November 2005

HR’s New Role

Becoming a Strategic Business Partner
ODN National Conference
Minneapolis

William Pasmore
New York
 Overview

 Brief Description Of Mercer Delta Consulting (MDC)

 HR Transformation and the Evolution of the HR Business Partner
Concept
 What It Takes to Be An Effective HR Business Partner
 Using Diagnosis to Transform Relationships and Opportunities
 Staying Focused on Issues that Matter to the Business
 Delivering Changes That Make a Real Difference
 Some Examples of Doing It Well
 Next Steps

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Mercer Delta Clients

 Executive leadership at the

public-company/enterprise level
 Includes CEOs, COOs,
Executive Teams, and Boards
 Relationships extend out into
the organization
 $1 billion+ enterprises and
smaller high-growth companies
 Recognizing the need for
change
 Aware of own limitations
 Looking for assistance

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Illustrative Client Companies

s
Creating Knowledge

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HR Transformation and the Evolution of
the HR Business Partner Concept
The Promise of HR Transformation

 Substantial cost savings through the

automation and outsourcing of routine
transactional work and the creation of shared
services
 More complete, accurate, and useful
information management through the creation
of comprehensive, all-encompassing
databases and HRIS systems
 Enhanced accessibility and self-service
through 24/7 online and call center support
for routine operations
 Uniform policy application across locations
due to centralization of decision-making in
shared systems
 Enhanced capabilities through centers of
excellence for non-routine work
 Freed from the routine work, a new role for
HR generalists as strategic business partners

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From Personnel to Business Partner

Approximate Key Business

Dates Issues HR Role Title for Role
1920s-1930s  Organic Growth  Hiring, Training, and  Personnel
Caring for Employees
 New Technologies

1940s-1970s  Diversification  Productivity  Employee

 Competition  Negotiations Relations/Labor
Relations
1970s-1990s  International  Downsizing  Human
Competition Resources
 Leadership
 Survival  Change Programs
 Shift to Service  Performance
Management/Rewards

2000  Globalization  Talent Development  HR Business

 Innovation  Strategic Capabilities Partner/CCO
 Reinvention
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Evolution of Organization Development

Approximate Key Business

Dates Issues OD Role Title for Role
1940s-1960s  Coordination  Surveys  OD
 Productivity  STS/Work Design
 Motivation  Team-Building
1970s  International  Quality  Quality
Competition
1980s-1990s  Cost-Cutting  Work-Out  Change
 Survival  Reengineering Management
 Efficiency  Enterprise IT Systems  Reengineering
 Balanced Scorecard
2000  Globalization  Create New Capabilities  OE
 Innovation  Organization
Architecture
 Reinvention

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Ulrich’s Human Resource Champions (1997)

 Four Roles for HR

– Administrative Expert
– Employee Champion
– Change Agent
– Strategic Partner

“When HR professionals work as strategic partners, they work

with line managers to institute and manage a process that
creates an organization to meet business requirements.”

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Examples of Critical Capabilities
From Ulrich’s Human Resource Champions
 Align performance measures to strategic
priorities
 Attract and retain high-caliber people
 Be the technology leader in the field
 Create a shared mindset
 Create capacity for change
 Demonstrate cultural flexibility
 Ensure trust between leaders and
workers
 Form alliances with a variety of
organizations
 Have a culturally diverse workforce
 Think and act globally
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 Have dominant distribution channels
 Have committed employees
 Identify and develop the next generation
of leaders
 Improve speed, cash flow, profitability,
and productivity every year
 Innovate and learn more quickly than
competitors
 Maintain good investor relations
 Manage financial management systems
 Take risks
 Work in a boundary-less way
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What It Takes to Be an Effective HR
Business Partner
Becoming a Strategic Business Partner

 Knowledge requirements
 Using diagnosis to transform
relationships and opportunities
 Staying focused on issues that
matter to the business
 Delivering capabilities that make
a real difference

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Business Partner Knowledge Requirements
Examples
Strategic
 Talent planning
 Talent development
 Performance management
 Executive succession
 Executive compensation
 HRIS
 Shared services
 Outsourcing/offshoring
 International law
 Acquisition assessment
 Managing diversity
HR
 Compensation/benefits
 Recruiting
 Hiring/firing
 Data reporting
 Performance assessment
 Succession planning
 Relocation
 Orientation and training
 Labor law
 Merger integration
 Policy/fair treatment
Operational
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 Strategic alignment
 Organization architecture
 Globalization
 Enterprise integration
 Acquisition planning
 Organizational learning
 Executive development
 Cultural integration
 Change leadership
 Capability creation
 Board relations
Business
 Quality
 Productivity/lean manufacturing
 Cost-reduction
 Process reengineering
 Supply chain management
 Work redesign
 Customer management
 Product development
 Change management
 Metrics/balanced scorecard
 Team effectiveness
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Using Diagnosis to Transform
Relationships and Opportunities
Diagnosis

 Provides a powerful way of working

with business leaders
 Involves a process and a set of
principles
 Repeats whenever new
opportunities emerge
 Helps transform relationships

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 The Diagnostic Process

Implemented
Streams -
Examples
Data Organizational Data Streams
Contracting
Scouting Collection Diagnosis Feedback of Work 
Organization
and Architecture
Agenda

Culture Change

Executive Team
Setting Performance
Relationship Building 
Leadership
Development

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Data Collection and Analysis

 Dialogues - centerpiece of data-

collection strategy
 Input from business leaders on
organizational issues and concerns
 Confidential, one-on-one
discussions
 Structured process for interviewing,
recording, analyzing, and reporting
interviews with business leaders
 Results must feature powerful
findings captured in the
organization’s own words

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Collaborative Organizational Diagnosis

Action What do we do?

HR Business Partner

Business Leader
Knowledge What does it mean?

Information What does it say?

Data What do we see?

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Core Principles

Process Steps Core Principles

Getting Started
 
BL
 
Ownership
Data Collection

Organizational
Iterative   
Interpretive
Diagnosis Collaboration
Learning Diagnosis

Data Feedback

Change
Streams of Work  
Leadership
Skills
 

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Six Dimensions of Relationships That
Enable Change

Building
Trust
Personal
Advocacy
Investment

Collaboration Courage

Interpersonal
Agility

Source: Carucci and Pasmore. Relationships that

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Staying Focused on Issues That Matter
to the Business
Staying Focused on Business Issues

 What are the issues that matter?

– What’s keeping business
leaders up at night?
– What’s the “moose on the
table” regarding the future?
– What drives the bottom line?
 Changing how you spend your
time and attention
 Not getting pulled or pushed back
into the old HR box

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Delivering Changes That Make
a Real Difference
Congruence Model

Informal
Input Organization Output

Environment System

Formal
Resources Strategy Work Unit
Organization

History Individual

People

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Two Key Challenges

Informal
1. Creating a new strategy Input Organization Output

that seizes market Environment System

opportunities and makes Resources Strategy Work

Formal
Unit
Organization
full use of the
organization’s competitive
History Individual

advantages People

1. Designing an organization Input

Informal
Output
Organization
that supports the full and
Environment System
effective execution of the
Formal
new strategy Resources Strategy Work Organization Unit

History Individual

People

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Some Examples of Doing it Well
Strategic Business Partners Par Excellence

Noel Tichy/Steve Kerr

Richard Antoine

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 Business Partner Career Paths
Examples
HR
Executive  Talent planning
 Talent development
 Performance management
 Executive succession
 Executive compensation
 HRIS
 Shared services
 Outsourcing/offshoring
 International law
 Acquisition assessment
 Managing diversity
HR
 Compensation/benefits
 Recruiting
 Hiring/firing
 Data reporting
 Performance assessment
HR  Succession planning
Relocation
Specialist  
 Orientation and training
 Labor law
 Merger integration
HR
 Policy/fair treatment
Generalist
Operational
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Strategic OE
 Strategic alignment Executive
 Organization architecture
 Globalization
 Enterprise integration
 Acquisition planning Strategic
 Organizational learning Business
 Executive development Partner
 Cultural integration
 Change leadership
 Capability creation
 Board relations
Business
 Quality
 Productivity/lean manufacturing
 Cost reduction
 Process reengineering
 Supply chain management
Business
 Work redesign
Customer management Partner
 Product development
 Change management
 Metrics/balanced scorecard
 Team effectiveness OE
Professional
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Next Steps
Next Steps: What You Can Do

 Make it personal
 Begin with conversations and
diagnosis
 Build stronger relationships
 Stay focused
 Measure impact of changes on
business results
 Commit to learning

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We Could All Stand to Learn More About…

 Developing extremely effective leaders

 Creating more flexible but still high-
performing organizations
 Working globally, virtually, horizontally,
and spontaneously
 Inventing and implementing new
business models in old companies
 Changing cultures: making customers,
values, and integrity real
 Organic growth
 Leveraging diversity for business results
 Strategic design
 China and India

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