Webinar run for Human Resources Online in Sinagpore as an introduction to Strategic HR, supporting my training courses - Jon Ingham, April 2020. See https://webinars.humanresourcesonline.net/thought-leadership/taking-a-more-strategic-approach-to-hr/

1. Taking a More Strategic
Approach to HR
Jon Ingham

2. Taking a More Strategic Approach to HR
• Michael Porter on strategy
• Organisation value chain
• Organisational outcomes – human, organisation and social
capital
• Organisation value triangle
• Requirements and opportunities for creating value

3. Michael Porter on Strategy

4. Five Tests of a Good Strategy
1. A unique value proposition
2. A different, tailored value chain
3. Clear tradeoffs, and choosing what not to do
4. Activities that fit together and reinforce each other
5. Strategic continuity with continual improvement in realisation
- Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy

5. Strategic Emphasis on Organisation
OrganisationHealth
HumanCentredDesign
Digital Workplace
WorkplaceDesign
Purpose
Humanocracy
Meaning
Self Organisation
Community Management
Stakeholders
Design Thinking
Agile
Experience
Holacracy
Teal

6. Strategic Emphasis on Organisation
- Julian Birkinshaw, Reinventing Management
Organisation Model:
• Coordinating activities
• Making decisions
• Motivating employees
• Defining objectives
Business Model:
• Sources of revenue
• Cost structure
• What to make / buy
• How to make a profit

7. Five Tests of a Good Strategy
1. A unique value proposition
2. A different, tailored value chain
3. Clear tradeoffs, and choosing what not to do
4. Activities that fit together and reinforce each other
5. Strategic continuity with continual improvement in realisation
- Michael Porter

8. Organisation and Business Value Chains
Activities
• Recruitment
• Performance
• Development
• Career
• Relations
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
Activities
• Procurement
• Manufacturing
• Distribution
• Customer
• Sales
Outcomes
• Financial
Capital
Organisation Value Chain Business Value Chain

9. Organisation and Business Value Chains
Activities
• Recruitment
• Performance
• Development
• Career
• Relations
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
Activities
• Procurement
• Manufacturing
• Distribution
• Customer
• Sales
Outcomes
• Financial
Capital
Organisation Value Chain Business Value Chain

10. Organisation and Business Value Chains
Activities
• Recruitment
• Performance
• Development
• Career
• Relations
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
Activities
• Procurement
• Manufacturing
• Distribution
• Customer
• Sales
Outcomes
• Financial
Capital
Organisation Value Chain Business Value Chain

11. Organisational Outcomes
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
• Human capital: the value provided by
individual people, their skills and
engagement
• Organisation capital: the value provided
by the way we organise people
• Social capital: the value of the
connections, relationships and
conversations taking place between the
people

12. Poll
Which is most important in your organisation?
• The value of your individual employees, based on their skills and
engagement, working individually (human capital)
• The value of how people and work are organised, through structures,
processes, workplace technologies, etc (organisation capital)
• The value provided by your employees working together in teams,
communities and networks (social capital)

13. The Benefits of Focusing on Outcomes
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
• More strategic
• Avoids ‘activity for activity’s sake’
• Makes cause and effect links clearer
• Helps focus on best fit vs best practice

14. Best Fit Activities and Outcomes
So if you responded that social capital is a more important outcome than
human capital in your organisation, then
Why do you manage, measure, develop and reward the performance of
individuals rather than doing this for teams, communities and networks?

15. The Benefits of Focusing on Outcomes
Outcomes
• Human,
• Organisation,
• and Social
Capital
• More strategic
• Avoids ‘activity for activity’s sake’
• Makes cause and effect links clearer
• Helps focus on best fit vs best practice
• Outcome language is more credible
• Provides opportunity for accountability
• Helps in creating value

16. The Value of Organisational Outcomes

17. The Value of Organisational Outcomes
• Administering HR operations
• Ensuring efficiency eg through
outsourcing
Value for
money
Personnel

18. The Value of Organisational Outcomes
• Focussing HR/OD on business strategy
• Creating capability to perform now
• Ensuring effectiveness and alignment
• Administering HR operations
• Ensuring efficiency eg through
outsourcing
Add
value
Value for
money
Personnel
Human
Resources

19. The Value of Organisational Outcomes
• Driving and accelerating business strategy
• Creating opportunity for the future
• Maximising the potential of people
• Producing truly wonderful solutions
• Taking advantage of exceptional opportunities
• Focussing HR/OD on business strategy
• Creating capability to perform now
• Ensuring effectiveness and alignment
• Administering HR operations
• Ensuring efficiency eg through
outsourcing
Create
value
Add
value
Value for
money
Personnel
Human
Resources
Organisation
Effectiveness

20. Creating vs Adding Value
Organisation Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Human, Organisation, and
Social Capital)
Business Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Financial Capital)

21. Creating vs Adding Value
Organisation Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Human, Organisation, and
Social Capital)
Business Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Financial Capital)

22. Creating vs Adding Value
Organisation Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Human, Organisation, and
Social Capital)
Business Value Chain
Activities → Outcomes
(Financial Capital)

23. Requirements for Creating Value
• Energy comes from people > the business

24. People Before Business
“The big message I think we’re learning is that whatever happens,
the right response is People First, Business Second.
Remember, the people in your company are the ones who will pull
you out of a financial slowdown.”
- Josh Bersin, Coronavirus Response: People First, Economics
Second

25. Requirements for Creating Value
• Energy comes from people > the business
• Language of people > language of business

26. The Language of People
- Gary Hamel, The Future of Management
Value
Quality
Growth
Leadership
Equality
Wisdom
Beauty
Justice
Love
Differentiation
Excellence
Superiority
Service
Focus
Joy
Truth
Honour
Fidelity

27. Requirements for Creating Value
• Energy comes from people > the business
• Language of people > language of business
• Human skills > business skills
(psychology, sociology, anthropology, cognitive
neuroscience, behavioural economics, etc)

28. Is HR Leading, Following or Drifting
Off Alone?

29. Opportunities for Creating Value
Create
value
Add
value
Value for
money
1. Undertaking activities to
accumulate outcomes:
• Strategic programmes
• Day to day approaches
2. Designing activities to enable
people to create outcomes
themselves

30. My HR Masterclasses
• Increasing Impact through Strategic HR Partnering
• Transforming the HR Organisation to Create Value
• Organisation Design for the 4th Industrial Revolution
• Improving Processes and the Employee Experience
• Designing Jobs for Good Work and Increased Productivity
https://masterclasses.humanresourcesonline.net/

31. My HR Masterclasses
• Re-engineering and Revolutionising Performance Management
• Developing Modern Reward Strategies and Approaches
• Employer Branding through Organisational Differentiation
https://masterclasses.humanresourcesonline.net/

32. • My interview with Porter: http://strategic-
hcm.blogspot.com/2019/06/interview-michael-porter-brexit.html
• Gary Hamel, Humanocracy
• McKinsey on Organisation Health: Scott Keller and Colin Price,
Beyond Performance
• Josh Bersin post: https://joshbersin.com/2020/03/coronavirus-
response-people-first-economics-second
References

33. • Parade of the Black Sea Fleet: https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-
aivazovsky/parade-of-the-black-sea-fleet
• The Ship near Coast: https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-
aivazovsky/the-ship-near-coast-1890
• Ships in the Stillness of the Night: https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-
aivazovsky/ships-in-the-stillness-of-the-night-1888
• Seashore: https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-aivazovsky/seashore-
1843
Picture Credits - Ivan Aivazovsky

34. About me: joningham.com
“Strategic HCM”: strategic-hcm.com / strategic-hcm.blogspot.com
“The Social Organisation”: organization.social /
koganpage.com/SocialOrganization
Social media: linkedin.com/in/joningham
twitter.com/joningham
Contact: jon@joningham.com
+44 7904 185134
For More Information

35. Q&A

36. Q&A