It’s time to get involved in the strategy plan for 2008+

Christmas Carols are chiming through shopping centres, decorations, baubles and lights are glistening on trees and those tedious or much anticipated end of year party invitations are slowly coming through the emails tempting you to start slowing down and prepare for the festive season…but it is not yet time to pop the champagne corks or adourn the party hats in the HR Divisions says Craig McCallum of Mettle Consulting.

We have heard it time and time again, HR can not afford to work in isolation from the Executive Suite and simply respond to the strategy after it has been designed.  HR leaders needs to be involved in formulating the strategy and work along side the CEO and the Executive Management Team to align critical HR methodologies, culture, processes and systems to the business strategy at the time of its development or at the very least, at every review stage. Undertaking this task is tough however which explains why few companies do ‘strategy’ and ‘people alignment’ successfully.

Senior Executives need to recognise that strategy without talent or an aligned culture or human resource systems or organisation design or an appreciation of the human element is merely a thought on paper says McCallum.  CEO’s and Executive Management Teams must learn to appreciate the importance of including the human element of strategy and enforce the implementation of the HR strategies that are required to ‘humanly’ achieve the strategy.  This will not happen however without strong influence from HR Directors.  HR Leaders need to learn to communicate with the CEO and the executive management team in language that they will appreciate and are familiar with  - ie financial data, strategy implimcations, risks, bottom line and competitive advantage.

As Ann Sherry, CEO Carnival Australia (ex CEO Wesptac NZ) recently quoted in the AFR 'when first appointed to head HR at Westpac, she went to the executive committee to 'sell' the idea of introducing paid maternity leave, focusing on the issues of equity and how it was the right thing to do.  I got hammered.  She realised she had to come back with statistics on the number of women not returning from maternity leave and what that brain drain cost the company.  The next time she presented her argument, it went through smoothly.  They didn't blink an eye.  They all agreed.'  She also says 'that the HR profession needs to hold itself to higher standars and learn the language of finance.'

Lasting competitive advantage and effective human element execution will only eventuate once companies allow the involvement of HR in strategy formulation and align talent, culture and HR methodology to the strategy.  In return however HR needs to be prepared to facilitate this transition and play this crucial role.

Bottom line, without the people, there is no strategy.

The role HR needs to play in taking organisations into the future with generational, global and economic influences is critical and we all need to be aligned in our progressive moves towards the workplace of 2020, by starting today.