What Are the Essential HR Core Competencies Every Professional Should Master?

In line with the futuristic vision of creating a new breed of HR practitioners who would do justice to HR as Human Rhythm - CIPD - London had formulated the following core competencies which HR Professionals must strive to master.

Core Competencies

The vision for the Professional Standards and for the competencies and possess a mixture of the following ten competencies:

1. Personal drive and effectiveness: the existence of a positive, 'can-do' mentality, anxious to find ways around obstacles and willing to exploit all the available resources in order to accomplish objectives.

2. People management and leadership: the motivation of others (whether subordinates, colleagues, seniors, or project team members) towards the achievement of shared goals not only through the application of formal authority but also by personal role-modeling a collaborative approach, the establishment of professional credibility, and the creation of reciprocal trust.

3. Business understanding: adoption of a corporate (not merely functional) perspective, including awareness of financial issues and accountabilities of business processes and operations, of 'customer' priorities, and of the necessity for cost/benefit calculations when contemplating continuous improvement or transformational change.

4. Professional and ethical behavior: possession of the professional skills and technical capabilities, specialist subject (especially legal) knowledge, and the integrity in decision-making and operational activity that are required for effective achievement in the personnel and development arena.

5. Added-value result achievement: a desire not to concentrate solely on tasks but rather to select meaningful accountabilities - to achieve goals that deliver added-value outcomes for the organization, but simultaneously to comply with relevant legal and ethical obligations.

6. Continuing learning: commitment to continuing improvement and change by the application of self-managed learning techniques, supplemented where appropriate by deliberate, planned exposure to external learning sources (mentoring, coaching, etc).

7. Analytical and intuitive/creative thinking: application of a systematic approach to situational analysis, development of convincing, business-focused action plans, and (where appropriate) the deployment of intuitive/creative thinking in order to generate innovative solutions and proactively seize opportunities.

8. 'Customer' focus: concern for the perceptions of personnel and development's customers, including (principally) the central directorate of the organization; a willingness to solicit and act upon 'customer' feedback as one of the foundations for performance improvement.

9. Strategic thinking: the capacity to create an achievable vision for the future, to foresee longer-term developments, to envisage options (and their probable consequences), to select sound courses of action, to rise above the day-to-day detail, to challenge the status quo.

10. Communication, persuasion, and interpersonal skills: the ability to transmit information to others, especially in written (report) form, both persuasively and cogently, display listening, comprehension, and understanding skills, plus sensitivity to the emotional, attitudinal, and political aspects of corporate life.

Trust it will be of use to all our HR Professionals.

Cheers,

Prof. Lakshman

Thank you, Professor, for the very nice article. I am attaching something related to the same.

Regards,

Thank you, Rishi.

I just checked your attachment in my email. Nice work. I would recommend other HR professionals to go through it as well, especially for newcomers like me. It's beneficial.

Surmeet

Dear Professor,

That is indeed a very good article. We are all thankful for the same. I would be grateful if you could help me in the following areas:

1. Broad activities of the HR Dept

2. Position-based Competency Criteria & Job Responsibilities

3. Process Sheets

All are with regard to HR. Since we are planning to implement a Quality Management System, I need to be equipped with the above documentation.

Thanking you in advance.

Warm regards,
shivkumar
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Dear Mangesh,

Here is a note on HR Value Proposition that may be of some help to you.

The HR Value Proposition

Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank, professors at the University of Michigan School of Business, say their book offers action rather than theory. The tips and tools between its covers include an HR professional development program, ways to build a specific HR strategy, and a short course on becoming investor- and customer-literate.

The HR Value Proposition draws on an 18-year study of more than 29,000 HR professionals and line managers worldwide. The authors have come up with value-focused criteria for HR and the actions HR must take to achieve them, from monitoring external business realities to creating a clear connection between HR actions and value for stakeholders.

The book notes that simply delivering the same old HR services in some new way, for instance via an online HR portal, isn't a true refocusing of HR. The emphasis for HR should be on deliverables, not processes, and on contributing value.

For HR "to create value, you have to know what value is," and that includes understanding the external business realities of technology, economic and regulatory issues, and workforce demographics that affect your organization. The book breaks down each of these areas, reviews major trends and gives readers succinct guides to sources of more information, from websites to books to government resources.

HR needs to know its external stakeholders—customers and investors—and what they value. Tips outline how to develop "investor literacy" by learning basics about investors and earnings. The book discusses "intangibles" on which investors place value but that aren't part of a company's tangible assets. Readers get exercises to make intangibles—such as keeping promises and collaborating effectively—come alive. HR can get better aligned with investors by engaging "target investors in hiring and promotion decisions" and by offering employee training that focuses on real business issues.

Learning what customers want, thinking like a customer (and a competitor) and developing constant customer feedback help nail down what customers value. The book suggests ways to give target customers voices in staffing, training, and appraisals and awards.

HR can help internal stakeholders such as line managers build the organization's capability, but first they must learn how to talk with managers to eliminate misconceptions about HR, build trust and focus on deliverables. HR can help employees build their personal abilities. Readers get ideas for how to represent employees' interests, too, from moving quickly on difficult decisions (such as closing a plant) to using surveys, ombudsmen, online chat rooms and other tools to hear from, and communicate with, employees.

The authors examine how HR practices add value. HR handles:

* The flow of people and the ways people enter, move up through and leave the organization.

* The flow of performance management, the standards and rewards that reflect stakeholders' interests.

* The flow of information, or how people know what is happening.

* The flow of work, including processes and accountability.

For each of these four areas, the authors explore its value, the menu of choices HR has in each case and action plans for delivering those practices.

The chapter on HR strategy provides specific tools for constructing a strategy that emphasizes organizational culture. The tools include a detailed outline for running a strategy workshop, with processes for learning about the economy, your own customers, suppliers and competition; worksheets on topics such as business environmental trends and competitive advantage; and ideas for getting participants to brainstorm.

A section on HR organization looks at how HR carries out its transaction work—its administrative duties—and its transformation work, adding value for all stakeholders. The authors provide tips on how to create different types of HR organizations, such as those embedded in business units and those that provide the entire organization with shared services. They also examine pros and cons of technology, service centers and outsourcing.

The authors look at HR professionals' roles as human capital developers, employee advocates, strategic partners, functional experts, and HR leaders. Competencies that maximize HR's value include making strategic contributions, having personal credibility, and delivering HR programs well. These chapters discuss how to build these roles and competencies for yourself.

In a chapter on developing HR professionals, Ulrich and Brockbank say development must be based on business realities and focused on application rather than theory. They offer a complete HR development program that readers can tailor to their own circumstances.

Cheers

Prof. Lakshman

Dear Sir,

I recently attended an interview where I encountered the same question. I could not justify the answer, in fact. Upon reading this, I found my answer. Thank you very much for the posting!

Regards,
Sara Kathi