee administration is managed. It is a must have of any company, no matter how small. It is the employee and payroll records, the minimum requirement compliance training (for example, bullying and harassment); it is the compliance piece, the not negotiable. This area can be easily outsourced to varying companies as long as it is in close reach at any time.
The functional HR area is where I consider the ‘subject specific’ expertise sits. It’s the expertise in recruitment, performance management, compensation & benefits, health & safety, and learning & development opportunities. It is where the people and culture team provides a service and is seen as an expert. In my opinion, this area can also be outsourced, but not as easily as the first area. The depth of value added by the Human Resources Consultant or Advisor in this area is 100% dependent on the understanding of ‘what’ the business is trying to achieve and the understanding (desire?) of the Human Resources Partner to tailor the service in keeping with the business goals. Let me explain using performance management as an example.
Performance management has a framework or an intent, often articulated in law at a minimum standard. How an organisation translates that and aligns it to their corporate journey is where the value comes. It is not in the ‘what’ steps that need to be taken (ie the easy to get outsourced advice on), but in the ‘how’. That is:
- How does your company set the expectation of what is required?
- How does your company help people to improve their performance?
- How do you let someone know, that despite best efforts, that they aren’t performing?
- How does your organisation treat its departing people?
- How do you let people know that someone has moved on?
What I am trying to say is a framework and a script will get this job done, absolutely. However is the framework really how the business runs, or is it for example too legalistic, or too direct, or not direct enough? Is the nature of the conversations too scripted and not providing respect and integrity to the person that is moving through the process?
The third area of HR for me is strategic HR – I find this the best part! Human Resources is the art of knowing your people and how to support them to maximum potential. HR is about balancing risk, connecting the dots with business strategy to always allow greater context. It is having strategy underpinned by its people resources. It is being able to support and brainstorm business problems adding a people perspective to the resolve. It is about keeping the experience of team members synchronised with the intent of the Executive (or bringing any misalignment to the fore).
This does not mean to always ‘side with the employee’, it means to understand (even predict) the challenges that will be faced by a team member at any time, and be able to minimise risk and maximise opportunity, for both the team member and the business.
There are some incredible service providers and functional experts out there, but to rise to the challenge of becoming a strategic partner is where your experiences will flourish and you will be able to truly add value to any business.
Whenever I view an organisation and start to develop my strategic plan, I’m always viewing the strength of all of these areas with the focus of making core HR repeatable (it has to happen with your eyes closed).
Where are you spending your time?
I can’t answer how to become a strategic partner in one blog post, but I hope to regularly share thoughts throughout that will add to your toolkit.
Alison
