Take the 2022 HR Challenge
Are your HR Leaders focused on the right "hot topics" for the new year?
Have you and/or your Human Resources (HR) function planned its 2022 people priorities? Do you know what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it?
I recently worked with an HR Leadership team of a leading pharmaceutical company. The HR team, consisting of seasoned professionals who are experts in their respective functional areas, had already established its 2022 core objectives in support of the organization’s strategic priorities.
The team was committed to determining a roadmap for achieving these objectives. Sure, they had programs and processes in place for hiring, employee development, compensation, diversity and inclusion and the like, though some were more established than others. But, first, they wanted to be sure they were focused on the right things - those things that would have a meaningful impact on the business.
The team worked together answer the following:
In what way does each program or process support the organization’s and function’s priorities
What outcomes were each intended to produce?
The Employee Proposition
The programs and processes currently in place had existed for some time. However, the team felt strongly that they didn’t want to enter the new year necessarily doing what they always had done, particularly given the state of the external talent market (e.g., the "Great Resignation"). After all, their employees, as well as potential candidates, had spent the past 18 months reflecting on what they wanted to do, where they wanted to work and how they wanted to work. Many are looking for new opportunities that enable them to address their passions, purpose and both personal and professional goals.
The HR Leadership team recognized that they needed to identify the organization’s employee proposition. That is, specifically, what does the organization offer current and future employees that would attract, engage and retain the talent the organization wants and needs in order to fulfill its business objectives?
Rather than start from scratch, they determined they wanted to first learn about the actions other successful organizations were taking to address these same issues.
I joined the HR Leadership Team to facilitate a discussion focused on people-related trends and related actions being taken by organizations in the market. We covered “hot topics” that were aligned with the 2022 core objectives of the HR function.
The HR Challenge
With their learnings from the “hot topic” discussion in mind, each HR leader was challenged to build a 2022 plan for their functional area that answered the following questions:
What is the current state of the functional area's programs and processes?
Given each of their intended outcomes, what is working and what could make them even more effective?
Given the above, what and how could the functional area contribute to the HR objectives?
The HR Leadership team plans to meet again to review their plans, determine linkages across functional areas that might increase their impact and provide feedback and support to their team members in designing and executing their 2022 plan.
While time consuming, you will find this approach is well worth the time. Take the time to understand what is happening inside your organization. Leverage the thinking that has already occurred outside your organization. Build HR action plans for 2022 that will not only differentiate yourself in the market but will most effectively achieve your 2022 core objectives. Make your organization a place where people want to come, stay, grow and contribute to the organization’s purpose and success.
Learn more in Gartner's 2022 Priorities for HR Leaders.
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If you or your team would like assistance planning your 2022 people priorities and/or are interested in discussing how 2022 trends can be applied to your organization, please contact me via my website or email.