Operational Excellence: What does it look like for new age HR?
‘Operational Excellence’ has been a big debate topic over the years, and continues to be. With the birth and evolution of our function, many of our senior colleagues and respected professors have introduced models organizations can (and should!) consider for their HR support function to be seen as ‘strategic’.
As discussed in earlier blogs, being ‘strategic,’ by definition, requires one to be able to focus on short- and long-term results at the same time, while keeping an eye on the vision. This requires us to have some level of process excellence in-house. That’s a fact.
That said, I cannot count how many times I have been told by a senior HR executive or a colleague that ‘running operations’ was not my job and, “You should make sure to continue keeping an eye on strategic items,” which I was already doing. I find this extremely perplexing – can we really be ‘strategic’ without focusing on running our operations effectively first?
To have an attractive culture, we are required to think through the life cycle of our employees and offer them a joyful experience throughout their tenure with our organization.
To have an effective organization, we are required to have a scalable structure, clear roles and responsibilities, clear governance schemas, and well-defined processes.
To develop our managers, we need to be clear about our expectations, and their involvement and sponsorship required in leading certain people processes.
To go and work on the next ‘shiny’ thing – for example, a leadership development program – while we offer a less-than-ideal recruitment or orientation experience for a particular new hire, for me, is simply naive.
We tend to think of innovation as some new idea inside our organizations where, in reality, many of the ‘new’ ideas are just novelties. How many of you have you experienced the rollout of a new program/project? Were you expected to develop an implementation plan for your business groups, only to find that after a few months of initiation the project fell flat – there was no more flow up? That’s what happens when we focus on novelties instead of considering the next best thing that supports our business moving forward.
For me, having a particular support structure is not necessarily a resolution. Perhaps, the important things for us to focus on should be:
- understanding where the business is headed,
- considering the human implications of that mission,
- aligning our human resources and strategic plan accordingly.
We need to be super clear on why we are investing in certain things and not others, rather than introducing the next shiny thing to max out people’s bandwidth.
To have operational excellence in future-looking, high-impact HR organizations, I believe, requires us to:
- Focus on business – having business acumen necessary to understand and internalize what’s ahead; having technical knowledge to build a realistic support plan,
- Be nimble – having simple, stable people processes; having flexibility, adaptability and agility to respond to unforeseen dynamics,
- Leverage data and technology – having capability to access and monitor data; increasing self-reliance through the use of technology,
- Think beyond the immediate organization – having understanding of networks outside the immediate organization (ie. social media channels) to help build organizational brand.
If you have other thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, please do let us know. We would love to hear from you!
Which Leadership Behaviors Drive Positive Employee Outcomes?
Leaders are a key element of any workplace: they playRead more…
I just want to tell you that I’m very new to weblog and absolutely liked you’re blog. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your site . You actually come with tremendous well written articles. Thanks a bunch for revealing your web page.
12:43
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I really feel strongly about it and adore understanding much more on this subject. If achievable, as you gain experience, would you thoughts updating your weblog with much more details? It is extremely helpful for me.
coach factory online http://www.coachbagsfactoryoutletstore.com
18:50
Apple presently has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered from the inability to store locally in your iPod, and it has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then itll somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, nevertheless the 10 songs each month will still be a huge plus in Zune Pass favor.
montblanc meisterstuck fountain pen http://www.asosso.co.uk
18:51
I just could not depart your web site prior to suggesting that I actually enjoyed the standard information a person provide for your visitors? Is going to be back often in order to check up on new posts
http://partscatalog.sellload.com/
13:42
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays..
14:29
Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.
17:52
Thats sort of simple.
patagonia on sale http://patagonia.hawksportsind.com
00:10
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you really know what youre talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my website =). We could have a link exchange agreement between us!
discount patagonia http://www.discountpatagonia.cc
00:10
Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your site, how could i subscribe for a blog site? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear idea
05:35
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is great, let alone the content!
08:53
Awesome write-up. I am a normal visitor of your blog and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a long time.
09:40
I haven¡¦t checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
09:41
I was suggested this web site by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my difficulty. You are incredible! Thanks!
09:43
I’m writing to make you know what a notable encounter my child obtained using your web page. She discovered so many pieces, which include what it is like to have an incredible helping mindset to make other people easily know precisely certain grueling things. You actually surpassed readers’ desires. Thank you for displaying the invaluable, trusted, educational and unique guidance on this topic to Gloria.
09:53
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
09:59
Hiya, I am really glad I have found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish only about gossip and net stuff and this is really frustrating. A good blog with exciting content, this is what I need. Thank you for making this site, and I will be visiting again. Do you do newsletters by email?
11:30
Awesome post. I’m a regular visitor of your web site and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I will be a frequent visitor for a long time.
11:52
Hiya, I am really glad I’ve found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish only about gossip and web stuff and this is really annoying. A good web site with interesting content, this is what I need. Thanks for making this website, and I will be visiting again. Do you do newsletters by email?
14:35
Awesome write-up. I am a regular visitor of your website and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a long time.
14:48
Hiya, I’m really glad I have found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossip and web stuff and this is actually irritating. A good website with exciting content, that’s what I need. Thanks for making this web-site, and I will be visiting again. Do you do newsletters by email?
14:51
Awesome write-up. I am a normal visitor of your website and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I will be a frequent visitor for a long time.
19:03
Awesome post. I am a normal visitor of your web site and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the excellent site. I will be a regular visitor for a long time.
20:53
Hi there. I found your blog by means of Google even as looking for a comparable subject, your site came up. It appears good. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to visit then.
20:56
Good ¡V I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related information ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..
21:17
whoah this blog is excellent i really like studying your articles. Keep up the good paintings! You recognize, many persons are looking around for this information, you could aid them greatly.
21:17
magnificent post, very informative. I wonder why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t understand this. You must continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
21:17
Wow! Thank you! I always needed to write on my site something like that. Can I include a part of your post to my website?
21:17
Hello there. I discovered your web site by way of Google whilst looking for a comparable matter, your website came up. It looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to visit then.
00:04
Hello there. I discovered your web site by way of Google while searching for a similar subject, your site came up. It seems to be great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to come back then.
00:11
Awesome post. I’m a regular visitor of your site and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a really long time.
00:21
At the center of your soul you have all the answers; you know your divinity and you understand what you must do.
http://savetheoa.org
22:05