HR’s Top Priority for 2015 – Be the Business
By Gord MacDonald, The Talent Company
What should HR’s top priority for 2015 be? For me, it comes down to being an effective “business consultant”. I recently read the term in a Deloitte University Press article on Human Capital Trends and instantly liked it. A business consultant is someone who helps a company grow and maintain profitability. HR can do this by implementing a people strategy that enables employees to deliver on business strategy. With that in mind, HR should focus on the following in 2015:
1. How often do you hear Finance or IT departments yearning about how they would like to be a “strategic partner”? They don’t, they just do it. In a recent SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) poll in the U.S., “more than six out of ten HR professionals agreed that their head of HR was strongly involved in business decisions at the board level”. Let’s stop wasting our energy on this, agree HR is at the table, and move forward. HR gains a trusted business consultant role when we stop the HR “speak” and use the business “speak”. We gain the business speak, by understanding the business model (get friendly with the head of finance!) and forging strong relationships with the business’ leadership team and CEO.
2. As business consultant’s we must demonstrate unfailing expertise in the 5 – C’s of business consulting:
*Providing Credible people leadership to the company, with an emphasis on the “human” versus the “capital” side of human capital.
*Building a Collaborative company culture.
*Leveraging the uniqueness of the company Culture. Doing what is right for the company.
*Influencing appropriate Change management at the organizational level.
*Knowing what Customers, want from the business
3. Implementing a people plan that focuses on:
- HR Service Delivery – enabling employees through effective systems, processes, and programs reflective of the company
- Talent Management – recruitment, development and retention of key people
Focusing on these priorities will help ensure HR business consultants are successfully contributing to company growth and profitability.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of HR’s Top Priority in 2015 tomorrow.
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Gord MacDonald specializes in providing executive-level HR expertise to organizations where HR leadership is needed on an advisory, interim, contract or project basis. Through The Talent Company, and his own consulting firm HR Solutions, he works with a diverse range of businesses to develop and implement human capital strategies in support of business issues. He has in-depth experience across: Human Capital Strategy; Building Talent and Strong Teams; Building Strong Corporate Cultures; Employee Engagement; Leading Change; Employee Communications; and, Delivering Tangible Results. Prior to moving in to consulting, Gord held HR leadership roles at LoyaltyOne, American Express, Hogg Robinson and Genworth Canada. Gord can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.
For more information on The Talent Company and our 12 Days of Talent project, visit www.thetalent.co
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