Strengthening HR–Business Relationships
Bill Conaty was a leader of a business before he became the head of HR for GE. This experience helped him better understand the realities faced by his fellow operators and gave him the insights needed to drive proactive strategic talent management practices without having HR “get in the way” of operating the business. Several of our readings discuss the importance of HR professionals having “real-world” experience in the operation of a business. Some even advocate having HR professionals rotate through internships or temporary assignments in the organization in order to gain a deeper understanding of how the business works. How practical this is will vary from company to company, but the point is a valid one – HR can’t be an effective strategic partner if its leaders don’t understand the needs of the managers on the ground. Patty McCord writes:
“HR must be business people who truly understand the way your business works, even if that’s quite technical. They should be creative, proactive partners in the hiring process. Investing time in explaining to them the details of the talents you need will pay remarkable dividends.”
Powerful, P. 107
“One thing I absolutely advise is making sure your HR people are your partners; you must stress to them that you want them to be true business partners. When your HR people are businesspeople first, it doesn’t seem odd to the rest of your management team to have them in the room for a staff meeting or to coach hiring managers about how to interact and give feedback. Instead of thinking HR is there to catch them misbehaving, team leaders will open up to input. Make sure they really know how your business operates. Do they know the three key drivers of revenue? Do they know who your top four competitors are? Do they know about the technology that’s about to disrupt the market? Tell them. If they don’t want to know, replace them.”
Powerful, P. 147 Bill Conaty says that the time he spent running a business added to the credibility of talent management recommendations made by him and his HR team. When business leaders see that you have real-world experience to back you up and that you care enough about understanding their needs to leave the safety of the HR wing to get out and ask questions, you can do a lot to address the image problem that many HR professionals face. Whatever steps you take to gain this experience in your own career, there’s no substitute for time spent “in the trenches”, if you really want to understand what’s going on.
EVALUATING STAFFING PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE PLAN One of the challenges that undermine the effectiveness of the partnership between HR and business unit leaders is that staffing plans get put in place and can exist for years without adjustment. As you read in The Talent Masters, C-Sessions were a regular and highly structured process at GE. The role of HR in
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Strengthening HR–Business Relationships
these was to help the leaders step back and ask important questions about talent management and strategy, and to assess whether the plan and the people were still the right ones to get the job done. Whether you follow something as structured as a C-Session at your organization or not, staffing plan evaluations must address four things:
1. Current status of the business a. Has a new competitive force surfaced that changes the game? b. Is a new strategic direction or technical skill needed? c. Are there skillsets held by some employees that are no longer needed? d. Have financial conditions changed? e. Do you need people you don’t have?
2. Looking ahead – what’s coming down the road in a year or five years?
3. Opportunities across other business units to work together and find synergies that can strengthen your competitive advantage
4. Performance of the team members Other than voluntary turnover, staffing changes and corrections occur either because the business conditions have changed, or employee performance has not met expectations. If the HR team stays involved, it is more likely that these corrections can be made effectively and humanely.
It’s true that some managers will rush to make cuts in personnel without proper support for the employee, but in reality, this is not as common as some may think. It’s more likely that they will hang on to someone because they don’t want to make the tough decisions and let them that person go. While these can be difficult conversations to have with managers, HR has a responsibility to both the business and to the employee to help business leaders make honest evaluations of their team members and take the appropriate actions.
As HR leaders, we have to guide our managers to make sure they are accurately assessing the situation and providing feedback to their team members. This includes asking the all-important question, “If this person applied for the job right now and you knew everything about them that you know now, would you hire them?” Then, depending on the answer, HR leadership has to provide the support and courage to make the change that is needed.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University Confidential and Proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University.
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Strengthening HR–Business Relationships
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS WEEK’S CLASS
As you read the materials and participate in class activities, stay focused on the key learning outcomes for the week:
• Discuss the importance of having engaged hiring managers One of the most important roles an HR professional can play is to help business unit leaders assess their team’s hiring needs and performance against the strategic plans they are expected to execute. How often do you or your team meet and work with business leaders to evaluate staffing needs before a search is requested? What mechanisms do you have for circling back with managers to see how new candidates are doing? The assumption is often that, if there is no feedback on shortcomings of a new hire from the manager, then the person must be doing okay, and the HR team can turn their attention to the next hire.
• Strengthen the relationship between business leaders and Human Resources For HR to remain a strategic partner, there must be a close and ongoing relationship between the HR department and the business unit leaders they support. How solid is this relationship in your organization? HR leaders should be scheduling meetings with business leaders at least biannually to talk about the business. What’s going well? What’s not going so well? How is the team doing? What’s coming down the road in the next six months or a year that could place additional demands on team members? How are the new members of the team doing? This doesn’t have to be an overly formal meeting – often the best discussions take place over lunch.
• Evaluate staffing performance against the business plan Busy managers often find it challenging to accurately assess the performance of their staff. This sounds counterintuitive since they are the ones closest to their teams, but sometimes that closeness hides performance issues. Sometimes managers will try to “manage around” challenges. They will compensate for a low performer on a team whom everyone likes, and unintentionally undermine team performance and place additional burdens on others. Or maybe they will decide that a team member needs to be let go when, in fact, there are opportunities elsewhere in the organization that are a better match for that person. HR can play a valuable and impartial role in helping managers step back and assess whether their team is delivering what is needed and has the support it needs to get the job done.
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Why is it important for HR professionals to understand how the business operates?,
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How can HR leaders strengthen their relationship with business unit managers?,
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What role does HR play in evaluating staffing performance against business plans?,
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How can HR guide managers in making difficult personnel decisions?,
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Why should hiring managers be engaged and involved in strategic talent planning?