Business Strategy for HR Leaders Course

Introduction

The traditional operational role of human resources leaders has seen a dramatic shift in the last decade. More and more organizations have identified HR as a key business unit that has significant implications for achieving corporate objectives. Senior HR executives are expected to create substantial contributions to the strategic decision-making process. As a result, they must first develop credibility and then demonstrate the required capabilities by having a firm grasp of the key concepts, models and language of business and strategy.

Business Strategy for HR Leaders provides senior HR executives with intensive training in strategy, which will enable them to participate equally in the boardroom and contribute to the decision-making processes in their organizations. This programme focuses on empowering HR leaders with the key strategic concepts used by CEOs and corporate leaders – and demonstrates how they can use these to develop their own HR agenda to complement their organization’s global strategic initiatives.

Duration

5 Days

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for senior HR and organizational development leaders from large multi-national firms, usually at the director or vice-president level. It is also useful for senior HR leaders from firms with large strategic expansion plans in which HR can add value. Most participants report to the CEO and/or board and manage a large international workforce. This programme is also suitable for owners, advisors and professionals of family-owned businesses who are interested in the key concepts and activities involved in strategic decision-making and people management.

Learning outcomes

• Enhance leadership capability by acquiring the knowledge of strategic concepts that will enable a more proactive role in shaping strategy within the organization.
• Develop the confidence to nurture key partnerships and to influence decisions on short-term productivity and long-term business strategic agendas.
• Develop an HR strategy to address the demands of change management and integration, and performance measurements in line with strategy implementation.
• Your organization’s most valuable resource is its human capital. A more cohesive integration of HR and business strategy will thus create a competitive advantage by aligning training, corporate structure, recruitment, and other HR functions with strategic needs. 
• A knowledgeable HR executive working in partnership with the executive team can play a vital role in aligning the organization’s human resources with its vision and corporate strategy. Business Strategy for HR Leaders equips senior HR executives with the key concepts, models and language of strategy so that they can contribute to the strategy-development processes of their organizations. 
• The programme is structured around five essential stages for strategic decision-making.
• Defining objectives
• The first stage focuses on the importance of setting business objectives. Senior HR professionals must understand the factors affecting the business landscape. This requires a careful assessment of the organization’s strategic objectives as well as those of its competitors.
• Auditing the starting point
• This stage allows HR leaders to have a deeper appreciation of the different business concepts – such as supply and demand value chain, market share, product positioning, and portfolio management – and how these define the competitive advantage within the industry ecosystem.
• Determining economic viability
• HR leaders will be exposed to strategic initiative frameworks that will evaluate the customers, the competition and the company – and will also identify appropriate performance models.
• Developing strategic options
• This stage focuses on generating methods to extract market value by leveraging the existing resources of the organization and identifying growth opportunities externally. This stage also helps senior HR professionals to lead the conversation on human capital risk assessment.
• Allocating resources
• People's issues lie at the heart of successful strategy implementation, which is ultimately about deploying talent to satisfy key functions based on market demand. Discussion of this competency allows us to link our strategy discussions explicitly back to the key responsibilities of HR leaders. This stage also tackles budgeting, implementation, and return on investment.