HR SWOT Aligned with Strategic Priorities (6 min.)

The HR SWOT analysis is a tool that helps HR departments align their strategies with their organization's strategic priorities. It involves conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of HR's ability to support the organization in achieving its priorities. The analysis also includes creating action plans for each of the HR function's centers of excellence, including talent acquisition, talent management, learning and development, total rewards, diversity and inclusion, HR shared services, and more. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the current state of each center of excellence in relation to the strategic priority and to identify the actions needed to support it. It is also an opportunity to educate senior leaders about the different disciplines within HR and the role they play in a high-functioning HR department. (Summary generated by ChatGPT and edited by a human)

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Machine generated transcript:

Speaker 1 (00:00):

All right, this is a quick video on how to use the HR swab analysis to see about hrs ability to help the organization achieve their strategic priority. As an organization, you already have your strategic plan laid out and out of that strategic plan, you have strategic priorities, F that have been laid out for the organization. And so this worksheet or document is to help a HR identify their ability to help the organization achieve these corporate strategic priorities. In this worksheet, we have you go through the SWAT analysis, which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as it relates to hrs ability to help the organization achieve their strategic priorities. And then,   beyond that, we then lay out sort of action plans needed. So what is the current state of all the different centers of excellence as it relates to helping the organization meet these priorities?

(01:02):

  so whether it's talent acquisition, talent management, learning development, total rewards, D n i, er, HR, shared services. All right. So,   this is not to be mistaken for a SWOT analysis for the HR function in general. We have a different worksheet for that,   but more so as it aligns to the strategic priorities of the organization. Okay, so first, let's define the SWAT as it relates to hrs ability to support the organization. And then we'll walk through an example of how this all comes together. All right. First of all,   let's go through the definitions. Strengths, pretty self-explanatory, but internally, what are the strengths that HR has to help the organization reach these strategic priorities? What are the weaknesses within hr? And then in typical SWAT analysis for an organization,   as you know, strengths and weaknesses are internally, internally focused. Opportunities and threats are externally focused.

(02:09):

  in this particular case, because your external environment is outside of the HR function,   can be your organization as well as the larger external environment. So opportunities can both be internal to your organization as well as ex in the external environment. And I'll kind of walk you through an example of what that looks like. Threats,   also can be internal to the organization or the external environment. Okay? So those are the definitions, and as I mentioned down here, then for each center of excellence, there is an opportunity to identify what the current state of the function is as it relates to that particular strategic priority and what actions are needed to be able to support that strategic priority. One thing to keep in mind is even if you, you don't have a center of excellence leader in any of these functions,   and,   maybe you have one or two, maybe you have somebody in total rewards or somebody in learning development, but you don't have centers of excellence leaders in the others,   obviously that's gonna fall onto you, the head of hr.

(03:18):

  or maybe it's combined. In any case, it's still worth showing,   to the executive team so that they understand <laugh> that, uh, these are resources and it's a opportunity to educate senior leaders about the different disciplines within HR and what they do. So you can kind of think about this as almost like an executive summary for your executive team.   whether you lay it out in this format or it's a one pager,   it's, it's an opportunity to also educate senior leaders about all that it takes to,   really have a high functioning HR department. Okay, so let's just walk through a quick example. Let's say one of the strategic priorities for your organization is to create a digital lead generation funnel for new clients. And,   you walk through your organization, you say, Hey, look, we have a really strong TA team for attracting the talent.

(04:20):

Uh, and it potentially could be an exciting opportunity.   the weakness is that currently these positions don't exist. So there's no career path in place for this type of digital talent, and we're pretty limited on talent management staff to help with that initiative opportunities.   let's say that there's opportunities to work with C M O to design the role and the KPIs, and so that we have a clear picture of what success looks like, and you're setting up the new employees for success, and also why this could be a great opportunity for someone.   some of the o other opportunities might be that the CMO has no digital experience, and so there's opportunities to maybe work with him or her to,   review. Like what's the best way to assemble and, uh, structure a digital lead gen team. The threats,   perhaps are that we're, you know, you, you aren't a tech firm and maybe you're a manufacturing firm, and so this type of talent isn't super interested in working in the manufacturing environment. And internal threats are that the CMO thinks that this is a great opportunity and everybody wants the job and therefore is willing, is only wanting to pay below market. Okay? One thing I forgot to mention is that perhaps you want to assign a,   HR business owner, right? So somebody who is,   in charge of making sure that the organization, the

Speaker 2 (05:56):

HR organization, is on track to,   drive results for the strategic priority. So in this case, I put the HR business partner for the marketing function. Okay, let's move on down.   uh, in this section then you would go through and analyze sort of the current state of each center of excellence,   and then also what are the actions needed? So in this particular example, let's say we have a strong TA process and that the team can, you know, is capable of going out and headhunting this type of talent.   and you know what,   at this point, they we're gonna put them in charge of working with the C to highlight what really makes this a great job, and they can,   put that into their pitch to the MAR candidates that they're marketing to in talent management. Maybe you're in the middle of a job architecture for the entire company and there's gonna be a delay in adding new roles and career path.

(06:56):

So,   make sure that you're connecting with the C M O to talk about what that's gonna look like in the future. But also since the C M O himself doesn't have this type of experience and doesn't have this digital marketing background, are there opportunities to connect the C M O with resources,   and help him or her,   come up to speed on this new area, assuming they aren't right. And so that could be connecting them with another C M O, it could be connecting them with a board member who is savvy in this space, but what can we do to also help the leaders,   be more effective at leading a new role? Okay, so since this is a new role, obviously for learning and development, there's no training in place today and l and d would need to work with the HR business partner or organizational development or design,   and understand the role, understand what success looks like need, and then there's a, gonna be a need to put some training and development and onboard onboarding programs in place for this very important role in total rewards.

(08:06):

  at this point, you don't have any market data for this type of digital marketer, and we'll need to, you know, outsource the comp benchmarking and look into how other tech firms,   what kind of perks they have, because this is the kind of talent that you're gonna be competing for. And in this particular example, we don't have,   anything for ER or HR shared services. Okay? So what I really like about this,   worksheet or executive summary is basically how it lays out all the things that are currently in place and what needs to be done so that you can really demonstrate to the executive leaders the,   delicate balance between all the centers of excellence in HR and getting a strategic priority to the finish line from a people perspective. Okay? So look forward to hearing from many of the members and sharing your,   SWOT analysis with the team. If you have any suggestions on this or if you modify this in a way that works better for you, we'd love to see that and share with the rest of the group. All right? Uh, good luck and,   let's go out there and get some business built.