CONTENTS

Contents
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
How to use this toolkit 7

PART 1: HOW STRATEGIC ARE YOU? 11

Section 1: Personal qualities of the strategic HR practitioner 13
Tool 1.1 An initial icebreaker: are you biased towards
a more tactical or strategic approach? 15
Tool 1.2 Development quiz 19
Tool 1.3 How robust is your knowledge of strategic
planning tools and models? 23
Tool 1.4 The ethical practitioner 29
Tool 1.5 A 360º tool to assess your ability to devise
and execute HR strategy 33

Section 2: The HR professional as a change leader 47

Tool 2.1 HR change leader roles 48
Tool 2.2 Practical considerations for a change agent 51
Tool 2.3 A tool for assessing gaps in your skills,
awareness and knowledge 54
Tool 2.4 A checklist for deciding whether to
intervene in change 57
Tool 2.5 The dangers of ‘best practices’ 61
Tool 2.6 Refining your understanding about
positives and negatives of change 65
Tool 2.7 How to determine the scale of intervention
required 69
Tool 2.8 HR levers for change 73
Tool 2.9 Identifying key stakeholders for change
and their role: the ‘responsibility’ matrix 75
Tool 2.10 Communicating change 79

vii
CONTENTS

Tool 2.11 Evaluating the progress of change 83

PART 2: AN OVERVIEW OF STRATEGY 87

Section 3: Strategy: where to start? 89
Tool 3.1 Integrated model of strategic management 90
Tool 3.2 Getting started: what information should I
have about the organisation to get started? 91
Tool 3.3 The current position (the ‘situation analysis’) 93
Tool 3.4 Future gazing and using the STEEP analysis 97
Tool 3.5 Critical success factors that create
competitive advantage 103
Tool 3.6 Organisation design 109
Tool 3.7 Is the organisation’s design fit for purpose? 112
Tool 3.8 Is the organisation’s structure meeting the
differing needs? 114
Tool 3.9 Business process mapping 116
Tool 3.10 Stakeholder-interest mapping exercise 124
Tool 3.11 SWOT and TOWS analyses 126
Tool 3.12 Checklist for competitive advantage 130

Section 4: From ‘here’ to ‘there’: defining the strategic HR plan 133

Tool 4.1 Criteria for an HR strategy 135
Tool 4.2 Content for an HR strategy 140
Tool 4.3 Developing an HR strategy when you
have little to base it on 152
Tool 4.4 Deriving an HR strategy from a business
strategy 159
Tool 4.5 An exercise for drawing out a set of linked
HR objectives and policies 162
Tool 4.6 Step-by-step guide for developing an
HR strategy 166
Tool 4.7 Examples of HR strategies that fail 169
Tool 4.8 Implementing an HR strategy 174
Tool 4.9 Components and other documents

viii
 that support an HR strategy: a strategic

CONTENTS
staffing plan 177
Tool 4.10 Components and other documents that
support an HR strategy: a training and
development framework 184

Section 5: Evidence-based HR 191

SUB-SECTION I: GATHERING EVIDENCE ABOUT THE HR FUNCTION 197
Tool 5.1 HR audit 199
Tool 5.2 Survey of HR service delivery 209
Tool 5.3 HR value cost analysis tool 215
SUB-SECTION II: GATHERING EVIDENCE AT THE THREE LEVELS FOR SPECIFIC
ACTIVITIES 219
Tool 5.4 Models of evidence 220
Tool 5.5 Human capital 222
Tool 5.6 How do your recruitment processes
stack up? 226
Tool 5.7 Evaluating your success in selection 229
Tool 5.8 Employee turnover 233
Tool 5.9: The reward review 238
Tool 5.10 Handout: where to focus your attention 241
Tool 5.11 The training review 246
Tool 5.12 The succession plan 248

Section 6: Strategic HR: identifying, managing and mitigating risk 253

Tool 6.1 What risks might your organisation face? 254
Tool 6.2 Scenario planning 258
Tool 6.3 A case study based on a live example 261
Tool 6.4 Further cameo scenarios to prompt creative
thinking 263
Tool 6.5 Risk avoidance or risk management? 264
Tool 6.6 Managing particular types of risk 268
6.6.1 Business interruption 270
6.6.2 Personal security threats 272
6.6.3 Risks with mergers and acquisitions 274

ix
 PART 3: MAKING IT HAPPEN
CONTENTS

277
Section 7: Getting to know the key players 278
Tool 7.1 A suite of case studies: getting stakeholder
buy-in 280
7.1.1 The case study: obscuring the data! 283
7.1.2 The case study: mapping the
relationships 287
7.1.3 The case study: no accountability for
HR issues 290
Tool 7.2 Stakeholder analysis 292
Tool 7.3 Who is in your network? 295
Tool 7.4 Relationship mapping: who are the key
influencers in the organisation? 298
7.4.1 Relationship mapping: your own map 301
Tool 7.5 Getting buy-in from line managers 305
Tool 7.6 Tips for building credibility 308
7.6.1 Building your credibility with key
players 309
7.6.2. The questionnaire: building your
credibility 311
Tool 7.7 A place at the board? 314

Section 8: Making a compelling argument 315

Tool 8.1 Building a business case 319
Tool 8.2 The classic ‘cost–benefit analysis’ 326
Tool 8.3 Making the business case for specific HR
initiatives 330
Tool 8.4 Putting it all together: a case study 338
Tool 8.5 Putting it all together: a case study –
a telecommuting proposal for ANORG 340

Section 9: The role of branding in HR 347

Tool 9.1 How to build a brand 350
Tool 9.2 Checklist for assessing the employment
relationship 357

x
Tool 9.3 Organisational diagnosis 362

CONTENTS
Tool 9.4 The HR brand: communicating brand
changes 366

Section 10: Structuring the HR function for success:

how to make your IT department ‘fit for purpose’ 373
Tool 10.1 Assessing whether your HR function
should be more centralised or decentralised 376
Tool 10.2 The pros and cons of greater and less
decentralisation 382
Tool 10.3 Administrative HR – what to do with it? 386
Tool 10.4 Costing out your administrative services 392
Tool 10.5 Devolving HR services 395
Tool 10.6 Employee champion: where does this fit? 399
Tool 10.7 How to decide what fits into your HR
function 404
Tool 10.8 Getting more flexible support 408
Tool 10.9 Centres of expertise 411
Tool 10.10 When should you outsource? 414
Tool 10.11 Role of corporate HR 417

Appendix DFID people strategy 2005–2008 421

References 437

xi
 INTRODUCTION
Introduction
In an ideal world every organisation will have a clearly defined strategy or business
plan. However, this is not always the case and often HR must make strategic
decisions in what seems like a vacuum. This toolkit helps the HR professional to
explore and leverage organisational strategy so that you can design, develop and
implement a successful HR strategy. We start by providing tools to help you assess
your own capability. We then define what strategy is and include some examples.
There are a number of diagnostic tools to help you understand the organisational
strategy better or, where it is not clearly stated, to enable you to unearth it. From
there, we move into how to prepare an HR strategy, and provide a number of
practical tools and interventions to help you turn it into a reality.

Whilst this toolkit is focused on the needs of HR directors, or others in the

HR profession who are moving into more strategic and influential roles (such
as OD or change facilitators), it can be used by senior executives moving into
or operating in any key strategic role. It is also designed to support
consultants who are operating in this arena.

We suggest ways that the various tools and techniques can be used by individ-
uals. Many of them are also suitable for using in group settings – either within
HR, or across a multidisciplinary group within your organisation.

As a result of using this toolkit, you should be able to make the following
statements about your capability or practice:

• I have the strategic skills which enable me to operate as an effective HR strategist.

• I can lead the organisation in times of turbulence.
• I understand the strategic process and can use a range of tools and
techniques to identify key priorities.
• I am successful in helping managers to understand the importance of
key HR objectives and activities.
• I know how HR adds value.

1
INTRODUCTION

• I engage line managers and employees in exploring options and

creating my strategy.
• I am able to communicate the intended strategy to line managers and employees.
• I know how to make a business case for a strategic HR intervention.
• I can structure my HR function for success.

What is HR strategy?
A strategy is a set of informed choices which provides direction,
inspires commitment and allows the organisation to respond quickly to
customers and competitors, enabling it to fulfil its goals and achieve a
sustainable position in its market.

What does a strategy do for you?

A good strategy:

• forces choice
• focuses effort
• balances continuity and change
• helps to integrate all the different parts of the HR remit
• translates ideas into practical action.

What are the ingredients in an HR strategy?

The business strategy sets the agenda for:

• resourcing
• skills acquisition and development
• culture, values and attitude
• commitment
• productivity
• performance management
• rewards
• employee relations.

Adapted from HRM: strategic action, CIPD fact sheet, by M Armstrong (1992).

2
We hear the phrases ‘strategic human resources management’ and ‘human

INTRODUCTION
resource strategy’ quite a bit these days in the workforce. But line managers
and even some HR professionals sometimes find it difficult to describe what
these concepts are and what they actually look like in practice. Experience
shows, however, that when true strategic HRM does ‘occur’, it is recognised
for what it is.

Consider, for example, the following comments:

• You seem to have an extremely good grasp of the business!

• You really added value in that board meeting the other day.
• I didn’t even know you were in HR (a backhanded compliment!).
• That intervention really made a difference to our … (bottom line,
marketing drive, organisational morale, positive press coverage,
customer satisfaction, etc).

When you hear any of these, you are receiving signals that a human
resources strategy is underlying some or many of your actions and ways of
working.

Why does HR strategy matter?

Most employees want to feel that they are relevant to an organisation, and
human resources professionals are no exception. We have seen, over the
years, many human resources departments being decimated or having their
roles transferred to line managers, often in an attempt to save costs or
eliminate duplication of work – and even, sometimes, to eliminate what are
seen as unnecessary efforts. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with
saving costs – just as long as it does not prevent those HR practices or
processes which add value to the business.

Even if, as an HR professional, you have not been part of a ‘downsizing’ of

an HR function, or the transfer of it to other parts of an organisation, you
may very well have experienced a flow of complaints and criticisms about
HR. How often have you heard the following phrases?

3
INTRODUCTION

• HR stopped me doing …
• It’s all HR’s fault that …
• I can’t do that because the HR policy manual/rules don’t allow me to.
• I get inconsistent responses from HR staff.
• The HR policies and procedures are unclear.
• I have to do something in a particular way because HR told me I had to.

The ‘traditional’ role of HR, when it first became a profession, was to

administer payroll and benefits, and act as a ‘policeman’ to ensure fairness
and equity. HR also assisted in resourcing organisations (particularly larger
ones) and letting people go. The measure of success lay in the inputs rather
than the outputs. For example, in such traditional, ‘transactional’ HR
functions, some measures of success might be:

• Are employees paid on time?

• Are they recruited in sufficient numbers, and quickly?
• Are people let go when they are no longer relevant or not performing?
• Do employees receive consistent and prompt answers to their benefit
questions?

These aspects comprise the ‘tactical’ side of HR. This is still important when
we talk about the components of strategic HRM, but if it happens in a
vacuum without an agreed strategy, it isn’t on its own going to be very
useful or helpful to an organisation in the longer run.

Why does HR strategy sometimes fail?

In a busy world, being strategic is not always easy. Many so called ‘HR
strategies’ are far from strategic. Why? There are lots of reasons and we
have listed the common pitfalls that you might run into below.

Common pitfalls
• You overcomplicate the strategy and have too many competing
objectives.

4
• You fail to take into consideration different scenarios which the

INTRODUCTION
organisation may face.
• Your words or actions don’t inspire or convince.
• Your words or documents are vague or superficial.
• The strategy consists of a document listing all possible options without
prioritisation (the ‘menu’ approach).
• Accompanying documents and presentations are boring to read or
listen to.
• You don’t communicate the desired future state.
• You are overly dependent on jargon.
• You overpromise.
• You talk in generalisations and don’t speak to the individual (‘what’s in
it for me’ is missing).
• There are errors, gaps or omissions.
• You don’t have the talented employees or resources to implement.

What differentiates a good human resources director (HRD) from a mediocre

one is this: a good HRD will have a focus on the future whilst keeping a firm
grip on the current situation. So when creating strategy, HRDs who are fully
informed about the future will have considered the implications of possible
changes or scenarios for the business strategy and be weighing up options
and priorities. They really know their business. They may have used similar
tools to those in this toolkit to analyse its strengths and weaknesses and
opportunities for change. They have a good grip on the organisation. They
understand its current capability and the current business needs, and they
take all of these into account when balancing the priorities. Finally, they
know how to convince and influence – even the best strategists can face
defeat if they can’t convince and persuade others of the strategic direction
they have so carefully crafted.

Are there risks in writing an HR strategy?

A well-considered strategy communicates (to others in the organisation)
what your intention is. It therefore also tells them what you have
deprioritised or what you will not be doing. If you have worked through the
5
INTRODUCTION

tools here you can be confident that the strategy will be a well-considered,
relevant and dynamic proposition, and most important of all, aligned with
the organisation’s strategy. Working through these tools will show you that
you don’t need to make grandiose statements or use complexity and jargon
to write a good strategy.

Strategy can be transmitted both orally and in writing. We recognise that

writing it down does make you vulnerable, but we advocate doing this as it
helps both to shape your own thinking, and also to explain to others what
you mean. You are stating what you will do (and, by omission, what you will
not) and other people will have views about what you should be doing. Your
strategy allows them freedom to challenge you. Whilst you may feel
threatened or exposed, it does give you more likelihood of gaining
management’s buy-in. You may need to revise your strategy as people make
information available to you that wasn’t previously, but this is fine and to be
expected. Share your draft strategy with your peers early in the process so as
to gain feedback. They may reveal strategies or perspectives of their own
which will add value and which you will need to take into consideration.
Writing the strategy can’t be achieved by committee; you will need to make
the final decisions, but this period of creating and drafting will allow you to
analyse your thinking and deliver something that is ultimately more robust.

6
 HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT
How to use this toolkit
The structure of the toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help identify what HR strategy is. It describes how to
recognise when circumstances and situations enable an HR professional to grasp
opportunities to ‘add value’ and gain greater recognition for the HR function.
There are 10 sections covering three key areas. We start in the first part by
exploring the personal qualities and attributes of the strategic HR
professional. In the second part we provide an array of tools around
strategy, how to develop it and how to define and document your own HR
strategy. Finally we focus on implementation. The tools in this part address a
range of topics that you will need to understand if you are to deliver the
organisation’s HR strategy.
You are encouraged to read the toolkit in a sequential way, as each section
builds upon the previous ones. However, it can be used for ‘dipping into’
according to your own needs and requirements.

Part 1: How strategic are you?

Section 1: Personal qualities of the strategic HR practitioner
Are you ‘naturally’ strategic, or can you grow and learn to be so? In Section 1,
this and other questions are considered. There are tools which individuals can
use for self-assessment, including a 360º tool. This will help individuals identify
their strengths and areas that will require development. Once completed the
tool will direct the individual to relevant learning activities in the toolkit.

Section 2: The HR professional as a change leader

Section 2 lays out a strategic approach to major business changes such as
restructuring, downsizing, growth, mergers or global expansion. It considers
change as both an output of strategy and a driver for it. It touches on
organisational development and provides essential pointers for the HR
strategist to consider.

7
HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT

Part 2: An overview of strategy

Section 3: Strategy: where to start?
This section provides ways of becoming knowledgeable, and a range of tech-
niques for HR professionals. It will demonstrate that just being a good HR
professional does not provide the basis for being ‘strategic’; rather, it is
knowledge of the business and even the industry that can differentiate people.

Section 4: From ‘here’ to ‘there’: defining the strategic HR plan

This section addresses how an HR professional can develop a clear vision of
where and how the HR organisation needs to reorientate itself to meet the
vision and objectives of the wider organisation. It will deal with how to link
the organisational vision with an HR vision. We explain how to make the HR
strategy a ‘living’ document, not something that is just put on a shelf.

Section 5: Evidence-based HR
Evidence-based practice has had a major impact on medicine, education and
now HR. When adopting evidence-based approaches, practitioners make deci-
sions based on their own assessment but also on the best available external and
internal evidence from research about a problem and its proposed solutions.

Section 6: Strategic HR: identifying, managing and mitigating risk

In a fast-moving and increasingly unstable business world, the role of HR is
becoming ever broader. This section explores things that more strategic HR
functions can do to identify risks. It will include a set of tools that will help
HR departments plan for business continuity during a recession or business
disruption, and for dangers such as terrorist attacks, as well as other threats
such as high absenteeism levels and competitor threats.

Part 3: Making it happen

Section 7: Getting to know the key players
Being strategic is about getting others to buy into your ideas and take the
relevant action. Knowing who the key influencers are in an organisation is
important. Being able to gain their support in turn helps the HR

8
professionals to become influential themselves. This section focuses on some

HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT

techniques for HR professionals to use to identify key players and gain their
support. These are not necessarily the managers at senior levels, but might
include trade union representatives, communications specialists, lawyers or
administrative employees, to name but a few.

Section 8: Making a compelling argument

This section provides tools to help the HR professional make a well-
considered business case for any HR activity. It also provides help for HR
people who find themselves bearing the brunt of complaints about HR
delivery or lack of it.

Section 9: The role of branding in HR

The employer brand is a critical tool in the ‘war for talent’, in motivation and
in engagement. We have provided tools to help the HR practitioner create
and develop a ‘brand’. We provide checklists and templates to help embed
this in relevant HR policies, practice and communications. We also look at
branding the HR function itself to help communicate the values and qualities
associated with it.

Section 10: Structuring the HR function for success

In this section the focus is on how to organise an HR department to best fit
an organisation’s purpose. The delivery mechanism for HR will differ from
one company to another, depending on each one’s needs and requirements.
The tools demonstrated here are designed to help readers select the
structures best suited to their situation.

The structure of a tool

Each tool begins with an overview explaining its purpose, listing any
materials you will need, and outlining ways to use it. These introductory
pages are marked with this symbol:

9
HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT

This introduction is followed by the tool itself, which may include for
example checklists, tables and questionnaires. These materials are available
online (see address below) and are marked with this symbol:

These documents may be downloaded from the toolkit’s website

[www.cipd.co.uk/tsm] and are customisable at the discretion of the
purchaser of the toolkit or the purchaser’s consultant/facilitator.

Navigating the toolkit

For those of you who want to ‘dip into’ the toolkit, we have included a
matrix here which shows you the tools to use in different situations.

Helping line
managers Engaging
Building my Identifying
understand with line Making a Leadership
Sections own strategic how HR adds
the managers and business case development
skills value
importance employees
of HR

Section 1 ✘ ✘
Section 2 ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘
Section 3 ✘ ✘
Section 4 ✘ ✘ ✘
Section 5 ✘ ✘ ✘
Section 6 ✘ ✘
Section 7 ✘ ✘
Section 8 ✘ ✘
Section 9 ✘
Section 10 ✘ ✘ ✘

10
 PART 3
Making it happen

MAKING IT HAPPEN
There are four sections in this part of the book. The first three cover
important aspects that you must address if you want to implement your HR
strategy.

In Section 7, we start with an exploration of how you get to know the key
players. There are tools to help you think about stakeholder engagement
and how to get buy-in for your suggested course of action. We then look at
how you can influence others and build your own credibility with key
stakeholders.

Section 8, which is closely linked to Section 7 and Section 5, is where we

consider how to make a compelling argument.

Section 9 tackles the tricky subject of communicating your brand values. It

may seem odd to think about the HR function needing to have its own
brand, but many successful HR teams have used this approach to help
explain, to an often cynical community, the HR values. Rather than just
focusing on the HR brand we have looked at how branding helps to support
the implementation of your strategy and can deliver real value to the
business. We therefore look at branding from two perspectives: the
employer brand and the HR team brand.

Section 10 is the last section in the toolkit but arguably one of the most
important. It looks at structuring your HR department for success. We
provide an array of tools to help you move to action, and create the HR
function best suited to implementing your strategy.

277
 Section 7
Getting to know
GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

the key players

Introduction
Being strategic is about getting others to buy into your ideas and take the
relevant action. Knowing who the key influencers are in an organisation is
important. Being able to gain the support of the influencers in an
organisation in turn helps HR professionals to become influential themselves.
This section focuses on some techniques for HR professionals to use to
identify and gain the support of key players.

This section starts by exploring different situations in which we need to be

able to engage stakeholders. It is different from other sections because it
focuses heavily on case studies. This device is used to help you understand
some of the situations the authors have navigated in their careers. It gives
you the opportunity to consider how you would have approached the
situation, by working through the questions which follow. We then provide
you with a ‘what happened’ synopsis. Some of what happened was good
but we also share some examples of where things went wrong. By using a
few examples we seek to demonstrate the importance of developing key
skills in this area. We do not suggest that what we did is the only answer, or
indeed would be the right answer in your organisation. It is impossible for
you to be fully prepared, with all the answers for the many complex
situations you will face in getting buy-in to your ideas. By building your skills
you will have a better chance of navigating most situations.

We start with a large tool which contains three case studies (7.1.1 to 7.1.3).
These are intended to generate debate about the strategy that could be
used in each and the skills that are essential to develop. Use them on your
own, in pairs or in small groups.

278
Tool 7.2 is a stakeholder analysis which invites you to think about a change

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

you need to make and to identify the position of each of the stakeholders
with regard to the suggestions.

Tool 7.3 provides you with a network analysis. Highly effective HR strategists
are often exceptional networkers. If they don’t know how to do something,
they probably know a man or woman who does. They are often seen as
people who get things done, where others struggle. Network analysis allows
you to identify how robust your network really is.

Tool 7.4 is a process for mapping relationships. This is a critical tool for
implementing your strategy. It has two parts. We start with Tool 7.4 to help
you identify the key influencers in your organisation, then we move onto
Tool 7.4.1 which will help you to spot areas of strength or weakness in your
own or your team’s relationships.

Tool 7.5 is a method for identifying issues you may encounter when
devolving HR responsibilities to line managers.

Tool 7.6 is an exercise to help you think about your ability to build credibility
with key stakeholders.

Tool 7.7 is a short list of actions you can take to get a seat on the board.

279
TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Tool 7.1: A suite of case

studies: getting
stakeholder buy-in
Overview
A strategic move on the part of HR practitioners who want to be proactive is
to find ways to influence and win over key stakeholders. Studies show that
without the support of the top leadership of an organisation, any change or
new development in the human resources arena can actually worsen
organisational performance! (Adapted from Whittington and Molloy, 2005.)

As Peter Reilly and Tony Williams explain in their book Strategic HR: building
the capability to deliver (2006), the assumption that strategy-making is a
rational and deterministic process is wrong; rather, a strategic HR player
needs to be able to understand the internal politics and be active within the
informal networks of an organisation.

Identifying the key players

Key players are not necessarily only those at senior levels. Stakeholders come
in different forms, depending on the kind of organisation concerned. They
might include any or all of the following – depending on whether, for
example, it is a private-sector or public-sector organisation, operating in one
country or globally, and on the type of industry it operates in, its size and so
forth. See which ones apply to you? Are there any others you can think of?

• the board
• the president/chairman/CEO of the organisation
• key allies and players in your parent company/subsidiary organisations
• your immediate boss
• employees

280
• managers

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

• the union(s) or staff association
• clients
• press and media
• government and politicians
• lawyers
• IT staff
• pensioners and ex-employees
• suppliers/buyers
• local communities
• partners (eg with joint ventures, outsourced business etc)
• potential recruits
• communications specialists
• budget specialists.

Aim of the tool

To provide the means for individuals, pairs or groups to explore the
difficulties associated with implementing HR strategy , and the skills needed
to get stakeholder buy-in to it.

Procedure for using it

There are three case studies which cover different aspects of stakeholder
involvement in a variety of types of organisation. Choose the one that is
most appropriate for your own organisation. They can be used individually,
in pairs or in groups. Each has two parts. The case study or scenario is
shown along with a number of questions to help prompt discussion. There is
then a second sheet called ‘The reality’ which gives you examples of the
action taken by the HR director. This is also accompanied by a couple of
questions aimed at getting the group to explore the real-life solution to see
what learning they can take from it.

Facilitators should invite the individual or group to identify the skills needed
and encourage the group to consider how good their own skills are in these

281
TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

areas. The tools that follow can then be used to explore their skills set
further.

The facilitator may also want to get the group to identify stories from their
own organisation and to analyse them in a similar way.

Evaluating its use

Have you been able to identify alternative solutions to your own problems or
issues for gaining stakeholder buy-in?

On reviewing the HR survey or employee engagement survey, can you see

real improvements in how people rate senior managers’ relationships with
key stakeholders?

282
 GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS
Tool 7.1.1: The case study:
obscuring the data!

Part 1: the scenario

Here is a scenario, based on a true situation, where the lack of relationship-
building with key constituents brought about some dire consequences.

Obscuring the data

A public-sector organisation had a board which met several times a

year to approve the budget (including the salary budget, merit pay and
promotion increases).

For a number of years, HR succeeded in getting the budget approved

by the board only after contentious discussions. The budget
submissions were presented in two parts: first the overall budget, then
the more detailed salary budget. HR typically presented a fairly complex
paper, with the intention of deliberately ‘obscuring’ the real details (for
example, that the overall increase being sought was somewhat higher
than it appeared). For a number of years, their strategy succeeded
because none of the board members wanted to admit their ignorance
of the subject.

The budget department and the HR department did not always see
‘eye to eye’ with each other and often presented the same data in
different ways, and with a different ‘spin’ on the figures which further
added to the confusion.

It was clear that the current situation was unsustainable. And indeed,
eventually, some of the more astute board members, playing a strong
governance role, started probing and questioning the data, with the
inevitable consequences – the budget failed to be passed.

283

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adapt this document in line with our terms of use: http://www.cipd.co.uk/Bookstore/onlineresources/termsofuse.
TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Consider and discuss the case study with another person. Then answer these
three questions:

• What needed to be done to resolve the problem?

• Which of the list of key players (pages 280–281) needed to be involved
and consulted?
• Which relationships would have been key to dealing with this issue?

Additional questions to consider:

• What advantage did HR hope to gain by obscuring the data?

• Is this ever an appropriate strategy to use?
• How do you keep the stakeholders engaged if you need to withhold
data?

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Part 2: obscuring the data: the reality

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

What happened in real life was the following:

The HR director engaged with the budget director and set up a series of
meetings between the HR department staff (especially those working on
compensation matters), and the key budget staff preparing the annual
budget submission, in order to:

• get to know the perspectives of the budget team

• explain to them the rationale and formulae behind the cost-of-living,
merit-pay and promotions-increase proposals
• agree on common definitions and indicators
• agree on a common and more simplified paper to be presented all at
one time, which both departments could support.

The HR director then decided to visit every single one of the (20 plus) board
directors to listen to their concerns about salary budget issues. Often there
was more than one meeting with those deemed to have greatest influence
over the board decisions – or who were widely viewed as the worst ‘trouble
makers’. These meetings were also used to explain the rationale behind
certain budget requests. In addition to the board members themselves,
meetings were also held with the directors’ assistants – the staff who usually
prepared the directors’ responses at the board meetings. These meetings
were used as opportunities to gather feedback and provide education for
those closely involved in the board decision process.

The HR director initially had strong resistance from the compensation staff in
HR to preparing a clearer board submission – these particular individuals
guarded closely their professional knowledge and expertise. However, they
were won over after seeing the HR director’s influencing style with the board
members and strong ability to listen and take into account their concerns
whilst being able to clearly explain the rationale behind the salary budget
requests. Once they saw that the board directors were turned around from
being negative to supportive, they changed their approach and attitude.

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TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Lessons learned
Engage your group in thinking about the lessons learned from this situation.
Here are some suggested learning points:

• Know who the key influencers are and get to know them.
• Take time to listen; be prepared to explain and adapt the final outcome
appropriately to reflect their concerns.
• For complex issues, try to present them in a more simplified way.

It’s the way you present and how you adapt the message to the audience
that’s important – you are not going to be able to pull the wool over other
people’s eyes all the time, so adapt to fit the interests of key stakeholders –
‘what’s in it for them’.

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 GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS
Tool 7.1.2: The case study:
mapping the relationships

Part 1: the scenario

Here is a scenario from a different organisation, again based on fact, where
the lack of relationship-building with key constituents brought about some
dire consequences.

Mapping the relationships

A high-profile organisation had a strong staff association. The HR team

became aware that there appeared to be many ‘leaks’ of information
to local politicians about the perceived ‘abusive behaviour’ of some
managers towards their staff.

The HR director received a request from one such politician for a

meeting to explain what was happening within the organisation and to
ask what steps were being taken to deal with the issues reported.

Very soon, the media got wind of the situation and there was negative
publicity about the organisation in the national press. Even prospective
employees would ask about this when they came for job interviews.

The results of a recently introduced 360º exercise used for managerial

assessment became widely known and were used as examples of poor
managerial performance and further back-up for evidence of abuse in
individual cases.

There was some truth in the rumour, but it was being exaggerated for
political gain. The organisation was addressing the behavioural
problems; this information, however, was sensitive and the HR director
did not want to get into a debate about it on radio or in the media.

Action had to be taken.

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TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Consider and discuss the case study with another person. Then answer these
questions:

• What needed to be done to resolve the problem?

• Which of the list of key players (pages 280–281) needed to be involved
and consulted?
• Which relationships were key to dealing with this issue?

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Part 2: mapping the relationships: the reality

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

So, what happened? The HR director assigned the deputy HR director to set
up a weekly consultation meeting with the Staff Association chair and her
team. Initially, meetings were rather ‘sticky’, but over time things improved
and more information was shared within the group. The two key players
started meeting on a one-on-one basis, to test whether they were able to
share key confidences, and gradually trust was developed. The deputy HR
director listened and was able to gather some pertinent information about
staff complaints that had not surfaced through the 360º assessments, and
was able to probe more deeply into areas of potential harassment and – in
relevant cases, and with the assistance of the HR business advisers – advise
managers on the relevant action to take. In turn, the Staff Association top
team were able to understand better the significance of certain types of
behaviour as revealed through the 360º exercise. (For example, it became
clear that the feedback which said that a manager was ‘abusive’ was not
always correct, but sometimes resulted from dealing with a difficult staff
performance issue.)

All this information was eventually shared at a general level, without actually
discussing individual names so as to be sensitive to the actual managers
cited. Enough information was shared to educate both parties as well as the
politicians who had been lobbied to check on what was going on! In their
turn, the media stopped targeting the organisation. Finally, the internal
communications team were able to assist with putting out useful follow-up
messages about the situation and how it was being dealt with.

Exercise
Working on your own or in pairs, consider the questions below:

• Consider the reality: what would you have done differently?

• What are the skills demonstrated here?
• How good are your skills in this area?
• What do you take away from this exercise?

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TOOL 7.1 GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN

Tool 7.1.3: The case study: no

accountability for HR issues

Part 1: the scenario

In this case study you are given both the problem and the solution an
organisation decided to adopt. Consider the scenario and then answer the
questions below.

No accountability for HR issues

Managers in a private sector organisation were getting promoted even

where they were not managing their staff properly – including keeping
on poor performers. The HR director provided a business case which
demonstrated that, with proper accountability and training, results and
quality of output would improve, and quantified the savings made in
time of products getting to market.

He built up a relationship with the Budget Manager, and together they

were able to present a joint proposal for measuring productivity and
setting measurable indicators to measure output and quality. A client
survey was also carried out and the results published, which showed
up the areas for improvement.

In pairs discuss the case and answer the first two questions:

• What are the key issues in this case study?

• What are the critical skills needed?

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Part 2: no accountability for HR issues: the reality

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

The CEO of the organisation was persuaded of the need for change, and so
was resolute in supporting the proposals made, and communicated them
over and over to her line-management team. Promotion criteria started to
include some HR indicators – like productivity levels, doing more with less
and tackling non-performers.

After two years, there was true accountability for managing people, and an
acceptance by line managers that their role was to manage people, not just
budget and other assets.

Personal reflection
• What would you have done?
• How good are your skills in this area?
• What can you take away from this exercise?

Also, see Section 5 on ‘Evidence-based HR’. The evidence provided in this

case study was influential in gaining support and winning around key
stakeholders and influencers.

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TOOL 7.2 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

Tool 7.2: Stakeholder

analysis

Overview
As mentioned above, identifying the key stakeholders when you are trying
to implement your strategy will help you to be more effective. It is equally
important to explore their relationship to the issue or the activities you are
aiming to introduce. This information will help you to decide on how to
proceed and which tactics to use to get them onside.

Aim of the tool

It provides a template for analysing the position of key stakeholders in
relation to strategic intent.

Procedure for using it

Start by identifying the strategic imperative for which you want to ensure
stakeholder support.

Either individually or with your HR team, use the template on page 294 to
help you explore the position of key stakeholders. There are a number of
stakeholders listed here; change the list to suit your situation. Consider
which tactic is best for each of the positions. Use the suggestions below:

• ‘For’: Ensure that your proposal is positioned so that it meets the needs
of this group and will be supported by them. Make sure that you do
not lose their goodwill by failing to recognise their interests.
• ‘Undecided’: This is where you can gain most leverage. Ensure that you
identify their needs/interests/concerns. Then review your strategy and
any activities you want to initiate to see where the blocks might come.
Try to minimise their objections by making changes where you can to

292
 meet their needs. This may require that you meet with each of them

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

individually. You may need to spend more time with some and involve
them in the process.
• ‘Against’: This is the hardest group to influence. Identify their objections
and ensure that your proposals address them directly. Try to involve the
dissenters in your early discussions so that you have at least given them
an opportunity to vent their anxieties. This may require a personal
meeting or a team meeting prior to the implementation. By meeting
with our opponents, we do at least demonstrate our respect for their
position.

Finally note the actions that you have decided to take.

Evaluating its use

How good are you and your team at getting stakeholder buy-in to the
implementation of key aspects of your strategy?

What do your peers, or other stakeholders say about your skills and interests
in working with them and understanding their position?

Have you been able to implement your strategy, particularly any critical
activities or ones where you expected opposition?

293
TOOL 7.2 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

The tool: Stakeholder analysis

The element of the HR strategy which needs full stakeholder buy-in is:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

The position of each of the key stakeholders is:

Stakeholder For Undecided Against Actions

The board
President/chair/CEO of your
organisation
Key players in your parent
company/subsidiary
organisations
Your immediate boss
Employees
Managers
The union(s) or staff association
Clients
Press and media
Government and politicians
Lawyers
IT staff
Pensioners and ex-employees
Suppliers/buyers
Local communities
Partners (eg with joint
ventures, outsourced business
etc)
Potential recruits
Communications specialists
Budget specialists

The action needed is:

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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 GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS
Tool 7.3: Who is in your
network?

Overview
Who is currently in your network? Using the list on page 294, can you
identify others who currently are not? How important is this type of
stakeholder to your modus operandi and ability to get things done? Are
there any particular individuals or groups of individuals who are particular
‘gatekeepers’ or ‘naysayers’ that you need to build bridges with and win
around?

It is difficult to maintain relationships with all stakeholders at all times,

primarily because of the pressures of time. It is important, therefore, to
decide who you need to meet with and when, how best to do this, and on
what topics.

Aim of the tool

To help identify the key people in your network that you need to make time
for.

Procedure for using it

This is a good tool to use with a coach, trusted manager or peers.

Using the template on page 297, map out the ‘Before/Now’ situation, and
the ideal ‘After’.

In thinking about your relationships, also consider whether:

• There are some relationships that are well established and don’t need to
be changed or given attention for now.
• There are some relationships that can be dropped (eg those contacts

295
TOOL 7.3 WHO IS IN YOUR NETWORK?

who add little value and who take up time and energy – often there are
a few of these in any organisation who want more of your time for
themselves, and give little back or are not useful to you).
• There may be some relationships that are going to be short lived. For
example, there is rapid turnover of CEOs these days. While a CEO can
be a key ally, his or her early departure can be a problem for an HR
director who is seen as being too ‘close’ to the CEO. You may want to
consider how to build a relationship with CEOs without developing such
a close tie that you become defined as ‘their’ person, and therefore
vulnerable on their departure.

Evaluating its use

Are you meeting with the people who will help you to implement your
strategy? How robust is your network and are there people you need to do
more with?

296
The tool: Who is in your network?

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

Currently Currently
Need to
have don’t have
Stakeholder develop Action
relationship relationship
relationship
with with
Example: Quite good Could be There are Start by sending
The CEO but meetings better. times when I occasional e-mails
are always need to be that may be helpful
initiated by able to to him/her. Seek to
him/her. approach the have a meeting once
CEO to run every month or so,
an idea past to explore a specific
him/her. issue. Ensure that I
am well prepared
and have solutions
ready. Take no more
than 15–20 minutes.

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TOOL 7.4 RELATIONSHIP MAPPING

Tool 7.4: Relationship

mapping: who are the key
influencers in the
organisation?

Overview
Knowing who the key influencers are in an organisation is important, since
these are the individuals who can support you in implementing your
strategy, and hence assist in bringing about a more favourable outcome.

Aim of the tool

To help you identify who is talking to whom, and in turn who are the key
influencers in your organisation.

Procedure for using it

Interview each individual in an organisation (or, if it is a large one, start with
‘obvious’ ones who hold significant roles) about who they communicate
with and about what.

This is a dynamic tool – as you go along, you can add more names and
more links as names come up in interviews.

It’s best to obtain a lot of detail about who communicates with whom (and
about what) before sorting it. It can then be sorted by type of
communication – such as ‘providing information to’, ‘directing someone to
do something’, ‘consulting someone’ and so on.

It can be further fine-tuned by adding the kind of communication used –

such as ‘providing a board paper’, ‘providing data’ or ‘holding a staff

298
meeting’. It is important, also, to be sure to get both sides of the

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

communications – to identify areas where information is sent but not used
or responded to – in other words to assess the impact, since individuals may
send out much information, yet much of it may go unheeded or unread.

This model can be taken a step further to analyse from whom and to whom
the bulk of e-mails are sent. This provides a way of seeing where the
information flows go. It also helps distinguish what might be ‘important’ e-
mails from those that are urgent or just for information – and hence
provides a way of undertaking a kind of ‘business process’ of e-mail usage,
as well.

From this kind of model, you can start to see who the ‘influencers’ are. See
the example on page 300.

Evaluating its use

How effective are you at spotting the key influencers in the organisation?

299
TOOL 7.4 RELATIONSHIP MAPPING

Example
The diagram below shows that one person (D) communicates with almost
everyone, and has a two-way relationship with (A). (D) could be potentially
quite powerful, depending on the content. It also shows someone (F) who is
isolated and does not communicate with (or is not communicated with)
anyone. Arrows going both ways signify that the person has greater impact.
S/he is both a receiver and disseminator of communications; the
relationships are not just one way.

An example of a relationship map

D E

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 GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS
Tool 7.4.1: Relationship
mapping: your own map

Overview
Sometimes it is not easy to anticipate who the key players might be when
we start to implement our strategy. Superficially, it would seem that it is
those who have the most visibility. But sometimes it is those who operate
behind the scenes who have the most influencing power in the organisation.

It is sometimes useful to literally ‘map out’ the relationships you have with
key stakeholders. That allows you to answer the question: ‘Who is talking
with whom?’ From this, you can identify the key ‘leverage points’. This is
especially useful when planning out the establishment of a new policy,
process or change programme, or when implementing your strategy.

Aim of the tool

Provide a process to map the relationships that currently exist against the
desired state, and to spot gaps or areas to improve.

Procedure for using it

This is a slightly different process from the previous one. Start with yourself
at the centre of the map. Have the desired change in mind and note down
all of the key stakeholders. Now map the current relationships by using
arrows to indicate the flow of information. Who are you talking with? Who
are they talking with?

Step two is to do something similar, but now note down the relationships
needed to help move the change forward. So, taking the same stakeholders
(add in any new ones that will help), map out the ideal situation. What are
the relationships that you would like to have with others? Are there any

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TOOL 7.4.1 RELATIONSHIP MAPPING: YOUR OWN MAP

relationships of your team members that are weak and need to be

bolstered?

Now compare the two. This will show you where the weaknesses lie and
you can make a plan to build the relationships that you need to have in
place to ensure successful implementation.

An alternative approach is to allocate larger boxes to the people who are

very important in the process. This allows you to keep track of these people
and can help to focus your attention. You can also change the length of the
lines to help you plan. Short lines could denote: ‘keep them close’. Longer
lines indicate that these people are more remote from the decision. However
you choose to draw it, the act of drawing helps you to identify the gaps. It is
also good for helping you to communicate with your HR team about the
complexity of the stakeholder involvement and what action needs to be
taken by you or them.

Evaluating its use

Are you gaining buy-in and building your own and your team’s credibility
with key stakeholders?

When you review your strategy, have you found that people have been more
or less supportive? How much time are you spending coercing others or
having to manage conflict or barriers to your work?

302
Example

GETTING TO KNOW THE KEY PLAYERS

This example looks at the relationship between the HR team and the staff
association. It is based on the earlier case study (on page 287) where it was
found that the organisation’s staff association had been leaking information
to the media.

The ‘before’

HR business
advisers

Line managers
You/
HR Your deputy
director

Staff association
Communications

Media

The arrows represent the flows of communication. What do you notice

about them?

What is immediately apparent is that:

• Your deputy has little delegated authority.

• The staff association has the ‘upper hand’ – in that they communicate
to you, yet you don’t communicate to them.
• The staff association is communicating to the media – without you, or
even your communications department being in the loop.

Clearly, there are large gaps in the influencing sphere. What happens when
you decide to proactively fill these gaps and create the appropriate links?
This is what the picture would look like afterwards:

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 The ‘after’
TOOL 7.4.1 RELATIONSHIP MAPPING: YOUR OWN MAP

HR business
advisers

Line managers

You Your deputy

Staff association
Communications

Media

Some points to note:

• Your deputy has more delegated responsibility, and now manages the
staff association consultation process.
• Your deputy also has more direct authority to liaise with the
organisation’s communication department to put together relevant
messages for the media.
• In turn, the communications department provides data and information
that the HR function can use to proactively respond to media comment.
• The HR business advisers are able to get more actively involved in the
feedback and follow-up loops with line managers.

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