Aligning HR With Business Needs; A Practica Guide

 

Aligning HR with Business Needs: A Practical Guide

The Introduction

We seek your pardon to share with you about a journey which we took as an experienced HR consultant. Here. I was tasked with revitalising the HR system and aligning it with the unique business needs of an Oman-based company. Here change was a challenging process but thanks to the CEO of the Company. It wasn't as uneasy as we expected. In our case, we transformed the Company by making HR more strategic, business-oriented, and talent-focused.

In this blog, I'll share the insights and strategies we employed to align HR with the business successfully leading to driving exceptional results. We will also underline that why this alignment is crucial and practically how may we achieve it.

I. What does this 'Aligning HR with the Business' mean?

To begin, what is this aligning HR with the business? To us, the concept of aligning HR with the business means ensuring that HR plans and activities are designed in such a way that it fully supports the specific business needs of the company. In essence, HR is an active enabler of business success.

II. Why Do We Align HR with the Business?

We found that Aligning HR is the need of the Business? It was found that aligning HR with the business is not an option but a strategic need. For it breaks the deadlock leading to providing HR services for the advantages of the business. Some of these strategic needs are below.

a) Aligning HR Support the Business Objectives: 

One,  by aligning HR, we ensure that HR activities are in sync with the objectives of the business as it actively participates by promptly suggesting and facilitating strategies in alignment with business needs.

b) Talent Selection for Business Needs: 

Two, this HR alignment allows for the selection of talented employees whose skills and attributes directly correspond to the specific needs of each department within the business need.

c) Alignment Cultivate a Cooperative Work Culture:

Three, consistently supportive HR behaviour fosters a workaholic bent of mind added with collaborative work culture where employees are engaged and motivated, furthering business goals.

d) Leads to Higher Business Performance: 

Lastly, the culmination of these efforts results in higher business performance, as HR's strategic contributions become evident in the company's success

III.  Practically Doable HR Strategies for Alignment:

Naturally our next effort was to find out what are practically aligning HR activities needed for the business? We noted that there are some key HR's activities essential for business. Some of these are below.

Strategy 1: Tailoring Recruitment
We found that the recruitment process is a very important HR need for Companies. Rather than hiring based on generic job descriptions, an aligned HR department seeks candidates whose skills, knowledge and values align with the culture and business needs of the company.

Strategy 2: Employee Development
Employee Development was found to be the second important need. Say investing in employee development is another critical strategy. Aligned HR always recognizes the value of employee growth for the business and does the needful.

Strategy 3: Performance Metrics
Good companies always strive for performance metrics. They hardly reply on standard HR metrics and look for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that directly correlate with the company's strategic goals. It provides valuable data for intuitive assessment of HR roles for business objectives.

In the next sections, we'll delve deeper into the functions of HR for how we may execute the functions of HR aligned with the business. 

IV.  How We Aligned HR with the Business Needs?

Initially we were at a loss to know what to do for alignment of HR with the business needs. We wanted to be practical on this account and finally concluded in support of what we did while designing our the New Training System. More clearly, we broken down the HR alignment process into three distinct phases:

1. Pre-Aligned HR Phase

This is the initial phase. This stage will be devoted to the preparation and readiness for the job. We found that before initiating the job, we needed a few issues to be clear. These are jotted below.

a) Be Industry and Business Savvy as a Manager:

HR managers need to be well-versed in the business. Here, savviness means an understanding of the company's operations, goals, and challenges. When we will be clear about contingent factors, then we will be in a better slot to take informed decision-making and proactive support.

b) Effective Communication:

Effective communication is another key need. HR must convey its intent to align with the business. This also asks to engage with Heads or the HODs to understand their needs and expectations.

c) Homework for Initial Implementation: 

This we believe is the most important. We must be ready with the groundwork before starting the job.  For, this lead will make you mentally ready for the alignment process.

2. During-Aligned HR Phase

This is the second phase of our suggestion where you will start your  alignment process. This is the physical action part of your aligning operation. It will be as below.

1. Align your HR with the Business Needs: 

Your aligning job should begin by understanding the specific needs of the business. This will entails close interaction with HODs, learning about business requirements, and collaborating with the HR team to design a plan to meet these needs.

2. Align key HR functions to back business:

When you are aligning HR jobs as per business need, you should equally value revising the HR activities as well. We noted 4 such HR activities which need to be attended.

i) Company Structuring: HR may need to restructure the company to support specific business strategies, such as strengthening the sales team for increased market share.

ii) Employee Compensation: HR should align compensation strategies with the business by making strategic decisions related to employee salary in line with company business.

iii) Employee Development: Training and development programs is another must. All companies should value it.

iv) Performance Management: HR should evolve Performance management metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) both as per need of business. This should be use for measuring the success of the business iand rewarding the employees.

3. Post-Aligned HR Phase

This is the third and last stage of the HR aligning process to address the actions after the alignment process. Here, we compare HR with Business Strategy: After aligning HR with business goals, it's essential to evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts. 

So, this phase involves comparing HR's performance and its key indicators with the achievement of company goals. For instance, if the business goal is high profit, you can calculate your 'recruitment success rate' by comparing the number of sales personnel recruited to what the business requires

V.  Conclusion

INow, we are at the verge of concluding our blog. In the recent past, we have realised the value of aligning HR with the core business objectives. Here, our journey started with conducting a fact finding HR study and  moved through the process of realigning HR with the unique business needs of an Oman-based company leading to how it benefited in term of high production in due course of this journey.

By recognizing HR as a strategic partner rather than a mere service provider, businesses can unlock the full potential of their workforce. 

Author: Dr Gyanandra Singh