Six qualities for HR as a strategic partner In order to brand HR as strategic business partner, HR leaders would need to possess certain

qualities. While past accomplishments may be noteworthy, the HR leader should focus on future challenges and business strategies. To develop an influential department, the leader must have the following qualities1. Clarity of thought and sense of direction. HR leaders must be able to see the bigger picture and may work as one of the major growth engines for the organisation. 2. Business acumen. The word acumen means keenness and depth of perception, especially in practical matters. Business acumen is thus, an art that may be cultivated with regular practise. It is an art of linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how to enhance profitability and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results. 3. Patience. In a recent interview for Fast Company magazine, Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, emphasized the importance of patience for succeeding in business. He explained that products and businesses go through three phases: vision, patience, and execution. And he said the patience stage is the toughest and most uncomfortable. 4. Fairness. In a turbulent global economy, the dilemma among the business and HR fraternity continues especially in cases when the decision is either to indulge in unfair practices, implement short-term strategies and quick fixes, or to take a patient, long-term approach towards sustainable development. Though there is always a freedom of choice, the consequences are usually correlated to the path that either the business or HR chooses. 5. Self- discipline. HR leaders will normally be confronted with situations requiring negotiation. Self-control is the essence of negotiation. In his piece of work titled, The art of self-control a key to success published by Harvard Business School Publishing, author William Ury (cofounder of Harvard's Program on Negotiation) states, "When negotiating, especially when discussions are emotionally charged, the best strategy comes in not reacting. Focus on your own objectives and how you can best achieve them, and step back from the situation as needed to gain new perspective. The greatest obstacle is not the opposition; it is ourselves." 6. Risk-taking ability. Risk taking is an integral part of business and life. It is thus, quite relevant for HR leaders to take calculated risks in dealing with people and impacting the bottom line of the business.

HR as a strategic partner
HR As a strategic partner : HR As a strategic partner

As HR professionals continue to work to be value-added strategic associates to the business leaders they support, there are some key behaviors to be kept in mind. These are the kinds of behaviors that have proven to differentiate HR advisors as the most trusted across a wide variety of businesses.

. Continually build solid relationships. Trusted HR Advisors primary focus is on how they effectively and successfully build relationships with those they support. They take time to get to know the employees and leaders face-to-face. They go to projects / sites, make personal contacts and connections, and spend quality time in the actual environments where the employees work. This gives them a deep understanding of the business they are supporting and is a behavior that builds relationships. PowerPoint Presentation:

As an HR Professional, the leaders and employees you support need to believe that you truly understand their perspectives and are aware of their issues. They need to believe you are their partner and are there to help them succeed at every stage. This is most effectively achieved through face-to-face discussions. As much as is reasonably possible, make these connections early on and frequently and then continue to sustain the relationships moving forward by repeating these actions. PowerPoint Presentation: . Let business leaders be leaders. The job of a trusted HR advisor is not to lead for the leaders or run their businesses. Your job is to be their advisor, to partner with them, to establish guidelines for them, to build credibility so that they heed your advice, and to have faith that they know how to run their business. It is not your job to tell them what to do or how to run their business. PowerPoint Presentation: Yes, they will make mistakes, and if you believe they are on the path to a mistake, then it is your job to alert them about that. But ultimately they get to decide if they want to make the mistake. Some HR professionals still believe that it's their job to tell business leaders what they can and cannot do instead of providing guidance and letting them make the decisions. PowerPoint Presentation: Let them lead. Be there with them and be their partner, but by all means, let them do what they were hired and trained to do, even if it means they need to learn some hard lessons through their experiences. PowerPoint Presentation: . Exert impeccable influence. In order to exert impeccable influence as a trusted advisor, you should know where to focus your energy and place your influence so that it is meaningful and has impact. In order to do this, you need to understand your business's objectives and top priorities. PowerPoint Presentation: The general rule that has been successful for many trusted HR advisors is to know the top three priorities of your business and then work to exert appropriate influence in those areas. By doing this, you will not only get the appropriate attention from the workforce, but you will have meaningful impact. Simply base your top three HR priorities on those of the business and exert your influence in those particular areas. PowerPoint Presentation: Speak "Business" language Trusted HR Advisors avoid "HR speaks" as much as possible and, instead, speak the business language. Much of this translates to the need to understand your company's financial statements. This really is not an option if you truly want to speak the language of business leaders. PowerPoint Presentation: If you do not understand your company's financial statements and how your company makes money, operates its resources then you cannot speak the language of the business leaders or provide adequate HR support. PowerPoint Presentation: Unfortunately, many HR professionals regard understanding financial statements as an option rather than a requirement of their profession. After all, there are finance professionals to handle that part of the business. PowerPoint Presentation: Although that is true, remember that you should be focused on what is important to the business leaders you support, and the financial standing of the business is often their most important concern. Therefore, it should also be one of your most important concerns and something that you can speak about fluently. PowerPoint Presentation: Create meaningful measurements Trusted HR Advisors proactively measure performance and hold leaders accountable for the HR actions and programs they have agreed to undertake. This does not mean that they act as the parent or police officer but that they simply let leaders run their businesses while actively working the HR initiatives that support them. PowerPoint Presentation: How to effectively do this is by deciding exactly what your business leaders need to accomplish relative to HR programs. Remind them which HR programs support their business objectives and provide them with concise and realistic metrics for which they will be held accountable. PowerPoint Presentation: The measurements you establish with your business leaders cannot be arbitrarily set. They must be precise measurements that will drive the results they need in their business. This is what makes metrics meaningful and doing this in a collaborative fashion with business leaders is what makes one a trusted HR advisor. PowerPoint Presentation: By consistently employing these five listed practices, HR professionals will begin to be viewed more and more as trusted advisors in the businesses where they work. They will be sought after for guidance and counsel and will continue to have a reserved seat at the decision making table . From: Iyer Subramanian, Vijay Tanks and Vessels Private Limited.

HR as Strategic Partner?
Executives commit significant resources to ensure that their companys production, service, technology and marketing functions are capable of rapid change. Too often, however, the Human Resources function is not responsive to this rapid rate of change. Where this occurs, companies may be perpetuating or even creating barriers to fully leveraging their human capital. Organizations can begin the process of removing these barriers by assessing the Human Resources function and its alignment with business objectives. Human Resources is responsible for many of the activities involved in planning, acquiring, building and maintaining an organizations human capital. Organizations whose HR departme nts are disconnected from the business may be compromising their ability to compete. HR can play a role in realizing business objectives by leading organizational change, fostering innovation and effectively mobilizing talent to sustain the firms competitive edge. Given the investment typically required to support an HR organization, it makes good business sense to maximize HRs impact on the business. Organizations can align HR with the business strategy by conducting a rigorous diagnostic assessment of HRs performance and using the resulting analysis as the basis for strategy development and implementation planning. The following steps provide an overview of the HR assessment process.

Clarify the people issues associated with the business strategy. HR must work with executives to clarify the business direction and performance expectations, and actively contribute to deciding what tactics are required for managing talent to achieve business goals. For HR this may require learning more about the workings of the business, the competitive environment and the available labor pool. To fully understand the people issues, it is important to ask what is needed to achieve business objectives: What type of talent is required? Do we have the talent within the company or do we have to search outside? Which segments of the employee population are most critical to the strategy? What type of culture do we need to build, not only to achieve the objectives, but also to attract and retain the talent we require? What organizational structures and systems are in place that will help or hinder achieving our goals?

Assess HRs role in the organization. HRs traditionally transactional role has become multidimensional. In addition to carrying out administrative tasks efficiently, HR also must be knowledgeable about the business strategy and serve as a partner in leading the required changes for the future. For HR to begin influencing change in the company, it is important to first clarify how executives, management, employees and the HR staff perceive HR and its programs and service offerings. This requires asking tough questions about how stakeholders value HRs work. What has been the role of HR in the organization historically? To what extent is HR seen as administrative? As strategic? As a trusted advisor to business management?

How much of HRs time is spent on administration vs delivery vs strategy? What does HR do to protect and build the companys investment in human capital? What is the perceived business impact of HRs work?

Identify and prioritize performance issues. The foundation for an effective HR organization is the efficient delivery of HR administrative services. Without this solid foundation, HRs credibility as a knowledgeable business partner and a change leader is greatly compromised. Each of the major functions of HR should be examined for its impact on achieving the business strategy administration and technology, traditional and non-traditional benefits, compensation, performance management, training and development. How efficient is HRs service delivery model? To what extent are the major functions of HR organized to respond to the needs of the overall business and the unique needs of high impact segments of the employee population? What structures, systems, processes and practices need to change?

Develop and implement HR strategy, structure, staff and services to support the business strategy. To achieve the necessary level of agility, HR organizations must constantly assess business needs and their own capability to support those needs. HR must determine its strategic focus based on the business imperatives facing the company. To drive the achievement of business goals, what should be the strategic focus of HR? What is the optimal combination of HR programs and services for protecting and building the companys investment in human capital? What is the most effective and efficient configuration for the HR organization? What staff capabilities are needed within the HR organization? Since effective management of Human Resources cannot be the sole responsibility of the HR department, what capabilities are needed among executives, managers and employees? What specific steps must be taken to create change, and by whom?

Identify and implement metrics for assessing how HRs performance aligns with business objectives. By establishing HR metrics that link back to business objectives, organizations can build an effective connection between HR and the business. Metrics help ensure that plans are executed and provide HR employees with clear and specific goals to rally around. Unfortunately, this critical step of choosing the right performance metrics and setting realistic but challenging targets is often a misstep. Some organizations dont really measure at all, a nd others put so much emphasis on measurement that there are few resources left for leading organizational change. Identifying a few meaningful measures for the HR department as a whole, as well as for each of the major functions of HR, is most effective. For example, an organization experiencing reduced productivity and high expenses associated with turnover can implement metrics focused on employee retention. Examples include reduced turnover rates and increased employee job satisfaction ratings for the organization as a whole, as well as for high impact roles and positions. Focusing in on the specific causes of turnover is also important. If the top reasons for leaving are dissatisfaction with supervisors and a lack of confidence in management, targeted metrics for the training and development function can focus on: The impact of supervisor training The effectiveness of performance management

Clarification of career paths and guidance for career advancement The implementation of succession planning

A regional healthcare system, recently followed this process to align HR with the strategic direction of the organization. The Problem: The business strategy required a fundamental shift from providing cradle -to-grave care to a greater emphasis on providing the specialized care needed in the regional market. The people issues involved attracting and retaining the talent needed to provide high quality specialized care. Management needed HR to play a greater role as a partner in developing the healthcare systems talent portfolio. The Process: HR identified high impact segments of the employee population as nurses in surgery and in the maternal and child health units. After assessing the demographics of the regional talent pool, HR determined that staffing needs could be met with part-time nurses. HR developed new staffing models to create more opportunities for part-time nurses and implemented HR systems and programs with greater capability for meeting the needs of part-time employees. Through employee surveys and focus groups, HR identified dissatisfaction with the supervisor as a primary driver of turnover. HR responded with initiatives focused on improving supervisory skills and enhancing the performance management system. HR also took steps to better integrate the benefits and recruitment functions. The Result: HR now offers web-based access to benefits information and takes a total rewards approach, combining compensation and benefits information in all benefits communications. These improvements contribute to recruitment efforts by providing recruiters with better tools for communicating with candidates. HR measures its overall impact on the business by monitoring employee satisfaction ratings, vacancy rates, and the total cost of HR as a percentage of the orga nizations total operating budget. In the year since HR began this process, employee satisfaction ratings have improved significantly. Our experience is that the HR function can be a great contributor to the financial success of a company, and in specific instances, can lead the required organizational change to meet the demands of our everchanging business environment. But HR needs to see itself through the eyes of company executives, who are focused on achieving business goals. It also needs to deliver its services with a sense of agility and urgency, and track its performance against those critical measures that truly define the companys success.