In the last of our series of blogs looking at the concept of business management in the people function we’ll be focusing on analytics. If you missed our previous blogs we looked at the overall principle, including finance. We’ve also looked at strategy & planning, projects, risk and supplier management. This blog won’t be looking at why you should generate insight and data. Let’s face it, there has already been enough written on the why. Instead we will focus on the how. By that we mean what are your options for generating analytics.
Author: Ian Williams
Focusing on supplier management
In our penultimate blog looking at business management in the people function we’ll be taking a look at supplier (or vendor) management. If you missed the previous blogs we talked about the overall principle, including a look at finance. We’ve also looked at strategy & planning, projects and risk management and thanks for all your comments to date! Choosing a supplier or negotiating a contract will not be covered here, instead we’ll focus on what needs to be in place after the contract has been signed.
Focusing on managing risk
This is the fourth in a series of blogs looking at the concept of business management in the people function and this week we’ll be looking at managing risk. We will look at managing risks within the function, not the wider people risks. If you missed the first couple of blogs we talked about the overall principle, including a look at finance. We’ve also focused on strategy and planning as well as project delivery.
Focusing on project delivery
This is the third in a series of blogs looking at the concept of business management in the people function and this week we’ll be looking at project delivery. If you missed the first two blogs we talked about the overall principle, including a look at finance. Last week we focused on strategy and planning.
Focusing on people strategy & planning
This is the second in a series of blogs looking at the concept of business management in the people function and this week we’ll be looking at strategy and planning. If you missed the first blog we talked about the overall principle, and had a look at finance within the people function.
A business savvy people function?
How often have we as a function talked about needing to be business savvy?
It’s certainly a conversation we’ve heard frequently as we’ve moved to the Ulrich model i.e., Business Partner, Centres of Excellence and Shared Services. The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) view is that as people professionals we should understand our organisations purpose, future direction, priorities and performance, as well as understanding external influences and trends. To reflect this the CIPD’s professional map has an entire area on business acumen. This covers topics such as financial literacy, business planning and supplier management.
At InFocus HR we would fully agree. As a profession, understanding what the organisation is trying to achieve and performance against goals and budgets is critical, as it supports our engagement with stakeholders. As a profession though the question we need to ask is whether we run our function in the way that we expect our organisational managers to operate theirs? A Gartner article from May 2020 referenced an emerging trend for HR Chief Operating Officer roles. They specifically call out a need to focus on the operation of the function itself i.e. being business savvy!
Delivering a people strategy using The GC Index
Do you have a people strategy/vision for your organisation? If the answer is no, then that’s perhaps the first step. They don’t have to be overly complicated, in fact the best ones tend to be simple statements. Above all they need to be easy to communicate and something for the organisation to rally around.
If you have your strategy the next question is how do you turn it into a reality i.e., what are you going to do and who is going to do it?
Engagement, Culture & High Performing Teams – webinar
Our Founder & Chief Strategist was pleased to join this webinar as a panel member. Providing insight into employee engagement, the importance of culture and importantly how to build high performing teams. Whether you are an HR practitioner or business manager working in an SMB business and wondering how you can support the areas of engagement, culture and high performance in the current climate then it would be worth a listen.
You can access a complimentary copy of the webinar via this link.
InFocus HR Consulting is a proud partner of the Rencai Group. They provide support to SMB businesses in the areas of employee engagement, leadership development and people strategy.
Business Savvy HR
In this recent blog for https://refind.co.uk/ our Director, Ian Williams talks to James Cumming (MD at re:find) about why its so important for HR/People teams to take a more business savvy approach to running their function
InFocus HR Consulting brings global experience of implementing business processes and a business savvy mindset to HR/People teams, contact us for a chat or more information.
HR Chief Operating Office (COO), nice to have or critical?
Our founder & Director Ian has held two HR Chief Operating Officer (HR COO) roles in the past. In this blog he gives his views on a recent Gartner research article on the ‘5 Imperatives of the HR Model of the Future’. The article focused on the whole people function. Its premise was that the core elements of the Ulrich model are still required i.e. Shared Services / Centres of Excellence. It also highlighted a revised BP role (which moves into a Strategic Talent Partner). However, the key call out was the need for an COO role within the people function.
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