This trend is being amplified
by the way professional and
managerial work is being
organised within businesses.
Organisational structures are
becoming more fluid and agile, so
project working and matrix
management structures are now
the norm.
These new ways of working,
aligned to the shortages, are
encouraging firms to become
more creative with their
workforce design and placing
more emphasis on providing a
great work experience.
Key findings
Developing competitive people
strategy requires a new way of
thinking about people within
organisations. One that is
offensive (providing businesses
with a sustainable advantage)
rather than defensive (providing
policies and processes that ensure
compliance with both regulation
and perceived best practice).
Both leaders and HR
professionals need a new way of
designing, creating, testing and
measuring people strategies to
ensure they create a differentiated
HR strategy.
The core finding of my research
is that at present very little time or
thought is given by leaders to
creating a competitive strategy.
Competitive advantage in the
era of knowledge, data and
intangibles is more likely to be
derived from having talent, which
is better led in an inclusive and
dynamic culture and a great place
to work, than in capital, product
or sales strategy.
The building blocks of a
competitive people strategy may
be similar to leadership, culture
and employee experience, talent
management, and how to lead
organisation transformation.
However, it’s how you use
these tools to provide a
commercial advantage that’s
different and new.
Another important concept
is moving HR from acting as a
support function to becoming a
creator of value and driver of
business success.
Drawing on insights from
organisations that have used this
new way of operating, I have
shown how, for example, Royal
Mail transformed itself with a
people-first strategy.
Both Starbucks and Enterprise
developed successful business
strategies based on a deep
understanding and measurement
of what created superior value
for their customers. They both
recognised that if their employees
were fully engaged it led to
improved customer service,
which itself delivered repeat
spending and superior
financial results.
Through extensive research
interviews with senior HR
leaders, I believe that the
profession needs to reinvent itself
to remain relevant. The findings
include HR competing for the
brightest and best more
assertively than ever, and
investing far more in the
development of its own people.
It also proposes that the
function in future may be best
A different slant Strategic HR
split in two – having a ‘people
architect’ or strategist who
develops the people strategy,
working alongside organisational
leaders and an HR delivery
function that delivers peoplerelated
services.
The people architect spends
their time on defining a people
strategy and plans on how to
implement it. This is radically
different to how most HRDs
spend their time today, which
in reality is spent on managing
the delivery of HR/people
Percentage of CEOs worried about
the availability of key skills
This chart shows the percentage of respondents who
stated ‘extremely concerned or ‘somewhat concerned’
when asked ‘how concerned are you about...business
availability of key skills?’
80%
73% 72%
77%
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Source: PwC’s 21st CEO Survery, Talent
56%
53%
58%
63%
hrmagazine.co.uk April 2020 HR 39
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