“It is vital to an organization’s mission to closely align Human Resources (HR) with the operational strategies, and the annual, one to three year, and three to five year strategic agenda of the entire organization,” says Janet Gilmore, Vice President, Human Resources Operations Support and Strategy, HCA. HR must also be proactive, not reactive, and articulate what resources, capabilities or staff are needed to make the plan a reality, she adds.
Gilmore is a speaker at the marcus evans HR Strategy & Innovation Summit 2017, taking place in Florida, January 22-24.
What is key to strategic alignment within HR?
Some companies have a very explicit and well understood strategic plan, while others need investigative work. Certain companies only do plans by operating group, but it is key that HR creates a strategy that reflects, aligns with and enables the company strategy on an annual, mid- and long-term perspective. In addition, HR needs to bring ideas into the agenda that originate outside the company but are key to effective workforce management.
Don’t most HR leaders do this already? What obstacles do they face?
They try, but some HR leaders are overburdened with running the day-to-day functions of the department. This includes data management, the recruiting machine, employee services and relations, as well as disaster or business continuity items. Time and focus is an obstacle. In some organizations, HR has to fight for a seat at the table. And third, fast-moving business changes either from inside or out, that HR has to respond to very quickly.
What changes should HR prepare the organization for?
Some changes are industry-specific. In the healthcare industry the war for talent is on a high right now and that will continue. Economic changes in the US are affecting all businesses. The pharmaceuticals and manufacturing industries are also experiencing many changes.
Technology is a cross-industry change that will continue to ramp up in speed. Social media will expand and we will see process automation even in our personal lives, with rules-based logic or cognitive processing.
What approach is best for strategic planning? What are the key resource enablers?
The first is about competency and capability within HR, this ability around continuous improvement, strategic planning, aligning philosophies to goals and projects, and driving execution. This is a relatively new capability within HR, and we have to devote staff to it. We need to add people to our HR teams with process design and project management capability, some deeper technology expertise, a systems-thinking or strategic planning capability, almost business planning, to elicit needs from different business areas that HR supports. This is a good bucket of resource enablers.
When we fan out to the organization to discover the strategic road map for the company, we must articulate what resources will be needed to make the plan a reality. Do we need staff, IT, funding, a capability or a design change? HR should be proactive, not reactive. It is better to articulate these needs on the front end. Technology, the business and the workforce are all changing too fast for us to be reactive like in the old days. We must make sure HR is forward-looking and coming forward with tools, resources and processes that can enable the business strategy from a workforce standpoint.
For more information, please contact:
Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian
press@marcusevanscy.com
Ahead of the marcus evans HR Strategy & Innovation Summit 2017, Janet Gilmore discusses
how HR supports an organization’s mission by helping to advance the operational strategy
Janet Gilmore
Vice President, Human Resources Operations Support and Strategy
HCA
How HR Must Align with the Business Strategy
and more…
About the HR Strategy & Innovation Summit 2017
The HR Strategy & Innovation Summit is the premium forum bringing elite sellers and buyers together. The Summit offers solution providers and HR executives from across North America an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the future of HR. Taking place at the JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes, Florida, January 22-24, the Summit includes presentations on predictive data analytics, how to attract and maintain millennials, talent management, and the key trends reshaping the sector.
Copyright © 2017 Marcus Evans. All rights reserved.
and more...
22 - 24 January 2017
JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes, Florida