Advancing HR to the speed of the Business

Wagner Denuzzo, VP, Organizational Effectiveness, Prudential Financial

In the current business environment, it is imperative that we apply a multi-dimensional approach to emerging challenges and problems that are hindering the execution of our strategies. Ginni Rometty, former IBM CEO, used to say that during a transformation, “change and comfort do not coexist.” Our propensity to use binary thinking to form our opinions might be masking our inability to navigate a world that’s ambiguous and contextual. We are in a continuous process of reinvention of operating models, workforce architectures, digital ecosystems, organizational design, Ex and Cx intelligence, and the HR delivery models of the past are no longer at the speed and agility required by businesses.

This is our time and the critical role of Human Resources can’t be underestimated. The ambidextrous HR manager today must align skills and talent with value drivers of organizational capabilities of the business, while maintaining a delicate balance between employees’ personal needs and preferences, and the demands of senior business leaders. These leaders’ priorities include accelerating growth, activating high performance, and steering their businesses towards a sustainable path through the turbulent markets they are in. Leaders are grappling with high stakes decisions to address market competitiveness while discovering new opportunities to expand their portfolio of products and services. And to do that, they are seeking the leadership and advisory expertise of HR leaders who can help them attract, engage, and retain their best talent, and high value skills.

The future of work is here, and HR is well positioned to influence the organizational systems that impact productivity, employee engagement, the cost of doing business, and ultimately create a high-performance culture, providing exponential competitive advantage for the enterprise. To realize this aspiration, HR leadership must have the courage to let go some of the legacy operating models that have been the hallmarks of the profession. If we accept that external forces are shaping our realities and understand more deeply the internal pain points impacting our organizations by listening to employees and business leaders, then we might be able to contextualize our priorities and design a Dynamic Talent Strategy that’s more agile and responsive to business priorities. This kind of leadership in HR demands skills such as sense making, prioritization mindset, critical thinking, as well as a systems orientation to develop the workplace into a community where all members are mutually accountable for their collective well-being, performance, collaboration, and growth.

A Dynamic Talent Strategy starts with curiosity to learn about potential new ways of operating and delivering HR services. Depending on the maturity stage of your HR function, you might begin small experiments such as clustering capabilities and expertise to form a fungible talent pool of skilled HR consultants who will serve businesses based on prioritization of initiatives across the enterprise. This talent pool is not dedicated to verticals or lines of businesses as opposed to duplicating expertise and skills we often see in each unit. Another way to start applying a Dynamic Talent Strategy is to segment the population and create a 3-year horizon. The new workforce is Distributed, Dynamic, Diverse, Digital, and Discerning. And this new realization is forcing us in HR to accept that new hires will decide to stay or find a new opportunity within their first three years in the company. And our timeline must be defined by this knowledge.

"Depending On The Maturity Stage Of Your Hr Function, You Might Begin Small Experiments Such As Clustering Capabilities And Expertise To Form A Fungible Talent Pool Of Skilled Hr Consultants Who Will Serve Businesses Based On Prioritization Of Initiatives Across The Enterprise"

In this scenario, I would suggest HR and COE leaders to create a three-year Employee Experience Journey. On this Journey, we can apply a multi-dimensional lens to personalize their experiences within the first three years as a first step. The first year could be focused on delighting the employee through a unique on-boarding plan and enabling them to build connections across the networks of the workplace as a community; on the second year, the focus is on providing the development opportunities that will accelerate them into the next step of their career. At this stage, it is essential that we enable our people to understand their own skills against the demands of the business using a talent marketplace or simply identify the most important roles at all levels so people can make decisions for themselves in designing their career path. Learning, development, and growth are key drivers of engagement, and surveys can be used to measure their experiences within the first 24 months. On the third year, it is imperative that we offer our employees the opportunities to navigate the ecosystem with a positive motion towards new roles, new skills and/or new projects, and cross functional teams.

In addition to creating this 3-year journey, HR leaders might benefit from understanding individuals’ aspirations, ambitions, and potential through a well-designed and cocreated Manager Experience. Your managers are essential leaders of the organization whose needs and capabilities have shifted in the last three years. The focus of people leaders is in coaching their people to take ownership of their careers while supporting their efforts in delivering high performance. Managers will need to navigate personal preferences of their employees, the needs of the business, the mental health of their team, and build a culture of trust that can contribute to the collective experience of employees. For this to happen, we must understand our managers’ own needs and challenges. We are entering a new phase in HR leadership, and I am proposing that we let go of our well-defined programs, processes, and policies in service of a more fluid enablement of the workforce in the flow of work. Moving from 9-boxes to dialogue and connections with our people might give us a better signal in identifying our future leaders. Allowing for an open system of engagement where employees might raise their hands to pursue greater responsibilities, being curious about the hidden figures whose potential is ready to be discovered and diminishing the focus on hierarchical decision making and ways of working will enhance HR’s role as a partner of the business to achieve better overall outcomes.

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