Strategic Human Resource Management

An HR Professional's Toolkit

Karen Beaven

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780749484040
• eBook ISBN: 9780749484057
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

FINALIST: Business Book Awards 2020 - HR & Management Category

HR's contribution to the business goes beyond its traditional role of managing hiring, discipline and payroll. Strategic Human Resource Management is a practical guide for all those in HR roles to support wider organizational goals and objectives whilst developing and engaging individual employees through focussing on the concept of 'People Experience'.

Drawing upon tools, exercises and case studies, this complete resource covers the core areas that are essential to achieving competitive advantage through understanding yourself, your business, your industry and your profession. Strategic Human Resource Management shows how to hone the personal skills needed to excel in HR and leadership positions, such as authenticity, network building and managing stakeholder relationships, alongside the importance of focussing on self-care and mental wellbeing.

This book provides guidance on building competitor awareness, markets and channels, trends and forecasting and interpreting financial results in order to build commercial acumen. Career frameworks, professional accreditation and the importance of continued personal and professional development are also explored, in addition to technological trends and the future of work in a changing business environment. This comprehensive toolkit is an indispensable resource for HR professionals who want to implement HR practices that benefit the business and its workforce, and make an impact within their organization and profession.

PART ONE

Know yourself

01

Continuous personal development

Introduction

In this chapter we look to explore the importance of ongoing and meaningful personal development activities for individuals working within Human Resources. We will identify some vital components to include within your own personal development strategy and suggest some tools you may wish to sharpen up or deploy in order to accelerate your learning and career. With development planning being such an intrinsic element of most HR roles it’s not only important to role model great practices here, it’s also essential if you hope to remain current and credible in the environment within which you operate.

How will this chapter shape my thinking?

• It will encourage you to clarify the ‘purpose’ behind your plan and ensure that activities you undertake are meaningful and supportive of that core purpose.
• It will provide you with a framework for your own personal development which incorporates elements of Agile project management.
• It will promote the importance of accountability in development planning and establish models through which this can be delivered.

Purpose

I think of myself as a serial learner. Seriously, I can’t switch off this drive for knowledge and even if I could I don’t think I’d want to. This is something you need to take very seriously if you want to make a real impact in your career. You need to own it!

I know, maybe you got this far without a plan, right? Maybe you did, but what you’ll never know is how much further you could have got and how much more you could have achieved if you’d taken time to map things out and apply a little more focus to setting and achieving stretching goals and targets for yourself. Also, think of this as a reflection of how you view business development too; you wouldn’t run a multimillion-dollar business without a plan, so why would it be ok to run your career and life without one? Trust me, it’s worth investing in yourself here and taking some time out to create the action plan that’s going to enable you to achieve your potential.

People often suggest that successful development planning starts with some basic goal setting; I’m going to take a step back from there and encourage you to think instead about the purpose for your plan as the very first point. You need to be clear on why you are doing something for it to be truly meaningful and you need it to be meaningful if it’s going to be effective. When you go back to think about your ‘why’, think of it as a process of discovery, not invention (Sinek, 2009). By that I mean I encourage you to remain connected to your own identity and be authentic in what you set out to achieve. To move forwards it’s important to reflect on the past and ensure we are pursuing a career that we want because we want to and not because someone is pushing us into it or because we have a mistaken belief that it’s the only path available to us.

Goal setting

To get going here, think about setting some short-, mid- and long-terms goals; you define the timespans so that they are meaningful and relevant for you. It can be useful to articulate your goals in a specific way in order to be clear with yourself about why that goal matters to you. Why this goal, why now and what will it give you? Think about how your goals link to your personal and professional strategy, and consider this: ‘A winning strategy combines analytically sound, ambitious but logical goals with methods that help people experience new, often very ambitious goals, as exciting, meaningful and uplifting – creating a deeply felt determination to move, make it happen, and win, now’ (Kotter, 2008).

A common test that most will be familiar with for goal setting utilizes the ‘SMART’ model, which asks, is this goal specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound? I also take inspiration from the world of Kanban in formulating mine. For example, instead of formulating the goal as per example one or example two below, I add a little more depth to shape it in the format of example three.

Example One: Starting goal

1. – Learn how to use webinar technology.

Example Two: SMART goal

1. – Specific: I’d like to learn how to use Zoom (other providers are available) webinar technology and ensure that 40 per cent of employees access my webinar.
2. – Measurable: I’ll know I’ve completed it when I have delivered my first webinar.
3. – Achievable: Yes, it seems pretty straightforward and info on how to do it is readily available.
4. – Realistic: Yes, I know other people who are less tech-savvy than me who run webinars.
5. – Time bound: Within three months.

Example Three: Kanban/user story goal

1. – As a human resources director, I would like to deliver a webinar on the subject of personal development planning within my business so that more people can access information to enhance their careers and learn skills to help them drive the business more quickly at a time and place that suits them.
2. – My acceptance criteria for this will be that the webinar will be delivered within three months and 40 per cent of employees will access it.

When you have your goals, write them down and keep them somewhere you can see them. Then consider how you might add a ‘stretch’ goal into the mix if there isn’t one there already. Something that’s going to take you beyond your comfort zone and accelerate your progress. It’s important to remember that every activity you put on your development plan should take you a step closer to achieving your ambitions so be sure you’re being brave enough here in order to keep yourself on track.

Something to consider adding to your toolkit here is a physical or virtual planning journal to help you keep track of and manage your goals. Trello is a good starting point if you’re looking for a digital option but with the pace of transformation in this arena a quick Google search will bring up many other solutions for you to investigate. If you’re looking to build pace and momentum with your development activity it can be useful to work in 90-day blocks as a maximum to ensure you have the clarity of focus needed to gain traction. This method should add value to longer-term goal setting as opposed to replacing it completely. Within the 90-day plan you can then break down your development activity further into realistic timescales that keep you motivated at the appropriate level without layering on any undue stress and pressure. Consider two- or four-week ‘sprints’ to achieve set objectives within your development plan.

Going Agile

Personally, I bring in elements from Agile software development to my plans; it works for me but you really need to try out a few styles to find the approach that’s best for you. The Agile Alliance defines Agile as ‘The ability to create and respond to change in order to succeed in an uncertain and turbulent environment’ (Agile Alliance, 2018). Essentially, Agile is a way of working that combines a number of set routines and practices with the end result of delivering more useable work, more quickly in an organizational context. In relation to personal development planning I find it useful to take inspiration from this methodology both in terms of my own practice and also when I’m working with other people. Table 1.1 shows an example of the template I use to structure an Agile Development plan.

Table 1.1 Agile development plan

	Backlog of activities	Activities in discovery phase	Activities in progress	Blocked	In progress	Done
Example action	Read Transformational HR book.	Investigate options for org design qualification.	Agile HR training.	Leadership development programme (next intake in 9 months).	Read Tribe of Mentors book.	Attend CIPD conference.

I’m also going to let you in on another secret to creating an effective development plan: the secret is to limit the amount of activity you have going on at any one moment. Agai...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART ONE Know yourself
• PART TWO Know your business
• PART THREE Know your industry
• PART FOUR Know your profession
• Index
• Backcover