Strategic Business Partner
Other books by the authors:
Performance Consulting Moving from Training to Performance (coeditors) Training for Impact Zap The Gaps! (with Ken Blanchard)
Strategic Business Partner
ALIGNING PEOPLE STRATEGIES WITH BUSINESS GOALS
by Dana Gaines Robinson James C. Robinson
Strategic Business Partner
Copyright © 2005 by Dana Gaines Robinson and James C. Robinson All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650 San Francisco, California 94104-2916 Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512 www.bkconnection.com Ordering information for print editions Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the Berrett-Koehler address above. Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 8647626; www.bkconnection.com Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626. Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ingram Publisher Services, Tel: (800) 509-4887; Fax: (800) 838-1149; E-mail: customer.service@ingram publisherservices.com; or visit www.ingrampublisherservices.com/Ordering for details about electronic ordering. Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. First Edition Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-283-8 PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-57675-801-4 2008-1 Production Manager: Susie Yates, Publication Services, Inc. Supervising Editor: Alysia Cooley, Publication Services, Inc. Production Coordinator: Sarah Lee, Publication Services, Inc. Design: Foti Kutil, Publication Services, Inc. Layout: Steven M. Sansone, Publication Services, Inc. Cover Design: The Visual Group
Contents
Preface vii–xii Introduction: From Value Sapping to Value Adding 1–6 Part One: Concepts and a Model for Strategic Business Partners 1. 2. Key Concepts for Partnering Strategically The SBP Model 33–50
7–50 9–32
Part Two: Building Client Partnerships 3. 4. Identifying Clients and Developing Access Gaining Credibility and Trust 71–86
51–86
53–70
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CONTENTS
Part Three: Identifying and Partnering on Strategic Projects 5. The Logic Used to Identify Strategic Opportunities
87–186 89–106
6. Reframe Requests to Identify Strategic Opportunities 107–136 7. Proactively Identify Strategic Opportunities 8. When the Client Says “Yes” 137–156 157–186
Part Four: Influencing Business Strategies and Direction
9. Being at the Table 10. Making the SBP Role Real Tools References Resources Index About the Authors
187–242
189–208 209–242 243–252 253–256 257–268 269–277 281–283
Preface
“Human Resources must become more integrated to the business and add value to our organization. It is vital that each of you work more as Strategic Business Partners. I need you to be ‘at the table’ with your customers.”
For the past decade, statements like this have been made throughout Human Resource (HR) departments in numerous organizations. Multiple journal articles, books, presentations, and research studies have been published affirming the belief that the HR function is key to business success. Consider a recent study completed by Accenture in which business executives ranked the HR function as third, after sales and customer service, as a function that makes a “very significant” contribution to a company’s bottom line (2002/2003, p. 12). There is strong awareness that the HR function must become more strategic and business-linked. Depending upon the study you select, between 50 and 90 percent of HR functions are making a transition in this direction. What are the results to date? Unfortunately, results are on the whole disappointing. In the same Accenture study, just 13 percent of the senior
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corporate executives indicated they were “very satisfied” with overall performance of their HR organization (2002/2003, p. 16). One reason is that many HR functions still operate in a primarily administrative and tactical manner. Edward Lawler III and Susan Mohrman with the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles state, “Given the amount of attention to the importance of HR becoming a strategic partner, it is surprising that recent studies have found relatively little change in its activities and structure” (2003, p. 5). There are many reasons HR functions demonstrate only modest movement toward a more strategic role. One of these reasons is that strategic HR and business partner are not clearly defined roles. These are esoteric terms that, at a conceptual level, are highly appealing. We describe Strategic Business Partners (SBPs) as people who work with management to define, align, and implement people initiatives to benefit the business. When the partnership is optimized, SBPs contribute to formation of business strategies and plans at the enterprise level. But what is it that SBPs actually do day to day? How is this different from what people do when working in other HR, Learning, and Organization Development (OD) roles? What actions are proven to result in earning the right to work with leaders of an organization on business issues and future direction? What are the value-added services HR business partners provide once they are working side by side with an organization’s leaders? These questions are answered in this book. Scope of Book In 1995 we p