We all keep hearing about the strategic role HR needs
to play, HR presence in the boardroom and the impact that HR can have on
business decisions. But how many of us have sat back and ever evaluated the
current functioning of our HR teams.
Is the HR team geared up to cater to the requirements
of the business..Is there some way of reviewing the efficiency and
effectiveness of the HR function in relation to what is expected out of
them..While there is no quick answer to these questions, it can be done in a
structured manner thereby providing a mirror to the HR team reflecting what
they do best and where they need to improve.
I will talk about an outside-in approach as displayed
in the image below:
- Step 1 would entail
understanding the expectations that your internal customer has and the
perceived effectiveness of the services provided. This would also help us
understand the process and performance expectations out of the HR team.
- The next step is a
cause and effect analysis of what is causing the perceptions gathered in relation to the findings in Step 1. Where is each member of the HR team
spending his / her time, what activities are they performing? Are they playing
an advisory role to the business or are their functions more administrative in
nature? Is HR playing a solution providing role and facilitating business
requirements? All these questions need to be answered in this step.
- The final step is the assessment of the skills and capabilities of the HR team against the roles / responsibilities / competencies defined for the HR function. This needs to be mapped against the results of step 2 which will give us an idea of where skills need to be redeployed, new skills brought in or existing skills to be improved.
An analysis of the steps above will showcase an assessment
of the service delivery model of the HR function, its structure and reporting
relationships, distribution of activities between corporate and regional HR and
where automation can be brought in the HR function.
However, this entire exercise should not be done in
isolation. The inputs of the key stakeholders need to be incorporated at each
step. Because while process improvement is an ongoing exercise, we should not
forget that the end result has to be adding value to the business.
