HR should be managed strategically, not as a reaction to change

The ability to look beyond the day to day running of a business and think strategically, is why some businesses survive and grow, whilst others fall by the wayside.

Strategic management requires understanding where your business is, defining your aims and objectives, and recognising what resources you need to achieve them. Strategic management involves foresight, planning and analysis, and is a continuous process which requires the adjustment of your approach as situations change and evolve.

Take a manufacturing business that has ambitions to become a market leader, for example. To achieve this ambition it needs to understand how and when investment is needed, what changes are required to areas of its business, such as its supply chain, and it will need to ensure it has the right number of suitably skilled staff, in the right roles, when they are required. It is likely it will also need some good fortune. However, without a clearly defined strategy for how it will get from where it is, to where it wants to be, the likelihood of it succeeding in making the adjustments and changes it needs in the right way, at the right time, is far less likely.

When it comes to the people employed in a business, they are often a fundamental factor in whether it will succeed or fail. Unlike a machine, which can be purchased, plugged in, and set to work, employing people is complex. Finding the right staff can take time, they require training and need to settle in. You also need to manage the expectations and ambitions of existing staff, who are faced with new colleagues who are keen to impress and progress. Even if you manage to successfully navigate these challenges, the ongoing management, development, and retention of staff in a changing business landscape can be incredibly difficult.

In a business where things aren’t going to plan, or where a business needs to resize to survive, equal challenges exist. Staff cannot simply be switched off and put into storage like a machine. Careful planning, foresight, and management is needed to ensure the right staff are retained, those who are no longer needed leave the business in the right way, and that the business ends up in the right shape to move forward and survive.

And yet, all too often at K Bater Consultancy we encounter businesses that manage their human resources by reacting as their business changes, rather than adopting a proactive, strategic approach to HR, with all that it entails.

Fortunately, as experts in strategic human resource management, K Bater Consulting can help. Working with businesses throughout the UK, we provide advice and assistance in how businesses can manage their HR more strategically. We help businesses plan, prepare, and manage their HR for both now and the future, and we help manage organisational change. We also develop employee programmes to reward, retain and develop staff and, for businesses which need to reshape and resize to survive, we also help develop and implement redundancy programmes.

When it comes to people in a business, they are often the ones who get things done on a day-to-day basis and can be the difference between success and failure. By helping you adopt a strategic approach to HR management, K Bater Consulting can help ensure your business has the right staff, in the right roles, at the right time, and is better placed to achieve what you set out to do.

About K Bater Consultancy

K Bater Consultancy provides human resource support, advice, and solutions to small and medium sized businesses across the UK.

Its founder and principal, Kelly Bater, has more than 20 years’ experience advising and supporting small and medium sized businesses with all aspects of human resource management, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has a Post Graduate Diploma in HR Management.

To find out more about how K Bater Consultancy can help your business, contact Kelly today on 07500 939255 or via email at kelly@kbaterhr.com