Creating a strong narrative for HR’s (and leaders’) work

This graphic pulls together how to create a strong narrative for HR’s (and leaders’) work, from the perspectives of different stakeholders. The key themes in this report? Trust and transparency.

The aim is to build HR’s story – in numbers. HR tend to come from a place of implicit understanding that treating people well and fairly delivers business value.

But we have to prove it. This language is helpful (left hand blue circle): ‘Deeper visibility into workforce. Greater ability to spot HCM risks and opportunities’. It applies to every stakeholder, including employees (‘Jan, why are you engaged/why did you leave?’ can all be built in), and puts the people agenda into strategic, financial language.

Thank you to The Conference Board think tank, who got together some clever minds. Their ‘Accelerating Value’ report ‘revealed three times greater Human Capital Return on Investment among organizations using human capital analytics in decision-making. This, in turn, drives 25 percent higher profits.” Dr. Solange Charas, CEO, HCMoneyball.

“A shift toward multistakeholder capitalism, in which companies place a higher priority on serving the long-term welfare of constituents beyond their shareholders, such as employees, is truly underway.” Dave Ulrich.

“We’ve been seeing an increasing number of shareholder proposals asking that companies report human capital information.” says Ameena Majid. This is a powerful trend for HR.

The complete narrative, in practice, needs to be contextual and compelling – and you can only do that when you consult stakeholders. The numbers are only part of the story – they need to be brought to life and down to earth. ‘If you do more of this, you get more of that’. ‘If leaders keep doing that, you’ll lose more people like Jan, and here’s the cost’.

Our Strategic Roadmap provides a structure for HR leaders to create the conditions and clarity to consult (at scale if you wish) stakeholders about HR’s priorities. We do employee research too.

Register here for a free resource that’s coming out soon. This will show you how to build a ‘lite’ version yourself and have revealing conversations with stakeholders about what matters most to them.