Can HR Strategy Help In Gaining Competitive Advantage
Investing in a well-defined HR strategy and effectively leveraging human capital is a key success factor for high performing organisations. Leaders in such organizations understand early on the importance and value in designing and articulating theirHR strategy and leveraging it to drive competitive advantage and success in the marketplace.
Enabling the HR strategy
First, it is important for organizations to focus on crafting their HR strategy right from the very early stages of growth, as against wait to reach a certain size regarding headcount volume or scale of operations. This enables organizations to invest in early practices that favour operational effectiveness and capability and work towards building adaptability and responsiveness within the system.
Further, investing early in an HR strategy creates a strong framework to support policies and processes that enable effective employee-related decisions. In the long run, these drive strong functional practices and sustain workforce planning systems for improved service delivery.
Here, we examine several areas where organizations can drive effective HR strategy design and implementations, and the outcomes they generate to ensure competitive advantage –
Increased hiring capabilities
Innovation aside, access to quality talent is a key enabling factor for organizations that drive superior product/ service capability experience. They are aware that gaining an edge in today’s talent landscape is all about driving connect and engagement through a carefully cultivated employer brand presence, and interacting across multiple touch points.
Social hiring and Gamified tools can help create access to a wide section of talent communities, and promote high quality and personalised interaction well ahead of the point of recruitment to drive sustained employer brand leadership. Further, these top–flight recruiting methods are helping companies to penetrate the talent base and gain significant insights into their skill and capability mix, to reinforce quality hiring strategies.
Performance Enablement
Performance management today is increasingly focused on driving performance enablement and ownership, as against being purely focused on review and assessment. Feedback and observations are managed through periodic employee initiated check-in sessions, moving away from the erstwhile systems of mid-year and annual performance review sessions.
By incorporating such performance feedback mechanisms organizations drive cohesive and result-focused work environments, alongside increased performance ownership at an individual/ team level. Further, these systems are helping employees to adapt better to performance expectations at the workplace and stay deeply invested in achieving productivity, success and fulfilment at work.
Sound reward and recognition systems
Today’s workforce is diverse and multi-generational. As millennial increasingly constitute the workforce, the definition of compensation/reward has extended beyond salaries and wages to include opportunities and ownership.
Responding to these trends, HR leadersare creating reward strategies that look beyond attractive market pay and investing efforts in building robust total rewards systems. They anchor their compensation and benefits structure along market competitiveness, equity as well as flexibility in administration. These ensure a sound reward structure that enhances the organization’s appeal to present and prospective employees and secure competitive positioning with respect to employer branding and talent retention.
Learning and Engagement
Across organizations, effective learning systems are vital to creating a highly skilled and engaged workforce. Equipping employees with the right knowledge and skills helps them deliver effectively in their roles and enable value added contribution.
Learning tools are designed accordingly, and being built to ensure on-demand, personalised and real-time delivery. Further many of these tools are crafted using design thinking principles to enable high-quality learning experience, application and delivery outcomes.
Secure reputation and positive market presence
Managing organizational reputation and stakeholder expectations is a huge priority for business leaders, and they heavily rely on legal, compliance and HR functions to ensure integrity, equity and fair play across all company practices.
Rigorous monitoring of compliance measures is an essential task for HR leaders – and stringent practices guard the organization from any legal threats and tangible/ intangible consequences such as litigation expense and loss of reputation. HR managers are tasked with ensuring consistency in employment practices to mitigate company risks and liabilities. These help organizations build a strong reputation that can be leveraged to drive interest and appeal within investors, prospective talent and collaborator communities.
Supportive practices and employee engagement
Many companies today are invested in employee friendly practices and flexible work arrangements at the workplace to enable employee productivity and engagement. Telecommuting, alternative work scheduling, compressed workweeks and reduced hours are some of the benefits being offered to ensure increased work-life balance and help retain a talented workforce. These practices drive increased employee loyalty and commitment, and ensure continued access to key talent in the organization.
At the end of the day, careful and well-planned execution is key to securing competitive advantage through a robust HR strategy. When executed well, it is possible to transform HR strategy into an organizational asset – that reinforces focused planning and implementation of people goals and serves to enhance productivity, profits and brand reputation in the long run.
Can HR Strategy Help In Gaining Competitive Advantage
Investing in a well-defined HR strategy and effectively leveraging human capital is a key success factor for high performing organisations. Leaders in such organizations understand early on the importance and value in designing and articulating theirHR strategy and leveraging it to drive competitive advantage and success in the marketplace.
Enabling the HR strategy
First, it is important for organizations to focus on crafting their HR strategy right from the very early stages of growth, as against wait to reach a certain size regarding headcount volume or scale of operations. This enables organizations to invest in early practices that favour operational effectiveness and capability and work towards building adaptability and responsiveness within the system.
Further, investing early in an HR strategy creates a strong framework to support policies and processes that enable effective employee-related decisions. In the long run, these drive strong functional practices and sustain workforce planning systems for improved service delivery.
Here, we examine several areas where organizations can drive effective HR strategy design and implementations, and the outcomes they generate to ensure competitive advantage –
Increased hiring capabilities
Innovation aside, access to quality talent is a key enabling factor for organizations that drive superior product/ service capability experience. They are aware that gaining an edge in today’s talent landscape is all about driving connect and engagement through a carefully cultivated employer brand presence, and interacting across multiple touch points.
Social hiring and Gamified tools can help create access to a wide section of talent communities, and promote high quality and personalised interaction well ahead of the point of recruitment to drive sustained employer brand leadership. Further, these top–flight recruiting methods are helping companies to penetrate the talent base and gain significant insights into their skill and capability mix, to reinforce quality hiring strategies.
Performance Enablement
Performance management today is increasingly focused on driving performance enablement and ownership, as against being purely focused on review and assessment. Feedback and observations are managed through periodic employee initiated check-in sessions, moving away from the erstwhile systems of mid-year and annual performance review sessions.
By incorporating such performance feedback mechanisms organizations drive cohesive and result-focused work environments, alongside increased performance ownership at an individual/ team level. Further, these systems are helping employees to adapt better to performance expectations at the workplace and stay deeply invested in achieving productivity, success and fulfilment at work.
Sound reward and recognition systems
Today’s workforce is diverse and multi-generational. As millennial increasingly constitute the workforce, the definition of compensation/reward has extended beyond salaries and wages to include opportunities and ownership.
Responding to these trends, HR leadersare creating reward strategies that look beyond attractive market pay and investing efforts in building robust total rewards systems. They anchor their compensation and benefits structure along market competitiveness, equity as well as flexibility in administration. These ensure a sound reward structure that enhances the organization’s appeal to present and prospective employees and secure competitive positioning with respect to employer branding and talent retention.
Learning and Engagement
Across organizations, effective learning systems are vital to creating a highly skilled and engaged workforce. Equipping employees with the right knowledge and skills helps them deliver effectively in their roles and enable value added contribution.
Learning tools are designed accordingly, and being built to ensure on-demand, personalised and real-time delivery. Further many of these tools are crafted using design thinking principles to enable high-quality learning experience, application and delivery outcomes.
Secure reputation and positive market presence
Managing organizational reputation and stakeholder expectations is a huge priority for business leaders, and they heavily rely on legal, compliance and HR functions to ensure integrity, equity and fair play across all company practices.
Rigorous monitoring of compliance measures is an essential task for HR leaders – and stringent practices guard the organization from any legal threats and tangible/ intangible consequences such as litigation expense and loss of reputation. HR managers are tasked with ensuring consistency in employment practices to mitigate company risks and liabilities. These help organizations build a strong reputation that can be leveraged to drive interest and appeal within investors, prospective talent and collaborator communities.
Supportive practices and employee engagement
Many companies today are invested in employee friendly practices and flexible work arrangements at the workplace to enable employee productivity and engagement. Telecommuting, alternative work scheduling, compressed workweeks and reduced hours are some of the benefits being offered to ensure increased work-life balance and help retain a talented workforce. These practices drive increased employee loyalty and commitment, and ensure continued access to key talent in the organization.
At the end of the day, careful and well-planned execution is key to securing competitive advantage through a robust HR strategy. When executed well, it is possible to transform HR strategy into an organizational asset – that reinforces focused planning and implementation of people goals and serves to enhance productivity, profits and brand reputation in the long run.
