Noel O'Reilly
Next week I’m chairing a live video link with Dave Ulrich (above) at the HR Performance conference in London . It’s probably fair to say Ulrich is the most influential thinker on HR strategy in the last decade, credited with developing the “HR business partner” model and other influential ideas in books including “HR Champions” and “The HR Value Proposition”
Ulrich is professor at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at The RBL Group. His latest book is “HR Transformation – Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources”, published by McGraw Hill Professional in 2012. You can read the full article summarizing the six competencies of Personnel Today.
Ulrich puts the issue in the context of the challenges of the worldwide economic crisis, globalization, technological innovations and other changes. The approach of this book continues the themes of other recent work by Ulrich and his colleagues such as “HR Transformation – Building Human Resources from the Outside In” published in 2009. The fundamental position the authors take is summarised as:
“The rationale for HR transformation is too often from inside the company (say, when a senior leader complains about HR practices, structure, or people), whereas the rationale should actually come from outside the company.”
And to transform HR it’s not enough just to get an HR initiative off the ground and hope it leads to another. HR in increments doesn’t lead to transformation:
“Some companies design an innovative talent management, performance management, or total rewards process and declare it an HR treansformation. These piecemeal efforts are only part of an HR transformation. HR practices need to be integrated with each other around key business results if they are to be of lasting value.”
Here are the six competencies needed for HR transformation:
- Credible Activist.
- Strategic Positioner.
- Capability Builder
- Change Champion
- Human Resource Innovator and Integrator
- Technology Proponent
If you want to see them in more detail read the article in Personnel Today, buy Ulrich’s new book or come to the HR Performance conference on 21 November at Excel, London, and hear what Ulrich has to say. If you decide to go I’d love to meet you.
