Aligning HR to your Business Plan
"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term which achieves an advantage for the organisation through its structure of resources within any given environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".
Exploring Corporate Strategy, Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes
In simpler terms your business strategy is all about your Product, Customer, People and Processes.
Are your HR activities aligned to your business strategy?
In many organisations HR is seen purely as an administrative function and many executives and managers believe that this is the primary role of HR. In reality HR has two important roles in an organisation. One is administrative the other is strategic .
The administrative function looks after activities traditionally associated with recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, and compensation plans which form the basic building blocks of HR and on their own are very important. However it is the strategic function that manages the development of an organisation’s employees in order to support its business goals and this is what the primary focus of HR should be.
An organisation’s people, not its product or service, ultimately determine the effectiveness of strategy development, implementation, and subsequent competitive success. When properly aligned to the business strategy HR will contribute to the financial bottom line. Why is this? Because strategic HR management is the design and implementation of internally consistent practices that ensures an organisation’s employees, skills and abilities drive the achievement of its business goals.
HR should be sitting at the boardroom table as a Business Partner taking a proactive rather than a reactive approach to issues and problems. As part of the group shaping the business strategy they will more quickly identify people issues and opportunities and align the HR strategy which will ensure the success of the business goals. A proactive approach will ensure that issues and problems are less likely to arise and if they do, a process or initiative is in place to manage issues and where possible recover the situation. Driving the strategic process and therefore the success of the organisation should be a natural and ongoing collaboration between HR and the business managers.
- Is your business strategy/plan supported by an HR strategy?
- Do you know how to break down your business goals to identify the HR strategy that should work alongside it?
- How would you ensure that you had the expertise and knowledge to design and implement the right initiatives and ensure success?
We can help you with each step of defining, designing and implementing an HR strategy in support of your business goals. We can work with you to understand and break down each element of your business objectives and strategy to identify and define proactive and supportive people initiatives, programmes and practices. A strong, well executed and supportive HR strategy will ensure your business strategy is a success.