By Ian J. Cook, CHRP  

A recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) contains some findings that every HR practitioner should heed. As part of their study BCG reviewed HR’s effectiveness as it relates to project delivery. They reviewed both the quantity of initiatives undertaken by HR and the organization’s satisfaction with the outcomes. In summary, BCG found that “HR is conducting too many initiatives, with mediocre outcomes.” Four of the five most frequently undertaken projects were assessed to have poor outcomes. The one exception to this was delivering on recruiting. 

The researchers suggest a couple of different reasons for this situation. The first is that the project management skills required to deliver successful projects have not been developed or sufficiently supported. HR projects are often complex and involve a host of stakeholders requiring a high level of project proficiency in order to drive success.  Organizations looking to improve their project delivery could do well to focus on enhancing these skills within their team.

The second suggestion from the report is that HR should be conducting fewer initiatives. The poor results are likely to come from a lack of focus, or sufficient resource behind each specific initiative. Rather than trying to solve everything at once or turning every issue into a project, HR will be more effective by driving forward one or two initiatives at a time and leaving the other issues for a later time.

The BCG study also looked at the difference in project priorities between high performing and low performing organizations. The HR data was combined with three years of revenue and shareholder return information to determine those who outperformed their peers. The high performing group highlighted important success factors.

The first factor is that they conducted fewer projects overall and hence could focus their resources. The second factor is they prioritized different types of project. The high performing organizations put significantly more emphasis on measuring workforce performance and transforming HR into a strategic partner. The third factor is that they did not complete a project in a certain area and then drop it. Rather these organizations continually run pilot projects, or experimental approaches in the high value areas identified. Through this they are constantly driving improvement in the areas that impact their organization’s results. From this the researchers conclude “Excellence in talent management… entails continual experimentation and refinement.”

More information on this study is available online. 

Ian J. Cook, CHRP, is the director of research and learning at BC HRMA. Ian is using his global HR consulting experience and business knowledge to grow a function which delivers informative, relevant and timely comment.