HR professionals hear from all sides that they must "be strategic" and "know the business". They seek to achieve this with their actions, but often forget about their words. John Sullivan, respected HR consultant and current professor of management at San Francisco State University, writes about strategic talking in an interesting article on ERE.net. He explains that strategic people speak a completely different language than ordinary employees who are only carrying out their duties.
Sullivan has summed up seven "dialects" every HR professional who truly wants to be regarded as strategically-minded should master.
1. The language of numbers and money
When, for example, a senior executive asks a recruiter how the company is doing in recruitment, he should not only hear a simple statement that it is doing well. He wants to know the numbers, and therefore you should explain how much the situation has improved in percentage points compared e.g., to the previous year and how much money it saved the company.
2. The language of corporate goals
If you want to sound strategic, talk about human resources management in the context of increasing profits and corporate value, expanding market share, customer satisfaction, creating innovative products and services, etc.
3. The language of data
Strategic HR professionals answer questions and explain their decisions based on measurable data. They do not say that they "think" or "anticipate" something, but that they "know".
4. The language of competitive advantage
Thinking strategically also means perceiving the company's operations in the context of competition. Your strategic talks should therefore include proposals on how specifically HR can "strengthen the competitive advantage" of the company.
5. The language of the future
Unlike most other people, a strategically-minded person does not focus on today, but especially on the future. Therefore, comment on today's problems in the context of what may come in the future. Do not limit yourself only to comparing current data with the past, use predictive analysis.
6. The language of customer focus
Strategic HR professionals talk about employees as internal customers. They know and use the language that is commonly used in sales or marketing departments in the context of working with customers. Try to visit these departments and learn a few words and phrases.
7. The language of innovations
Strategically-minded HR professionals realize that business processes become obsolete as quickly as products. Although he cannot change the processes immediately, he talks about the necessity of "continuous innovation" and the need "to be the first".
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