Get Your Managers Behind Your HCM Strategy

Your HCM strategy articulates your company's vision for how to manage your most critical asset: your people. Often it's crafted by your executive team and your HR staff. However, it's critical that everyone throughout your ranks has a strong understanding of what you're trying to achieve and how it impacts their jobs and management role. Here are five ways you can help ensure that your managers understand the company's HCM strategy.

Create an Elevator Pitch for Your HCM Strategy

Many managers haven't been exposed to an HCM strategy before. Entire textbooks have been written that help educate people on what it is, how to create one, and what benefits it may convey. To encourage busy managers to embrace your HCM strategy, develop a concise explanation of the concept and its benefits. An elevator pitch helps managers quickly grasp why HCM is significant, while also providing them with the reasons they should implement the strategy with their staff.

Explore How Each Division or Department Benefits from an HCM Strategy

The details of an HCM strategy happen "on the ground," with managers and employees adopting the strategies and technology needed to assist in its implementation. One approach that companies have used to successfully introduce HCM throughout the organization is to create impact statements and goals that show the specific benefits for each department. Whether a department is struggling with low productivity levels or talent acquisition challenges, showing how HCM provides a pathway to a solution may help increase engagement levels.

Showcase How Technology and Data Can Help

Technology and data can play a central role in most HCM solutions. Specifically, they can help improve the quality of decision making while eliminating the unnecessary aspects of overly complex businesses processes. The success of your HCM strategy depends in part on your team's willingness and ability to embrace technology. Highlight what the technical solutions can do, what kind of data is gathered, and how it can be put to use in various aspects of the business management process.

Provide Training and Mentorship

Do you have a plan for training and mentoring your managers as your roll out the HCM strategy? It's important that they understand why HCM is important, how it affects their business unit, and what the changes mean for performance expectations. Implementing an HCM process can create challenges, from employees who are resistant to new technology, to simply adapting workflows to the available tools. By having a dedicated resource that managers can come to for advice, support, and guidance, you're setting up your team to succeed.

Tie the HCM Strategy to Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

When the success of your HCM strategy becomes a KPI against which managers' efforts are measured, they may be more likely to pay attention. It's also helpful to provide high-level visibility into your strategy's performance and impact. Connecting your HCM efforts to KPIs also can provide a very tangible guideline for how your strategy should be implemented day-by-day. Look for ways to embed your HCM approach within your company's culture and back it up by measuring your employees on those dimensions.

An HCM strategy may completely transform the way that your organization operates. Getting your managers onboard starts with providing the support and resources needed to ensure that they understand it, and making the strategy tangible enough that it impacts day-to-day business. Taking the time and effort to get everyone onboard throughout the organization will help set the stage for the success of your strategy and the benefits it can provide for your business.