5 Questions to Help You “Sell” the Value of HR
Jim Harrison, Queen’s IRC Facilitator, 2017
In the current business environment, it can be very frustrating some days to be an HR professional. In many ways it is like we are living the first line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
Never have there been more HR programs and initiatives that can have a direct impact on business results – and never has it been harder to get the attention, investment and commitment of business leaders to make substantive – and at times even minor – changes in order to use the full value of our HR expertise.
In many companies, while HR has been granted a “place” at the table – or earned that place – they have not yet been granted or earned an equivalent and impactful “voice” at that table.
Businesses are in a constant state of change; yet, HR often waits in line for attention and investment behind technology, and technology, and technology, and then marketing (driven more and more by technology) and finance (often driven by technology in the endless appetite for more data). I think you get the point – and if you are an HR professional you not only get the point, you are probably living it. There is an endless, jostling line-up at the money trough for change initiatives – and there is a limited amount of money, resources, “brain-space”, time or attention to handle them all.
There are three reasons why it is easier to sell a technology – or marketing or finance – investment than an HR investment.
Strategic Grievance Management in Today's Unionized Environment
Lori Aselstine, Director, Employee Relations and Strategic Human Resources Government of Ontario (retired), 2014
The word “strategic” gets thrown around pretty loosely these days – it's one of those business buzz words meant to instill confidence that we’ve thought this through and it's all under control: trust us, we've got a strategic plan!
But there's more to it than just calling something “strategic” The term “strategic” implies there is a thoughtful, organized strategy guiding your efforts; that a particular issue has been viewed in the broader context and your decision to proceed is based on the impacts that decision will have across the organization. More so than any other time in history, employers in today’s unionized workplaces need to view their union-management relationships, and their dispute resolution efforts, through a holistic, strategic lens. We can no longer afford to deal with issues and complaints in isolation. As bargaining agents become more sophisticated in using dispute mechanisms to further their corporate agendas, so too must employers.
There are three key elements to being strategic about conflict management.
Behavioural Interviewing: Hiring Effectively for the Future
Brenda Grape, Queen's IRC Research Assistant, 2012
With 18 years of experience as an HR professional, I have observed that most organizations realize that a strong recruitment plan is crucial for the success of any business. Efficiently recruiting and hiring the right candidate is critical in today's competitive market. One technique that has become widely used in the recruiting process is the art of behavioural interviewing. Based on the concept that future performance can be predicted by previous experience, behavioural interviewing, if structured properly, can be one of the most effective recruiting tools available. In this article, I will draw on my experiences with designing and conducting behavioural interviews to provide some recommendations for practitioners considering this form of interview in their own workplace.
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Copyright 2017 Queen’s University IRC, Robert Sutherland Hall, 138 Union Street, Kingston, ON K7L 2P1
Call 1-888-858-7838 | Email IRC@QueensU.ca | Visit us online at irc.queensu.ca
In the current business environment, it can be very frustrating some days to be an HR professional. In many ways it is like we are living the first line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
The word “strategic” gets thrown around pretty loosely these days – it's one of those business buzz words meant to instill confidence that we’ve thought this through and it's all under control: trust us, we've got a strategic plan!
With 18 years of experience as an HR professional, I have observed that most organizations realize that a strong recruitment plan is crucial for the success of any business. Efficiently recruiting and hiring the right candidate is critical in today's competitive market. One technique that has become widely used in the recruiting process is the art of behavioural interviewing. Based on the concept that future performance can be predicted by previous experience, behavioural interviewing, if structured properly, can be one of the most effective recruiting tools available. In this article, I will draw on my experiences with designing and conducting behavioural interviews to provide some recommendations for practitioners considering this form of interview in their own workplace.
Queen’s IRC will attend two more conferences and trade shows this spring. If you are planning to attend, please stop by our booth and say hello: 
