IHRC Lunch & Learn – Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Evolving Competencies of HR Leaders

Ellie Filler, Senior Client Partner and Managing Partner Human Resources Practice at Korn/Ferry

Ellie Filler kicked off a lively and thought provoking interactive session by throwing out some observations, facts and comments to the 45 IHRC members in attendance. She stated HR is more important now than it's ever been, roles are changing fast, there is increased complexity and ambiguity.

She identified current trends, what's expected of HR today and findings of recent studies. She stated the perception of the HR function is not great and that things don’t seem to be getting much better.  She defined the specific talents CEOs are looking for to achieve a strong HR.

IHRC members then divided into four groups to answer the question - Do you as individuals in organizations today find you are using new and different skills to be successful? Participants responded that success today requires an understanding of the business including sales and marketing aspects; involvement in the due diligence process and strategic directions with mergers and acquisitions; and skills needed for managing change. Another group described this as being able to apply knowledge in different ways. Individual self-awareness, an increased need to inspire others and provide credible HR advice were also identified as key skills in today's environment.

The second question posed to the audience for discussion - What are topics that boards are asking of global HR vs. the topics being asked by the business managers? The groups summarized the difference as boards and CEOs are looking for a broader vision - strategic issues, reputational aspects, organizational development, target setting, effectiveness.  While business and line managers are more focused on immediate and operational needs - workforce planning, efficiency, competitiveness, compliance, ‘get it done.’ Ms. Filler stated the HR roles relative to the CEO and Line managers require the same skills but a different perspective.

Ellie was asked to share her thoughts on the skills the "perfect" HR leader would possess. While commenting different situations require different skills; possessing agilities – she stated that a strong sense of leadership and driving what the business needs are critical. The audience was also left with a question - What is HR in my organization, who am I and how do I fit?

IHRC Lunch & Learn – Thursday, July 14, 2011

Creating Talent Champions                         

with Christoffer Ellehuus, Managing Director Corporate Leadership Council

Christoffer Ellehuus told an audience of more than 40 IHRC members the simple question "What keeps you up at night?" defines what the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) does.  Their purpose is to enhance the performance of individuals and organizations by building the skills necessary to increase strategic business partnerships and develop the next generation of leaders.

Mr. Ellehuus presented CLC's recent analysis on how and what defines a strategic HR relation from a business leader perspective, based on a survey of more than 10,000 business leaders globally. The key areas of focus:

- What defines the business leaders who are most effective at managing talent?
- What should HR do to engage business leaders in talent management?

Mr. Ellehuus told the audience the talent management activities of business leaders drives talent outcomes. He explained that business leaders have one of 4 mind-sets about talent - Talent Champions, Strivers, The Half-Hearted and Talent Rejecters.  Only 19% of business leaders believe that human capital is critical to the organization’s success and effectively execute against the most important activities. Mr. Ellehuus  outlined the seven hallmarks of a Talent Champion in terms of their time investment, focus on strategic activities, and application of business skills and knowledge. Business leaders must be both committed and effective to maximize impact on talent outcomes.  Talent Champions excel at allocating resources and inspiring their teams.

Mr. Ellehuus explained that a successful partnership means both HRBPs and business leaders must use their respective skills to improve talent outcomes. He cited the three mandates for HR - build relevance, integrate HR and business process, and leverage soft and hard accountability. The organizational challenge is to build more flexibility in the HR structure to shift faster as needed. The key to improving business impact is the right infrastructure, the right HR capabilities and using the right tools at the right time. Mr. Ellehuus then described some examples of how client companies applied best practice toolkits to structure a talent management agenda.

In closing, Ruud Rikhof commented that Mr. Ellehuus presentation was a linking pin among the other sessions presented this year.  What HR can do together with business to achieve talent management.

Text by Mary Bronson/IHRC Support Team

Photos: James Macsay/IHRC Support Team

IHRC Lunch & Learn – Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Workforce Planning

with                            

Arnoud Middel, Head HR Switzerland, Syngenta Corp Protection AG

Ruud Rikhof, Managing Director, UBS AG

Arnoud Middel told the audience human capital and workforce planning are among the top ten challenges facing CEOs in 2011. Arnoud described workforce planning as an integrated and continuous process that provides the strategic context for bridging the gap between current resources and future needs. To help the group understand the context, he described the changes in the workforce from 50 years ago to today and the main forces driving the shift. While workforce planning is an important topic for many companies, it's not well implemented. It's a new science that needs to evolve from a quantitative process to address qualitative aspects as well. He pointed out the difference between operational and strategic workforce planning and discussed the core steps for a strategic approach. Arnoud described the elements that lead to successful workforce planning, telling the audience that tools and technology should not drive the approach but rather should be chosen according to what fits the business. Among the key HR success factors are stakeholder management; ownership and responsibility; process integration and skills within HR. To be successful, workforce planning must be a continuous process not just an annual event.

Ruud Rikhof continued the topic using the example of the current workforce planning project at UBS, describing it as a transformation in progress. Ruud told the audience the role of the HR business partner is to own and understand talent; drive significant organizational change; have the ability to talk business and find solutions with the consequence of accountability for outcome. This requires a good understanding of the current workforce in terms of quality, quantity and performance. Ruud showed examples and number calculations, explaining how the qualitative aspect of performance data and getting the model right opens the door to intelligent conversation about business planning. Ruud talked about the challenges and lessons learned at UBS. Typical HR education is not oriented toward strategic and developing the skill set of the HR business partner is key to the success of workforce planning. The HR business partner must be comfortable in the role, have solutions to offer and the confidence to drive change.

Text by Mary Bronson/IHRC Support Team

Photos: James Macsay/IHRC Support Team

IHRC Lunch&Learn – Friday, April 15, 2011

Hosted by Adecco Management & Consulting S.A.

Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011

Speaker:            
Jennifer Blanke, Director, Lead Economist, Head of Centre for Global
Competitiveness and Performance, World Economic Forum

Christian Vasino, Vice President of HR for Adecco, opened the session by introducing the 25 IHRC participants to Adecco, the world's leading provider of HR solutions. He told the audience that retention of employees at Adecco is key to the company's profitability and how they select their own people. Mr. Vasino described the desired characteristics for meeting the challenges of today's generation in human terms - cool head, warm heart and working hands.

Jennifer Blanke presented the Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011 in terms of assessing the competiveness of Europe and Switzerland. The World Economic Forum defines competitiveness as “The set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.” The level of productivity, in turn, sets the sustainable level of prosperity that can be earned by an economy.

Ms. Blanke explained the methodology used to create the report and how it's grown from 16 countries in 1979 to 139 countries today. She put into perspective the framework for how economic stages of development factor into the global competiveness index. She explained how the criteria are divided by factor-driven, efficiency-driven or innovation-driven economies and how this is weighted in the index.

Switzerland is ranked number 1 overall. Ms. Blanke presented charts showing how Switzerland compared with the other top ranked countries on each of the 12 criteria in the framework. She then went on to show Switzerland's performance relative to Europe on several of the efficiency driven pillars.

For further information and to download the Report: www.weforum.org/gcr

Lunch & Learn - Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Creating People Advantage 2010
How Companies Can Adapt Their HR Practices for Volatile Times

Speaker:     Dr. Rainer Strack, The Boston Consulting Group

Dr. Rainer Strack presented the findings from the second global survey conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) to some 40 participants from IHRC. The session was hosted at the offices of BCG in Zurich.

Financial crisis and recession has added a new level of volatility on top of the challenges already faced by companies. To be competitive in an environment of accelerating change, companies will need to "reboot" their HR function. The online survey conducted in 2010, which generated over 5,500 responses from more than 100 companies covering five continents and numerous industries, details HR practices that give companies a competitive advantage. Of the 21 HR topics covered, four stand out as the most critical -- managing talent; improving leadership development; employee engagement and strategic workforce planning. The survey shows that, of the five most frequent types of projects undertaken by companies, all of these four topics are poorly managed, that is, not effectively put into practice.

As the economically active population declines over the next few decades, most industries and countries will experience a widening talent gap, notably for highly skilled positions and for the next generation of middle and senior leaders.  Strategic workforce planning, the cornerstone of fact-based HR management, is still in its infancy and a typical weakness in many companies. Dr. Strack suggests a systematic approach to estimating the future supply and demand for human capital should be embedded in the yearly planning process. By using models along with numbers, companies can run analyses that allow them to better plan today for tomorrow. Talent management and recruiting is the most critical topic for executives; however, this area has gained only slight improvement since the 2008 survey. Companies are now trying to improve employee engagement to restore a sense of pride and trust that suffered over the past two years by balancing cutbacks with flexibility measures. While improving leadership development has risen in importance over past 2 years, corporate capabilities have declined. Companies need a "new deal" with middle management to strengthen the role they play in restoring employee engagement

Of seven HR capabilities assessed by HR and non-HR executives, the greatest difference in perception is transforming HR into a strategic partner. To introduce or enhance the role of HR as a strategic business partner will require strong consulting skills, business acumen and people management expertise.  Developmental initiatives and training are needed for both HR professionals and business managers to develop the skill sets and capabilities for a strategic partnership.

Text by Mary Bronson

Lunch and Learn, January 18, 2011

Organizational Performance and Health,

an evidence based approach to transforming your organization

Speaker Kevin Lane,  partner in the Zurich office of McKinsey, presented information based on a new book "Performance and Health". This manual for building a pro-change organization identifies the essential components of long-term organizational health. Mr. Lane shared the results of years of research into hundreds of transformational efforts with a group of 35 IHRC members that attended the session. He explained how a company's health, its ability to sustain performance over time, is just as important as performance based on share price in determining its ability to survive for the long run. Lane described the nine components used  to measure the vital signs of an organization's health. He then went on to detail five frames both in terms of health and performance that are a guide to undertaking a transformation program.

As survival depends on an organization's health, Carsten Sudhoff, IHRC chairperson, summed up the information presented as being usable and applicable. This was evidenced by the questions and interaction of the audience throughout.

"Performance and Health" written by Scott Keller, Head of McKinsey transformational change practice in the Americas and Colin Price, Global leader of McKinsey's organizational practice is due to be published in June 2011.

Mary Bronson - text
James Macsay - photos