From insight to action Every business strategy requires a people strategy

What does strategic HR involve in practice?

We now know how HR can free up time for strategic work, get involved in decisions at an earlier stage and better substantiate those decisions. These are not goals in themselves. They create the conditions for HR to play a greater role in the organisation’s decision-making.

Once HR becomes involved at an earlier stage, is given sufficient scope for strategic work and is better able to substantiate decisions, the next challenge arises: translating business objectives into concrete decisions regarding people, skills and capacity.

That is what strategic HR is ultimately about. Not just contributing ideas about the future, but helping to determine what workforce is needed to make that future a reality.

561%

56.1 per cent believe that HR is uniquely positioned to help lead organisational change from the top down.

Every strategic decision has an impact on people

Virtually every strategic decision has consequences for the workforce. New objectives change the demand for skills, shift roles and create new expectations regarding capacity and employability.

That is where the added value of strategic HR lies. By looking ahead to that impact, it becomes clear which competencies are needed, where risks arise and what actions are required today to be ready for tomorrow.

The question that strategy often overlooks

Organisations pay a great deal of attention to where they want to go. Less often do they consider what is needed to get there. Yet it is not only the strategy that determines an organisation’s success, but also its ability to implement that strategy:

  • Growth requires capacity.
  • Change requires new skills.
  • New activities require different expertise.

That is why strategic workforce planning is not simply an HR exercise run alongside the business strategy. It helps determine whether that strategy is actually feasible.

From business strategy to people strategy

That is precisely why we developed the Strategic Workforce Management Canvas. The canvas helps to translate business objectives into people, skills, capacity and actions. It brings together the key questions regarding the workforce, scenarios, risks and priorities in a single overview.

The canvas is not just another HR model. It is a shared framework for HR, business and finance that helps answer the same question: what do we need to realise our strategy?

Use the canvas as a starting point

Choose one strategic priority that’s on the agenda today and use the Strategic Workforce Management Canvas as a starting point for a discussion with the business and finance teams.

Work together to identify:

  • which objective you want to achieve;
  • which people and skills are needed to achieve this;
  • where risks or shortages are already apparent today.

Of course, this does not mean you have immediately drawn up a comprehensive people strategy. But you do have a clear understanding of the impact that business objectives have on people, skills and capacity. In doing so, you lay the foundations for further strategic decisions.

“Strategic HR isn’t about getting a seat at the table. Strategic HR is about helping the organisation determine which people, skills and capacity are needed to realise its ambitions.”

— Katleen Jacobs, Consultant at SD Worx