Elevating People & Culture in 2021
We Are Unity’s Client Advisor, Jennifer Roche shares three key strategies to elevate People & Culture in 2021.
HR has always played a fundamental role within organisations – so much so that when it’s business as usual, their value can get lost in the background and go unseen. During times of change and disruption however, the People & Culture function within your business must play an active and critical role. That’s why, in a year as defined by change as 2020, we saw HR front and centre. And with continued uncertainty ahead for 2021, the critical importance of HR will only continue to grow.
It’s no surprise then that 2020 was also the year where companies started to pay attention to their greatest asset – their people. This in turn has revealed an opportunity for HR, with their unique perspective of the company through the lens of its people, to play an even greater role in organisational strategy and decision making.
To win the marketplace you must first win the workplace."
– Doug Conant, founder and CEO of ConantLeadership, former president and CEO of Campbell’s Soup
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
– Richard Branson, CEO and founder of Virgin Group
“Treat employees like they make a difference and they will.”
– Jim Goodnight, CEO and co-founder of SAS Institute
High performing HR teams play an essential role in driving your business strategy forward, but traditionally have been seen to be more focussed on the more tactical aspects of learning & development, remuneration, recruitment and disciplinary - rather than the tangible metrics and financials.
Now we have seen a shift, and HR is finally starting to get the attention they deserve. But how do we actively keep the momentum going? And how do we ensure that HR continues to be seen as true business partners versus the support function of a business?
To get that ball rolling, we’ve outlined three key ways to elevate HR perceptions and level of influence, shifting the view from transactional doers to true strategic partners.
1. Stake your reputation on it
We know traditionally, the perception of HR isn't always aligned with reality. In fact, in our Progressive People & Culture 2020 Report, only 52% of HR Leaders reported that their function had a strong professional reputation within their organisation.
The first key to shifting this perception is to understand it – building a broad awareness of how you are perceived within your business. A reputation study (gathered through a series of interviews or as an online survey) will allow you to assess perceived effectiveness of the function, whilst engaging a diverse range of stakeholders (both internal and external) ensures you have a holistic understanding of what people currently think of the department. This clarity then enables you to consciously implement changes and inform further work, enabling HR to manage and respond to their reputation positively.
At We Are Unity, we use the four quadrant framework to assess reputation, with questions or statements tailored to the organisation.
2. Delve into the data
Internal data is undoubtedly the primary asset of the HR department. But how is it being used to prioritise and align to business strategy?
HR needs to be able to quantify their decisions, and the best way to do that is to ground it in numbers and data. Data-driven decision-making is essential for any HR department, allowing them to add more value to the business and communicate and measure how they are doing so.
Interestingly, only 32% of HR Leaders we surveyed reported that they can directly relate the commercial impact of HR on business outcomes. This should not be the case. The World Economic Forum pointed to a 2019 paper indicating financial performance was no longer a reliable predictor of market value, leading many firms to begin including more intangible assets in their value calculations.
Our research indicates there is still an over-reliance on engagement survey data when making commercial culture decisions, with 49% of businesses stating that this data played a key role in culture focussed decision making. This trend is troubling, given that only 1 in 3 HR Leaders can demonstrate a link between engagement and business performance, and only 12% utilise predictive analytics to support decision making. In contrast, HR Leaders in progressive organisations still utilise measures of the employee experience, but also apply sophisticated analytics to ensure that any investment in the employee experience is likely to generate a tangible commercial outcome.
Late last year we worked with a popular entertainment organisation to quantify the connections between employee experience, editorial content and commercial revenue. Our research not only revealed a strong link between EX and business outcomes, it also uncovered a multi million dollar opportunity to realise additional value for the organisation through a focus on collaboration, sales incentives, leadership and workplace design.
3. Learn the language of analytical storytelling
It’s one thing to have access to all the data, it's another thing entirely to know how to interpret and communicate the story behind that data. We hear from many of our clients that they have a wealth of data but the challenge is connecting the dots and articulating that story in an impactful way. Strip away the HR jargon and speak the language of the business, becoming an analytical storyteller of sorts. Ask yourself:
How are you connecting people and performance data?
How does your data deliver actionable insights?
How can those insights translate into commercial outcomes?
How can you represent the insights as a compelling story to better communicate them with others?
By asking yourself what exactly the numbers are telling you, you’ll begin shaping a strong narrative that will position you well in the business to influence and drive change.
If you'd like to shift the mindset of others and help build your HR team's reputation as strategic enablers, please connect with our team to discuss whats possible.
