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THE NEWCORPORATEHR DIRECTOR

20 tips and20 key skills

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What makes a good corporate HR director? The answer is not simple, we could talk about leadership, strategic vision, flexibility...but in reality it entails a set of many different skills, being skilled in different contexts and times, having a global and local vision, knowing what makes an excellent professional. The Human Capital manager in a multinational must have different skills, as complex as their own profession. Of course, all of these can worked at and developed. In this regard, it is important that these professionals be vigilant, because your post today is highly strategic; good talent management marks the difference between excellent organizations and those that are left behind. Especially at a moment when it’s commonly known that it’s so hard to find the right people for each position, and even more to retain them. In this paper we have collected twenty tips and skills that we consider very important for a corporate HR director, to guide him or her through developing and improving skills, on the job day to day, although we could cite many more, of course. Let’s take a look at them.

STRATEGY MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATIONP E R S O NA L SKILLS

20 TIPS AND 20 KEY SKILLSTHE NEW CORPORATE HR DIRECTOR:

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We live in a changing world; we have gone from local to global, from the physical to the virtual, from certainty to uncertainty. A “liquid time”, quoting the words of the sociologist, Zygmut Bauman. The key competence to work in this context is the “ability to adapt to change”. If the only certainty these days is that everything changes; then it’s useless to turn a blind eye to the new emerging realities, instead we must grab and embrace each new scenario fearlessly.

1. MANAGE TRANSfORMATION

This isn’t about the art of prediction. Forecasting the future is also about managing change, detecting emerging trends before they take root, and anticipating any situation. It’s about going that one step further. There’s no perfect formula on how. Just be constantly curious, forever alert to the local and global reality, read different media, study trends, analyze different indicators; and travel, travel and walk a lot. As Don Quixote said, “He, who reads a lot and walk a lot, sees a lot and knows a lot.”

2. PREDICT THE fUTURE

STRATEGY

ADAPTAbILITY

VISION SKILL

SKILL

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Behind are the times when each department worked in isolation. Today, everyone is aware that the HR department works together with all other departments and with management. Not only are they aligned, but also their indicators have become critical to business management. And talent management is considered one of the top three priorities for CEOs worldwide. Stay alert, because this is how predictive analytics will play a key role.

4. ALIGN STRATEGICALLY WITH MANAGEMENT

None of this makes sense if one doesn’t train up competencies, and promote global learning throughout your organization. In the current “liquid” context we speak of, a key responsibility of corporate HR management is to make sure that there is no gap between the employees’ tasks and their level of training to perform them. It’s interesting to combine traditional training styles with new trends (MOOCs, e-learning, webinars, wikis, etc.) in order to build a “global learning environment”, ideally on a single platform that is always accessible and nurtures collective intelligence.

3. STRENGTHEN CONTINUAL LEARNING

CONSTANT LEARNING

bUSINESS VISION

SKILL

SKILL

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Good talent management will unquestionably lead to a positive perception of HR held by the entire organization. This is the best way to promote our department internally. However, the corporate HR director must be astute and know how to promote his department’s actions, among both employees and management, to get them to adopt policies as their own throughout the entire organization. In this case, the analytical indicators we spoke of earlier may be very useful in demonstrating ROI internally.

5. STRENGTHEN HR WITHIN THE ORGANIzATION

Today more than ever, “glocal” (global-local) has become the new panacea of any organization. It’s about having global HR policies, while integrating local and regional peculiarities. That’s why a good corporate human resources policy must be the result of efforts to dialogue and share business best practices internationally, without losing sight of the need to promote a common and inclusive HR culture.

6. INTEGRATE GLObAL WITH LOCAL

MANAGEMENT

bUSINESS VISION

INVOLVEMENT

fLExIbILITY

SKILL

SKILL

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Our world is global, so HR managers must sidestep tactics based on border differences, and think of their organization as a whole. International talent management raises very important and diverse challenges. One is the great challenge of “talent gap” or the distance between the skills required and those found in employees today. This requires tools for searching the best talent worldwide, and also knowing how to train and find the best internal talent. Another key challenge is talent retention, when we have very low numbers of truly loyal staff today.

7. MANAGE GLObAL COMPLExITY

It then goes to follow that there’s a need to work with very diverse teams. Different generations—milennials bring in a new approach to the current labor model, demanding greater flexibility on the job and greater corporate responsibility. Different nationalities and cultural contexts—this calls for a different approach to the traditional “expat” and how employees should receive training for international mobility very early on, turning this into a plus for career development rather than an experience to be compensated with fat benefit packages.

8. MANAGE DIVERSITY

INTERNATIONAL VISION

INTEGRATION

SKILL

SKILL

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One of the trump cards for achieving integrated HR management is to have the technological tools that facilitate it. A global HR solution—with one unique record per employee worldwide for global management throughout the working lives of employees, from the recruitment process to full-blown development within the organization—will greatly facilitate this undertaking. A solution, which also allows for the different local needs and integrates these so that we can find out what is happening in our organization worldwide in real time and obtain the analytical indicators required to improve our day to day activities.

9. COUNT ON THE bEST TECHNOLOGY

One of the things to bear in mind today is the importance of the “experience” gained both at the internal and external levels. It’s no longer just about selling a product, but also the engaging experience that comes with it. It’s no longer about only rewarding employees, but also making their days in the company a pleasurable activity, satisfying and motivating them. Good steps towards work-life balance, strengthening initiative, innovation and creativity in employees and work flexibility, among others, will help to create this state of well-being.

10. bOOST EMPLOYEE ExPERIENCE

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

EMPLOYEE ExPERIENCE MANAGER

SKILL

SKILL

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Nowadays marketing has to be developed globally across the entire company. A corporate brand strategy involves the entire organization at all levels. To a large extent, this requires a much more multi-functional collaboration than ever. Setting up close links between the marketing and HR departments amplifies communication towards the (respective) customers. A corporate HR director can play a key role in helping to develop this chain of brand enhancement that starts with the organization’s internal values and culminates with the perception of the values the company wants customers to experience. This way marketing techniques also help foster the development of the strategies of the HR department itself.

12. KEEP A MARKETING fOCUS

The HR department must not be isolated. It must also be a source of information for the entire company and the central hub of communication. This way, the organization becomes open with information flowing freely and boosting communication between employees. Internal social networks, communities and shared knowledge centers are essential, and also help us to reinforce the improvement of internal skills, the search for the best talent or mutual support networks.

11. bE A GLObAL INfORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SOURCE

COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION

bRAND MANAGEMENT EMPLOYER bRANDING AMbASSADOR

SKILL

SKILL

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Since one of the fundamental tasks of the corporate HR director is to transmit corporate values, this person must reflect these and be an example of trustworthiness for the entire organization. Personal skills are covered in the next point, but with regards to communication, this especially involves improving corporate channels, and give voice to the varied differences from a global and inclusive perspective.

13. TRANSMIT THE CORPORATE IDENTITY

There is still a long way to go in creating a compelling brand and a strong company culture. As mentioned earlier, marketing and HR collaboration is again evident in employer branding. Collaborating as a whole on brand strategy, while ensuring the company meets its commitment, together with how the company culture breathes daily will enhance talent recruitment and retention—one of the top priorities of HR leaders today. It is therefore important to develop a strategy for selecting global talent with all the tools for innovation at our disposal (social recruiting, big data, predictive analytics, etc...).

14. PRIORITIzE THE SEARCH fOR THE bEST TALENT

VALUE bROADCASTER

EMPLOYER bRANDING AMbASSADOR

SKILL

SKILL

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As we said earlier, the corporate HR leader must be an example of the kind of corporate management he wants to promote. Such that his actions and decisions must of necessity be aligned with this management without contradictions. This implies cultivating an upright and determined personality. That’s not to say that one cannot make mistakes, but one must be capable of rectifying and returning to the right path when it happens.

16. ExEMPLIfY INTEGRITY

In our era we have lived through the last major change in communication, we have moved from mass media to interactive communication through internet. Communication is a facet added to every area of our lives through mobile devices. We cannot just talk of social networks, but rather a social, multi-channel, multimedia and constant communication. Our organization must not stay stuck in the old one-way communication and it should enhance interaction in all directions and senses. This is especially critical in a multinational organization: the corporate HR department must work to break down the physical barriers that block these communication modes from taking place, and enhancing access for all employees to the same organization-wide resources for engagement.

15. MANAGE CHANGE IN COMMUNICATION

PERSONAL SKILLS

SOCIAL fOCUS

INTEGRITY

LEADERSHIPSKILL

SKILL

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There’s been much talk about the most important qualities of a good leader, but it is important to stress here the relevance of this quality in a multinational company. Leading all parts of the organization towards a common goal; managing diversity and integrating the differences require a high degree of commitment and charisma. Inspiring the entire organization, regardless of geography or cultural circumstances is no easy task and will require a combination of what we talked about earlier: stronger communication, the right technology tools and good management.

17. INSPIRE THE ENTIRE ORGANIzATION

These days it not enough to be a strategist or manager, the HR leader at the corporate level has to be an agent of global change. We are living in late post-modernity, in which the only constant is endless change, although this sounds contradictory. In this context, the HR leader must be able to influence strategic decisions in the company for human capital management to advance in the right direction, and not miss the boat for transformation. In turn, he must persuasively sell the need for change across to all departmental levels of the company.

18. bE INfLUENTIAL

SOCIAL fOCUS LEADERSHIP

PERSUASION

SKILL

SKILL

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Today it is vital to be open to change, because as we have been saying, the remedy is uncertainty. This forces us to improvise, adapt to new situations, and always seek to improve on the current state. All this is impossible if the HR leader is not open to new ideas, flexible in the face of circumstances for transformation, and willing to reconcile all aspects of diversity that we have been discussing from the start. And as we mentioned, the keys to this open mind are insatiable curiosity and constant learning.

20. bE fLExIbLE AND RECONCILE

More than ever in uncertain times, it is crucial for the corporate HR leader to build trust throughout the organization. This is achieved with a set of different skills, such as coherence, responsibility, dedication and strong leadership. It is not easy to manage uncertainty. Not knowing what will happen in times of constant change can cause stress, anxiety or fear in many employees. That’s why trust in the company must be above all reinforced at the corporate level.

19. INSPIRE TRUST

TRUSTWORTHINESS

OPEN MINDED

SKILL

SKILL

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María José Fraile is the Meta4 Corporate HR Director with extensive experience in the people management field, adjusting the HR function to the different developmental stages of a company: hyper-growth, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, crisis management, among others. She has also had the opportunity to work directly in the product line, supporting software application design, consulting and pre-sales solutions for HR management and knowledge management.

AUTHORS

Bettina Rodríguez graduated in Foreign Trade and Marketing, and holds an MBA from the Instituto de Empresa. She has held various positions in training, pre-sales and marketing. Her professional career has always developed in the international environment of B2B companies in the HR technology sector. She currently manages the Meta4 Corporate Marketing department.

Carolina Reynoso develops the Meta4 social media and marketing content strategy for the Corporate Marketing Department. Her interest in continuous learning has led her to train in different disciplines at universities in Madrid, Paris and Salamanca. She holds a BA in History, Communication, and a MA in Multimedia Journalism. In addition to his strong interest in sociological and communication phenomena, she is very fond of music and scenical arts.

EDITOR