The luxury of an organisation’s success being down to one individual function is a thing of the past. Every function in every business – from customer delivery to HR- is being challenged to contribute towards delivering value, driving revenue and achieving organisational targets. For a while now, the HR function itself has been under the spotlight as it is challenged with adding value back into the organisation and reinventing the traditional people management structure, so that the larger business can grow strategically. We look at a few ways that HR is being forced to adapt to deliver value back into the organisation.
1. HR professionals and their role around the boardroom table
Senior HR professionals are becoming far more relevant within the boardroom. They have a huge responsibility to align HR programmes and objectives with organisational strategy. Businesses realise that it’s not just about doing a job. It’s about gaining employee engagement at all levels within the organisational culture; it’s about aligning all efforts and objectives with the business plan for growth and value delivery to customers. And as the HR function becomes more developed to handle an increasingly complex environment, stakeholders are and will continue to rely on HR professionals to manage the internal talent pool, increase productivity and build the employer brand, while being cost efficient and supporting the business with appropriate people strategies.
2. Embracing Tech, but staying Human
The key to a successful future of HR lies in the ability to balance HR technology with a commitment to doing good for society. But we take that a step further. In the same way that HR professionals are being forced to look at managing their own internal talent in a new way, the way that the HR function looks to sourcing new skill and talent stretches away from the traditional “recruit and employ” method, and instead are being forced to adapt to and develop new strategies that make room for independent workers, social recruiting and a more collaborative, engaging way to find new talent. And for their discovery to be successful, they are being forced to embrace professional marketplaces like Talmix to find the very best talent for their organisation.
3. The lattice structure vs the corporate ladder
As this article on Forbes.com says: “Sometimes reality stares you in the face and it’s still hard to believe. The collapse of the one-size-fits-all image of a corporate ladder is an example. But the corporate ladder is vanishing, and it’s getting more and more difficult to deny the changing world of work”. By definition, a lattice structure allows multiple work and career pathways – it allows all workers to participate, allows room for new growth without the need for the creation of a specific role or function. So, where once the people management strategy was created, determined and delivered through an HR function, a changing world of work is now causing the HR function to re-evaluate the role they play in the greater organisation, as they are forced to adapt and prepare for a new, much more collaborative, focus.
4. From individuals, to teams, to networks of teams
In their article, “Organizational Design: The rise of teams”, the authors look at the ways in which new shapes of organisations are starting to emerge. Where once the static hierarchical structure dominated the employment landscape, a new breed of lateral-thinking, cooperative network of people and teams emerge that can quickly adapt to changing business demands. And at the helm of this change in people mobilisation are HR teams who are either succeeding or failing to adapt to this new way of working themselves. Where traditionally HR practices took the individual as the starting point within the function, HR strategies are starting to adapt towards a team-based approach, and more importantly, the constant swell of modular team growth that is able to gear up and run according to functional and organisational requirements.
To find out more about how Talmix can help your HR function add value, get in touch with us today.
