We invite all HR leaders to stand up, take a bow, adjust your tiara, shake out your cape, and accept our applause and adulation. If no one has told you lately, we’re saying it here: you have been among the greatest unsung heroes over the last two years.
HR leaders have been tossed into the eye of a storm that had been swirling before the pandemic hit. While many companies were already going through fundamental, strategic transformations, COVID accelerated that pace. Wellness (physical and emotional) moved to the center of the discussion table, right next to work-from-home, return-to-work, the great resignation, and other revolutions – all HR-adjacent topics.
The prize for many in HR has been a central seat at the executive table.
The big question: How are you going to keep it?
The answer is to Seize the Moment. For the first time, or at least with new perspective, your organization is seeing the true value of a strong HR partnership. You can grab the momentum to accomplish what you’ve been working toward your whole career.
You can put your cape and tiara back on and do the hard work of realigning around new capabilities, new ways of working, and a new vision for what HR can be. You can not only change your company, but you can lead HR through the journey of changing themselves.
We’re having this same conversation with many of our clients, lots of them asking how they can prepare themselves for what’s beyond 2022.
Here’s our advice – or what we’re calling the HR Essentials of the Future.
- Change Management. Know what it means to lead teams through change – from creating a vision to communicating key messages. It’s an art and a science, and after the last couple of years, most companies now have a better understanding of why doing it right is important.
- Organizational Design. Everyone is dealing with it now, and that is a trend we think will continue. The more skilled you are, the easier you can move your company. While you’re at it, review your HR organization’s own operating model. Are you aligned to the real work you want to do?
- Workplace. It seems to us that task of clarifying the workplace of the future is like a hot potato being passed around a circle of HR, legal, operations, facilities and real estate execs. No one seems to want it for the long term! The time is NOW to build your expertise and stake your claim.
- Employer Value Proposition. The last two years have shown us many things about the fragility of the employer-employee relationship. Now may be the time to renegotiate the social contract between the two sides. How can all the diverse factions that make your company hum create an Employee Value Proposition that reflects your talent acquisition, engagement and retention objectives?
- Data. The technology that enables HR data analytics is getting more sophisticated every day. The better you understand how to gather and use this data, the closer you will be to stronger, smarter decision-making.
- DEI. It’s past time for putting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in a separate box on the org chart. Lead the way on integrating DEI into all things HR, starting with your hiring practices.
You may think that implementing these HR Essentials is a tall order – and you may be right! But there are a few steps you can take to prepare yourself, your team and your organization:
1. Gauge the readiness of your business stakeholders. Are they ready, willing and able to engage with HR in new ways? Run through some 1:1s, focus groups or even a survey to find out if they’re open for change.
2. Take an honest look at the capabilities, hopes and fears of your own team to ensure you have the right people in the right roles to do things in new ways.
3. Look at the talent and services that you can in-source, out-source or temporarily-source to meet your goals. You don’t have to put all this talent on your permanent payroll.
4. When you are ready to accept the challenge and make the shift, inspire your team to come with you.
For more information about how to make this happen for your team, please contact Notion.
