This Network News articles considers some of the challenges of constructing an HR strategy, drawn out through recent work with IES HR Network members.
Constructing a HR strategy is not easy. IES has been helping a few members with theirs and have seen several issues cropping up. Here we outline these issues and offer some areas that you might like to reflect on with regards to your own HR strategy.
We might consider whether a HR strategy should be a functional or workforce strategy. Is it just about what HR does, or does it include wider people management, and the roles of managers and leaders?
Questions also arise around the extent to which the strategy should cover the range of functional activities (talent, reward, performance, resourcing etc) or, indeed, whether it should prioritise. If so, what criteria should we use for prioritisation?
The business strategy can also cause issues. How can we best get a handle on the business strategy if it is not clearly spelt out in one place or there is a vision but no detail on how to achieve it, especially relating to the workforce?
You might also like to consider the time frame over which a HR strategy should operate. Should the strategy be more of a short-term plan or genuinely a strategy over three to five years? Relatedly, what level of detail should the strategy operate at? There is a danger that the strategy attempts to encompass too much, but we want to avoid it being too granular. One approach is to focus on core or critical capabilities, their status, and upcoming risks to their effective deployment.
At IES, we have been acting as ‘critical friend’ to several organisations seeking to get alignment between their HR and business strategies, ensuring that they are taking into account the demographic, technology and labour market trends which will be facing them in the coming decade whilst assessing whether the skill-base of their HR teams is ‘fit for purpose’ in the light of these challenges. We have also been helping to achieve coherence between HR policy areas such as talent management, reward and performance management.
Of course, there is no single answer to these questions because context is important in answering them, and is at the heart of some of these issues, but here are some hints on what might comprise a good strategy and a simple picture of how to develop a fit with the business. You might ask yourself whether your strategy:
For further information on IES conducting an HR strategy review as part of your HR Network membership, please contact Emma Stewart-Rigby
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