Strategic HR EMDS HR Consultants Herts UK
Aligning HR and Business Strategy Examples:
www.emds-hrconsulting.com
1) If, as an example, you want to grow the sale of certain goods by 30 per cent over the next two years, what does this mean for HR strategy? – Well, we may want to either introduce or improve on Sales Training. We should look into reviewing the recruitment and selection strategy to ensure that sales skills are prioritised as a key selection criteria, and that reward and recognition programs include incentives to provide a motivation for staff to close more sales. I will look into this strategically and determine what human capital will be needed to move the company into the future.
2) If your end goal is business transformation to be innovative and agile, I can work with you and ensure we hire employees who embody those competencies. Once a ‘talent’ has been recruited, ‘talents’ must be nurtured. With a plethora of change in today’s environment, it’s important to have highly focused development programs that develops your workforce’s capabilities to execute upon key business initiatives. We should look into developing creative skills, training, providing freedom to employees, empowering employees, high participation, incentives etc
3) Cost Leadership (when the organisation cuts its prices by producing a product or service at less expense than its competitors); I can help here by recruiting and retaining employees who can work as efficiently and productively as possible. They should be Trainable and Flexible employees who avoid waste and lower production costs. Some researchers have argued in this area that as these employees become more experienced, they will later demand higher wages. A solution here could be that we re-engineering jobs, so that they require minimal skills. So in essence, we still recruit highly productive employees, but they are people we believe won’t remain long with the organisation, as the key goal is cost leadership.
4) If senior management don’t agree on a strategy forward for the business, my role could be to run a strategic brainstorming session for the senior management team with a view to driving to agreement after all ideas have been heard.
5) Another way to add strategic value is when there is a disconnect between desired behaviours and the reward system. I can study and suggest ways to bring better alignment between the two, thereby strengthening the organisation’s culture.
6) Helping leaders manage large-scale change is another area in which I can be instrumental.
7) I can help and recommend practical and usable (instead of theoretical and mechanical) training and development programs, these will help improve and accelerate performance. Training is important and should be looked at as an investment, not an expense. Research has shown that companies that invest in their people out perform their competition. It important to train and develop individuals to have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to meet strategic goals. Therefore, I will look at the knowledge, skills, and abilities that will be needed in the future, i.e. 2, or 5 years from now, and ask, how do we make sure employees are getting these skills?
8) Reward and Benefits should also be planned carefully, and should be competitive. Why? To ensure we are attracting and retaining the workforce we need.
9) Work life balance is another important area. Is the company being competitive with work life programs? This links into strategy because as a whole, a business must have a balance. Employees should not be left in stressful situations, i.e. constant heavy workloads; this only leads to sickness, absence, further costs, morale issues, conflict etc.
10) Issues with Absenteeism rates and heavy costs on business – my recommendations here could centre on HR Policies that helps absenteeism rates, i.e. Career Development, Flexible working arrangements, and Counselling. Why? These support work life balance. If you have a lot of younger workers, career development is a great retention tool.
11) Customer services need improvements? Recommendations could be training in customer services.
12) Expanding into Foreign Markets? We could look into Training and Development in areas such as Languages, Foreign Cultures, etc.