What does strategic HR do?

In our experience strategic HR is increasingly becoming one of the most fundamental building blocks needed to create a successful business. HR goes beyond the daily tasks of managing people; it’s about aligning your HR practices with your overall business goals to help your company grow and succeed.

Here at People Puzzles we believe strategic HR starts with the business strategy, enabling our clients to build clear plans that enable growth, including setting out their ESG agenda. Once the business strategy is clear, we can develop and execute a people strategy to enable business performance and growth. Some of the factors that are key to the success of a people strategy are the following:

1. Aligns HR with business goals: our nationwide People Director team work closely with leadership teams to understand each client’s vision and objectives. Then, we develop people strategies that support these goals, whether it’s through talent development, improving company culture, or planning for future workforce needs.

2. Focuses on long-term success: Instead of just addressing immediate HR needs, strategic HR looks ahead at where you are trying to take your business in 3, 5 and 10 years time. This might require developing leadership programs, succession planning, or building a strong employer brand to attract top talent.

3. Enhances employee experience: Strategic HR ensures that your people are engaged, motivated, and aligned with your company’s mission. This can involve creating development opportunities, fostering a positive work environment, and implementing policies that support employee well-being.

4. Drives change: Whether it’s adapting to market shifts or implementing new technologies, strategic HR helps your company navigate change smoothly, ensuring that your people can adapt to change and are ready to meet new challenges.

Since 2010, our team of board level People Directors have transformed over 1000 business by developing their people strategies based on our proven pinwheel, which looks at the following key enablers:

•  Leadership: we define ‘leadership capability’ as having the time to work “on” the business and ‘management capability’ as the means to drive day to day performance, through great business and people management
•  Culture: we create great and inclusive places to work that enable team members to thrive. All the research tells us that high engagement drives business results
•  Talent: we build external and internal pipelines of great talent that builds an organisation’s capability to deliver its strategy
• Business organisation structure: we build organisations that are efficient, effective and affordable, enabling business growth in the long term
• People processes & IT systems: although this doesn’t sound strategic at first, we believe great HR strategists simplify and make cost effective all core people processes and HR systems. This simplification frees up leaders and managers time to drive value add activity, from a people perspective (e.g. coaching their teams) and business (driving revenue and profit).