Interfacing Technology With Strategic HR

Organizations have their growth objectives primarily based on the Vision of their top leaders. These objectives are achieved through a set of initiatives which have a strategic focus. These initiatives may be long term or short-term and are mostly driven by the business environment.

Implementing these initiatives requires people with high Leadership skills, who are capable of driving performance towards goals which are fairly stretched.

Strategic HR is aimed at managing talent in an organization; talent being the sum total of performance & potential.

• Managing talent means developing higher level skills & competencies in the existing employees with a view to improve their capability profile, thereby preparing them for the new or higher level job positions.
• Hiring of the right people, with the desired competencies & leadership potential, is another dimension of talent management.
• In brief, maintaining all the time a galaxy of talented people in the organization, who can fit into new roles arising out of strategic moves such` as mergers, acquisitions, diversifications, expansions etc. is most vital to business growth.

Strategic HR, therefore, places its emphasis on processes such as Recruitment, development of Skills & Competencies, allocation of Goals Aligned to Strategic Objectives, Performance Management, and evaluating Leadership Potential of employees. All this results in the creation of a 'Talent Pool' in the organization.

Entry/ exit of employees from the 'Talent Pool' is regulated by a set of filters which are designed on the basis of performance standards and acceptable shades of leadership potential.

To maintain 'Talent pipe-lines' based on the tracking of performance & potential of a number of employees, year after year, is a gigantic task difficult to be managed manually. Use of technology not only adds speed & accuracy, but helps the management in acquiring transparency in their processes through uniform screening of employees against pre-set standards. It helps in building trust between the employees & the management, thereby enabling people to deliver their best to the organization.

Software systems which help in aligning employees to the organization through processes such as Goal Setting, tracking of employees performance, evaluating competencies, identifying talent, & creating employee 'Development Plans' etc are the tools needed by progressive organizations. These tools, if integrated, are capable of creating 'Information Dash Boards' which, with the appropriate drill down features, provide an on-line Decision Support System to manage people & processes, thereby improving organizational effectiveness.