Developing HR business partners

We recently designed an in-house program targeting the critical knowledge and skills needed to equip HR advisers to meet the challenges of partnering with the business during times of change. This program takes an accelerated learning approach whereby participants are faced with real-life challenges and are provided with the tools and techniques to resolve these.

The program is based on four two-day modules that cover the following areas:

• The role of HR — strategy, execution and how to achieve Business Partner status
• Internal consulting — models, tools and techniques
• Interpersonal effectiveness — the critical skills that underpin internal consulting and Business Partnering
• Understanding organisations — solutions that address individual, team and organisational issues.

In this program we have developed an integrated approach to building HR capability by optimising learning transfer via high-level sponsor involvement, learning groups, action-learning projects, 360-degree feedback and external coaching. Participants undertook these components in-between the various modules to build on their knowledge and experience over a four-month period. This enabled structured capability acquisition in an accelerated learning environment enhanced through internal mentoring via senior executive sponsorship, external expertise and peer-group learning.

Based on the amount of interest generated by this program we are considering a public offering in 2008 and would be keen to gauge your thoughts on whether such a program would be of benefit to any of your junior HR advisers (please contact team@talentsolutions.com.au). In addition, we are currently working on a concept to host abridged Business Partnering sessions in 2008 to provide junior HR advisers with some of the essential knowledge and skills to enhance their own capability. Our research suggests that the area of managing difficult discussions is a priority at this level — we would be interested in your thoughts on topical issues at this level. In the mean time stay tuned for more information on these free seminars.

Team dynamics and the issue of strategy and execution

Imagine joining an organisation that’s on the front page of the newspaper every second day (mostly for the wrong reasons), where staff turnover is increasing while technical capability and reputation is decreasing. Where would you start? This was exactly the question confronting the General Manager of this department over three months ago.

What became increasingly clear to us was the combination of several factors and the impact these all had on the current situation. This GM had inherited a team that was literally disintegrating. It was in the process of restructuring (this had taken 12 months), many staff were contractors and most were inexperienced in the technical field critical to their primary role. The culture was typified by a lack of trust, siloed thinking and reactivity, while the internal and external environment was highly ambiguous and uncertain. Staff were leaving on a regular basis and there was little clarity or agreement around what type of people should be hired as their replacements (in terms of experience, skill-set and job fit). To make matters worse, internal client needs were not well understood and the team lacked a clear and coherent strategy.

The GM had a clear sense of urgency to address this situation — this alone was the single most important factor in this assignment. An awareness of the key issues and a willingness to tackle them is the number one critical success factor to turning around a team in crisis. We then worked with the GM to establish the following solution components:

• executive coaching of the GM and her three direct reports
• a series of ‘strategy sessions’ to define the direction and implementation plan
• exit interviews to confirm reasons for high staff turnover
• psychometric assessment of all new candidates.

The executive coaching was essential for helping the GM and her direct reports understand their leadership and management actions as well as the impact these were having on staff, internal clients and each other. This coaching took on a key focus around current issues and provided strategies for immediately arresting the decline in team productivity and low morale. The coaching was intensive, with weekly sessions and clearly set development goals and action plans. It involved three of our coaches over the three month period working with one or two managers as well as cross referencing and planning amongst the coaches to ensure that individual coaching plans aligned with the overall team goals set by the GM.

It became apparent during the executive coaching phase that the GM’s assessment of the situation and initial approach to resolving the team dynamics and sub-par performance were rooted in a misdiagnosis. This is a common scenario as we often unconsciously look for what is ‘familiar’ in a situation, based on our experiences, and then apply the ‘solution’ that worked for us in the past. Of course, this works brilliantly when the experience is similar, unfortunately it rarely works as well when facing new or uncharted waters. Once she gained this insight, the GM made rapid progress in applying the best-fit solutions that enabled her team to make significant improvement. For example, she ‘moved on’ an underperforming manager who was contributing to the high turnover and established a more effective working relationship with a manager who was inexperienced yet highly motivated.

At the same time as we implemented the executive coaching strategy we embarked on a series of strategy sessions designed to provide the team with a clear direction and implementation plan. This also provided a forum to engage some key internal stakeholders as ‘allies to the cause’, not least of which was the GM’s immediate manager. These sessions quickly highlighted the critical issues and established a clear action plan for the GM to follow. It also raised critical people and team dynamic issues supplementing and reinforcing the GM’s emerging understanding. This work resulted in a reappraisal of the team direction and structure. It also provided the GM with a clearer sense of direction and the necessary key messages to create some stability and clarity within the team.

Finally, a combination of exit interviews and psychometric assessment gave the GM a ‘feedback loop’ that validated some initial perceptions as well as providing some data to improve team-fit and technical capability. Some initial leadership deficits were highlighted in the exit interviews and allowed the GM to make some staffing decisions that arrested turnover. The psychometric assessment ensured that she was not hiring ‘more of the same’ and therefore reinforcing the very individual and team issues that needed to be addressed. This component of the assignment is ongoing as the team is literally ‘rebuilt’ to align its capability and culture with the 2008 strategy.