The new model of hr competence

Dr. Greg Chartier

Dr. Greg Chartier, SPHR, GPHR

The Office of Gregory J Chartier

Pace University

New York Medical College

PhD, MBA

[email protected]

www.Twitter.com/thehrguru

www.linkedin.com/in/gregchartier

11/9/2014HRinfo4u.com 2

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/thehrguru

http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregchartier

Typically, the issues with the Business Partner Model focus on the knowledge and ability of the HR person.

What we need to focus on is what the HR professional becomes through the use of their knowledge and ability.

This means that we need to have different competencies than before.

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It has become clear that a shift has occurred in what an HR professional wants and needs to know.

A decade ago we were a clamor over “getting a seat at the table.” Now, we are at the table and need to know what to do now that we’re there.

Being at the table poses new challenges in terms of language and logic.

Example: what does customer mean? Who is our customer? Is our customer the same as the customer of our agencies?


Being a BP requires different skills and knowledge.

In the past, we dealt with admin issues like policy setting and administration.

Today, the BP requires us to connect our work directly to the business and if we don’t already possess the appropriate skills, we need to acquire them.

If we do develop these skills, we will add significant value to financial and customer results.

When we are business partners, business success follows.


Some 20% of HR professionals will not be able to adopt the full BP model. Some will not want to make the shift for personal reasons. We need to find other roles for them.

Some may want to be business partners but do not know how to proceed. That’s why understanding the framework, the logic, the knowledge and the skills necessary for them to grow into a BP is essential for success of the model.


The Business Partner model identifies 6 “domains” or competencies that the successful person needs to possess; ways in which HR people need to act:◦ Credible Activist

◦ Culture & Change Stewart

◦ Talent Manager/Organization Designer

◦ Strategy Architect

◦ Operational Executor

◦ Business Ally


Talent

Manager/

Organizational

Designer

Culture and

Change

Steward

Strategy

Architect

Operational

ExecutorBusiness Ally

Credible

Activist


People Business

Bordered by people and business arrows, the competencies are arranged so that Credible Activist is the crux, the primary competency.

Moving up the people arrow, we identify HR fundamentals, the basis systems and processes related to people.

Moving up the business arrow, we must start with Business 101, being business literate, able to talk knowledgably about the business.

Connecting these two arrows is the role of Culture & Change Steward. When we turn business requirements into employee behaviors we create enduring cultures.


We play a unique role in the organization, at the intersection of people and business issues.

We serve the organization’s people, communicating with concern, care and compassion.

We also must be attuned to the business needs; client expectations and the strategies we use to serve them.

If we serve one side, but not the other, we will fail.


The BP is both credible (respected, admired, listened to) and active (offers a point of view, takes a position, challenges assumptions).

It’s “HR with an attitude!”

If we are credible but not an activist, we are admired but have little impact.

Activists who have no credibility have ideas that no one implements.


1st stop up the people chain.

Policies need to be drafted, adapted and implemented.

Employees need to have administrative needs met.

We use technology, shared services and outsourcing to execute flawlessly to ensure credibility.


Talent management focuses on competency requirements and how individual employees enter, move up, across or out of the organization.

Organizational design focuses on how we embed capabilities, like collaboration, into the structures, processes and policies that shape how the organization works.

Talent without structure cannot be sustained; a good structure will not deliver results without talented individuals with the right competencies.


The organization succeeds by setting goals and objectives and responding to external threats and opportunities.

We contribute to the success of the business by knowing the social context or setting in which we operate.

We also have a good understanding of the parts of the business (finance, operations, etc.), what they must accomplish and how they work together.


We have a part of the vision of what success looks like.

We also pay attention to trends and how they could impact the business, forecasting potential obstacles and facilitating the process of clarity.

We also help to link the internal organization with the external customer expectations. This link helps employees to understand how their behavior affects the customer.


As steward, we respect the past culture and help to shape the new culture.

We coach employees and managers on how their actions reflect and drive culture.

We include cultural norms in our policies and practices and processes.

We facilitate change by:◦ Help make cultural change happen

◦ Develop disciplines to make changes happen


Tony Blair, “a player, not a spectator.”

High performers are players, not spectators.

They don’t need to be asked to take a seat, they are already seated.

Three areas that make up the domain of the Credible Activist:◦ Defining the Credible Activist domain and factors

◦ Some insights and further questions

◦ Illustrations and examples


Credible activists are respected and proactive. Credible individuals who are not activists may be respected but have little impact. Activists who are not credible have good ideas but no one listens to them.


Less Credible More Credible

More Activist Risk of being seen as impetuous, arrogant or uninformed.

Opportunity to have an impact.

Less Activist Risk of being seen as a marginal or poor performer.

Risk of being seen as irrelevant, not having anything to say, resting on past laurels, or not knowing the business.

It’s no longer enough for us to be trusted and well-liked; we must stick our necks out once and awhile, take risks, push our colleagues to consider important business issues related to people.◦ Deliver results with integrity

◦ Share information

◦ Build relationships of trust

◦ Do HR with an attitude


Integrity:◦ It reflects an internal consistency in our actions

◦ Operating in a principled way

◦ Taking action that is consistent with company values

◦ How we approach a task speaks to our insight into the organization, its culture, your commitment to the business and your own professionalism

◦ Delivering results with integrity is more about whoyou are than what you do


Delivering the right results in the right way will mean something different for us at different points in our career. With that being said, there are some commonalities:◦ Focus on meeting pre-negotiated or pre-stated

commitments◦ Strive to be error free◦ Ask important questions that frame complex ideas in

useful ways◦ Achieve results without violating moral principles or

compromising values◦ Take responsibility for our actions and their

consequences


Communications is the two way transmission of information. Credible Activists are good communicators; we listen and we have something important to say.

Our influence is magnified by good communications because it supplements trust and risk taking.

When we are able to articulately and persuasively communicate ideas to others, we gain and maintain our credibility.


Relationship building is crucial to BP success. Because we deal with the human side of

business, we must have good interpersonal skills.

We also must be able to diagnose and help solve interpersonal problems.

We can summarize this skill by calling it “good chemistry.”◦ Core values are shared◦ Common interests are discovered and explored◦ We are empathetic and decompress tense issues.


If we are going to sit at the table, we need to play and participate, not just be an interested observer.

Having a strong, informed opinion and speaking up, when necessary, we are seen as a Strategy Architect.◦ Confront a manager’s inappropriate behavior◦ Provide recommendations that the leader does not want

to hear◦ Not afraid of conflict◦ Provide candid observations◦ Don’t wait for problems to find you◦ Take appropriate risks


They get the right things done the right way They seek and accept responsibility for their

actions They know the business and have a point of

view about how they can help the business people prosper

They do HR with an attitude The invest in relationships and relationship

skills They communicate frequently and powerfully They take appropriate risks


Of the 4 factors we reviewed, Delivering Results with Integrity and Doing HR with an Attitude are the 2 that will have the greatest impact in this domain.

In addition, understanding how to get things done the right way, having the nerve to express opinions and taking appropriate risks will have a sizeable impact on your perceived performance.


Delivering Results with Integrity◦ Create HR measures that track output of HR and the

means of generating that output

◦ Ensure that line management understands and accepts HR standards; include feedback from internal clients and make improvements when necessary

◦ Examine HR practices from the standpoint of unanticipated consequences. Do our practices encourage the wrong behavior?

◦ Focus on ethical behavior within the organization


Sharing Information◦ Have some of your written material critiqued by a

writing coach or English instructor from a local college

◦ Arrange to speak at an in-house training session. Ask for speaker evaluations and feedback

◦ When listening to other speakers, take notes about their content, the message and their techniques.


Building Relationships of Trust◦ Get feedback from your colleagues about your

interpersonal skills. Don’t be defensive. Translate feedback into action

◦ Avoid using the “I” word for an entire day

◦ Defuse an interpersonal problem between colleagues that is causing a productivity or performance problem

◦ Practice the Styles Method


Doing HR with an Attitude◦ Honestly evaluate your willingness to express

opinions and ideas in staff meetings. If you have a tendency to be quiet or hesitant, make a goal to remedy the situation

◦ Find something that is within your power to fix and fix it.


Get a notebook that can be a permanent record keeper and use it regularly

Books to read◦ South-Ernest Shackleton

◦ The Goal-Eliyahu Goldratt

◦ Leading Change-John Kotter

