A CONVERSATION WITH DAVE ULRICH… Sharing those golden nuggets on how we remain competitive in HR ….

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GREAT

I have always been a fan of Dave Ulrich; one of the great educators and Management Gurus of our time. The originator of the Ulrich HR model and recognised as a world leading business thinker who has written over 30 books and has a PhD in Business (Organisational Theory).  So, when I had the opportunity last week to spend 40 minutes listening to his insights as part of a ‘Thought Leader’ network on the evolution of HR it felt like all my Christmas’s had come at once!

The opportunity had arisen through Peer Genius; a very valuable global network of credible and established HR practioners that are at the forefront of radical business change. Sarah Potter its founder; herself an inspiring HR Leader, provides digital global events and online membership platforms where directors have a safe place to share best practice and network with other directors to gain peer support. As well as bringing opportunities for expert speakers like Dave Ulrich, to share their wisdom and discuss easily implementable strategies and ways to stay at the forefront of HR good practice.

CREATING VALUE - GUIDANCE FROM THE GREAT

The purpose of the session was to hear about how we can evolve in HR as a profession, to remain competitive and help drive the remote workforce of today.

There were no surprises in hearing that HR today is still about people, but Dave Ulrich’s take, is that our people are not just a company’s greatest asset, but also our Customers most important asset; when we hire, train, pay and communicate against what we do to create value for them. The way we drive that value across the business is through 3 key deliverables: Talent, Organisational Capability building and Leadership.

To remain competitive in this ever-changing landscape the guidance given include 2 key tips for success;

1.   Start from the outside in – to ensure we add business value we need to start by understanding what the business leaders are most concerned about and need to focus on, rather than start by describing to the business what we know and do in HR. Understanding what the business needs right now defined by, our customers, investors, community and social responsibility. We can then focus on what we can do to help drive better results in these areas.

2.   Secondly, link what we know and do to these results. Sit down with our organisational leaders and ask the question, what challenges are you facing, and what is your scorecard around customers, investors, productivity and social responsibility? The second question is, how can I help you with Talent, Leadership and Organisational Capability building to achieve these results?

Our role is to listen to what will drive business value and demonstrate how our role in HR can contribute to that value, then hold up a mirror to our leaders in order to validate how much time both leaders and HR are spending demonstrating this priority across the business. Also backing this up with data and analytics will enable us to understand what’s working and where we should focus improvements in HR as key enablers for change. Allowing us to measure where we are now and also where we should invest time and attention.

The Thought Leader network also shared their top tips in creating value, to help implement good practice, such as:

·        To be seen as a strategic partner in HR take opportunities to look at ways of working, and policies and procedures, then carry out cost analysis on what

we deliver. Providing simplifications to the business, and the bottom-line value of improvements e.g. low-cost vs high output.

·        Take opportunities to help the business make important decisions and explain the risks of those decisions to help find solutions that work for them.

·        The need to be flexible and agile; to recognise and adapt to meet business needs and continue to focus on the priorities. Plus, the need to be consistent and follow through on your commitments to build respect.

2020 ADAPTION ON THE INFAMOUS HR MODEL

We also had to ask the question, how has the famous HR model adapted for 2020?

 It’s good to know that the focus on centers of excellence (specialists), generalists and service centers is still valid. However, the adaption for 2020 is about two additional components;

Firstly, it’s not just ensuring we have the right HR design when building an HR Department, it’s also understanding our effectiveness as a function, and how we get the specialists, generalists and administrators working more effectively together.  Our focus should be ensuring we understand 9 elements that will make HR more effective, these being;

1.   Understanding our reputation

2.   Knowing our customers

3.   Understanding our purpose

4.   Ensuing we have the right HR design

5.   Understanding how we build the right organisation, and create good talent

6.   Ensuring we have the right analytics

7.   If we have the right HR practices

8.   Asking ourselves do we have the right HR people? Finally,

9.   Does HR work well together?

HR Design is an important piece, but it is not the only consideration. Customers are attracted to companies through their reputation and how they are treated not by their structure and design.

Secondly, there is a big movement to focus on agility and pulling things together so that work can be distributed and completed by everyone. However, from Dave Ulrich’s perspective, this should not be the case for HR. For HR it is important we keep separate the generalists, specialists and administrators so that each can focus on what they do best.

KEY SKILLS FOR HR

We were also keen to understand how the skills in HR are evolving to meet the challenges in today’s world. 5 key skills were mentioned, and although not all are easy to navigate, are a necessity all the same.

1.   Information Saliency – the need to source and utilise information in order to give guidance is imperative to help understand where you can add greater value.

2.   Separating signal from noise – we are hearing so much noise at the moment, but what are the key signals we need to act upon in order to focus on the right things such as keeping people safe.

3.   Managing uncertainty - uncertainty has become the norm in the way we work unfortunately, and it is only through listening, communicating and understanding will we bring clarity. Especially to support those working away from the office.     Out of sight should not be out of mind, therefore harnessing uncertainty is a key skill to embrace opportunities to put employees in the driving seat and explain what support they need.

4.   Providing guidance – our opportunity is to change the way we are perceived; long gone are the days (we hope) of the old Personnel function, where we reacted to every beck and call. Today we should be perceived as a true business partner, giving guidance that is more prescriptive (giving directions on how to help) rather than descriptive and telling people what to do to follow policies and procedures. 

5.   Social Citizenship – how we play our role in a socially transparent world. This will come to no surprise that one of our key skills is to be a good Corporate/HR citizen and ensure we do and are seen to be doing the right thing, for both the business and its people.

Many of these skills are going to continue to be a challenge but the consensus from the network is that all are difficult to navigate, but the key to successful application is first to listen, to ensure we understand to continue to add value to the constantly evolving workplace challenges.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Put so eloquently by Dave Ulrich, there has never been a better time than now to have a seat at the table. Today, is about creating a place that is safe and that sets people up for success, ‘a workplace that works for them’.

The future in HR is in our hands and how we can effectively manage Talent, Organisational Capability building and Leadership to help our company be successful in the marketplace. The best thing we can give an employee is a company that succeeds in the marketplace today.

So be brave, be bold and make your seat count!

I would be interested in hearing your views and how you successfully navigate these skills for the future in HR, and how the key lessons learnt for you.

I’d like to thank Sarah Potter of Peer Genius and Erica Farmer MLPI, Director of Welcome Two for bringing this session, as well as Dave Ulrich for his valuable insights. I would also like to thank the Peer Genius HR Directors network for their contribution to this feedback.

 Jane Smith is a senior Organisational Development and Cultural Change leader, and a CIPD Chartered Fellow. With 20 years experience within global, complex and dynamic work environments and a successful track record of leading, facilitating and implementing cultural change, and building organisational capability. She has a background in psychology and is a qualified Coach through Henley Business School.

She is currently seeking new opportunities and is looking to join purpose driven organisations who are committed to creating and embracing inclusive and diverse working environments where people can bring their true selves to work.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jane-smith-fcipd-b6811911/