High-Fives for an Innotative HR Strategy

Recently I joined HR.com as Member. And thought I could share some insights that I picked up during my experience as a Reviewer, Interviewer, and Recommender of both candidates for high-profile jobs, as well as an Enterprise Architect for a Talent-Profiling System based on HR Analytics.

This brief highlights five key directions that can be a go-ahead for implementing an HR Strategy that is not works, but is at the same time Innovative by way of design and evolution.

1. Focus more on aligning the content to the context. As an example, in a recruiting scenario lay emphasis on perusing a candidate's resume in detail to identify the KPI for selection such as whether the resume portrays accomplishments vs. tasks, knowledge of the skills (even at expert-level) vs. know-how of applying the skills to best-fit on-job scenarios, on-task performance vs. end-users' satisfaction assurance (the latter two require proven skills in the business domain) etc.

This ensures that qualified resumes do not get "Sidelined-in-Seconds".

2. Profile Talent based on a multi-channel approach. For example, the selection of prospective candidates to client interviews can be based on a strategy such as "Competing on Competency" based on metrics such as 'Succeeding by exceeding expectations' (e.g., insight-driving analytic skills, baseline performance vs. proven peer-level performance, Voluntarily Opting to Participate in intra-company roundtables/Group Meetings etc.), 'Innovation through action to take initiatives in challenging situations' (e.g., Problem-Solution assessments in terms of probable risk and value assurance etc.), 'Attitude Across Latitudes' etc. in addition to expertise in the appropriate domain. This information can be obtained during verification of the candidate's ability and capability with the employer references.

3. "Change is what leads to evolution and innovation." Introduce "change" to empower dynamism in both employer and employees. It drives innovation through motivation leading to consistent improvement and productivity. One of the best-in-class appraches to do this by "Recognizing and Rewarding in a Repeatable Fashion", i.e., through every phase of the project lifecycle and not just when a project achieves "Success" upon completion. If for every signficant accomplishment (which is more than just doing the task), there is a commensurate reward-establishment, for employees and consultants equally, every mile gotten stretches itself into an "extra mile".

Another must-have to "change" is by way of shifting roles of employees, preferably according to the priority and progress of the on-going work. This leads to acceleration not only in terms of time saved, but also in terms of optimization by way of "adaptive learning. This paves the way for simplification through greater colloboration and communication.

4. Let IT Strategies Influence HR Strategies. The HR domain is a wide spectrum extending beyond Recruiting, into areas such as Human Capital Management, Training & Development, etc. The Process-driven methodologies adopted in IT can in many ways aid in streamlining the HR Business Processes too. To get to some specifics, the pragmatics of Business Continuity in response to changing needs, Risk Mitigation in terms of productivity lossessness, Employee Feedback Management in addition to Performance Management, the classic Divide-and-Conquer approach to team employees into multi-role job groups - to achieve an optimal "Competing on Competency" target; and a Brute-Force approach to Prioritization of On-the-job Assignments in a recycling fashion are some of the policies that can be imlemented as SOP for HR.

5. Differentiate between Who-is-Who & Who-is-Doing-What. And record any deviations from the standards. Do remember that in today's business-IT world, there is no such thing as "Best-of-All", for there is more than one all, and hence, the bottomline is a BEST-FIT is a WIN-WIN over the BEST. If this is made the top-line priority in planning & implementing an HR Policy, it is more likely that it results in an Innovative HR Strategy.

After all, RESULTS ARE THE ONLY THING THAT MATTER, AND MATTER THE MOST! The author of this brief welcomes any suggestions/feedback from any of the FOCUS members or from anyone interested in this topic.