Acclaim
about the Book
“This book is a crucial blueprint of
what it takes to succeed. A must have for every HR professional.”—Lynda
Gratton, Professor, London Business School
What
are the Details of the Book?
If you want to acquire authentic
knowledge on Human Resources, read this book. If you want to acquire updated tools
and techniques on HR and leadership, read this book. If you want to grow as an
effective and everlasting leader, read this book. Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger,
Wayne Brockbank and Mike Ulrich’s authored book HR from the Outside In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human
Resources is divided into 11 chapters with Appendix A, B, C and Notes and
Index.
What
is Inside?
In this book, authors lay out six
(extensive) competencies for the future of human resources. They include such
domains as credible activist, capability builder, change champion and tech
proponent. The most important focus, the foundational objective of the book, is
the chapter about the strategic positioner: HR professionals who facilitate
business strategy through their objectives and practices. Although the authors
provide ways for getting at business strategy and applying it to HR, the most
useful and unique means for getting at strategy issues is found in the chapter
on building capabilities. There, the authors detail an approach that takes the
strategic emphasis seriously, and walks the reader through a six step process
for aligning HR practices as follows:
- Business: where will we do a strategic HR linkage?
- Environment: What are the business trends?
- Strategy: What are the strategic drivers for the business?
- HR investment: What are hr priorities?
- Action plans: Who will do what, when, where and how?
- Measures or metrics: How will we measure progress?
Chapter 1 offers the context for HR.
Authors define the history of HR work in waves and describe the next wave, what
they have termed “outside-in HR.” They propose that as HR professionals and
departments recognize and respond to external trends and subsequent paradoxes,
they will create value by connecting internal actions with outside
expectations. Chapter 2 traces the
evolution of the concept of competences for HR professionals based on authors’
25 years or research. The chapter shares the methodology that distinguishes
their research from any other approach to identifying the competencies that HR
professionals need to have to influence their perceived performance effectiveness
and the success of their businesses.
Chapter 3 through 8 offers specific
insights into the six domains of HR competency that currently define HR
professional effectiveness and help them drive business success. For each of
the six competency domains, they review their research findings, report case
studies of those who currently demonstrate these competencies, and offer tools
to assess and improve each competency.
Chapter 3 reports on being a strategic
positioner, the competency domain that describes how effective HR professionals
turn insight on external demands and expectations into innovative and aligned
HR practices that drive organizational capability development. Chapter 4
reviews the credible activist who builds trust with people through business
results and strong, supportive relationships. Chapter 5 discusses the role of the capability
builder, who defines, audits, and invests in the organization’s capacity to do
what it needs to do in its current environment. Chapter 6 covers the tools for
initiating and sustaining change as a change champion. Chapter 7 lays out ways that the effective HR
innovator and integrator converts HR initiatives into impactful, aligned, and
sustainable processes. Chapter 8 examines the competency of technology proponent,
a new insight focusing on how strong HR professionals use information and new
ways of compiling it to address both administrative and strategic requirements.
In Chapter 9, authors discuss ways to
become a more effective HR professional and to support the development HR
professionalism, based on work with hundreds of organizations and thousands of
HR professionals. Chapter 10 reports their findings on creating and managing an
effective HR department. These findings highlight where HR leaders should focus
their scarce resources and attention to make sure that their HR department
delivers business value. Finally, in
Chapter 11, they offer an overview of the implications of their findings for
the HR field both now and in future.
The authors outline 6 core
competencies that have been extrapolated from the research:
1. Strategic Positioner - HR
professionals must develop the skills to influence strategy formulation and
position the organization for ongoing success.
2. Capability Builder - HR
professionals must be able to identify and build organizational capabilities
3. Innovator & Integrator - HR
professionals should innovate and integrate systems that align talent,
leadership and organization practices to the goals of the firm
4. Technology Proponent - Advice on
how to use technology to connect talented employees and smooth out HR processes
5. Change Champion - The authors give
counsel on how to initiate and sustain change
6. Credible Activist - HR
professionals should continue to build personal credibility and a point of view
about the organizations for which they work.
Authors recommend four principles in
optimizing human capital through workforce planning and analytics: define
critical strategic roles; conduct a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat
(SWOT) assessment; buy, build, or both; and manage the change process. They
have found six investments that can help upgrade talent:
1. Buy: Recruiting, sourcing, securing
new talent into the organization
2. Build: Helping people grow through
training or life experiences
3. Borrow: Bringing knowledge into the organization
through external advisors or partners
4. Boost: Promoting the right people into
key jobs
5. Bounce: Removing poor performers from
their jobs-and from the organization if there are no jobs in which they will
perform well
6. Bind: Retaining top talent through
opportunity, reward, and nonfinancial recognition.
When you want to get somewhere, it’s
useful to map out your destination and the steps you need to take to get there.
Based on the goal of developing competency in the six domains authors have
identified, these are the steps to take in an effective plan:
- Own your career.
- Learn about yourself. What turns you on? What gets in your way?
- Define your brand. How do you want to be known in the organization?
- Assess your strengths and weaknesses.
- Create opportunities for growth – from the outside in.
- Conduct projects and experiments.
- Follow up to build and reinforce awareness.
The book outlines that the best HR
academies have the following qualities:
·
Participants
work on problems that the business sees as important, not HR projects.
·
Participants
work in teams. Team members keep one another engaged, and when they are brought
together across functional areas or business units, they see the bigger picture
or the organization.
·
Program
administrators encourage line management participation. Executive participation
provides a reinforcement of the importance of HR along with some perspective on
what executives are thinking about and how they read the environment, assess
the organsation, and define goals.
·
Program
administrators also encourage customer and investor or analyst participation.
There is power in asking key stakeholder to identify ways for the organization
to improve the strength and competence of its human capital.
The book explains aggregate feedback
which is a lens through which leaders identify team or organizational
competency strengths and weaknesses. This kind of feedback can become a source
of organizational knowledge and driver for team improvement in several ways:
·
Bring
the team together to identify “early win” opportunities for improvement.
·
Direct
individuals to identify actions that would benefit the overall team.
·
Bring
in a colleague from another area on a project or full-time basis to act as a
guide or team leader in making change; for a technology proponent, a young IT
high potential might provide useful perspective on how to improve HR technology
proficiency and application.
·
Use
after-action reviews to assess the effectiveness of the organization’s approach
to technology changes and developments in the past.
·
Consider
acquiring a young mentor from inside the organization to help you gain insight
into how to use technology to go beyond automating transactional HR work and to
connect to people and information in the news ways that have opened up.
·
Adopt
720-degree feedback. Useful as 360-degree feedback is, we now encourage HR
leaders to begin to look for feedback from the outside in. Many HR leaders are
engaging customers, suppliers, and partner organizations in indemnifying needs
for development and improvement in HR.
Strategic choices give businesses
unique sources of competitive differentiation. Traditionally, strategic,
differentiators may include operational efficiency, product leadership, and
customer intimacy. More recently, strategic choices define unique ways that
companies meet customer expectations. In recent years, competitive
differentiation choices have come to include:
·
Managing
risk: The ability to identify and manage
compliance, strategic, operational, and financial risks.
·
Global
positioning: The ability to enter emerging markets beyond the relatively
well-established BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) a group that
Goldman Sachs identifies as N 11, including Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Nigeria, Iran, Mexico, and Egypt.
·
Leveraging
information: The ability to use information as a way to anticipate customer
expectations and to do predictive analytics to figure out how to prioritize
leading indicators of business success.
·
Managing
a globally diverse workforce: The ability to attract employees from around the
world to enable global mobility in moving employees to the places where they
will be able to contribute most effectively.
·
Adapting
or changing: The ability to respond quickly to emerging business opportunities
and threats.
·
Building
corporate social responsibility: The ability to build a reputation as a “green
organization” that supports responsibility for the planet, employees and customers.
·
Collaborating
or partnering across boundaries: The ability to form alliances or partnerships
both across functions inside the organization and with customers, competitors,
and partners outside the organization.
·
Focusing
on simplifying: The ability to turn complexity into an elegant and
well-coordinated process that concentrates attention on the critical few
priorities.
According to David Court, marketers
need to develop competence in these areas:
·
Taking
greater initiative as a strategy activist
·
Developing
the skills to lead companywide change in response to changing customer buying
patterns
·
Assuming
accountability for the company’s external brand or profile as a whole; creating
collaborative organizational relationships that align the organization’s
overall message to different stakeholders (customers, investors, communities)
·
Building
marketing capabilities throughout the organization as whole
·
Identifying
the critical touch points for a customer and managing the complexity of a
consistent customer experience
·
Providing
insight and strategic recommendations based on evidence-based analysis.
The authors reveals that in the early
rounds of the study (1987, 1992, and 1997), participants came largely from
North America. Beginning in 2002, authors sought partners in other parts of the
world. The first of the regions to be involved were India, Europe, and Latin
America. Since 2002 the survey has become increasingly global. Authors have
been honored with involvement of outstanding colleagues from around the world.
Our 2012 research advances the global range of the study to include the leading
HR professional organizations in Australia (AHRI), China (51Job), India (NHRD),
Latin America (IAE), the Middle East (ASHRM), Northern Europe (HR Norge), South
Africa (IPM), and Turkey (SCP)
In 1982 Richard Boyatzis of McBer
Consulting published The Competent
Manager. This work had substantial impact on the popularity of the
competency approach because it was the most rigorous application of
competencies to measure, predict, and build effective managerial performance.
Boyatzis’s definition of competency has been generally accepted. His definition
is that “a competency is a characteristic of a person that results in
consistently effective performance in a job.”
Throughout their work, authors have
sought to raise the standards of the HR profession. By helping HR professionals
discover which competencies and activities add the greatest value to individual
effectiveness and business success, they hope to inspire the field to add
greater value-and they have provided specific suggestions for how this can be
achieved.
In the last round of HRCS, the
credible activist domain was central to developing a reputation is an HR high
performer. In that research, four factors contributed to the category:
1. Delivering
results with integrity:
HR professionals develop a track record by demonstrating the judgment required
to define the right priorities along with the skill to address priorities in
the right way.
2. Sharing
information: Sharing
information starts with the ability to communicate effectively in person and in
writing. It also required building a broad and deep network of relationships
across the organization and certainly beyond HR.
3. Building
trust: Building trust
focused on building strong relationships with line and HR colleagues.
4. HR
with attitude:
Activism was the new message of the 2007 research, and it indicated the
importance both credibility and activism or initiative in contributing to the
organization.
There are several ways to reduce the
risk of innovation, whether you are innovating in the course of self-awareness
development or innovating on behalf of the business:
Test
the value of the effort:
Ask whether this is what we want to spend precious time and effort on.
Be
specific and explicit about the goals:
Use “Smart” as an acronym for good goal setting: specific, measurable,
ambitious, realistic, time-bound.
Collect
the right data to get traction on the problem.
Consider
contingencies and anticipate areas of difficulty, challenge, and suspicion.
Then recruit help from the stakeholders who will be affected by implementation.
Ask
for help from business partners:
there is power in asking for help or feedback and in engaging line mangers with
whom you work by saying. “I am working on improving my business knowledge and
would like your help. Would you involve me in pertinent meetings or direct me
to colleagues who can help me understand the business and where and how HR can
be helpful on a more proactive basis?” This kind of request is rarely refused,
and it is double useful. Besides the specific information it evokes, it engages
line leaders with you and helps build your relationship with them.
Celebrate
small wins: Herb
Shepard in his “Rules of Thumb for Change Agents” wrote that change means many
small fires or small steps. It is much the same in managing your own personal
growth and development. These small steps – or as some call them, small wins –
should be reflected upon and celebrated. They are a source of learning and also
a source of strength and conviction.
There are a lot of statistics about
the failure of personal and organizational changes. At a personal level, 98
percent of New Year’s resolutions fail, 70 percent of Americans who pay off
credit card debt with a home equity loan end up with the same or higher debt in
two years, and despite the $ 40 billion a year Americans spend on diets, 19 out
of 20 lose nothing but their money. Marriage counseling saves fewer than one in
five couples on that brink of divorce. Only a quarter of those who have
experienced heart attacks make behavioral changes. Efforts to overcome personal
problems like eating disorders, depression, anxiety, or a sedentary lifestyle
also have low long-term success rates.
The research done by authors
identified three specific behaviors that HR professionals can demonstrate to
help sustain change: ensure the availability of resources needed to stick with
the change (money, information, technology, people), monitor and communicate
progress of change processes; and adapt learnings about change to new settings.
The basic criteria for performance
management are accountability (tie individual and team behavior to clear
goals), transparency (financial and nonfinancial rewards for contributions are
understood and made public), completeness (performance management practices
cover the full range of behaviors and goals required for overall business
success), and equity (reward levels should track with contribution levels).
Over the course of the last several
years, RBL Group research on leadership effectiveness has identified a seminal
shift in thinking about leadership and talent. Authors have made the case that
a more strategic approach for leadership development should focus less on the
social and technical skills if individual managers and more on leadership as an
organizational capability: the ability of an organization to develop successive
generations of leaders, at all levels, who reinforce external and internal
confidence in the future and who are “branded” by the distinctiveness of their
competence. For example, what are leaders at SONY or General Electric or Intel
known for?
In recent years social media and
supporting technologies such as wikis and blogs have emerged as the platform
for companies to engage with internal employees, customers, and partners.
Almost every company has a page in Facebook and LinkedIn. HR departments use
twitter messages to attract prospective talent. Companies use videos and blogs
on social media platforms to communicate about their work culture and present
new opportunities to the external world. For example, Intel has a video on
YouTube, and Deutsche Bank has developed a report called “Unofficial Guide to
Banking” that simplifies content to demystify banking and attract new recruits.
GE presents its new innovation projects on social media to project us
innovative culture.
Consider this case of leveraging
social media. When IBM was on the verge of bankruptcy in the early 1990s, CEO
Lou Gerstner championed a strategic shift from selling computer products to
delivering business technology solutions tailored to customer needs – and
brought the company back to health in the process. Since then the focus of
IBM’s business has been on knowledge. The company differentiates itself in the
marketplace through unique and innovative custom solutions offered to capture a
higher share of the customer wallet. Hence the knowledge and expertise of IBM
employees is a critical asset. As early as 1997, when most organizations
resisted the idea of employees accessing the Internet, IBM was encouraging
employees to go online, both to access new information sources and also to
collaborate with customers and partners.
Similar to the popular social
networking platforms, IBM Connections allows employees to share status updates,
collaborate on ideas, and share information. In addition, IBM employees manage
more than 17,000 individual blogs on various topics. These platforms
collectively become a terrific source of knowledge for IBM.
A thriving developmental environment
incorporates the following practices: performance standards are well developed
and well known; development is connected to performance; feedback supports team
development; HR supports professional development through a combination of
skill building and action learning practice that tests and challenges
individuals and teams to grow; the HR department participants in learning
partnerships; and HR has its own brand, based on outside-in insights. Here are
some signs of where HR is headed:
1. A larger role for HR
2. Greater integration with other
functions
3. Shift in administrative
responsibility.
4. Global innovation.
5. More impact of technology
6. A different organizational mix and
demographic (more women in senior roles; managing the diversity gap will be a
challenging journey; and greater appreciation for the business within HR and in
the business for HR)
7. Higher expectations and rewards.
8. Roles and structures will continue to
evolve.
The authors conclude the book with a
message that they are incredibly optimistic about the future of HR. By their
count, there are almost one million HR professionals around the world. A
growing number of graduate programs focus on HR, HR is an increasingly
attractive concentration in MBA programs, and we see Google, Zappo, Baidu, and
other organizations redefining and reinventing how HR is done in exciting ways.
And in our programs at RBL-with clients in more than 50 countries-and in our
work with HR executives at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan,
we are inclined to believe that the golden age of HR is still climbing toward
its zenith.
HR
Takeaways
- A successful self-improvement plan has five elements - recognition of the need for change; a specific goal, time frame, and plan of action for changing; support before, during, and after taking action; rigorous monitoring of progress; and help from a spotter or admired individual who reinforces and supports change motivation and commitment.
- Effective strategies focus attention on these sources of competitive uniqueness, as well as on any others that may be identified. Once strategic choices are made, plans can become more specific about actions, talent, and budgets. Through strategic choices, leaders invest time and money that make it possible to differentiate their company from competitors in the minds of targeted stakeholders.
- HR is not about an isolated activity (a training, communication, staffing, or compensation program) but about processes that generate sustainable and integrated solutions.
- Earning trust through results has three elements: set clear expectations; meet commitments; and display integrity. Earning trust through results means “doing the right thing in the right way at the right time with the right people.” But dig deeper, and integrity-ethics-becomes a critical dimension.
- Korn Ferry, the consulting firm, proposes that capabilities build strategic effectiveness and has boiled down 20 capabilities into seven categories: strategy execution; managing innovation and change; attracting, retaining, and motivating talent; leveraging a productive culture; managing profitability and delivering value; developing future leaders; and governance.
- A leadership brand has two key elements. The first of these is leadership competence in the fundamentals of being in change: what we called the “leadership code.” The second consists of the differentiators – the things that make a leader reflect and exemplify the character of a specific firm.
- Too often, we have seen HR professionals as the cobbler’s barefoot children, showing no signs of benefiting from the work practices they recommend and thus providing little incentive for other groups to try them.
- Many line managers have told authors. “I like my HR person, but I don’t like HR.”. This is a problem because the HR department has more potential for business impact than any individual HR professional.
What
is the Recommendation?
This book outlines the importance of
HR and how it adds value to organizations. It is a trendsetter in HR. HR
leaders are often treated as kingmakers, not kings. But this book elevates the
roles of HR leaders as real kings and queens.
The authors are experts in leadership and are authority on HR. It
contains case studies, examples and illustrations. It shares striking stories
that arouses interest to read until the end. The ideas and insights in this
book are well-punched. It hits the bull’s eye. This is a book with practical
application.
This is a well researched book
authored with many years of experience in HR. Hence, the readers can expect the
best out it. This is a highly inspiring book with HR nuggets. A must read for
all HR scholars, practitioners and professionals to hone their art and craft.
It is a bible on HR. Strongly recommended for reading!
“A must read for any HR executive.
This research-based competency model is particularly compelling because it is
informed by the perspective of non-HR executives and stakeholders.” —Sue
Meisinger, Distinguished speaker and author, former CEO of SHRM
References
HR from the Outside In: Six
Competencies for the Future of Human Resources by Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger, Wayne
Brockbank and Mike Ulrich (McGraw-Hill; 1 edition, July 17, 2012)
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