what is an opportunity for human resources to become a strategic partner

This is article is part of The Excellence Files series --a forum where contributing Stevens faculty and staff members share practical insights and reflections to reinforce the mindset of "excellence in all we do" and to focus, appoint, and align employees with our mission, values, and strategic priorities.

Dr. Gregory Prastacos
Dean, Schoolhouse of Business concern

HR as a Strategic Partner in Transformation and Growth
by Dr. Gregory Prastacos
Dean, School of Business

It is widely agreed that people are a company's about important nugget and a source of competitive advantage. This is especially true in today'due south dynamically changing noesis-intensive economic system, in which organizations seek transformation and growth, and where talent is the about sought-later on resource for an system. It is therefore critical to develop strategies that volition both attract the right talent, and create an environment that enables employees to realize their potential and reach corporate and personal goals. What is the function of HR in this process? Tin can HR become a strategic partner in an organization'southward try for transformation and growth?

My answer to this question is emphatically yes! I see Hour as potentially a strategic partner in this effort. Earlier I elaborate, allow me get-go go over what I consider to be the cardinal human being-capital-related challenges and trends organizations confront today. Taking these challenges and trends in consideration I then adopt a framework – role that HR can play as a strategic partner for transformation and growth; I conclude with a suggested path going forwards and a set of assumptions than need to be satisfied in lodge for this to be achieved.

Key Challenges Today

Hither are 8 challenges that play a major role in today's business concern environs that relate to homo capital, and must be taken into account as we consider HR's strategic role.

1. Sweeping changes in technology. Tech-driven changes impact jobs and create the need for new skills, while other jobs become obsolete. These changes besides create many opportunities to simplify HR processes, reduce errors, and eliminate bureaucracy.
2. Major changes in demographics. Globalization, changes in the geopolitical environment, an increasing emphasis on diverseness and inclusion, and the growing percent of millennials in the workplace are some of the factors that have contributed to large demographic changes, thus creating a more than diverse work surround.
3. Demand for team-based organizations. Every bit organizations go more than digital, they move away from traditional hierarchical structures, toward models where piece of work is accomplished in teams, thus achieving much needed agility, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and speed.
4. Falling engagement. Employee date is the biggest contributing cistron in growing productivity and memory. Nevertheless, today's increased employee mobility indicates a reduced engagement. Activity needs to be taken to meliorate engagement.
5. The importance of culture cannot exist overemphasized. As Peter Drucker, the male parent of management once said: "Civilization eats strategy for breakfast." This saying underlines the importance that organizational culture plays in achieving the corporate goals. A adept corporate culture is behind the success nosotros see in breakthrough organizations.
6. The role of diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion has go a top-level event around the globe. It non only contributes in creating a civilisation characterized by innovation, openness and fairness, necessary ingredients in any business organization civilisation, but it also contributes towards the efficient performance of teams, which is the desired mode of performance.
7. The relentless war for talent. The war for talent is stronger than ever, and getting the best talent is amid an organization'southward well-nigh critical goals. New methods and tools need to exist used to be able to place and recruit talent.
8. Attracting and growing leaders. All organizations confront an urgent need to develop leaders at all levels. However, leadership today is non the same it used to exist. New challenges demand to be addressed in a global, Stalk-dominated world. What is the office of Hr in this new reality? In addition to the more traditional administrative functions that HR performs – and for which there is definitely room for improvement – HR can undertake or contribute [i] to three strategic roles of the organization: attraction and engagement of talent, development and growth of employees, and participation in the transformation and reinvention effort of the organization to adapt to today'due south environs.

Office 1: Attract and Engage

It is not a underground that the war for talent is going strong, and getting the best talent is amidst an arrangement's most critical goals. Nevertheless, many of the old ways to identify, and recruit talent are no longer effective enough. Social media are extensively used to place and recruit candidates; they can also be helpful to strategically target groups, similar minorities, veterans, and other groups for potential recruiting. Web pages of companies are used to create friends, fans, and followers, who may seek opportunities there, and could also exist accessed should opportunities arise. Analytics are used to make sense out of large amounts of information of potential candidates, while marketing techniques are widely used to describe and cultivate new prospects. Finally, similar in product marketing, reputation is very important; creating and maintaining a good reputation about the civilisation and practices of the organization is jump to bear fruit in the medium term.

However, just bringing in pinnacle talent is not plenty. Employees today change jobs much more rapidly than ever. This mobility reflects economic trends, but as well indicates reduced date. Unfortunately, this happens at a time when management gurus indicate that we need to movement "beyond engagement" to passion. This is because, according to inquiry, employee engagement is probably the biggest factor that contributes to improved retention and increased productivity of employees. Especially today, when every system is trying to achieve the maximum and is asking its employees to perform their best and beyond, achieving a loftier level of engagement is admittedly essential. How does an organization achieve employee date?

There are a number of factors − both organizational and managerial − that drive engagement [iii]. Organizational drivers include setting a compelling direction, engaging in open and honest communication, providing opportunities for career growth and development, recognizing and rewarding high performance, and providing benefits that demonstrate a commitment towards the employee's well-being. Management drivers focus on the employee's relationship with his/her supervisor and co-workers, such every bit receiving clear expectations for the work that needs to be done and feedback on his/her operation, feeling supported by one'south supervisor, receiving recognition for practiced piece of work, and being empowered to accomplish his/her job and to make decisions. 60 minutes can atomic number 82 the endeavour in increasing engagement in an system.

Role 2: Develop and Grow

At that place are three aspects of the develop-and-grow role: Identifying the skills needed, especially in view of the sweeping technology changes, developing learning and career opportunities inside the organisation, and alluring / preparing the future leaders beyond the organization. The changes in technology and the move towards automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are irresolute things apace. Algorithms that make decisions on stock trades, or machines capable of reading X-rays and making medical diagnoses, are just two examples of technology innovations that are improving our lives, but they likewise innovate a number of challenges that have to do with the future of work [2]. What will the jobs of the time to come be? Which jobs will disappear, and what skills and capabilities volition be needed to perform new kinds of jobs successfully? Hour can play a role in identifying these capabilities and skills, and prepare the ground for retraining the employees with the capabilities needed in the forthcoming AI-dominated world.

Hour can also play a major office in offering learning and career development opportunities in an organization. Continuous learning is critical for business success, but this is also a primal expectation of the millennials, who await that learning is e'er available over a range of mobile platforms, and covering a wide range of topics. The good news is that there is an explosion of loftier-quality, depression-price content, available for organizations and employees interested in continuous learning. With the various MOOC platforms, YouTube channels and others, getting a new skill is often only a click away. Of course, continuous learning needs to be accompanied past career opportunities, where the newly caused skills can exist put in use. These tasks that chronicle to learning and career development also fall inside the HR'due south office.

The last issue to address hither is the need for growing leadership. All organizations face an urgent need to develop leaders at all levels, and leadership remains the top talent outcome facing organizations effectually the world. However, leadership in a Stem-dominated world is not the same it used to be. I had the opportunity to discuss this in my remarks last Dec in honor of Rick Roscitt '73, who donated an endowed chair of leadership at the School of Business. In my remarks I argued that leaders today need to possess sure abilities to address the challenges mentioned before. They need to empathize technology and capitalize on information technology for the benefit of the organization, be aware of the global surroundings and exist fluent with it, demonstrate agility and be able to build and bulldoze cantankerous-functional teams, and be flexible, suit to the continuous changes happening today, and innovate, while at the same time they mentor and develop millennials, and inspire their teams to perform in a hyper-competitive environment. 
60 minutes can be of help in identifying and preparing potential leaders that possess these skills for the different levels of the system.

Office 3: Transform and Reinvent

There are two bug in the transform and reinvent part: Facilitating the transformation towards a model of work with teams − beyond the silos of units − to provide agility and knowledge sharing, and developing a winning civilisation in the organization. As mentioned, organizations move toward models where piece of work is accomplished in teams, as they get more digital. This has always been the instance, peculiarly when addressing complex issues or launching new projects; however, two factors are now contributing to this becoming the standard [v]: as Information technology is becoming an integral office of most product/service development or delivery teams, the agile approach used extensively in It projects permeates near projects. In addition, as rapid innovation becomes key, organizations expect at software companies, and adopt their agile practices for managing projects.

Research [1] shows that smaller teams work amend, and that nosotros spend two orders of magnitude more time with people near our desk-bound than with those more than than 150 anxiety abroad. Teams provide agility, speed, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration as individuals meet within a team, share information transparently, and motion from team to squad depending on the issue to exist addressed, while at the same fourth dimension they "acquit" knowledge that tin be used to address future issues in other teams. Hr tin facilitate the creation of winning teams by combining skills from employees across units, and in this process, can larn from IT how to apply active talent practices throughout the organization.

Probably the biggest contribution of HR in undertaking this new strategic role in the organization is the creation, together with leadership, of the organisation's culture. Peter Drucker's statement mentioned above, later popularized by Marker Fields, President of Ford, does not hateful to underestimate the importance of strategy. Instead, it means to emphasize that strategy and civilization have to be aligned for the organization to succeed, and that the best strategic concept won't work if it conflicts with the overarching culture of a company. For example, Apple's commitment to innovation is cultural, not process driven, and hence has been very successful. Another good example has been Google. The book by Laszlo Bock [four] contains the 10 "work rules" that have transformed Google and have created an unparalleled culture of innovation, while hitting a balance between creativity and structure.

When we ascertain culture, nosotros define values, goals, beliefs and habits. A good civilisation will engage the teams to achieve superior functioning, it will provide a supportive and inclusive environment, and information technology will guide everybody in the organization and so that their daily decisions making is aligned with the organizational goals, without the demand of immediate supervision. What are the elements of a skillful culture? Well, a lot can be said here, but I would debate that a good organizational culture should be: open, high performing, empowering, and transparent. An open culture encourages collaboration and sharing between the members of its community, provides back up to them, and encourages diverseness and inclusion. The importance of an open up culture cannot be overemphasized: Research [6] shows companies with higher up boilerplate diversity in their management teams report almost half their revenues from innovative products or services − about xx per centum points more than companies with beneath-average diversity in their management teams − every bit well equally better overall fiscal performance. In a high-performing civilization each fellow member is expected to perform at the highest of his or her abilities. This assumes a vision and mission of the organization that is well communicated and strongly adopted by its members, also equally a set of values that are authentic and widely shared. An empowering civilization provides autonomy and gives the manager the power and the tools to brand decisions within their surface area of responsibleness. It will encourage him/her to experience a certain "ownership" of a problem, and to take initiatives and explore new and innovative solutions to address information technology. Finally, a transparent civilisation encourages disclosure and honesty in all decisions and behaviors, both internally and externally. There is no doubt HR can play a major role in creating, together with leadership, a winning culture in an organisation, equally these elements of the culture have to exist communicated and adopted down to the unit and individual level.

The Route Ahead: What Needs to Be Done

Withal, even though I believe HR can go a strategic partner and contribute significantly towards the above critical functions, I besides believe that there are certain conditions that must be satisfied first in order for this to happen. Assuming that some of these weather pre-exist, the process will be easier to implement.

Hr Must Empathize the Concern

HR must broadly and securely understand the business they support and know the concern' strategy and needs. Only then will Hr be a useful partner to the acquirement generating units, and contribute towards finding solutions to problems, simplifying processes, identifying skills that are needed, and identifying all-time candidates. One time this happens, it volition also exist able to contribute towards improved strategic decision making past providing insights nearly where to invest in human capital, and by identifying the key leverage points where homo uppercase contributes most to the organization's success.

Hour Must Understand the Technology and Its Implications

The advances in automation and cerebral technologies are transforming all aspects of business, including managing human capital. Analytics are now widely used to facilitate the HR administrative functions, and provide insight nearly existing employees, or time to come recruits. Hour systems demand to accept these technologies in consideration and simplify processes. In today's environs we have grown to take trivial patience for bureaucracy or duplication of endeavor, and HR needs to realize this, and make sure its administrative systems stand for to this expectation. This will increment HR'due south credibility as a strategic partner. In add-on, HR needs to understand the implications of the future of work, and work with the divisions to prepare the workforce for the skills that volition be needed in an AI-dominated workplace.

Hr Must Adopt a Customer-Centric Mentality

HR must be open to what the business units want and what is of import to them. What additional data, skills or assistance do people need? What new channels are available? It needs to align its practices with the requirements of internal and external stakeholders.

HR Must Develop (with Leadership) a Culture of Agility, Date and Growth

HR has to be agile and projection this culture to the rest of the organization. Foresee, plan and adapt simultaneously to change, master technology, develop talents and their potential and allow flexible working environs and terms, whenever possible. Together with the leadership of the organization, 60 minutes must help create a civilisation of agility, date and growth to the rest of the units, very important objectives of the organisation.

HR Must Prefer a Civilisation of Evidence-Based Management

For HR to become a strategic partner, it needs to prefer an testify-based direction arroyo with quantifiable goals and metrics that have to be set and monitored, and action plans need to exist developed that volition achieve these goals.

Closing

Organizations are continuously transforming to arrange to the new realities of the digital, global and continuously evolving marketplace. HR tin can be a strategic partner in this effort. To achieve this, a number of steps will take to be taken, in order to change existing mentalities, or familiarize 60 minutes in depth with the business units. Time is crucial in this journey, competition is relentless, and therefore, these efforts take to beginning now.

References

1. Deloitte University Press, Deloitte Global Human Majuscule Trends, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
2. James Mnyika, et.al., "Jobs lost, jobs gained: Workforce transitions in a time of automation," December 2017, McKinsey Global Institute.
3. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "Developing and Sustaining Employee Engagement," March 17, 2017
4. 4. Laszlo Bock, "Work Rules: Insight from Inside Google that volition transform how you live and pb," Twelve Publishing, New York, Boston, 2015.
5. 5. Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis, "HR Goes Agile," Harvard Business concern Review, March-April 2018. 6. Rocio Lorenzo, et.al., "How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation," Boston Consulting Group, January 2018

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Source: https://www.stevens.edu/directory/division-human-resources/excellence-files/hr-strategic-partner-transformation-and-growth

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