Strategic planning and HR planning: linking the processes
To prove that HR adds real value, first we need to understand what is meant by ‘value’. There’s two ways to think about it: “monetary and nonmonetary”. That is, activities directly linked to building revenue – like staff retention – to those less closely related, but still valid. These could be supporting and enabling sales teams, for example, or supporting overall organisational business goals.
And offering this kind of support would likely be welcome: 76% of leaders need help building their organisation’s strategy – and involving HR could boost engagement by 38%. That’s an added value that’s hard to argue with.
HR and strategy: why they go hand in hand
HR departments should be closely involved in strategic planning – not just as a value-adding exercise to validate the department, but because it just makes sense:
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HR professionals are integral to employee engagement
It’s a fact: high-performing organisations are ones that focus on their people. And there’s no area of your organisation more people-first than Human Resources. For one, it’s in the name. So when it comes to driving employee engagement, it says to come from that team.
Driving employee engagement is a strategic goal. Engaged staff members take less sick days, they’re more productive and innovative, are better at customer service – all things closely linked to meeting your business outcomes. And HR professionals are instrumental in driving that.
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HR professionals know their organisations inside-out
It’s a superpower, but one that’s underrated. HR professionals know their organisations inside out – their work touches every department, work closely with the SMT, and are privy to the motivations of new starters and the dissatisfaction of leavers. They know the strategy, capabilities, and (most importantly) the people – and that practical and personal knowledge can’t be replicated by consultant teams or digital admin systems.
How to be more strategic in HR
It should be clear by now: we’re strong believers in strategic HR. Professionals in that field have the unique balance of knowledge and capabilities to support senior teams and managers to reach organisational goals. But how?
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Lean on data-led people analytics
Proving value is about delivering results. To be both convincing (to change perceptions) and effective (to know where and how to improve) that means relying on data. That means you can link your activities to the organisation’s KPIs. 78% of leaders rely on data to inform their strategy, so it’s a metric they’ll respond to.
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Use Qlearsite’s Strategic Listening Platform
Collecting, handling, and interpreting data is a complex task, though – and not all HR professionals will have a data-led background. So they need the right tools. That’s why we created our Strategic Listening Platform, and employee feedback solutions.
Whether you’re dealing with 50 employees or 50,000, listening to them and understanding their needs is never simple. You’re not a computer – so endlessly doing back-to-back 121s will not only burn you out, you’ll also lack an objective understanding of where to focus.
Our advanced tech can read thousands of your employee’s written comments, and understand them all in context. Not only can it identify the positive or negative sentiment in every sentence, it also pulls out the common themes that people are discussing – whether childcare struggles, slow computers, or non-responsive managers. That’s data you can use to inform your HR strategies, linking to overall organisational aims. And that’s what we call providing value.
