HR, Re-imagined
3 Key Insights to Help HR & Business Leaders Drive Human Sustainability.
You’ve come to know that at Sprout, we’re not afraid to colour outside the lines.
Our Sproutlier mindset has embraced the opportunity to re-imagine relocation, planting a flag in the ground for the Hu (Human Element) in Global Mobility, and now, the same window of opportunity has opened up for the Human Resources Industry.
We’re not only getting creative with leading the charge for the Hu in our industry - we’re championing the belief that across industries, forward momentum on humanizing work requires co-creation.
Read on as we outline 3 key insights we’re drawing inroads for as we help HR & Business leaders embrace change in this new dawn of work.
1. OUT: Paint-by-numbers Approach. IN: Boundaryless HR.
A new canvas is being rolled out for HR to reclaim itself in its purest form: human-first resources to help people thrive.
From Function to Discipline: The Rise of Boundaryless HR, Deloitte Insights, Deloitte.com
Key Insight: This shift uncovers empowerment, where HR Leaders rise up and raise the people are our greatest asset flag at every intersection of an enterprise, from C-Suite offices, to remote working hubs. A boundaryless approach re-positions HR as a strategic pillar, one that requires cross-functional co-creation to yield cross-functional and sustainable human impact.
“HR has the chance to drive tangible impact as organizations face the futures of enterprise, workforce, and how work gets done.”
2. OUT: Traditional Risk-focused HR Discipline. IN: Strategic Human Sustainability.
We’re going one step further than boundaryless HR: Imagine a HR rebrand that takes the people discipline all the way to the top of CEO; where human sustainability drives business strategy, and inspires real impact within and beyond the framework of an organization.
“It’s hard to implement change effectively if you’re not leading change,” said Donna Morris, chief people officer at Walmart. “If we want to be a strategic function, we need to think about the role we play in architecting that change—envisioning organizational design, ways of working, new opportunities for impact.”
From Function to Discipline: The Rise of Boundaryless HR, Deloitte Insights, Deloitte.com
Key Insight: If not CEO, our utopian view-point paints a bigger picture that HR needs, and deserves a comfy seat at the Enterprise table. As business and people strategies start to become synergetic, CHROs and their teams’ have the opportunity to champion people alongside business needs for a holistic approach to human sustainability.
3. OUT: Status-Quo Solutions. IN: Human-Centred Outcomes.
We’ve been inspired by product and service design thinking from the tech space, and share below, our view of how HR and Business strategy can align around the Hu - it starts by going back to the basics.
“Enterprises are resilient when they stay stubborn about the problem they solve. They fail when they stay stubborn about a specific solution and remain status quo.
Ask yourself:
What do users, customers, and the community say about your organization? What structural barriers within your organization prevent people from focusing on human outcomes?
What do employees and shareholders say about your organization? What keeps employees from bringing the best version of themselves to their work?
How do the interests of different stakeholders (e.g. users, shareholders, community, employees) conflict with one another?
What fundamental human need does, or can your organization anchor itself in? How many different ways have you fulfilled the need?”
Taking this into the context of the Future of HR, here’s our service design approach to Human Resources, distilled down to:
Problem to be solved: Help people thrive at work (wherever work happens).
Outcome (shared between people and business strategies): Build a human-centred ecosystem that breathes life into and adapts your purpose, the why you do what you do.
Key Insights to Consider for Re-imagining HR:
What seat HR has at the table: Adopting systemic organizational change takes time yet, with Millennials in C-suite and senior leadership positions, and Gen Z entering the workforce, a new dawn for valuing HR as a strategic business function is here.
Hiring Criteria: With the rapid adoption of AI in work, upskilling is required for humans with expertise in using tech tools. Add to this, an opportunity to reframe hiring criteria in human skill sets; consider prioritizing empathy, creativity, and curiosity for a balanced tech + human touch approach.
KPIs: A shift from measuring success from transactional and monetary KPIs to HSIs (Human Success Indicators): empowerment, teambuilding, personal + professional development, innovation-thinking, curiosity-led insights etc.
Work/Life Dynamics: To help people thrive at work, let’s also help them thrive in life. It’s all interconnected. Invest in the experiences of employees as people, living and working in this uncharted time.
The path forward for HR, Re-imagined is boundaryless and HR and Business Leaders that embrace this reality will not only win the race to top talent, they will sustain relevancy during the change of tides.
We’re in this, and are better, together.
Download our Future of HR Trend Paper to Learn More
