Worldclass people management, requires worldclass HR leaders

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World-class people management, requires
world-class HR leaders

• Developing Purpose, Passion and Performance in
  the next generation of public sector HR leaders
• 29th April 2009

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Contents

• The background to the research
• The population
• The results
• Purpose
• Model of HR Leadership
• Success Factors
• What does this mean for developing HR leaders of
  the future in the public sector?

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The leading independent advisors in HR
Transformation so why the research?
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The most successful HR Leaders a global research
perspective

• Participants from high profile organisations with
  a reputation for success as a business
• Covered Public and Private organisations
• Most companies were upper quartile in their
  sector in terms of return on investment
• Many HRDs had been hired to transform HR

Identifying the patterns to model how
exceptionally high performers work
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Leading HR Participant Profile

• Biographical results from the interviews
• 64 had business experience outside of HR
• 50 had worked across different sectors
• 73 held a senior HR leadership prior to their
  current role
• 50 had experience of working cross globally
• 46 had studied non HR related subjects such as
  politics or classics
• 44      female 56      male

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The HR Leaders Purpose for their Role

• Three themes emerged

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Establishing CredibilityDifferent leaders start
in different places to gain credibility and
leverage their purpose
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Leading HR-the model
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The right mindset creates the conditions, but how
do you achieve success?

• The leaders in our study followed a common path
  to achieve success

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If this is what the most successful do, how can
we develop our HR leaders?
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There are similarities and key differences
between what makes a successful HRBP and HR Leader
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What do HRBPs need to work on to make the leap?
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What does this mean for developing HR talent?

• Look for the ability to
• establish credibility with a wide range of
  stakeholders
• build an innovative and effective HR function
• play a full and equal role as a corporate leader
  geting beyond the HR agenda
• To develop the Business Partners that show this
  potential
• Diversify their experience
• Help them learn flexible approaches to building
  credibility.
• Enable them to adopt a leadership role in their
  businesss management team.
• Give them a leadership role within the wider
  organisation.

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What does this mean for developing HR talent in
the public sector?

• How do we harness the passion to lead the agenda
  beyond the HR arena?
• How do we exploit the unique opportunities parts
  the public sector offers for developing future HR
  leaders?
• How do we prepare management team colleagues for
  the emergence this kind of HR leader?

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Research detail
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Leading HR-the model
Be visionary, spot opportunities and think
differently
Reinvent the top of the organisation
Make choices on what to focus on
Fulfilling the role of people conscious on the
board
I am not at my best unless I am sure of my
purpose.
Risk taking isnt about shooting from the hip it
is measured and calculated
Dont be constrained by current practice
HR role is to both use and protect the company
DNA to achieve success
Intuition is strong and trusted
A mix of experience and intuition works best
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Leading HR-the model
Influence business leaders to achieve the
business potential through people
What are we doing, where will this take us what
will the business get from this
Experience of the business gains trust
Curious about what makes the business tick
Create a great network
Create a compelling story. "Leaders have to
understand why I'm doing it - both for the
business and to protect their personal interests."
Win trust by asking questions
Test if the business is ready for the change
Do what is best for the business
Leading in HR is different because of the
complexity of relationships
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Leading HR-the model
HR must be customer centric
Need to take people with you by talking about
what will work
Create a team that has diversity of mindset,
skills and approach
Know how to get the best out of people
By being a business person first, I have the
freedom to develop HR's scope within the
organisation
Contribution to the bottom line needs to be
demonstrated
The role of the HRLT is to ensure there is time
for real debate and creation not just monitoring
Creating the right function is an ongoing process
Encourage planning and accountability
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Leading HR-the model
When things have not worked it was when I wasnt
being myself
Realise that you own your own career
I believe in my own resilience and robustness
Integrity is a strong value to me it means do
what you say you will do
Being purely me worked well in the early days
but less so later on in my career I feel now that
theres a role I have to play leadership. This
involves words and credibility something I have
worked on over the years.
Growth and learning has to be in my day
I have always had an inability to recognise
seniority
I rehearse in my head what I imagine is going to
happen and how I will deal with it.
You have to be confident in your own abilities
before you can be confident and effective at
challenging others