Creating an HR Problem-Solver Pool: Talent

Considerations
Published 25 January 2022 - ID G00754446 - 9 min read
By Analyst(s): Chief Human Resources Officer Research Team
Initiatives: HR Function Strategy and Management

In making the decision to launch a problem-solver pool, HR leaders

must consider who can best meet their organizational needs. By
understanding what skills are needed for your organization’s
projects and trajectory, you can most effectively source and
deploy HR problem solvers.

Overview
Key Findings
■ Establishing the skills and subject matter needs of the problem-solver pool is crucial
for ensuring highly effective project teams.

■ By knowing what capabilities the problem solvers have, an organization can more
effectively source and deploy problem solvers to projects.

■ The problem-solver pool is highly flexible, and individuals can serve in multiple roles
simultaneously as needed to meet organizational needs, even with resource
constraints.

Recommendations
To successfully staff and manage a problem-solver pool, HR leaders should:

■ Define the roles their HR problem solvers will occupy by considering their pool
objectives and structure.

■ Source the HR problem solvers as best meets their organization’s resource

availability.

■ Assess their pool’s skills and capabilities to best leverage their pool’s skills, and
allocate problem solvers to projects accordingly.

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Introduction
This is the second part of a three-part series on creating an HR problem-solver pool.

As covered in part one of this series, Creating an HR Problem-Solver Pool: Key Design
Decisions, the HR Operating Model of the Future (see Figure 1) enables HR leaders to meet
the fast pace of business and adjust to the increasing use of technology, changing
employee expectations and increasing cost pressures. It can be particularly challenging
for HR to mobilize the appropriate mix of expertise to effect change amid uncertainty and
unforeseen challenges. The problem-solver pool model creates a dynamic team with
diverse skill sets deployed to projects based on where their expertise is expected to add
the most value. This model — or even aspects of the model — can be adapted to meet an
organization’s unique needs and circumstances.

Figure 1. The HR Operating Model of the Future and the HR Problem-Solver Pool

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In conjunction with deciding the objectives, feasibility and structure of the problem-solver
pool, HR leaders should consider who their HR problem solvers will be, what their projects
will be and the relative priorities of those projects, and how to implement all these
changes in a meaningful way.

Analysis
Define the Roles, Competencies and Subject Matter Expertise Needs of the
HR Problem Solvers
Increasingly, organizations are leveraging their resources more flexibly, with 50% of
organizations turning more of HR’s work into projects and 43% deliberately developing HR
staff for multiple roles in the function. As organizations turn to a problem-solver pool
structure to more flexibly deploy their resources — currently around 16% of the most
progressive HR practices — they must consider the roles, competencies and subject matter
expertise needed for the problem solvers and how to source them. 1 What these roles and
needed skills are will vary greatly depending on your organization’s staffing
considerations and aims.

The duration and intensity of the problem-solver pool will also impact staffing
considerations (see Figure 2):

■ Duration — You can launch a problem-solver pool on a short-term basis, such as to

address a temporary rise in HR demands, or on a long-term basis, including a
permanent change in your HR structure.

■ Intensity — The problem solvers can work in the pool on a part-time basis, meaning
they balance their problem-solving work with other work, or on a full-time basis,
meaning they will dedicate all their work time to the problem-solver pool.

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Figure 2. Duration Versus Intensity Factors for a Problem-Solver Pool

With these established, you can then more effectively define roles for the pool, the skills
the problem solvers need and what will engage people in the pool.

Define Roles in the Problem-Solver Pool

Though the specifics of each problem-solver pool will vary based on the organization’s
objectives and resources, the roles can be generally broken down into the following
categories:

■ Head of the problem-solver pool — Generally someone with a project management

or agile methodologies background who sets the strategy and goals of the problem-
solver pool; the PMO and project leaders report into them

■ Project management office (PMO) — Staff who oversee the end-to-end project
portfolio management process; they may be adept in agile methods or are Scrum
coaches (note: for smaller organizations/pools, the head of the problem-solver pool
can serve in this function)

■ Project leaders — Staff who oversee individual project(s)

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■ Project staff — Pool members who advise on and carry out various projects

■ Subject matter experts — Staff who have specific knowledge of relevant content
areas; this may include deep expertise in specific functional areas of HR (e.g., total
rewards or talent acquisition), data analytics or other non-HR areas as needed

■ People managers — Manager-level staff who supervise staff members’ career paths
and development

Depending on the size and needs of your problem-solver pool, many of your problem
solvers will likely “double-hat,” serving in two or more capacities at once. Should you ask
your staff to double-hat, however, be sure to explicitly state what their responsibilities in
each role will be and how their workload will be balanced across them. This inclusive and
cross-functional approach allows for greater collaboration, idea exchange and innovation
(see Figure 3). This overall structure can work for organizations of all sizes, no matter if
your problem-solver pool is four people or 40 people.

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Figure 3. Project Team Staffing

For most structures (i.e., ad hoc staffing, temporary staffing, parallel staffing), problem
solvers will largely remain in their regular reporting lines, whereas those in a permanent
staffing model will likely be reporting full-time to pool leadership. For instance, the PMO
for a given permanent staffing model pool may oversee the project allocation and
strategic direction for the entire pool. This PMO then reports to the head of the problem-
solver pool. The PMO assigns projects to project leaders, who work with teams consisting
of project consultants, data analysts and methodology experts to execute those
assignments.

Case in Point: S&P Global’s Global Project Staffing

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 The People Agile Team staffs each project with relevant expertise along with those
trained in agile methodologies to foster collaboration and innovative solutions (see
Figure 4). HRBPs and COE team members with needed skill sets are pulled in as
needed. For more, see Case Study: People Agile Team (S&P Global).

Figure 4. S&P Global’s People Agile Team Project Staffing Example

Source the Problem Solvers

Problem solvers can be sourced:

■ Internally from HR — Traditional COEs or strategic HRBPs

■ Externally with an HR background — Contractors, HR and organizational design

consultants

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■ Non-HR backgrounds — Those with experience in IT, legal, finance, marketing,
customer experience or product development, lean or agile project methodology

According to Gartner TalentNeuron findings 2 as well as our research examining a range

of job descriptions for a problem-solver pool position, the following were the most
commonly sought-after skills:

■ Project management, particularly the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks
simultaneously

■ Familiarity with agile and/or related project management methodologies

■ Ability to engage, inspire and influence stakeholders across the organization

■ Strong interpersonal and communication skills

■ Management skills, such as delegation and leadership experience

■ Ability to identify new ways for HR to support the business strategy and develop
clear, actionable steps in support of the overall business strategy

■ Effective team player and networker

Note that many of these — such as familiarity with agile, lean or other similar
methodologies — are not always a strict requirement, particularly if some with those skills
are already within the pool.

Please reference our Tool: Problem Solver Job Description Template as a guide for
candidate searches.

Assess Your Pool’s Capabilities and Skills

It is especially important for organizations with limited resources to leverage those
resources strategically by identifying what knowledge and expertise the problem-solver
pool does and does not have access to. You should also consider what projects the pool
is likely to take on, as that will directly determine what skills will be needed. For example, if
you anticipate the pool will take on projects related to compensation, then expertise about
pay structures as well as legal and regulatory requirements will be helpful. Based on the
information gathered about knowledge and skills requirements, you should create a list or
inventory of critical needs.

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This skills inventory, in which each problem solver lists their own skills and development
areas, can be as simple as a shared worksheet going up to proprietary software dedicated
to this purpose, depending on the organizational size. Skills and development areas
content can include a mix of more technical and more soft skills, ranging from how to use
specific software to how to better collaborate with others. Consider Tool: Designing and
Implementing a Skills Inventory when designing your own HR skills inventory.

For example, S&P Global keeps an up-to-date inventory of all HR staff skills and skills
development areas to help the PMO develop the best teams for each challenge (see Figure
5). The global PMO assigns people to projects based on relevant skills tracked in this
inventory that will drive the deployment of efficient HR solutions.

Figure 5. S&P Global’s HR Skills Inventory

Project Team Selection

With this skills inventory, selecting a team of problem solvers for a given project is a much
more straightforward task. After establishing what skills, development opportunities and
subject matter expertise are needed for a project, you simply need to search your HR skills
inventory for the appropriate people for the task.

Selection criteria for the project teams include questions such as:

■ What skills do we need to execute the project?

■ Does this project require deep subject matter expertise or specific skills?

■ If so, who has that subject expertise and/or skills?

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■ How many problem solvers will this project require?

■ How many of these people need to be involved for the duration of the project?

■ Which people should be consulted as needed?

■ What development opportunities can this project provide?

After staffing the pool along with cataloging its skills and capabilities, the last main step
is to establish the project selection and prioritization criteria, which will be explored in the
final part of this series. There will also be upcoming pieces discussing problem-solver
pool career development and change management.

Evidence
This research is drawn from qualitative interviews and surveys with a wide range of HR
executives, as well as key Gartner case studies and products.

1
The 2021 Gartner HR Function Structure Client Survey was fielded in September and
October 2021 and was completed by 341 HR leaders from client organizations across all
industries. The survey was administered as a web-based survey.

2
The data for this analysis cover U.S.-based job postings from October 2020 through
October 2021 for midlevel HR positions with agile and project management experience.
Gartner TalentNeuron is the premium end-to-end labor market intelligence solution
combining real-time insights from trusted global data sources, deep research and expert
advisors to guide decisions on location, talent and competition. For more information, see
Gartner TalentNeuron: Trusted Labor Market Insights.

The organization profiled in this research is provided for illustrative purposes only and
does not constitute an exhaustive list of examples in this field nor an endorsement by
Gartner of the organization or its offerings.

Recommended by the Author

Some documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

Creating an HR Problem-Solver Pool: Key Design Decisions

The HR Operating Model of the Future

The Agile HR Function

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Using Shared Services to Drive the HR Operating Model of the Future
Case Study: People Agile Team (S&P Global)
Building a High-Performing Agile Project Team

Case Study: Embedded Agile (WPS Health Solutions)

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