HR has traditionally been known as an administrative cost center; the keeper and enforcer of policies and procedures. And while those are still important and necessary tasks, HR needs to continue to increase their worth and be run like a profit center. Some argue that HR doesn’t understand the business and comes up short of what is actually happening at the table. Don’t think HR first, but rather as a business leader who just happens to work in HR; where one can more than just influence decisions but have a direct impact on business results. Here are five ways HR can increase its VALUE to the business.
Visualize the future – Really think beyond the immediate business targets to drive the success of the company. Be proactive while expanding the focus on the long-term impacts while anticipating problems and developing options and potential solutions to those problems. This will help introduce new ideas, products or services that capture value for the customer and in-turn translate into innovative strategies for the company. Don’t fall behind the competition!
Assess the risk – In order to effective evaluate opportunities, one must understand the business environment such as external forces that can affect your particular company and industry. Don’t neglect your stakeholders by identifying objectives that reflect the needs of the stakeholders. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis and provide recommendations on a course of action by running different scenarios using internal rate of return (IRR) or net present value (NPV). Share the results of the analysis and how it directly impacts the bottom line. The analysis can dictate the action you take as well as the actions you don’t take.
Lead meaningful change – It can be difficult to change or shift an individual or a group’s mental model or thought processes based on established beliefs or perspectives. We all have biases. The key is to develop a clear set of goals and expectations and share them with all stakeholders involved and show how they impact them directly. This should help alleviate questions, gain buy-in and develop ownership of the goals. If not communicated early and often, success will be more difficult to implement the proposed strategy.
Utilize key performance indicators – We have access to data more than ever before so don’t fall into the trap of measuring anything and everything. Be sure to validate the data sources and look at the information as a whole body of work to identify patterns and emerging trends that would point out possible pitfalls as well as identify gaps. Turn the data info usable information to focus on those true key indicators. This will prevent one from spending efforts on the wrong tasks; thus, improving performance which will lead to success.
Effectively implement solutions – One must have a plan in place in order to successfully implement strategies, but flexible enough to where one can adjust as necessary due to the changing business environment. However, more importantly than the plan are the people. Do you have the right people in the right positions in order to execute the plan? To effectively implement and execute any strategy or initiative will depend on the people to help carry it out. Everyone must be accountable as this is critical to the success of the strategy or initiative. One can have the best plan with all the necessary resources, but if you don’t have the right people it will likely miss the mark.
by Eric Magbaleta
