Why HR Still Isn't a Strategic Partner

by J. Craig Mundy  |   9:22 AM July 5, 2012

For two decades we have been hearing that HR must become a strategic partner to the business. And the fact that we're still hearing it suggests that in many organizations it hasn't happened.
The need to align HR with the business has become more urgent than ever. Financial markets exert relentless pressure for growth, especially in emerging markets. Customers demand more and better service at lower cost. And cost-efficiency, resource conservation and regulatory compliance have become issues for almost every organization. Turnover among top talent is expected to increase in 2012; globalization is requiring stronger regional HR capabilities; and demographic shifts across the world are dramatically affecting availability of qualified people.

Yet, all too often, business leaders still wonder aloud why their organizations even have HR departments. For their part, many HR leaders are willing to partner with the business, but given the unique situation of each individual company, they have little in the way of concrete guidance about how to fulfill that role.

Let me suggest a way to start. Of every action you take as an HR leader, ask this simple question: does it cause friction in the business or does it create flow? Friction is anything that makes it more difficult for people in critical roles to win with the customer. Flow, on the other hand, is doing everything possible to remove barriers and promote better performance. The question applies to virtually any company in any business and it will take you farther down the road faster than the hazy, abstract injunction to become a strategic partner. Even in what appear to be routine HR responsibilities, you can inject the business perspective simply by asking whether what you are doing is going to enhance the flow of the business or impede it with friction.
Why is it so difficult to inject that business perspective? Because as HR leaders we feel ourselves to be near the pinnacle of the organization. The organization reports to us. It must meet our demands for information, documents, numbers.

In fact, that's backwards. We are far removed from the points and people that make a difference with customers and a difference to the business. Our perspective should be that of seeing to it that the people at those points can perform as smoothly, productively, and frictionlessly as possible.
Think, for example, of your talent strategy. Do you simply manage talent, or do you provide talent solutions that reduce friction and enhance the flow of the business? Often we pride ourselves on trying to recruit the best talent we can find and consistently and fairly spending our resources and focusing our attention equally on everyone. But does that really enhance the flow of the business?

To truly be partners to the business we must identify those critical points of the business where the strategy succeeds or fails, and provide relevant talent solutions. In other words, we must think in terms of what Brian E. Becker, Mark A. Huselid, and Richard W. Beatty call "the differentiated workforce," in their book of the same name. That means managing talent as a portfolio of investments, some of which will pay a much higher return than others. Instead of spending an equal amount of time, attention and resources on everyone equally, you make disproportionate investments in the most critical roles and critical people — not just in terms of compensation, but in terms of development, opportunities, retention, engagement, and human capital planning. All jobs in a business unit are important, but not all are strategic and have maximum impact on the economic value of the business.

Many business units spend time each year identifying talent and competency needs, but few get real about it by developing plans around winning in their critical talent spaces. Let's say you have, in your opinion, spent the appropriate amount of time identifying your strategic talent needs — the difference-making roles. Then ask yourself how much time you and your HR team and line leaders spend focusing on solutions for acquiring, developing, engaging and retaining the talent to fill those needs? Or do you have the "equality" mentality — devoting the same amount of attention to everyone? It's shocking how many HR leaders say that their business has a strategic priority such as accelerating growth in emerging markets, but they and their teams spend little time in emerging markets. Does your investment of time and resources match your business strategy? If not, you are creating friction in the business that diminishes strategic impact.

 

J. Craig Mundy

J. Craig Mundy is vice president of human resources and communications for the Climate Solutions sector of Ingersoll Rand. In this position, he leads the human capital and engagement strategies for the Thermo King and Trane brands, and has implemented a global talent solutions approach for the sector’s business operations around the world.

 http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/why_hr_still_isnt_a_strategic_partner.html

What Millennials Want Most: A Career That Actually Matters

Leadership

7/03/2012 @ 3:21PM |8,932 views

This article is by Barry Salzberg, the global chief executive officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.
 
The Occupy Wall Street movement may have faded in the past few months, but its core beliefs have stuck with tomorrow’s talent.
It’s tempting to think that these grass-roots sentiments will run their course, but my interactions with young professionals around the globe, as well as our own research, tell me there is something larger at work, and that business leaders need to pay attention.

Occupy’s core issue, damaged trust in business, remains strong with millennials—strong in interviews, strong on college message boards, and strong on social networking sites. This fundamentally different recession has created a potentially fundamentally different generation.

As digital natives and emissaries from the future, the millennials hold the keys to unlocking the secrets of tomorrow. Researchers predict that this year there will come to be more mobile devices than humans on the planet. We need this digital generation to join us in unleashing the potential of all that mobility and access to information. And they will, but only if they believe our organizations can offer them careers that, well, actually matter. Given that Deloitte’s member firms will recruit 250,000 people around the world over the next five years, this obviously resonates with me. And I believe it matters to any leader thinking about the future.

The good news is that business as a whole has a good record to point to, an all-true story about the many things we do to make the world a better place. Jobs and homes. Opportunity and security. Breakthrough new ideas like the iPad. The works.

Never mind the still sluggish job market. In their insistence on social principle, many millennials are not driven by money or success in quite the way their parents were. This generation wants to know what your organization stands for in improving society, what it stands for in action, as opposed to blowing smoke. Millennials want to know how they will make a positive difference in the world if they join your business, not by wearing a colorful T-shirt on a special project once a year but in their actual work.

Did I mention that this media-savvy generation is also jaded and suspicious? Unimpressed by title, well-traveled, and immune to P.R. in the old sense?  To anyone who imagines their heartstrings can be nimbly plucked, good luck.

In August 2011, for example, students at top American schools—Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Stanford—were complaining about their peers going into finance and consulting, professions in which 25% of Yale grads launch their careers. They called such choices a “brain drain,” or “a tragedy of wasted minds,” as one Dartmouth undergrad put it. Deloitte signed up some 49,000 minds last year, so naturally this got my attention.

We did some original research and discovered that these attitudes, conflicted as they can be, also reflect remarkable optimism and resilience, including an admirable willingness to tackle, head-on, society’s biggest issues. A slacker generation this is not.

My organization examined the opinions of 1,000 millennials at Deloitte member firms regarding the impact of business on society. We found that more than half of them believe that in the future business will have a greater impact than anyone else in solving society’s biggest challenges. And 86% of them believe business will have at least as much potential as government to meet society’s challenges. Clearly, taken as a whole, millennials do not see business as a waste.

Yes, employment remains a challenge, in the U.S. and especially in parts of Europe suffering from double-digit unemployment, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. True, more needs to be done to align education and training with today’s jobs, and my organization, among many, is striving to do just that. But to be realistic, it will take the bulldozer of business, going at full throttle, to get us out of the ditch. To do that effectively, business needs to move past the denial stage and get everyone on board, including the new generation of workers, with all their energy, curiosity, new skills, and passion.

Indeed, if you heed the details of this research, tomorrow’s leaders are telling us that they believe they can actually change the world, fiscally and socially—operating within the system. They want to play a part personally, not just in pro bono work but through the work they do every day.

In an effort to do just that, our member firms’ professionals are fully engaged. For example, in Korea they are creating new efficiencies in the nation’s IT infrastructure and thereby helping a developing country use inexpensive technology to create micro-businesses. In South Sudan, after a long civil war, we are helping create social structures from taxation to governance that support peace and stability.

Another part of the picture is the large number of women now in the global workforce: fully half, driven by better education and aided by the steady wind of social forces. Businesses are hungry for this talent.

In turn, greater economic equality between men and women has been shown to reduce poverty rates, boost GDP, and lead to better governance. That kind of social change, driven as much by business as by government or nongovernmental organizations, is bringing major benefits to the next wave of emerging economies in the Middle East, Africa, India, and elsewhere.

In short, we need to do more to connect the dots for millennials, showing them the deeper global dynamics of the business enterprise. Damaged trust in business is one side effect of the events of recent years. Like all our stakeholders, our digital natives need to know that they can trust us with their future, and that, like them, we’re ready to keep changing the world.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/07/03/what-millennials-want-most-a-career-that-actually-matters/

ISA team visits Wonokoyo Head Office in Surabaya

ENTERPRENEURSHIP : Wonokoyo is the third biggest poultry company in Indonesia

21-Feb-2012

During Benoît Pelé’s visit to our Indonesian GP operation, last week, we took the opportunity to see our long time ISA Brown customer in Surabaya, PT Wonokoyo Corporindo. Wonokoyo is headquartered in its own building Grha Wonokoyo, in a leafy suburb of Surabaya, where still many old Dutch area buildings can be found. Grha Wonokoyo received an award for being energy efficient. The building uses 40% less energy per m2 than conventionally build offices.

 

Left to right: Mr. Iwan Tirta Kusumo, Mr. Djojo Kusumo, Benoît Pelé, Willie Blokvoort, Joel Penduff.

We were received by owner / President Director Mr. Djojo Kusumo and his Director (and son) Mr. Iwan Tirta Kusumo. Mr. Djojo showed an impressive video presentation of Wonokoyo, the feedmills, breeding farms, hatcheries, broiler farms, processing plant, etc.

Wonokoyo is the third biggest poultry company in Indonesia and has been using ISA Brown for more than 20 years, on exclusive basis, which has been confirmed during this visit.

 

A handshake between Mr. Djojo Kusumo and Joel Penduff confirms a new agreement

Benoît Pelé gave a presentation on ISA and ISA Brown and its genetic progress.  

After the meeting in Wonokoyo office, we were invited for an excellent lunch in a Chinese restaurant.

The Indonesian economy is in very good shape and growing with 6% annually. This is accompanied by a strong growth in the poultry sector. The ISA Brown has a very strong position in the Indonesian market.

http://www.isapoultry.com/en/News/ISA%20team%20visits%20Wonokoyo%20Head%20Office%20in%20Surabaya.aspx

 

Adira Gunakan e-Learning Untuk Proses Onboarding

Learning & Development

 Jumat, 25 Mei 2012 - 3:03 WIB

E-learning ternyata juga dapat membantu efektivitas dalam proses onboarding di dalam perusahaan. Setidaknya hal itu dilakukan Adira Finance seperti yang dijelaskan Novitri Diah Lista Wulandari, Training Centre Head Adira Finance dalam kesempatan eLearning Executive Forum hari Rabu (23/5) di Jakarta.

Ketika perusahaan mempunyai ribuan karyawan dengan pertumbuhan yang cepat, sementara investasi di sisi infrastruktur tidak secepat pertumbuhan tersebut, maka sistem eLearning dapat digunakan untuk meringankan masalah tersebut.

“Di kami, karyawan baru yang belum OKB (orientasi karyawan baru) tidak boleh menjual dulu, jadi hal administratifnya mesti dibereskan dulu,” ujar Novitri kepada forum. Sharing session yang juga menghadirkan Fathulloh dari Bank Mandiri dan Donin Tribagyanto Junor, Agency Support and Solution Department Head MAA Assurance, menjadi ajang berbagi pengalaman manajemen training yang menerapkan E-Learning.
Dengan jumlah karyawan mencapai 29.800 orang, bisa dibayangkan karyawan administrasi yang harus mengurus data personal karyawan baru pasti kewalahan. Apalagi jumlah karyawan admin yang ada tidak sebanding dengan karyawan baru yang masuk, otomatis kesalahan pencatatan riskan terjadi. Setelah adanya eLearning, karyawan frontliner dituntut menjalani training melalui eLearning tersebut. Ini juga memudahkan pencatatan data secara otomatis.

Karyawan dapat mengikuti program LMS (Learning Management System) yang diintegrasikan dengan EKP (Enterprise Knowledge Platform) dalam berbagai bentuk penyampaian, seperti blended, dimana karyawan diminta mengikuti training E-Learning melalui modul-modul, tetapi juga diperbolehkan mengikuti E-class. “Kebanyakan karyawan masih memilih kelas training ketimbang E-learning, untuk itu kami usung program blended,” ujar Novi.

Senada dengan Novi, Fathulloh juga mengakui E-learning banyak memberikan manfaat dalam sistem kerja Banking, namun E-Learning baginya hanya menjadi pelengkap saja. “Tantangannya adalah bagaimana manajemen bisa membuat karyawan suka dengan konsep baru training ini, dan kalau bisa content E-learningnya diupdate terus dan kontekstual,” kritis Fathulloh.

Ketika ditanya bagaimana agar E-Learning bisa sukses dijalankan, Novi menjawab bahwa E-learning harus didukung oleh manajemen. Selain itu, faktor change management juga menjadi pelengkap bila E-learning mau dibudayakan. “Sosialisasi dulu, kemudian bridging strategi dan berikan sistem reward kepada karyawan,” papar Novi. Faktor terakhir yang tidak kalah penting yaitu supporting tools. “Kerjasama dengan IT itu sangat penting, walaupun di kami tidak ada help desk, tapi infrastruktur teknologi sangat mempengaruhi berhasilnya E-learning dijalankan,” imbuh Novi.


http://www.portalhr.com/people-management/learning-development/adira-gunakan-elearning-untuk-proses-onboarding/

Jurus Jitu Unilever Mengembangkan Talent

People Management

 Rabu, 30 Mei 2012 - 10:17 WIB

Unilever Indonesia, pemain pemimpin pasar Home & Personal Care, kembali melakukan Rapat Umum Pemegang Saham (RUPS) pada 29 Mei lalu. Dalam paparan publik tersebut, Maurits Lalisang, Presiden Direktur PT Unilever Indonesia, buka-bukaan mengenai performa Unilever di tahun 2011, termasuk salah satunya dalam bidang pengelolaan sumber daya manusia (SDM). “People adalah asset yang paling berharga bagi Unilever”, ungkap Maurits. Dipaparkan juga olehnya bahwa tahun 2011 ini, Unilever masih terus berfokus untuk menumbuhkan kesadaran dan kemauan karyawan untuk menjiwai value Unilever ketika bekerja. Value tersebut adalah Integrity, Responsibility, Respect dan Pioneering.

Selama tahun 2011 ini, setidaknya ada dua agenda penting yang telah dilaksanakan Unilever berkaitan dengan talent development. Yang pertama adalah Unilever Future Leader. Program yang dilakukan sekali setahun ini, bertujuan untuk mendapatkan kandidat terbaik ketika merekrut pencari kerja, khususnya para fresh graduate. Tahun 2011 dan tahun-tahun sebelumnya, Unilever merekrut 25 anak muda berprestasi dari keseluruhan kandidat yang diperkirakan berjumlah 2000. Sebuah kompetisi yang cukup ketat memang, tetapi hal itu wajar karena Unilever menginginkan the best talent dari pasar tenaga kerja Indonesia. Setelah 25 talent direkrut, tugas Departemen SDM selanjutnya adalah memberikan training kepada mereka untuk mempelajari seluk beluk Unilever selama 3 tahun.

Enny Sampurno, Direktur Human Resources Unilever menjabarkan bahwa dalam pengembangan keterampilan dan kapabilitas sumber daya manusia di Unilever, mereka mengacu pada rasio 70:20:10, yakni 70% on job training, 20 % couching by managers, dan yang 10% adalah training berupa teori dan kurikulum.

Unilever, secara branding memang sudah cukup besar. Tetapi untuk mendapatkan best talent, perusahaan tersebut masih merasa perlu untuk melakukan upaya attract. Caranya antara lain dengan Public Leturer di kampus-kampus bonafid di Indonesia dan program Leadership sustainable Classes yang belum lama ini diselenggarakan di Universitas Indonesia.

Program kedua dalam agenda 2011 Unilever adalah mengenai diskusi rutin yang akan dilakukan oleh Unilever Board untuk membahas khusus mengenai SDM. Diskusi ini akan dilakukan dua kali dalam satu tahun. Dengan diskusi tersebut, mereka akan menjadi tetap update dengan kondisi karyawan dan mempercepat pengambilan strategi berkaitan dengan pengembangan SDM.

Dengan komposisi SDM yang berkualitas tersebut, tahun 2011 Unilever telah membukukan penjualan 23,5 trilyun, meningkat 19,2% dari tahun sebelumnya. Dan dengan terobosan-terobosan jitu dalam pengelolaan SDM tersebut, Unilever pun diganjar pengahargaan Global’s Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise 2011 dari Teleos. (tw)


http://www.portalhr.com/people-management/jurus-jitu-unilever-mengembangkan-talent/

Membangun Budaya Perusahaan Seperti Mengemudi Mobil

Organizational Design

Senin, 28 Mei 2012 - 1:24 WIB   

 
Budaya perusahaan (Corporate Culture) tidaklah dibangun dengan giat menempelkan nilai-nilai perusahaan di poster yang bagus atau di spanduk, apalagi hanya didengungkan dalam pidato-pidato resmi saja. Menurut Handry Satriago, CEO GE Indonesia, membangun budaya perusahaan adalah suatu proses. Di dalam salah satu seri kultwit-nya, Handry mengibaratkan Corporate Culture (#Corcul) seperti belajar mengemudi mobil.
“Corcul menggambarkan bagaimana orang-orang di dalam organisasi bekerja mencapai tujuan organisasi,” ujar Handry. Hal itu bisa terefleksi dari dress code, jam kerja & setup kantor seperti decision making, cara treat customer, atau operasional organisasi tersebut. Biasanya dalam satu perusahaan , terdapat semacam Corcul umum, yang menjadi karakter tiap-tiap divisi, seperti bagian Finance yang biasanya disebut “number oriented”, atau orang marketing yang sering menraktir, dan sebagainya. Tetapi tidak hanya itu, “Corcul juga terjadi di level Korporasi, dan menjadi citra perusahaan tersebut, misalnya budaya inovasi 3M,” tambah Handry.

Siapa dan apa yang menciptakan karakter dominan tersebut? Menurut Handry determinan CorCul bisa timbul dari personal values sang pendiri (Organization Founder), simbol-simbol perusahaan (Symbols), Heroes, Stories, Slogans, dan Shared Experience.

Pertanyaannya selanjutnya, budaya seperti apa yang diperlukan oleh sebuah organisasi atau perusahaan untuk bisa terus survive dan tumbuh? “Buat saya Corcul sangat ditentukan oleh apa yang ingin dicapai oleh sebuah perusahaan, it’s ok to have a different corp culture,” ujar Handry yang sudah bergabung bersama GE Indonesia sejak tahun 1997.

Banyak perusahaan atau organisasi membangun Corcul dengan semata-mata meniru perusahaan lain yang dianggap sukses, padahal menurut Handry Corcul tidak bisa dibangun dalam waktu singkat, perlu perjuangan dan proses yang cukup untuk menjadikan values, beliefs, practices menjadi culture. “Menurut pengalaman saja, saya lihat butuh waktu paling kurang 6 bulan untuk membangun suatu Corcul yang sederhana,” ujar Handry. Oleh sebab itu, sebelum membangun Corcul, ketahui dulu values apa yang dibutuhkan perusahaan, jangan sampai Corcul dibuat berdasarkan trend di organisasi lain. Handry mencontohkan “perusahaan or organisasi sedang fokus dengan layanan Customer, yah tidak perlu membangun Corcul dengan menjawab pertanyaan, “apa kabar” dengan “Luar biasa” misalnya,” imbuhnya.
Perubahan ikut-ikutan seperti itu disebut mimetic isomorphism, yaitu mengadopsi budaya organisasi/trend saja, gejala itu diteliti oleh Powell & DiMaggio yang sayangnya kerap dilakukan perusahaan di Indonesia, “Corcul yang dibangun atas mimetic action seringkali tidak sukses, wong seringkali kebutuhan dan situasinya beda kok,” tegas Handry.

Handry menambahkan, “Bentukan Corcul di perusahaan atau organisasi kita seringkali aneh, zaman balance scorecard misalnya, semua dicoba pakai KPI, yang ada (karyawannya) menjadi bingung sendiri,” tutur Handry yang meraih gelar Doktor Manajemen Stratejiknya di Universitas Indonesia.


Konsisten dan Budayakan

Handry mengibaratkan untuk membangun Corcul layaknya orang yang sedang belajar menyetir mobil. “Hal pertama adalah mempunyai tujuan yang jelas, yaitu bisa menyetir mobil dan legally boleh nyetir mobil,” sambungnya. Setelah mengetahui apa saja yang dibutuhkan untuk bisa menyetir, kita akan mulai menabrak atau menyenggol pagar karena tahap awal implementasi teori. “Proses implementasi ini juga adalah proses belajar, don’t stop here, toh kita belajar nyetir mobil kita terus dan nggak berhenti di tengah jalan,” ujar Handry membayangkan.

Setelah berhasil menjalankan mobil, apakah sampai di situ saja? Handry menyebutnya tahapan telah bisa mengemudi ini disebut conciously competent, di mana sayangnya perusahaan seringkali merasa proses mengembangkan Corcul sudah selesai, padahal belum. “Corcul baru bisa dikatakan menjadi budaya ketika sampai pada tahapan unconciously competent, dalam arti Corcul sudah melekat dalam praktek sehari-hari,” ujar Handry.

Tahap paling penting saat membangun Corporate Culture yaitu menjadikannya sebagai budaya yang dibutuhkan perusahaan, jangan berhenti pada tahapan semangat menjalankan. “Corporate culture itu menular sampai ke organisasi yang lainnya, seperti aktivitas di rumah. Budaya on time di kantor akan merembet ke aktivitas rumah juga,” terang Handry.


http://www.portalhr.com/people-management/organizational-design/membangun-budaya-perusahaan-seperti-mengemudi-mobil/

    

Toyota Kembali Ambilalih Posisi Nomor Satu dari GM

Tokyo (ANTARA News) - Toyota Motor Jepang memperoleh kembali posisinya, sebagai pembuat mobil nomor satu di dunia pada kuartal pertama 2012, mencuri kembali kedudukannya dari raksasa AS General Motors, menurut data pabrik.

Perusahaan Jepang, yang mencakup merek Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu dan Hino itu, menjual 2,49 juta unit kendaraan dalam tiga bulan hingga 31 Maret, di depan General Motors dengan 2,28 juta unit dan Volkswagen Jerman dengan 2,16 juta, lapor AFP.

Juru bicara Toyota Dion Corbert mengatakan, produsen mobil itu telah menghadapi rintangan besar dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, yang mengakibatkan ia menyerahkan posisi utamanya kepada GM pada 2010.

"Kami memiliki krisis keuangan, beberapa masalah kualitas, gempa (11 Maret) dan banjir Thailand pada 2011, di mana kami tidak mampu memproduksi mobil sebanyak yang kita inginkan," katanya kepada AFP, Selasa.

Toyota telah menjadi produsen mobil terbesar di dunia sejak 2008 dan menjual 8,42 juta kendaraan pada 2010.

Tetapi posisinya disusul setelah tergelincir ke 7,35 juta kendaraan pada tahun yang berakhir Maret, di belakang General Motors dengan sekitar 9,0 juta unit penjualan dan Volkswagen dengan lebih dari 8,0 juta kendaraan yang terjual.

Toyota telah dipaksa mengendalikan kerusakan dalam beberapa tahun terakhir setelah menarik jutaan kendaraan sejak 2009 karena cacat keamanan.

Sejak itu kemudian terpukul keras oleh yen yang kuat, gempa dan tsunami di Jepang timur laut pada 11 Maret dan banjir di Thailand yang berdampak pada pabrik-pabrik di sana dan menyebabkan masalah produksi besar. (A026)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono COPYRIGHT © 2012

http://otomotif.antaranews.com/news/1337708084/toyota-kembali-ambilalih-posisi-nomor-satu-dari-gm