Developing a strategy and setting HR in motion

Design and facilitate a process that brings together the development of the HR function in a single, coordinated effort, resulting in a clear strategic HR plan with broad support. This strategic HR plan should include the following elements: an HR vision, HR strategy, multi-year HR plan, HR governance and a service delivery model.

We deliberately brought strategy development and organisational development together. A guiding coalition of thirty HR professionals took joint ownership of both the process and its content. Beforehand, we spoke with the CEO, directors and other key stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of the strategic challenges, expectations and areas of tension. These insights formed the starting point for jointly developing the new direction for HR.

Over three two-day workshops, the guiding coalition worked through the entire process: from understanding the organisation’s challenges to making strategic choices and developing concrete plans. At the same time, participants explored what the new direction would require of HR itself, from roles, collaboration and service delivery to how HR positions itself within the organisation.

Between the workshops, smaller teams developed the key themes in greater detail. Through video summaries and visual materials, we kept the wider HR community involved in the process. Rather than developing a strategy that would then need to be ‘implemented’, we worked on the strategy itself, engagement and ownership simultaneously from the outset.

The result was more than a new strategic HR plan. The organisation gained a clear HR vision and strategy, a concrete multi-year plan and a new service delivery model. Equally important, the HR community had helped shape the new direction itself and had already begun working differently during the process.

This laid a strong foundation for the next step: an HR function that contributes to the organisation’s ambitions through a shared direction, greater coherence and a stronger ability to deliver.