Strategic Planning in HR
By Nick at 15 January, 2007, 12:38 am
I was interviewing for a position of Human Resources Director for a nationwide retail company. During the interview, the job as it was described to me, made it feel as if this company was not a strategic partner with management. It appears that this human resources department was more of an administrative expert pushing papers and enforcing policy. It is not an unpopular view when it comes to the issue of HR having a “seat at the table” and focusing on HR being more involved in strategic planning. Someone asked me about this yesterday and I think they were surprised at my thoughts.
I am committed to my chosen field of work, and demonstrate that by continuously learning and being invovled in the HR community.
HR needs to be more involved in strategic planning of the business!
Some HR people are beginning to realize that they need to have value to add to their company. Other HR people think that the primary functions of HR are to create, implement, and administer the policies, procedures and programs that support the strategic plan and company objectives. The implementation and administering of the policies need to be the responsibility of the line manages, not HR. There are still HR people out there who may not substantially add value to the strategic plan, but are as effective as heck at supporting it. More training and mentoring needed in this area.
And if the strategic plan can’t be supported by HR, well, then there are operational issues!
I appreciate being involved in the strategic planning process. I like being able to make suggestions and I get a head start on planning how I am going to support the overall plan. However, with employees continuously being touted as the most important asset, it is critical that us HR folks have that coveted “seat at the table.”
It is making me crazy that the meetings I attend, and the books and magazines I read, are all about the importance of HR in strategic planning. Yet, in practice, it can be further from the truth. HR is a support function! However, HR people need to be treated as consultants to line managers in the organization. The line managers are the ones that have the day to day contact with the employees. If HR people could begin to realize that they need to help everyone in the organization be experts at the essential functions of their jobs, I think we would all be much more effective and a major contributor to the strategic plan.
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