Developing the NEXT !

“Employees are like an asset for any organization”, this is not just a term to call employees an asset but it is surely to be a universal reality. Human factor is the mandatory part for the success of any organization but many organizations realize this when it’s too late…

How would it feel when your top or middle management leaves the organization and you are looking for another compatible and potential person to get on-board for the smooth and flawless execution of business processes. This is what you can tackle by developing an effective succession planning system in your organization when “Developing the NEXT” will be essential part of your strategy.

Succession planning is absent in many organizations, either they lack the forethought to plan ahead or they are chaotic what leadership development really entails. Undoubtedly, Succession Plan is a vital part of doing business, no matter how certain your future appears. No matter how good organizations are at revenue forecasts or economic predictions, no one can truly plan for disaster. Whether it's an unexpected illness, switching to another firm, sudden death, a natural disaster, or a decision of a key member to suddenly retire, the reasons for having a succession plan in place before it is needed are endless.

The most important reason, off course, is that we rely on employees to carry out our strategy, provide services and reach our organization's goals. We need to think about what would happen to the business and mission if a key staff member leaves.

Succession planning is a systematic approach in identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in the company. It increases the availability of experienced and capable employees who are prepared to assume these roles as they become available.

• A strategic plan that is aligned with the learning needs of organization.  
• Linking succession plan to HR processes.
• A competent Human Resource Department that analyses the need of succession plan considering the past trends of attrition and market conditions.
• An effective talent acquisition team, which can make it successful by hiring right people in right place at right time.
• Training & development team that would develop and train successor according to the required KSAs for the specific roles.
• Assessment of prospective leaders and high potential employees.
• An incentive and reward plan to motivate the employees.
• Performance management system
• Career planning of individuals & retention

For small organizations, it is a luxury to implement a succession plan, and for mid-sized to large organizations need it anyway with a systematic approach, where they are able to develop the future leaders by socializing the vision, values and mission of the organization.

We can divide the Succession plan into following phases:

There are many challenges to an effective succession planning which includes:

• Lack of strategic alignment in the process
• Choosing successor illogically
• Lack of transparency in the process
• Inadequate training & development
• Lack of financial resources
• Lack of foresight & planning
• Poor retention strategies
• Poor communication in the organization that creates confusion among the employees

To conclude, creating a succession plan is a roadmap of success for any organization. It motivates employees and has an appropriate approach to manage the employees’ competencies and identifying the right successors. By implementing this, organization nurtures a culture of good communication and inter-departmental relations in the company. It saves cost and time to identify the compatible replacement and enhances the learning and development of employees. Planning for the future is good for the organizations and, if done correctly, can inspire your employees to stay involved and maintain company loyalty.

THE WAR FOR TALENT - TALENT MANAGEMENT

The global talent crunch which is triggered by the huge demographic shifts and the economic expansion has made organizations to rethink about the talent management - identify, recruit and retain the best. The term has not been so popular a decade ago but these days or even didn’t exist but today this is far more sophisticated. To win this war, organization needs well quipped & experienced army of commanders and generals who excel at the new competencies and transform human resource into a truly strategic function.

Today, business leaders and top executives understand that there are three significant components to a successful business:

• Have the right strategy
• Execution of operations should be aligned to that strategy
• Grabbing the best people to execute those operations.

Finding the best people are essential to an organization success, but keeping them is even more important. It needs time consumption and resource engagement for identifying the new talent than to retain the top talent you already have in your organization.

HR plays a Strategic role in the business success because it is not just limited to identify the best people. It is assuredly about identifying the best people at reasonable cost, with the minimum attrition and the getting the best performance. They guide the CEOs and the top management for the right decisions.

Talent Management integrates all aspects of human resource beginning from talent acquisition to compensation, employee development, employee satisfaction and employee relations. The competitive market, business expansion and the need of skilled workforce has alarmed the human resources to get the scarce resource, develop them to their full potential and make them stay in the organization. Compensation and incentive plans are now far more viable for the skilled workforce due to the proposition of switching towards higher compensation plans in other organization which are in quest of talent.

Following can be considered as the key components of making a better talent management system that involves all aspects of HR and integrate them into a holistic process.

• Improvement of sourcing channels.
•  Improve screening methods.
• Using professional and social networks and relationship building in the industry.
• Competitive compensation & reward plan.
• Technological advancements to streamline the system and minimize the errors.
• Implementation of an effective assessment/appraisal system.
• Employee engagement.
• Better career and succession plan.
• Clarity of goals and communication.
• An effective training department to ensure employee development to their full potential.
• A better work environment and management techniques.

The success of any organization depends upon the extent to which the human resource department is able to integrate talent management applications and move towards a holistic process. After adopting new talent management applications, majority of the organizations then realize the need for integration. These technological investments are made to streamline processes and improve efficiency & effectiveness. If the organizations have multiple systems of records and databases and the conflicting processes, they cannot enjoy the full power of technological advancements. 

Talent management is increasingly becoming an imperative part and business leaders have more strategic expectations of their HR leadership. In past years, CEOs and top executives had more focus on performance management rather than engaging their potential to deal the talent scarcity and retention, but now the focus has shifted to maintain the talent management system and focus the HR analytics.

CEOs are ready to offer the strategic seat to HR leaders now, and want them to align business strategies and the processes. Retaining the talent with competitive compensation is critical for an organization and the annual merit increase is a very significant financial decision for CEOs where they approve a spending that adds millions in the budget, so they need the evidence that would justify it. Do you think that HR Leaders can get a WIN in the WAR FOR TALENT MANAGEMENT for their organizations?

HRBP: THE NEXT BIG THING THAT ALWAYS WAS

In today’s competitive and cut-throat business landscape, organizations can be spectacularly unsuccessful due to the unskilled and inadequately trained work force despite being rich in cutting-edge technology and processes. A competent HR Department acts like a back bone of an organization, enabling it to achieve its strategic goals and all the while acting as a conduit that harnesses the human potential and channels its strengths to align with that of its other resources.

HR Business Partners (HRBP) is still a nascent concept for organizations in our region, although it is an evolutionary concept that is already being embraced by the developed world.  HR Business Partners (HRBPs) are tasked with being a part of multi-disciplinary project teams that pierce through the divisional and departmental barriers and keep both internal and external relationships working. They are knowledgeable, professionally well-equipped and possess ample business capabilities, HR capabilities and Consulting Capabilities that enables them to take the center stage to get things done for the entire organization.

The HRBPs are also being of help in coming up with innovative ways to identify the promising talent in the organization and devising strategies to train, promote and retain that talent to take the helm in the future. Although once labeled as such, the HR Department is no longer limited to handling employee grievances and ‘assembly line’ issues. The concept of HRBP is not just old wine in a new bottle because it is as real as other organizational disciplines that translate their work into quantifiable financial performance and measurable success.

Apart from recruitment, promotion and compensation, in wake of the recent economic recession, HRBPs have played an instrumental role in mergers, acquisitions and restructuring of large organizations – a role that was once typically reserved for financial pundits and something that was unimaginable a few years ago. The companies are increasingly expanding the role of these professionals by valuing their input in areas such organizational development and succession planning. The HRBPs understand the impediments at the ground-level and not only help resolving these issues, but also facilitate top management in formulating policies that result in more hands in glove with approach.

Some argue that to call HRBPs ‘business partners’ would be an understatement as they enjoy a strategic role in the organization and are best positioned to help top management chalk the future course of the organization. This paradigm shift has also helped wane the conflict that existed between the management and the unions as the issues represented by the unions are now better understood and facilitated by the HRBPs. The organizations that have comprehended this crucial factor have found their goldilocks zone as they are cashing in on the saved time and productivity due to averted strikes and long-winded negotiations.

The employees have taken solace in the fact that they are being heard and the management has also shown accommodating attitude, leading to healthier overall working environment.

As we can see, as the role of HRBP is interwoven into the corporate fabric, it marks the beginning of a new era where rather than serving as a distinct department, HR is being decentralized and now serving at the operational core. With HRBPs gathering employees under one umbrella and cultivating the culture of thinking, working and rising together, it is the organizations that stand to triumph from this. The concept of HRBP will continue to evolve and as it does, it will continue to bring the employees closer because for the first time, they begin to see the big picture for themselves.