MBA and Social Work

22 PEOPLE & STRATEGY

Capturing the Credible Activist to Improve the Performance of HR Professionals Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank and Michael Ulrich, University of Michigan and Results-Based Leadership

VOLUME 33/ISSUE 2 — 2010 23

Overview of the HRCS, Round 5 At five-year intervals since 1987, we have surveyed the increasingly global HR com- munity to document the evolution of HR competencies. The fifth iteration of the sur- v e y, c o n c l u d e d i n 2 0 0 7 , p r o v i d e s a comprehensive portrait of HR’s role in today’s fast-changing world. Round 5 of HRCS was jointly sponsored by The RBL Group and the Ross Business School of the University of Michigan. We partnered with leading HR institutions in regions around the world to have a broader representation of global participants.

We followed a standard 360-degree feedback approach and sent invitations to HR profes- sionals to participate in the survey. These HR participants completed the survey and sent it to their internal associates who were familiar with their functioning as HR professionals (e.g. HR peers, subordinates, supervisors and non-HR clients). This is not a random sample of HR professionals worldwide. Because the sample is drawn from these HR professional associations, the HR participants could be characterized as both more committed and more competent in the profession (as evi- denced by membership in a professional association). The demographics from each round of the study are reported in Exhibit 1. Additional information for Round 5 is reported in Exhibit 2. Exhibit 3 shows the global cross section of HR professionals in Round 5.

Methodology We had two dependent variables, one focused on the performance of the individual HR

professionals and the other on the perfor- mance of the participants’ businesses. First, we asked about the overall effectiveness of the HR professional as perceived by his/her associates with the question: Overall, com- pared with the other human resource professionals whom you have known, how does the participant compare? The response scale ranged from zero percent to 100 percent in five percent increments.

Second, we wanted to understand the connec- tion between HR competencies and business performance. This is a complicated and dif- ficult relationship to measure. We were not able to use publicly reported corporate data, because we were examining results at the business-unit level. For example, in large companies, we might have data from two or three out of 10 business units; aggregating the HR data from two or three businesses and then comparing to corporate financial results would introduce bias and inaccuracy. We opted to use multiple measures of business performance that were measured by the fol- lowing four questions:

⦁ How well does your business unit meet its customer requirements?

⦁ How well does your business unit meet its owner/stakeholder requirements?

⦁ How competitive is your business unit in the marketplace?

⦁ How well-managed is your business unit financially?

For each of these areas, we asked participants to rate their businesses on a five-point scale, from low (1) to high (5). Because we had roughly 10,000 respondents and 400 busi- nesses, we had an average of 25 respondents per business unit. We believe that this multi-

T hese increased business demands have changed the expectations for HR pro- fessionals. A decade ago, HR clamored

to be “at the table” of business discussions. Now, in many organizations, HR is at the table. Still, whether HR is at the table or still seeking a seat, the challenge is the same, “How can HR professionals deliver value and help the organization deal with its great- est challenges?”ii

We have done research since 1987 on the competencies of HR professionals.iii We have found that effective HR professionals know the business so they engage in business dialogue, manage change and culture so they turn ideas into actions, act as strategic part- ners so they shape and deliver strategy, master HR functional practices so they align and innovate HR practices, and become trusted advisors so they work with the man- agement team.

HR professionals have been encouraged to be trusted advisers for yearsiv. In this consi- g l i o r e r o l e , t h e y h a v e b e e n c o a c h e s , confidents and counselors to business lead- ers. Yet, we found in our most recent round of the HR competency study (HRCS), that HR professionals needed to be more than trusted advisors. They need to be Credible Activists who not only sit at the table when business discussions take place; they con- tribute by actively engaging and guiding those discussions.

As a result, we dug deeper into the implica- tions of being a Credible Activist. We define what it means to be a Credible Activist, report on the competencies required to effectively play this role, and suggest specific develop- ment experiences to increase the ability to deliver on this function.

As business contexts evolve, talent and organization issues are progressively more important

to line managers. Changing technologies, globalization, new employee demographics, social

and political trends, increased customer choices, increased investor awareness, and intensified

competitive pressures have moved HR issues to the top of senior management agendas.

When CEOs are surveyedi, their top five concerns include issues such as talent, leadership,

strategy execution, and managing change. Leaders who help build individual competence and

organization capabilities will more likely succeed than those who do not.

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24 PEOPLE & STRATEGY

dimension and multi-rater approach offers a reasonable (albeit perceptual) indicator of business performance. Exhibit 4 shows a nor- mal distribution of perceived business performance using the multi-dimension- multi-rater methodology.

The HR Competency Model and HR Performance In the 2007 analysis, we identified six domains of HR competencies. (See a full review of this analysis in Ulrich et al, 2008vi). We organized these six domains around two dimensions: people and business (see Exhibit 5). HR pro- fessionals traditionally pay attention to people through the operational systems of HR and the talent and organization process- e s t h a t t h e y c r a f t . I n c r e a s i n g l y, H R professionals must align their work to the business by being business allies and strategy architects. However, as this model visually demonstrates, the crux of the HR profes- sional role is being a Credible Activist.

Exhibit 6 reports how HR participants (those doing self-assessment), HR associates and non-HR associates scored the six competen- cies on the extent to which the HR participant either does or is capable of doing HR prac- tices and activities. The pattern is much the same within each respondent group, with the six competencies grouping roughly into three levels of proficiency or report card “grades”:

⦁ Grade A: Credible Activist is the highest rated competency domain

⦁ Grade B: Culture & Change Steward and Talent Manager/Organization Designer are next, and roughly equally rated.

⦁ Grade C: Strategy Architect, Operational Executor and Business Ally trail some- what in terms of HR proficiency.vii

Exhibit 6 also shows the trends between Round 4 and Round 5. As we changed some of the questions from Round 4 to Round 5, it is not possible to do a direct comparison, but we can compare the domains somewhat over time.

Credible Activist is the highest-scoring com- petence domain in both Round 4 and Round 5 by HR participants, HR associates and non- HR associates. But the score drops in the Round 5 data. HR professionals in Round 5 are seemingly less credible than they were in Round 4. This may be because the Round 5 sample includes more data from emerging

ExHIBIT 1: SUMMARY OF RESPONDENT CHARACTERISTICS IN THE 5 ROUNDS OF RESEARCH

Round Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5

Year Conducted 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007

Number of Total Respondents 10291 4556 3229 7082 10,063

Number of Business Units 1200 441 678 692 413

Respondent Associate Raters HR Participant

8,884 1,407

3,805 751

2,565 664

5,890 1,192

8,394 1,669

Gender Male Female

77% 23

78% 22

70% 30

57% 43

46% 54

Relationship of Associate to Participant Supervisor Peer Subordinate (direct report) Client Other

12% 42 28 18

12% 41 26 21

10% 46 11 33

16% 28 25 28 3

19% 30% 27% 24%

Education of HR Participant High school degree Associate college degree Bachelor degree Graduate degree

3% 5 48 44

7% 7 43 43

4% 6 42 48

4% 9 42 45

9% 12% 37% 41%

Level of the HR Participant Individual contributor Manager of individual contributors Director of managers Top manager

20% 36 36 8

24% 41 29 6

29% 34 30 7

24% 34 31 11

28% 30 20 21

Size of HR Participant’s Company 1-499 500-999 1,000 – 4,999 5,000 – 9,999 Over 10,000

15% 10 25 11 39

17% 9 22 12 40

22% 13 34 11 20

25% 15 33 9 18

31% 14% 28% 6% 20%

Years in HR Profession for Participant 5 years or less 6-9 years 10-14 years 15 or more years

10% 14 26 50

14% 19 24 43

13% 15 21 51

25% 18 22 35

24% 20% 23% 32%

Industry of HR Participant Agriculture Petroleum and mining Chemicals, allied products, pharma General manufacturing Automotive Communications and high technology Retail and wholesale Financial services Services Utilities Public administration

0 6% 11 28 4 14 14 11 8 4 0

0 5 9 14 3 14 14 7 15 19 0

0 3 7 20 1 11 11 27 14 6 0

10% 7 15 5 6 16 8 11 16 3 3

6% 17% 12% 20% 0% 7% 5% 7% 20% 4% 3%

Primary Role of HR Participant Benefits/medical/safety Compensation HR planning/strategy/affirmative action Labor relations Org. development/research/effectiveness Recruiting Training/communication Generalist

6% 5 6 6 2 3 7 61

5% 4 8 8 5 6 14 45

5% 4 5 5 3 4 6 60

4% 6 8 6 13 4 12 48

3% 6% 14% 5% 7% 6% 9% 49%

VOLUME 33/ISSUE 2 — 2010 25

markets (e.g., China, where Credible Activist scores are lower), but also may suggest that while expectations and opportunities for HR professionals have increased, many practitio- ners are not keeping pace.

Exhibit 7 reports the relative impact of the six domains on the perceived individual perfor- mance outcome. We did two types of regression analysis to further understand the impact of these six competence domains on individual performance. In both regression analyses, we used the entire 2007 data set from all respondents. First, we wanted to find out how much the combined effect of the six HR competency domains determine an HR professional’s overall individual performance. We did this analysis for each of the three sub- populations of HR participants, HR associate raters and non-HR associate raters.

Second, we wanted to find out the relative impact of each of the six HR competency domains on the dependent variable of indi- vidual performance. We made this calculation by performing bi-lateral regressions between each of the six domains and individual perfor- mance. For ease of interpretation, we then took the weighted average for these six domains so that their relative average more than 100 per- cent could be readily seen. We found the relative impact and weighting of each of the six com- petence domains as they respectively influence individual performance.viii

As shown in Exhibit 7, the basic pattern of results is the same. Competence as a Credible Activist explains more individual HR perfor- mance than any of the other competence domains, followed by Culture and Change Steward, Talent Manager/Organization Designer and Strategy Architect, and finally Operational Executor and Business Ally. This same pattern holds regardless of the sub sample in the data: HR participants who rate themselves; HR associates and non-HR pro- fessionals who rate the HR participants.

For example, Exhibit 7 shows that for HR Associates 41.7 percent of the individual per- formance account for all six HR competency domains, and the Credible Activist domain accounts for 24 percent of the 41.7 percent. Each sub group has much the same pattern, according to the columns in Exhibit 7. This suggests that for an HR professional to be seen as individually competent, all six domains have some impact, but being an effective Credible Activist is the most important. The good news is that Credible Activist is also the highest rated in the descriptive data above.

We also tested the impact of HR competen- cies on business performance as shown in Exhibit 8. Others have found that about half of business performance is explained by things within the control of management and half outside the control of manage- mentix. We find that when HR professionals have competence, they affect nearly 20 per- cent of business results that are under the control of management.x All six sets of skills matter in predicting business performance, but Credible Activist, Culture Steward, Tal- ent Manager/Organization Design and Strategy Architect have the highest impact (about 75 percent of total). Also notice the relatively low value that non-HR associates place on HR professionals being business allies who know key internal and external aspects of the business. The issue is clear that HR professionals need to invest much more in business mastery.

The Credible Activist Role Credible Activists are respected and proac- tive. Credible individuals who are not activists may be respected, but have little impact. Activists who are not credible may have good ideas, but no one listens to them. The follow- ing matrix shows our logic:

Less Credible More Credible

More Activist

Risk of being seen as impetuous, arrogant or uninformed

Opportunity to have impact

Less Activist

Risk of being seen as a marginal or poor performer

Risk of being seen as irrelevant, not having anything to say, resting on past laurels, or not knowing the business

ExHIBIT 2: RESPONDENTS IN ROUND 5

Respondent type Definition N

Participants HR participants completed the self-assessment, and nominated associates to complete on their behalf

1,669

HR Associates All associate raters who work in HR and who completed the survey on behalf of an HR participant

5,048

Non-HR Associates All associate raters who work outside of HR and who completed the survey on behalf of an HR participant

3,346

All Respondents Total of all participants, HR associates, and Non-HR associates 10,063

ExHIBIT 3: GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS OF ROUND 5 DATA

US and Canada

Latin America

Europe China Australia/ Asia Pacific

India

2007 # of Respondents

2,773 2,127 1,553 2,110 1,235 263

2007 % of Total Respondents

28% 21% 15% 21% 12% 3%

ExHIBIT 4: BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN ROUND 5

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26 PEOPLE & STRATEGY

As the matrix suggests, individuals who are activists but have no credibility are likely to be viewed as impetuous or arrogant. Finally, individuals who are neither credible nor activists are seen as spectators rather than players by their organizations or colleagues. They are at risk of being replaced by more credible or activist HR professionals.

To further understand the details of being a Credible Activist, we factor analyzed the 16 items and found four factors that constitute this domain:

⦁ Delivering results with integrity.

⦁ Sharing information.

⦁ Building relationships of trust.

⦁ Doing HR with an attitude.

Factor: Delivering Results with Integrity Delivering results with integrity means sev- eral things. It reflects an internal consistency in the HR professional’s actions. It means operating in a principled way and taking actions that are consistent with company values, and that reflect how the company wishes to be seen and experienced by custom- e r s , i n v e s t o r s , e m p l o y e e s a n d o t h e r stakeholders. The ethical manner in which HR professionals approach tasks speaks vol-

umes about their insight into the organization and its culture, their commitment to the com- pany and their professionalism.

Delivering results with integrity is a combina- tion of who a person is and what a person does. An undeviating internal moral compass and an unimpeachable character are traits that build credibility in ways that specific talents or skills cannot. To deliver results with integrity, HR professionals must:

⦁ Focus on meeting pre-negotiated or pre- stated commitments.

⦁ Strive to be error-free.

⦁ Ask important questions that help to frame complex ideas in useful ways.

⦁ Achieve results without violating moral principles or compromising on ethics and values.

⦁ Take responsibility for actions and their consequences.

Factor: Sharing Information Credible Activists are good communicators. The influence an HR professional has on the business is magnified when good communi- cation skills supplement trust and risk taking. HR professionals gain and keep credibility when they are able to articulately and persua- sively communicate ideas. Such sharing of information occurs in both spoken and written forms.

Factor: Building Relationships of Trust Relationship building is a crucial skill in HR. It is critical in all professions, but particularly so in HR because so much of what HR does at is based on trust in its advice and perspective. Without trust, HR usually is allocated to trans- actional roles that have little impact on the central value creating activities of the firm. It must be able to diagnose and help solve inter- personal problems. Credible Activists create an atmosphere of trust that results in positive working relationships with key internal and external constituents. In the research survey, this skill set was summarized in the phrase “good chemistry,” which happens when:

⦁ Core values are shared.

⦁ Common interests are discovered that extend beyond work boundaries.

ExHIBIT 5: OVERALL HR COMPETENCE MODEL

ExHIBIT 6: MEAN SCORES ON MAJOR COMPETENCY DOMAINS BY RESPONDENT TYPE FOR ROUND 5 (AND ROUND 4) DATA (ROUND 4 DATA IS IN PARENTHESES)

Round 5 Domains (Round 4 Domains)

HR Participants HR Associates Non-HR Associates

Credible activist (personal credibility)

4.16 (4.34) 4.23 (4.16) 4.14 (4.18)

Culture & change steward (strategic contribution)

3.80 (3.83) 3.84 (3.57) 3.75 (3.61)

Talent mgr./org. designer (HR delivery)

3.73 (3.82) 3.80 (3.62) 3.76 (3.57)

Strategy architect (strategic contribution)

3.49 (3.83) 3.67 (3.57) 3.58 (3.61)

Operational executor (HR delivery/HR technology)

3.47 (3.26) 3.58 (3.17) 3.63 (3.35)

Business ally (know the business)

3.39 (3.46) 3.55 (3.42) 3.48 (3.53)

VOLUME 33/ISSUE 2 — 2010 27

⦁ The HR professional is empathetic in addressing concerns that may not be directly work-related.

⦁ The HR professional can decompress tense interpersonal issues.

Relationships of trust also depend on knowl- edge and effort. Credible Activists do their homework. They know what is most impor- tant to their business colleagues and keep in touch with internal groups. They understand the goals of key executives, their priorities and the issues that concern them or keep them up at night. In other words, trust is based on both interpersonal skills and business under- standing. The latter stems from knowing what issues and initiatives are likely to have the greatest impact on achieving business objectives.

Factor: Doing HR with an Attitude Doing HR with an Attitude requires candor and active engagement in business discus- sions. Whether confronting a manager’s inappropriate behavior or providing a rec- ommendation that a leader does not want to hear, Credible Activists are not afraid of con- flict. For example, the retail branch network of a large regional bank was considering shifting its staff of full-time tellers to a mix of full- and part-time tellers. The goal was two-

fold: to provide additional staff during the lunch hour when the branches were busiest, and reduce staff levels in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon hours when the branch was slowest. This seemed to make good finan- cial sense. Fortunately, a forward-thinking HR professional pointed out a significant downside: This staffing model would under- mine the customer service framework the bank had put in place, and would likely create a morale problem for many tellers by forcing some of them to reduce their hours. The HR professional calculated that the potential cost savings would be less than the revenue risk the branches faced if they compromised ser- vice. A different plan was adapted to try to maintain employee morale that would trans- late to customer morale.

Doing HR with an Attitude strongly qualifies what one company’s HR professionals used to say about their role: “Find out what the business leaders want and then propose it

aggressively.” The critical components of this factor include:

⦁ Taking appropriate risks, both personally and for the organization.

⦁ Providing candid observations. HR pro- fessionals have a unique and needed point of view.

⦁ Influencing others.

⦁ Not waiting for problems to find you. Anticipating problems increases your credibility and puts you in the role to help the business devise innovative solutions.

Credible Activist by the Numbers In this section, we report three different sets of numbers for factors within the Credible Activist domain:

⦁ Descriptive Statistics: How well did HR professionals score in each factor, across a variety of demographic dimensions?

⦁ Correlations to Individual Performance: What is the relative importance of each fac- tor to perceived individual performance?

⦁ Correlations to Business Performance: What is the relative importance of each factor to business performance (as mea- sured by our business performance index)?

Descriptive Statistics Exhibit 9 reports the mean scores for the four factors. Overall, these are remarkably posi- tive scores and even Doing HR with an Attitude (the lowest of the four factors) receives high marks. Being a Credible Activist is the most personal of the competence domains, which may have something to do with the high scores.

Correlations to Individual Performance Exhibit 10 reports the regression of each of the four factors on overall individual perfor- mance. We were trying to answer the question,

ExHIBIT 7: RELATIVE IMPACT OF SIx MAJOR COMPETENCY DOMAINS ON INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

HR Participants HR Associates Non-HR Associates

Credible activist 23% 24% 23%

Culture & change steward

19% 20% 20%

Talent mgr./org. designer 23% 19% 19%

Strategy architect 17% 17% 16%

Operational executor 7% 9% 11%

Business ally 10% 11% 10%

Multiple Regression R2 .186 .419 .473

ExHIBIT 8: RELATIVE IMPACT OF SIx MAJOR COMPETENCY DOMAINS ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

All Respondents HR Associates Non-HR Associates

Credible activist 22% 22% 19%

Culture & change steward 20% 18% 19%

Talent mgr./org. designer 19% 15% 17%

Strategy architect 12% 17% 18%

Operational executor 13% 12% 13%

Business ally 13% 15% 14%

Multiple Regression R2 .208 .207 .207

ExHIBIT 9: OVERALL MEAN SCORES BY RESPONDENT TYPE

HR Participants HR Associates Non-HR Associates

Delivering results with integrity 4.27 4.32 4.21

Sharing information 4.19 4.27 4.21

Building relationships of trust 4.00 4.10 4.06

Doing HR with an attitude 3.97 4.03 3.95 ➤

28 PEOPLE & STRATEGY

“How much of the 24 percent of overall individual performance accounted for by Credible Activist can be explained by each of its sub factors?”

According to the global aggregate data, Delivering Results with Integrity shows the strongest correlation to individual perfor- mance, accounting for 31 percent of the 24 percent variance that is accounted for by the entire domain. Doing HR with an Attitude is next at 26 percent of the variance, followed by Sharing Information (24 percent) and Building Relationships of Trust (19 percent).

The order of impact for these competencies is instructive. The ability to get the job done ethically and as promised is paramount. The “attitude” factor ranks second in its impact. Yet as shown in Exhibit 6, overall competence in Doing HR with an Attitude is the lowest of the four factors in this domain (3.95 on a five-point scale, in the eyes of non-HR respon- dents). This has clear implications for development planning. If an HR professional has difficulty being seen as a Credible Activ- ist, the above analysis gives the basis for the probable causes and, therefore, the probable starting points for improvement.

Correlations to Business Performance Exhibit 11 reports the relative influence of the Credible Activist sub factors on business per- formance. The contribution of the Credible Activist factors to business performance pres- ents an interesting contrast to the individual performance findings. Delivering Results with Integrity continues to be the highest- impact factor on business performance and is consistent between rater groups. The congru- ency between rater groups does not exist in the remaining three factors. For HR respon- dents, Sharing Information is a strong second, while for non-HR raters the sharing informa- tion factor is rated lowest by a significant margin. Building Relationships of Trust is a less important factor for HR raters than it is

for non-HR, suggesting that business leaders increasingly want to see their HR profession- als as effective liaisons between internal and external constituents and as individuals with whom they share core values and have com- mon business interests. Supporting this last conclusion, non-HR raters also place higher importance on Doing HR with an Attitude than do HR raters. The message is clear: Busi- ness colleagues appreciate HR people who can understand the needs of business partners and business associates and based on this understanding, they provide results.

Implications of This Data What characterizes Credible Activists? As evidenced in Exhibit 5, Credible Activists skills flow from the other five competencies. To gain credibility and to be an activist, an HR professional needs to master the other HR competencies, but there are some specific actions that depict Credible Activists.

They get the right things done the right way. This is the first and foremost facet of credible activism. Credible Activists reliably perform, meet commitments and act with integrity. Individuals who do not get the job done, or don’t get it done the right way, will not be viewed as Credible Activists.

They seek and accept accountability for out- comes. Credible Activists have a real and unyielding sense of personal and organiza-

tional accountability. Credible Activists seek accountability, do not avoid it when it is given, and believe that accountability is both in response to task assignments and in the need to take initiative.

They know the business and have a point of view about how they can help the business prosper. Credible Activists have a clear per- spective about how to best support the business, which is firmly rooted in a broad and deep understanding of the strategic needs of the business. It is also rooted in an informed and thoughtful point of view about how HR can best contribute to business performance.

They do “HR with an attitude.” HR profes- sionals need confidence in their skills and in the knowledge that they contribute meaningfully and measurably to business results through their influence over others. They exhibit cour- age in moving the business forward.

They invest in relationships and relationship skills. Credible Activists are conscientious about their relationships with colleagues and business partners, and invest in these rela- tionships. They are described as having good chemistry with senior managers and the man- agement teams they support. Chemistry is not the result of chance; it is earned by respond- ing quickly and accurately to needs, delivering thoughtful and helpful guidance and support, being a student of the team—their personali- ties and ways of working—and doing their homework before recommending a course of action.

They communicate frequently and powerfully. Credible Activists understand the importance of communication. They take communication skills seriously. They seek to ensure the clarity, accuracy and importance or their personal communications. They are practiced and effective in both writing and speaking.

They take appropriate risks. It is difficult to imagine a Credible Activist who does not take reasonable risks when acting on the company’s

ExHIBIT 10: COMPETENCY FACTORS ON INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

Competency Factor Overall individual performance

Overall individual performance by HR associates

Overall individual performance by

non-HR associates

Delivering results with integrity 31% 31% 31%

Building relationships of trust 24% 24% 25%

Sharing Information 19% 19% 19%

Doing HR with an attitude 26% 27% 25%

Overall 24% 24% 24%

ExHIBIT 11: COMPETENCY FACTORS ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Competency Factor Overall business performance

Overall business performance by HR associates

Overall business performance by

non-HR associates

Delivering results with integrity 29% 29% 31%

Building relationships of trust 25% 23% 31%

Sharing Information 23% 28% 15%

Doing HR with an attitude 24% 20% 23%

Overall 22% 22% 18%

VOLUME 33/ISSUE 2 — 2010 29

behalf. Highly effective HR professionals are focused equally on the organization’s current and future business challenges, and act as “path finders” for the business’s HR-related needs. This means identifying areas where there is desideratum for improvement in cul- tural or operational terms. Taking initiative means accepting the risk of being candid in the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses, and advocating change rather than preserv- ing the status quo.

Being well-liked and trusted is no longer adequate for HR effectiveness. Credibility must be coupled with the ability to be an activist—to have an opinion, take appropri- ate risks and influence others.

Becoming a Credible Activist The Credible Activist domain has the greatest influence on overall HR competence. This influence is both at senior and junior HR levels. Conveniently, it also has the greatest impact on overall business results. The point is clear: If you can only focus on one domain, choose Credible Activist. Of the four factors that comprise the Credible Activist domain, Delivering Results with Integrity and Doing HR with an Attitude have the greatest impact. Understanding how to get things done the right way, having the nerve to express opin- ions and taking appropriate risks will have a sizeable impact on your perceived perfor- mance as an HR professional.

To illustrate this mathematically, we created a simple developmental priority index (DPI) to convert impact and proficiency scores into relative priorities. The logic is straightforward: competency factors that have high impact on individual performance and significant room for improvement (as measured by proficiency score) represent important areas for develop- ment. The equation is as follows:

Developmental Priority Index (DPI) = (Impact %) * (5.0 – Proficiency Score).

For the Credible Activist factors, the DPI val- ues highlight intuition: Doing HR with an Attitude is the highest-priority development needed among the four Credible Activist fac- tors (Exhibit 12). However, whether or not you focus on improving this factor is also determined by your strength or weakness in this factor (i.e. 5.0 – Proficiency Score).

Developmental Actions for the Emerging Credible Activist The research suggests what HR professionals should know and do to be personally credible and deliver business results. In applying this research, we have worked with HR profes- sionals to develop their proficiency in each of the four factors. Below, we summarize these experiences and offer specific ways that HR professionals may enhance their competence as credible activists. These developmental activities may be coordinated by senior HR leaders wanting to develop their HR profes- sionals and by individual HR professionals who want to improve their own effectiveness.

Factor: Delivering Results with Integrity ⦁ Create HR measures that track both the

output of HR and the means of generating the output.

⦁ Apply Six Sigma quality standards and processes to improve the accuracy of all HR activities and practices.

⦁ Ensure that line management clearly understands and accepts HR standards, receives feedback from internal clients about the extent to which these standards are achieved, and makes appropriate improvements.

⦁ Practice drawing visual images of com- plex problems to clarify key issues.

⦁ Lead an HR or management team in a discussion on ethical issues, clarifying the

company’s ethical parameters and defin- ing of the processes that will be used to ensure compliance.

⦁ Examine your HR practices from the standpoint of unanticipated consequences.

Factor: Building Relationships of Trust ⦁ Elicit feedback from colleagues on your

interpersonal skills. Express gratitude for the feedback. Act on your colleagues’ feedback.

⦁ Avoid using the word “I” for an entire day.

⦁ Practice nonjudgmental empathizing with family members or close friends.

⦁ Diagnose the root cause behind an inter- personal problem that you have with an associate at work. Determine what needs to be done to establish a more effective relationship and take action.

⦁ Defuse an interpersonal problem between colleagues that is causing a productivity or performance problem.

⦁ Set up regular meetings to discuss HR’s role in your business with internal and external clients.

Factor: Sharing Information ⦁ Make a presentation to a major confer-

ence on an HR activity in your company. Also, arrange to present the topic to an internal audience.

⦁ Publish an article about a major business issue in an internal or external magazine, newspaper or journal.

⦁ Have some of your written material cri- tiqued by a writing coach or English instructor from a local college or university.

⦁ Arrange to speak during an in-house training program. Request that the speak- er evaluation form include a section for feedback on verbal communication issues you struggle with the most.

⦁ When listening to effective speakers in any forum, take notes about the content of the message and the speaking techniques they use to articulate their messages.

Factor: Doing HR with an Attitude ⦁ Honestly evaluate your willingness to

express opinions and ideas in staff meetings or other forums. If you have a tendency to

ExHIBIT 12: DEVELOPMENTAL PRIORITY INDEx FOR CREDIBLE ACTIVIST FACTORS

Competency Factor % Impact 5.0-proficiency DPI

Delivering results with integrity 7.85% 0.73 5.71*

Building relationships of trust 4.81% 0.92 4.40

Sharing information 6.06% 0.75 4.56

Doing HR with an attitude 6.53% 1.00 6.55*

* = Value above the average DPI for all 21 factors (5.64)

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30 PEOPLE & STRATEGY

be quiet or hesitant in these meetings, make a goal to remedy the situation.

⦁ Find something that is within your power to fix and fix it. Don’t let your actions or inac- tions fall subject to co-worker approval.

⦁ Identify your personal fears and insecuri- ties and consciously ensure that you do not allow them to dictate your behavior.

⦁ Receive feedback from a close colleague about how you might be more confident and credibly commanding in challenging situations.

The Credible Activist captures the most important competencies for HR profession- als. If HR professionals want to deliver value, they should ensure that they have knowledge, skills and desire to be more effective Credible Activists.

References i Many consulting firms have studied the priorities for

senior business leaders. These studies include:

Marcia Blenko and Darrell Rigby. Strengthen the organization. 2008. Bain Consulting Firm.

Boston Consulting Group. Creating People Advantage: How to address HR challenges world- wide through 2015. Boston Massachusetts, 2008.

Chuck Lucier, Paul Kocourek, and Rolf Habbel, CEO Succession: The crest of the wave. Booz Allen Hamilton,

Tim Ringo and Randy McDonald. IBM, Unlock- ing the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce. The Global Human Capital Study 2008.

Corporate Executive Board. Leaders Who Devel- op Leaders: Strategies for effective senior leader-led development. Corporate Executive Board 2006.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Managing Tomorrow’s People: The Future of Work to 2020.

Oliver Wyman/Mercer. What the Future Demands: The growing challenge of global leadership devel- opment. Harvard Business School Publishing/ Point of View. 2007.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Compete & Collabo- rate: What is success in a connected world? 11th Annual Global CEO Survey, visit www.pwc.com/ ceosurvey

ii Brockbank, Wayne, Alejandro Sioli, Dave Ulrich and Dani Johnson. 2005. So! We are at the Table. Now What! The Human Factor. 2:1: 46-55.

iii References for this work include:

Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, Arthur Yeung, and Dale Lake. 1995. Human resource competen- cies: An empirical assessment. Human Resource Management Journal, 34(4): 473-496

Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, and Arthur Yeung. 1990. Beyond belief: A benchmark for human resources. Human Resource Management, Vol. 28, No. 3: 311-335.

Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, and Arthur Yeung. 1989. Human resource competencies in the 1990’s: An empirical assessment of what the future holds. Personnel Administrator, 91-93

Yeung, Arthur, Wayne Brockbank, and Dave Ulrich. 1994. Lower cost, higher value: Human resources function in transition. Human Resource Planning Journal 17(3): 1-16.

iv Lawler, Edward E. Lawler, John W. Boudreau, and Susan Albers Mohrman. 2006. Achieving Strategic Excellence: An Assessment of Human Resource Orga- nizations. Stanford Press.

v These regional partners identified firms in their geog- raphies and were instrumental in facilitating data collection and analysis. This study would have been impossible without the collaboration of the:

• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a partner in 2002 and 2007, which represented North America.

• IAE, the Management and Business School of Universidad in Argentina (a partner in 2002 and 2007), headed by Professor Alejandro and Michel Hermans, which represented Latin America.

• Irish Management Institute (IMI), headed by Martin Farrelly with the assistance of Grace Kearns, representing Europe.

• National HRD Network in India, headed by Jagdeep Khandur.

• Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, headed by Dr. Xiaoming Zheng and Dr. Felicia Deng.

• Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI), headed by Paul Dainty with Anne Marie Dolan who worked in Australia and Asia Pacific.

vi Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, Dani Johnson, Kurt Sandholtz, and Jon Younger. 2008. HR Competencies: Mastery at the Intersection of People and Business. The RBL Institute and the Society of Human Resource Management.

vii This paper does not go into depth on each of the six dimensions. This work can be found in:

Ulrich, Dave, Dani Johnson, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger. 2008. Human Resource Competen- cies. Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management.

Ulrich, Dave, Wayne Brockbank, Dani Johnson, and Jon Younger. 2007. Human resource compe- tencies: Responding to increased expectations. Employee Relations Today.

viii We did this by first calculating the bi-variate correla- tion between each domain and the performance outcome. We then totaled the resulting R-squares and found what percentage of this total was accounted for by each domain.

ix Anita McGahan and Michael Porter, “How Much Does Industry Matter, Really?” Strategic Management Journal, 18 (Summer special issue): 15-30, 1997.

Rumelt, Richard. 1991. How Much Does Industry Matter? Strategic Management Journal, 12(3), pp. 167-185.

x This 20% is the R2 that comes from the multiple regression of the six competence domains on business performance.

xi The percent of impact is the R2 value for each factor, converted to a percentage of the sum of all 21 R2 values. The reason we subtract the proficiency score from 5.0 is to quantify the idea of “proximity to per- fection.” If the HR profession scored a perfect 5.0 in one of the factors, then the difference (5.0 – 5.0) would be zero. When multiplied by the impact %, this would yield a product of zero, indicating a very low priority for development because the HR profession already does it so well. Thus, the higher the index number, the greater the developmental priority —a simple technique for “weighting” the findings.

Dave Ulrich is a professor of business at the University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value. He studies how organizations build capabilities of speed, learning, collaboration, accountability, talent, and leadership through leveraging human resources. He has helped generate award winning data bases that assess alignment between strategies, human resource practices and HR competencies.

Michael Ulrich is a research associate with The RBL Group since May 2009. He holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in statistics with emphasis on business analysis. Ulrich has proven to be a valuable asset in analyzing and organizing many research studies (includ- ing the HRCS, Leadership Code, and talent management research). He has worked with ADIA, NuSkin International, Ernst & Young, the Singapore Ministry of Manpower, and Pfizer, among others.

Dr. Wayne Brockbank is a partner of The RBL Group and a clinical professor of business at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business where he is the director of the Center for Strategic HR Leadership. He is also the director of HR executive programs in Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and India as well as the Michigan Global Program in Management Development in India. Professor Brockbank completed his Ph.D. at UCLA and received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University.

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