You can no longer afford approximate budgeting and general plans. Top management expects you to provide a clear rationale for planning and budgeting activities related to the context of specific business objectives. You should learn to anticipate future needs and also improve your presentation skills to make them more convincing.
Find inspiration in marketing which uses sophisticated methods to predict customer behavior and create strategies accordingly. The same sophisticated tools are already available for HR and should be used. Top management wants to see hard data. Read more about how to choose what to measure in HR here. Practical insights on HR controlling are available here.
Do not look only for people with the specific limited skills and talents. Try to find people who will fit into your culture and will be able to move your business forward. Read more about choosing employees to fit in your company in the article here.
The use of modern technology is a perfect way to show your company's top management that HR moves with the times and keeps on improving. You can start with mobile technologies or social networks in recruitment and training. First of all, however, build good relationships with corporate IT.
For more tips for communicating with top management, see the articles Do not wait for C-level executives to ask these questions and 10 steps to undermine HR authority in a company.
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Article source TLNT - a U.S. blog for human resource and talent management leaders