September 30, 2011
Mark Stevens
Director, Human Resources
Agenda
 Introduction
 Business Partnership basics
 Leadership Development
Who is Mark Stevens?
 Director, Human Resources; St. Luke’s Magic Valley
 HR experience includes

Employee/Labor Relations, Talent Acquisition,
Comp/Benefits, Leadership Development
 Supported a variety of businesses/industries

Biomedical, Transportation/Warehousing, Healthcare
Business Partnership Basics
 What is a “business partnership”?
 Benefits
 Challenges
 Practical tips
What is a “business partnership”
 At it’s core, is an alignment of the “business” of HR
around the core of the businesses we support
 It’s a relationship-based approach to HR;
 Connecting operations to HR
 Providing proactive, strategic service to the organization
and staff
 It’s a shift from “traditional” functional HR programs
“business partnership” cont.
 David Ulrich’s (Professor of Business, Univ. of
Michigan) well known model centers around the
relationship HR needs to have with the organization:
 Strategic Partner
 Change Agent/Champion
 Employee Advocacy/Champion
 Administrative Expertise
 Business Partners (HRBPs)aren’t simply “generalists”;
they need to be skillful business executives who can tie
business results to human resources programs
Benefits
 Better Relationships with operational leaders
 Improved strategic planning with HR included in the
plan; “a seat at the table”
 More proactive understanding of human resource
needs
 More engaged and developed leaders (outside of and
within HR)
 Better business outcomes
Challenges
 What can impede designing a business partnership
with HR?
1. HR Department size (staffing)
2. HR skillset/competency/business acumen
HR staff will need to develop skills beyond traditional
HR
b) HR staff will need to function in multiple roles
a)
a)
b)
c)
Strategic Partner
Employee Relations
Staffing/Work-force planner
Challenges continued
3. Time Investment
4. Budget
5. Teaching operations what “it” is and how they
benefit
6. Unwilling leaders
7. HR’s unwillingness to change from traditional roles
Practical Tips for implementation
 Despite business or HR department size there are
some practical approaches to establishing or
advancing an HR Business Partnership
 Tactical-level practices can help advance HR as a
“value-added” partner
 Higher strategic-level benefits may require more
staffing or more HR infrastructure to truly realize the
benefit
Seek to Understand…
 You must first establish a trust-based business
relationship with the leaders you support:
1. Learn their industry
2. Learn about their department/focus area
3. Learn about their needs
4. “Seek to understand before you wish to be
understood”
5. Then teach them about HR and how it applies
6. Link HR programs to the results they seek
Don’t be the “policy police”
 “All HR does is tell me what I can’t do!!!:
 Traditional HR has taught us all to say “no”
 We need to learn to say “yes”
 “Now that I understand your needs, let me show you
some ways I believe we can work together to get the
outcomes you’re looking for.”
Be “Data Driven”
Be able to show information to your operational partners
and show the context:
Examples include:
 Turnover (what it means, not just the number)
 Corrective action data
 Staffing data
 Engagement information
Hold “business” meetings
Schedule regular “business partnership” meetings:
1. Example: 1 per month or every 5 to 6 weeks
2. Approach the leaders vs. responding to requests
3. Discuss:
Business results
Tie results to staff needs / HR Programs






ER
Staffing (proactive vs. reactive)
Compensation
Staff Development
“Business” meetings continued
Drive Proactive HR support
3. Help the leader assess the health/quality of his/her
team:
Performance/Talent management
b. Proactive discussions of turnover or staffing
c. Master staffing strategies and planning
d. Workforce planning and staff role development
a.
4. Align HR programs to business objectives or
obstacles
HR Organizational Structures
With a larger HR department, use a service/support
approach;
 Arm the HRBP with decision-making authority on ER,
Compensation, Staffing

The HRBP becomes the face of HR to operations
 Provide support to the HRBP through backroom
support


E.g.; Compensation provides support on market surveys, pay
ranges and practices; the HRBP helps set salaries
Recruitment manages the hiring process; the HRBP is the
liaison to the manager or leader on staffing/workforce
planning
Is this right for you?
Business Partnerships in the large, “corporate” sense
might not work for smaller businesses
However, relationship-based HR/Operations
partnerships have their place in all businesses
Be thoughtful about implementation
Competency Growth
Future HRBPs have to be dedicated to growing
themselves in order to be successful; without the right
competencies, the HRBP model is difficult to
implement:
 Conflict Resolution
 Staffing/Workforce Planning
 Business Acumen
 Leadership Development/OD
 Innovation
 And more…
Leadership Development
 Leadership Competencies
 Development tools
Leadership Competencies
Leadership Competency models help to identify what a
leader “should look like”
They can be designed around a consistent framework or
set by “level” within the organization
Models are available from numerous sources including:
 PDI (Personnel Decisions International)
 Lominger Limited, Inc.
Talent Management
HR and OD should work with the organization to
identify not only the competencies which are
important but the methods for identifying, assessing,
and growing leaders (Talent Management)
Talent Management should include:
 Talent Acquisition
 Performance Management
 Succession/Workforce planning
Simple Leadership Model
 Self Leadership (how you lead yourself)
 Team Leadership (how you lead others)
 Results Leadership (how you ensure outcomes)
 More defined options might include:
 Thought Leadership
 Strategic Leadership
Developmental Strategies
 Create competencies
 Tie competencies to performance
 Use “development” as a means of growing all leaders,
not just under-performing ones
 Encourage a feedback culture where the agreed upon
competencies become the basis of growth
 Inventory the talent of the team (for succession and
developmental purpose)
 Encourage, design mentoring programs,
Personal Development
Assess your own leadership style and skill sets. In
context to the leadership competencies of your
organization ask:
 What needs do you have or weaknesses do you need to
mitigate?
 What strengths can you leverage?
Who to ask:
 Yourself
 Others (peers, leadership, subordinates)
Personal Development, cont.
Create your own “development plan” with:
List of Strengths/Opportunities (2 each maximum)
Actions designed to enhance or mitigate
Partners in your development
Timelines
Measurements
Closing
Designing an HRBP model can help to tie your efforts
more directly to the business
Focusing on your own development and that of other
leaders within your organization can help to ensure
that your company has the talent it needs to reach its
objectives and be positioned for future needs
Questions?