Problem/Opportunity:

World's largest office products company seeking to elevate human resources consultants from tactical policy enforcer role to strategic partners within their markets.  The Regional VP, HR Southeast was fighting a battle of both needing and wanting her team to play a more strategic role in working with the businesses but faced two obstacles:

• lack of strategic partnering skills amond HRC's
• perceived lack of credibility amond BU VP's that HRC's could assist with their strategic concerns

Solution:

The solution consisted of an analysis of the BU VP's perceptions of the HR team  and development a workshop to build their strategic partnering skills.  As part of the analysis, several structured stakeholder interviews were conducted and a assessment questionnaire was developed and deployed to capture data from HR and BU stakeholders on the skill levels of the HRC's.   The one-day customized Strategic Partnering for HR Professionals workshop was delivered to all HRC's in the Southeast region.  Each HRC also received follow-on coaching to assist with transition activities within their markets.

Results:

• Identification of Top 3 skills for development to improve strategic partnering capability
• Improved alignment between business unit expectations and HR services
• Positive reaction to workshop
• Increased credibiltiy among  BU VP's as a result of undertaking the process (wasn't aware that HR could help with the strategic level work)
• Improved job satisfaction among HRC's (they reported more satisfaction with doing impactful work instead of traditional transactional tasks)