HR's Own "Steeplechase": Challenging Terrain Ahead
Don't wait for the crack of a whip. The spring steeplechase season is in full swing, and, like the finely trained horses and jockeys that compete in such events, HR professionals are going to need strength, skill and endurance to handle the hurdles that lie ahead.
In a recent study conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in conjunction with HR.com, we discovered what issues are climbing in prominence for HR as well as what's driving that focus. The 355 firms responding to the March 2008 Taking The Pulse: Evolving HR Profession survey were clear about their priorities: in a word - talent. The top five growth issues in 2008 were all related to talent in one way or another. A majority of respondents chose retention (72%), engagement (70%), recruitment (64%), the development of high-potentials (64%) and succession planning (56%) as issues that were expected to grow in importance this year. Oh, there were other priorities noted too, such as managing healthcare costs, but when asked to explain what was influencing the HR agenda for 2008, the top response by far was the availability of workforce talent.
Other studies corroborate this finding, and it's not just a U.S. problem. For example, Watson Wyatt's 2007 Global Strategic Rewards study found that two-thirds or more of global respondents indicated they were challenged by their ability to attract and retain top performers and employees with critical skills ("Top Trends," 2008). And Accenture's research report The High-Performance Workforce Study 2007: India found that 93% of the 40 executives surveyed from top Indian firms considered "attracting and retaining key staff" important or very important, but just 62% said they were doing it well or very well (Malkani et al., 2007).
This multifaceted focus on talent calls for HR professionals to be at the top of their game. The acquisition of talent means knowing where to find it and how to entice it to come your way. The optimization of talent means knowing how to engage it, grow it, reward it and retain it. The deployment of talent means knowing how to assess it and assign it to drive organizational performance and value.
To handle such challenges, HR professionals must know what obstacles they need to surmount and whether or not the HR unit as a whole has the talent within to do so. With this in mind, i4cp also asked respondents to the Taking The Pulse survey about the hurdles HR faces in attempting to accomplish its goals and the competencies HR professionals need in order to keep up with the demands of the job. The highest hurdles are insufficient time, conflicting organizational priorities, a scarcity of workforce talent and a lack of financial resources.
These factors are certainly understandable, but when viewed along with the fact that far fewer respondents considered HR's own skills and competencies as obstructions to its accomplishments, they may mark a reluctance among HR professionals to acknowledge the criticality of their own shortcomings. So, HR would do well to examine its readiness for the challenges that lie ahead.
The first step is to determine where HR needs to improve its strengths. The i4cp survey found that HR professionals' developmental needs run both broad and deep. Five of the top six developmental needs are high-level skills: leadership, change management, innovative thinking, broad business operations acumen and consulting skills. Three other oft-cited developmental needs require strong analytical skills: metrics know-how, situation analysis/decision-making and data analysis/interpretation.
One way to develop such skills may be to partner midlevel HR talent with leaders of other business units. In Human Resource Executive Online, Margaret-Ann Cole (2008) of management consulting firm YSC noted that feedback and assessments by the line executives HR professionals support are critical to any program that is designed to develop future chief human resource officers. Cole shared approaches firms have taken to develop business partnering skills in HR professionals, including rewards for "helping their [business unit] leader make great business decisions through people" and customized workshops to build skills in analysis, measurement, influence and broad business know-how.
Undoubtedly, the career of an HR professional will test strength, endurance and character. HR must ensure that it's in shape to succeed in 2008. In the long run, success will be less about getting respect and more about earning it. The question CEOs will be asking about HR is, "Do we have the right person in the saddle?"
Documents referenced in this TrendWatcher include the following:
In a recent study conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in conjunction with HR.com, we discovered what issues are climbing in prominence for HR as well as what's driving that focus. The 355 firms responding to the March 2008 Taking The Pulse: Evolving HR Profession survey were clear about their priorities: in a word - talent. The top five growth issues in 2008 were all related to talent in one way or another. A majority of respondents chose retention (72%), engagement (70%), recruitment (64%), the development of high-potentials (64%) and succession planning (56%) as issues that were expected to grow in importance this year. Oh, there were other priorities noted too, such as managing healthcare costs, but when asked to explain what was influencing the HR agenda for 2008, the top response by far was the availability of workforce talent.
Other studies corroborate this finding, and it's not just a U.S. problem. For example, Watson Wyatt's 2007 Global Strategic Rewards study found that two-thirds or more of global respondents indicated they were challenged by their ability to attract and retain top performers and employees with critical skills ("Top Trends," 2008). And Accenture's research report The High-Performance Workforce Study 2007: India found that 93% of the 40 executives surveyed from top Indian firms considered "attracting and retaining key staff" important or very important, but just 62% said they were doing it well or very well (Malkani et al., 2007).
This multifaceted focus on talent calls for HR professionals to be at the top of their game. The acquisition of talent means knowing where to find it and how to entice it to come your way. The optimization of talent means knowing how to engage it, grow it, reward it and retain it. The deployment of talent means knowing how to assess it and assign it to drive organizational performance and value.
To handle such challenges, HR professionals must know what obstacles they need to surmount and whether or not the HR unit as a whole has the talent within to do so. With this in mind, i4cp also asked respondents to the Taking The Pulse survey about the hurdles HR faces in attempting to accomplish its goals and the competencies HR professionals need in order to keep up with the demands of the job. The highest hurdles are insufficient time, conflicting organizational priorities, a scarcity of workforce talent and a lack of financial resources.
These factors are certainly understandable, but when viewed along with the fact that far fewer respondents considered HR's own skills and competencies as obstructions to its accomplishments, they may mark a reluctance among HR professionals to acknowledge the criticality of their own shortcomings. So, HR would do well to examine its readiness for the challenges that lie ahead.
The first step is to determine where HR needs to improve its strengths. The i4cp survey found that HR professionals' developmental needs run both broad and deep. Five of the top six developmental needs are high-level skills: leadership, change management, innovative thinking, broad business operations acumen and consulting skills. Three other oft-cited developmental needs require strong analytical skills: metrics know-how, situation analysis/decision-making and data analysis/interpretation.
One way to develop such skills may be to partner midlevel HR talent with leaders of other business units. In Human Resource Executive Online, Margaret-Ann Cole (2008) of management consulting firm YSC noted that feedback and assessments by the line executives HR professionals support are critical to any program that is designed to develop future chief human resource officers. Cole shared approaches firms have taken to develop business partnering skills in HR professionals, including rewards for "helping their [business unit] leader make great business decisions through people" and customized workshops to build skills in analysis, measurement, influence and broad business know-how.
Undoubtedly, the career of an HR professional will test strength, endurance and character. HR must ensure that it's in shape to succeed in 2008. In the long run, success will be less about getting respect and more about earning it. The question CEOs will be asking about HR is, "Do we have the right person in the saddle?"
Documents referenced in this TrendWatcher include the following:
- Cole, M. (2008, January 1). Developing next-generation CHROs. Human Resource Executive Online. Retrieved from www.hreonline.com
- Institute for Corporate Productivity (2008, March). Evolving HR profession "taking the pulse" survey findings.
- Malkani, D., Pandey, J., & Bhagwati, A. B. (2007). The High-Performance Workforce Study 2007: India. Accenture.
- Top trends for 2008: Leadership, talent, & metrics will be key (2008, January). HRfocus, 8.