Strategic HR

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Strategic HR can help any organization to better achieve its business goals by devising a plan for managing human capital so that it is properly aligned with business goals and activities. An effective HR strategy sets the direction for all the key areas of HR, including hiring, performance appraisal, employee development, and compensation. It is a long-term plan that will help to guide your HR decision making in the future, ensuring that human resources policies and procedures help to support your organization’s business objectives.

However, many HR departments (or smaller companies without any dedicated HR personnel) find themselves so swamped with their day-to-day HR functions that they don’t have the time or the resources to devote to designing and implementing a strategic HR plan. That’s where TPG HR Services can help. Our staff of talented and experienced professionals can work with you to develop a strategic HR plan that works for your business and help to ensure that your company’s HR practices align with your business objectives. Our team can also help to ensure that your human resources policies and procedures stay “on-track” with this plan as your company continues to meet the challenges of the future.

Characteristics of Effective Strategic HR

There are a number of characteristics that define an effective HR strategy. According to the Academy to Innovate HR, the following characteristics will be present in any successful HR strategy:

It requires an analysis of the organization and the external environment.
It takes longer than one year to implement.
It shapes the character and direction of Human Resources Management activities.
It helps in the deployment and allocation of organizational resources (i.e. money, time, personnel).
It is revised on a yearly basis.
It incorporates the expert judgment of senior (HR) management.
It is number-driven.
It results in a specific behavior. [1]

photo of a businessman strategically moving chess pieces on a chessboard

The Importance of Following Best Practices when Developing an HR Strategy

When embarking on any important and large-scale business project – and designing and implementing an appropriate HR strategy is certainly that – it is critical to keep in mind the best practices in the field in question. At TPG HR Services our team of professionals has extensive knowledge of the latest HR best practices in all areas, including those pertaining to developing and implementing a human resources strategy that will help your business meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of an ever-shifting business landscape. The following list includes some of the best practices that we will keep in mind when helping you to develop the type of strategic HR that can help your business succeed today.

Involve all HR professionals in creating the HR strategy

Because your team will ultimately be communicating and implementing your HR strategy with the rest of your workforce, it’s critical that they are fully onboard with the message and the methods. By involving the entire team in the creation of an HR strategy, your staff will have a much easier time communicating your message and getting all employees to buy-in when it comes time for implementing it throughout the organization. When you work with TPG HR Services we will make every effort to involve your company’s HR or management staff in designing your HR strategy.

Establish an appropriate budget and timeline

Crafting the best HR strategy for your organization will take time and resources. It’s an investment that will yield great returns, but it does require an initial commitment of both time and money. When you partner with the team at TPG HR Services we will give you a timeline and budget for creating and implementing your HR strategy throughout your organization, as well as highlighting the positive returns on investment you may expect to see in the short and long term.

Stay committed to following the strategy

It makes sense that, once you create an HR strategy, you want to follow it in all of your initiatives and procedures. However, there can be many pressures to slip back into old habits or implement “one-off” events or programs that don’t fit into the scope or direction of your HR strategy. The professionals at TPG HR Services can be very helpful in making sure you stay on-track with your HR strategy, even helping to make the case to ownership or various stakeholders that following the plan will yield the best results in the long run.

Tie performance incentives to the execution of HR strategy

If your people are rewarded for meeting the goals of your HR strategy, they are much more likely to do so. If your compensation system rewards other values, particularly those at odds with your HR strategy, employees will respond to the incentives rather than the strategic plan. It is critical that employees’ financial incentives are aligned with your HR strategy. The team at TPG HR Services can help you carefully modify your compensation and incentive systems to support rather than work against your strategic HR plan.

Focus on the long-term but adapt to changing realities

An effective HR strategy is designed with long-term goals in mind, however it must be flexible enough to adapt to any major changes in business climate or competitive advantage. When you work with the experienced professionals at TPG HR Services to design and implement your HR strategy you can be confident that our plans will be flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions while still remaining focused on your long-term objectives.

The 4 Step Process to Developing a Strategic HR Plan

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the best method for developing a strategic HR plan involves a 4 step process. This process will answer questions about your organization such as: “Where are we now?,” “Where do we want to be?, ”How do we get there?,” and “How will we know if we are on track toward our intended destination?.” TPG HR Services can help you to devise the type of strategic HR plan that meets your organization’s specific needs. We will work closely with you to help you answer these questions and develop an effective strategic HR plan that aligns with your organization’s business objectives. Based upon our experience in the field and SHRM’s research-based best practices, the recommended steps to developing an effective HR strategy are as follows: [2]

photo of a strategic hr meeting with key decision makers looking at a presentation in conference room

Assess the Current Situation

This step requires HR professionals to truly understand the organization’s business objectives as well as its HR-specific needs. It also requires that the HR team is sometimes “brutally honest” about the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, including the HR component itself. Oftentimes, the best way to start this step is to conduct a SWOT analysis of the entire organization, analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing your company. The TPG HR Services team has extensive experience helping organizations work through this process.

Envision the Future

This step involves answering the question “where do we want to be?” as an organization in the future. SHRM recommends approaching this step by creating three individual statements for your organization: a vision statement, a mission statement, and a values statement. A vision statement paints a mental picture of the organization's preferred future that is inspirational, aspirational, compelling and concise. A mission statement is a concise explanation of the organization's purpose and reason for existence. A values statement describes what the organization believes in and serves to guide decision-making and assess results.

Develop Strategic HR Objectives

Setting specific strategic HR objectives is an essential component of any HR strategy. These objectives must be concrete, measurable, easily communicated, and linked to the organization’s overall business strategy. It is also critical that they are realistic and organization's strengths and weaknesses. TPG HR Services can help you identify specific, measurable objectives that we can then use to later evaluate the effectiveness of your implementation of your HR strategy.

Monitor and Evaluate

The final step in any HR strategy is to monitor and evaluate the results. The staff at TPG HR Services has experience developing a variety of tools and systems to accomplish this task. For your company this may involve annual or quarterly reviews or tools such as balanced scorecard or benchmarking systems. We can help you determine which of these options will work the best for your company’s unique situation.

Take Charge with Strategic HR

If you feel like your HR responsibilities are being treated as an afterthought – or your HR team is constantly reacting to situations instead of driving toward a well-conceived goal – a dose of HR strategy may be just what you need to finally get ahead of the curve. The experienced team at TPG HR Services can help you design and implement a strategic HR plan that can drive success at your organization. Take charge by calling us today at 732-917-6000.

Sources:

Academy to Innovate HR, https://www.digitalhrtech.com/human-resource-strategy/
Society for Human Resource Management, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/practicingstrategichumanresources.aspx

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