HR Manager's role - Creating business competitiveness

The moment you hear the word competitiveness what comes to your mind is marketing. Contrary to this belief, overall competiveness of a business cannot be built by one department or function.

Talent is considered by successful organisations as the main asset in ensuring competitiveness. Based on such a premise, the HR head should be the main supporter and promoter of world-class initiatives in employer branding to attract, motivate, engage and retain the best professional talent that an organisation requires to be competitive.

Be a co-owner of the business plan

Based on my experience, I do see the need to change the vision, scope and focus of most Sri-Lankan HR professionals.

A capable and competent Human Resources Manager must have a strategic mindset to actively support the leadership vision and related strategies, co-owning the business plan not limiting the scope to budgeting and expense management around people-related business activities.

Instead of aligning the HR strategy in terms of the effect on the bottom line, HR managers explain things in 'touchy' terms.

If HR wants to be seen as a real value creator, the focus should be on the business plan and as to how HR activities can ultimately impact bottom-line performance.

A good HR professional should be someone who has understood and can clearly communicate the organisation's goals, strategy and objectives to employees independently and be the custodian of policy and procedure in conjunction with statutory and state legal requirements.

HR manager as internal salesman and marketeer

The HR manager should have the ability to successfully make up the value proposition of the employer to the existing and potential employees bringing all key elements together and articulating in a persuasive manner targeting both internal and external stakeholders.

Positioning the statement as an employer, ,should be a collective decision by the leadership of the organisation spearheaded by the HR manager.

Having the right 'product in place as an employer' is not sufficient. The HR manager has a task of augmenting the employer as a brand with value addition and clearly communicating the benefits to employees regularly to keep the wheels of the organisation moving in the right direction. Good selling skills are a must for successful HR professionals in today's context.

Compliance and conformance to support performance employer statements typically claim "employees are our most valuable asset". This would lead one to believe that HR, the department charged with managing the people's assets, is powerful. HR has to take the lead to make this happen with the support of the leadership.

The HR manager is accountable for coordinating and implementing talent and policies of an organisation to ensure operational excellence with proper strategic alignment and nurturing a great workplace environment.

Compensation and benefits and a culture that encourage the right balance between life and work, and an exciting career development and succession plans that are systematically designed and executed to provide employee satisfaction help building a healthy and sustainable asset base.

In summary, competitiveness of a business is driven by the competitiveness of its employees.

To be able to build a competitive outfit, HR managers must understand the operating environment, industry dynamics and business, see themselves as part of the frontline commander in the battle field. It's leading and not limiting HR to a mere supportive role.