Effective Human Resource Practitioner

My report will briefly summarise the human resources professional map detailing the 2 core professional areas, specialist professional areas, the bands and also the behaviours. It will then go on to talk about the activities and knowledge specified within one professional area identifying those which are most essential to my own HR role.

The report will outline how an HR practitioner should ensure the services they provide are timely and effective in particular in relation to my own HR role. It will identify customer needs, effective communication and effective service delivery.

Summarise the Human Resource Professional Map

The HRPM sets out the knowledge, activities, skills and behaviours required to be effective and successful within an HR role. It is made up of 10 professional areas including 2 core areas which are Strategy, Insights & Solutions and Leading HR. Regardless of your HR role you need to be competent in these two areas. It has four bands in which HR professionals of different roles/knowledge fall into. Band one is for those in a supportive/admin role. Band two is those in an advisory role and/or managing a small team. Band three is for those at a consultancy level leading a professional area. Those in band four will be in a managerial/leadership role of an organisations HR. There are 8 behaviours in the HRPM which describe how any HR professional will need to carry out their activities. These include curious, decisive thinker, skilled influencer, driven to deliver, collaborative, personally credible, courage to challenge and role model.

Comment on the activities and knowledge specified within any 1 professional area, identifying those I consider most essential to my own role.

The professional area I have decided to look into regarding the HR roles within my company is the area of Employee Engagement. Employee engagement refers to the employee’s emotional connection that they have with their job, including towards their work, colleges/line managers and towards the organisation. As an operational manager I am responsible for a team of 22 people. I need to ensure that all the team members are motivated to contribute to the success of the team and the organisation. I work with the team members individually and as a team to make sure that they are living the organisations values and they are demonstrating the correct behaviours. All health and safety checks are completed in a timely manner and I ensure that all the required mandatory regulatory documents are kept up to date. I regularly review team member’s performance achieved against the required standards using reports produced. Holding regular one to one meetings with the team members ensures that they are aware of their objectives and the required standards.

I implement training plans for new team members and also continuous refresher trainer for all team members to ensure that any new information or updates are briefed and fully understood. I create, track and monitor coaching plans for each team member making sure that those who have been identified as requiring additional support receiving the necessary support they require to enable them to achieve the required standards. I also ensure that for those team members already achieving and exceeding the required standard also have a plan in place not only to help them focus on maintaining their achievements but also to support them with their own development and further career progression. In order to be able to support the team I also need to ensure that my own knowledge of my organisations policies and procedures are kept up to date I do this by ensuring that my own mandatory training on regulatory requirements are kept up to date. I read any briefings that are sent via the organisations main communications team.

How an HR practitioner should ensure the services they provide are timely and effective.

Understanding customer needs (include examples of 3 different customers and need for each, and explain how you would prioritise conflicting needs) As an operational manager I have various customers to whom I need to ensure that the services I provide are delivered in a timely and effective manner. Understanding each of my customer needs is the key to giving them good service and this means putting myself in their shoes and trying to look at things from their perspective. The 3 key customers that I deal with are the external customers to whom we provide our products, my team members and my direct senior management chain.

External Customers – main need would be to ensure professionalism in all communications both verbally and written. Team member – main need would be to keep their records up to date with sickness, awards, training, and change in circumstances. Senior Management chain – main need would be to provide updates on performance /development reviews.

The needs of my key customers may sometimes be conflicting. For example, my external customers require delivery of their products within a set timeframe, My senior management team require high levels of performance and want the team members to work a set 5 day week working pattern to align with these requirements whereas my team members’ work schedules were determined prior to them joining the team and the team members don’t want to change their schedules as they want more time off and a better work/life balance. In order to work with all groups to find the right balance and a way of resolving these conflicts is to focus on the overall needs of the organisation. Ensuring that all team members are aware of the organisations needs and are given the opportunity to change their schedules if they want. Also by ensuring that any new team members are recruited on the required schedules The skills and abilities of all the team members need to be aligned to their job role and I need to ensure that development and training is kept up to date to ensure that productivity is reached.

Effective communication
We communicate with people every day, but sometimes we do not adjust our communication style to the audience or situation. This can lead to confusion, hurt feelings, or misunderstandings. Three examples of different communication methods and the advantages and disadvantages of each are as follows: E-Mail > an advantage of this form of communication would be that you are able to take time over the words that you use and the information that is being sent. A disadvantage would be that the content of the e-mail can be misinterpreted. Conference Telephone Calls > an advantage of this form of communication would be that a consistent message is delivered to all the required parties. A disadvantage could be that people can get distracted and do other things, a loss of attention. Presentations > an advantage of this form of communication would be that you can tailor this in advance to the needs of the audience. A disadvantage would be if the presenter didn’t hold the audience’s attention by not being familiar with the subject being delivered. Effective service delivery

Having agreed the level of service that you are going to provide it is crucial that as an HR practitioner I provide it, on time and as agreed. Consistently providing the service my customers expect will build up their confidence in me and promote great working relationships some examples of this are: Delivering service on time – have a knowledge of customer & audience, be organised, make sure I have a contingency plan and ensure that I prioritise accordingly. Delivering service to budget – be aware of how over-spends impact on other sectors/areas. E.g. overtime. The cost of building maintenance. Recruitment/promotions and redundancies. Dealing with difficult customers – keep a calm approach, no blame culture, be honest and set realistic expectations. Ensure that you provide evidence to support-justification of any complaint. Handling and resolving complaints – Listen, provide confidentiality, acknowledge and apologise. Agree timescales ensuring that you prioritise. Be non-judgmental and impartial at all times.

Conclusion
In conclusion I believe I have summarised the human resources professional map detailing the 2 core professional areas, specialist professional areas, the bands and also the behaviours. I have talked about the activities and knowledge specified within the area of Employee Engagement which are most essential to my own HR role.

I have outlined how as an HR practitioner I should ensure that the services provided are timely and effective in particular in relation to my own HR role by identifying my customer needs, effective communication and effective service delivery.

References

CIPD > http://www.cipd.co.uk/

CIPD Professional Map > http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/profession-map/default.aspx

Michael Armstrong & Angela Baron, 2013, Managing Performance