Develop an Integrated People Strategy
An integrated people strategy not only supports but also drives organizational goals, maximizing the human capital contribution to the bottom line.
- Designing and implementing an integrated people strategy is a sizeable commitment requiring thoughtful attention and time.
- Truly understanding organizational goals, challenges, and opportunities requires a different skill set and approach than HR may be accustomed to.
- Organizational cadence and goals are constantly changing and evolving, requiring strategies to be flexible and adaptable to a number of possibilities.
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Our Advice
Critical Insight
- It’s not just about aligning your people strategy to organizational goals. Organizational and people strategies need to be integrated – a robust organizational strategy not only considers, but adjusts for and incorporates relevant people implications.
- An integrated people strategy not only supports, but eventually drives organizational goals to create and sustain a competitive human capital advantage.
- HR is well positioned to provide valuable data and strategy-strengthening insights to the organization. Developing a people strategy that is effectively integrated with broader organizational strategy empowers HR with more influence as a strategic organizational partner.
Impact and Result
- HR needs to fully immerse within the organization to truly understand how and where it competes, and to identify any challenges and opportunities.
- HR must prioritize its efforts and resources aggressively to deliver the most impactful initiatives.
- People strategies need to be flexible and adaptable to the ever-evolving world we live in. People strategies should not be static and need to be revisited frequently and modified accordingly.
Workshop: Develop an Integrated People Strategy
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Understand Organizational Goals and Determine People Strategy
The Purpose
- Determine goals across the organization.
- Create a people strategy specific to the organization.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Goals are set.
- People strategy is developed.
- Future state descriptions are determined.
Activities
Outputs
Determine top organizational goals.
- Organizational goals set.
Conduct a PESTLE analysis.
- PESTLE analysis conducted.
Create a people strategy.
- People strategy determined.
Establish your people strategy’s desired future state in greater detail.
- Future state descriptions created.
Module 2: Conduct People Strategy Gap Analysis
The Purpose
- Evaluate the current state of the organization regarding people strategy.
- Understand where stakeholder management stands.
- Identify and analyze gaps.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Current state is identified and understood.
- Stakeholder management feedback is collected.
- Gaps are analyzed.
Activities
Outputs
Analyze stakeholder management feedback and additional employee data.
- Gathered and understood stakeholder management feedback and data.
Complete a SWOT analysis.
- SWOT analysis conducted.
Evaluate people strategy current state.
- Current state identified.
Identify what is needed to sustain the current state.
- Approaches for maintenance of current state are determined.
Analyze gaps and identify areas of growth within your people strategy.
- Gaps are analyzed and areas of growth are pinpointed.
Module 3: Evaluate HR Departmental Capabilities
The Purpose
- Communicate the desired HR future state.
- Determine where the HR department currently is.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Future state is outlined.
- HR department’s current state is realized and gaps are determined.
Activities
Outputs
Describe the HR department’s future state you are striving to be.
- Outline of required future state of HR department completed.
Assess your HR department’s current state and analyze gaps.
- HR department’s gap analysis determined.
Module 4: Develop an Action Plan
The Purpose
- Assess the impact of the people strategy initiatives.
- Determine the effort required for initiatives.
- Create an action and communication plan and follow-up measures.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Impact of initiatives is understood.
- Effort for initiatives is ranked.
- Action and communication plans are created.
- A monitoring process for people strategy is created.
Activities
Outputs
Assess your people strategy initiatives’ impact.
- Level of impact of initiatives and metrics assessed.
Assess the required effort for people strategy initiatives.
- Initiatives determined on a scale of low, medium, and high effort.
Chart and prioritize people initiatives.
- Prioritized list of people initiatives.
Create a people action plan.
- Action plan for prioritized initiatives created.
Complete your people strategy communications plan.
- Communication plan determined.
Set plan to revisit and measure progress.
- Process/plan to monitor and update the people strategy created.
About McLean & Company
McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
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Get the help you need in this 5-phase advisory process. You'll receive 10 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Identify the organizational strategy and determine the people strategy
- Call 1: Discuss organizational goals and potential people implications.
- Call 2: Determine people strategy and relevant measures of success.
Guided Implementation 2: Detail the people strategy and conduct a gap analysis
- Call 1: Outline the people strategy in further detail.
- Call 2: Analyze stakeholder management feedback and any additional employee data and assess current state.
- Call 3: Identify and analyze gaps between the current state and the people strategy’s future state descriptions.
Guided Implementation 3: Assess HR’s capability to deliver the people strategy
- Call 1: Outline the required future state of the HR department.
- Call 2: Analyze gaps within the HR department’s current and future state.
Guided Implementation 4: Develop an action plan to implement the people strategy
- Call 1: Assess people strategy initiatives’ impact and required effort.
- Call 2: Prioritize people initiatives and create an action plan.
Guided Implementation 5: Evaluate, maintain, and adjust the people action plan
- Call 1: Develop a plan to monitor and measure people strategy progress.
Contributors
- Alfonsina Chang, Professor, Seneca College
- Andrew Mayo, Human Capital Management Professor, Middlesex University London
- Courtney Harrison, Consultant
- Jennifer Riel, Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
- Michael Hoseus, Executive Director, Center for Quality People & Organizations (CQPO)
- Nan Oldroyd, HR Executive
- Robert Carlyle, Director, Strategic Workforce Management, Royal Bank of Canada
- Sonya Kunkel, Chief Inclusion Officer and Vice-President, Talent Strategies, BMO
- Additional interviewees preferred to remain anonymous
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