Recently in Strategic HR Category

One of the most critical capabilities we see in markets today is the ability to innovate. Innovation can occur in multiple areas including products, services, distribution, administrative systems, strategy, etc. But what is the discipline of innovation and how can you, as an HR manager, bring it to a company?

Dave Ulrich introduces an innovation protocol - a framework that HR professionals can bring to management teams to drive a disciplined discussion about building innovation as a capability.

Additional Resources

	Many of the capabilities discussed in this series were first introduced in the book, How Leaders Build Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.
	View videos on each of the organization capabilities.

All companies must understand and respond to the needs of their customers if they are to be successful. HR professionals are ideally positioned to build that capability by bringing customer information into the firm, disseminating that information throughout the firm, and using that information as the basis for integrating and coordinating the activities of their organization.

In this video, Wayne Brockbank describes the role of HR in developing a "Customer Connectivity" capability within the organization and provides examples of HR organizations that have achieved success in this area.

Additional Resources

	HR's role as a "Strategic Architect" is discussed in the recent book HR Competencies (Ulrich, Brockbank, Johnson, Sandholtz and Younger) Click to learn more.
	View videos on each of the organization capabilities.

An RBL Institute Mini Forum White Paper
By Dave Ulrich & Justin Allen

Participating RBL Institute Members:
Jane Howard, BAT | Keith Lawrence, P&G | Bob Moresy, Cambell Soup | Carole Watkins, Cardinal Health

Imagine this: You are the Chief HR Officer of a Fortune 500 company and every morning, every single one of your 100,000+ employees wakes saying, "I absolutely love my job. I'm going to get in to work and give my company everything I've got to add value for our stakeholders!"

An impossible dream? Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but in the daily battle to add value for multiple stakeholders, companies are increasingly acknowledging the importance of creating and embedding an integrated, simple, and strategically-aligned employee value proposition. Whether faced with mergers and acquisitions, downsizing in a tough economic environment, or simply working to ensure employees are engaged and dedicating high levels of discretionary effort, a solid EVP can have an immense impact if leaders can make it real.

In a lively conversation on May 29, 2008, four senior HR leaders from some of the world's premier companies discussed the challenges, opportunities, and best practices in employee value proposition delivery. The following sketch provides key points from the discussion. We first list challenges currently faced by senior HR leaders, and then outline insights on (A) WHY employee value proposition (EVP) can be beneficial, (B) WHAT a good EVP must be, and (C) HOW we can make it real for our employees.

Download the RBL Institute mini-forum whitepaper "Employee Value Proposition" in .PDF format.

As global trade continues to increase sharply, general managers and HR professionals must understand what is required to do business in emerging economies. In this video, Wayne Brockbank talks about two key questions that global organizations must consider: First, what are the basic requirements of doing business in emerging markets? Second, how do we leverage these countries as sources of competitive advantage? (8 min)

Additional Publications

What knowledge and abilities distinguish successful HR professionals? Learn about the six competencies identified in the largest study of global HR competenices in HR Competencies by Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger, Kurt Sandholtz, and Dani Johnson.

An RBL Institute Mini Forum White Paper
By Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank & Justin Allen

Participating RBL Institute Members:
Diane Gherson, IBM | Brian Moore, Cardinal Health | Rick Vanasse, Bon Secours | Lori Weber, Intel

Since McKinsey and Co. published their famed study titled "War for Talent" in 1998, there has been an increasingly popular debate around the reality of a talent war, the location of the battle grounds, and who the "talent" we're all fighting for really is. In an RBL Institute mini forum facilitated by Dave Ulrich on July 3, 2008, HR Leaders from IBM, Cardinal Health, Bon Secours and Intel discussed the challenges they currently face in staffing and outlined the best practices that they are using in their organizations.

Download the RBL Institute mini-forum whitepaper "Innovations in Staffing" in .PDF format.

Organizations merge, make acquisitions, or simply reorganize in an effort to make the whole better than the sum of the individual parts. In organizations, we refer to this capability as "collaboration." Companies that succeed over time learn to collaborate well.

In this video Dave Ulrich discusses the two parts of the collaboration capability: Managing for Efficiency and Managing for Leverage.

Additional Resources

	Collaboration as an organization capability is discussed in-depth in the book, How Leaders Build Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.
	View videos on each of the organization capabilities.