What does an HR Business Partner do? 

These people work alongside managers, teams and stakeholders to curate people and organisation capability whilst also designing people strategies and activities.  They ensure that the HR policies and procedures match the needs and goals of the organisation and those in leadership positions. Their job does not centre on administration or handling policy wording – instead they focus on the bigger picture, by directing the goals of the human resources team, and producing HR strategies. Most importantly, these HR strategies must fit the wider business strategy.

Most commonly, they are aligned to a specific area of the business and work alongside this area to execute a business strategy from a people perspective. To successfully work in this field, one must have sincere relationships with other people in their business area, as well as other teams in the company. Not only that, but they must have hard evidence to make accurate, well-informed decisions (such as data or metrics).

Common tasks that HR Business Partners carry out may include:

• Giving advice on people practices (for example, succession planning)
• Building relationships with and influencing those working in the business
• Meeting key stakeholders to address any people challenges they are facing
• Coaching key stakeholders to increase business efficiency and achieve business goals.

What is the definition of Business Partner? 

A business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has an alliance. These two parties could be individuals who chose to work alongside one another to create a business or may be separate teams/companies who have chosen to work together and cooperate for a shared goal.

What’s the difference between an HR Business Partner and an HR Manager? 

These are distinctly different roles and each specialises in different methods of running human resources within an organisation.

An HR Manager’s job in general, centres around developing policies and implementing procedures. They are also responsible for overseeing systems that include recruiting, hiring, processing payroll and system administration to name a few. They also manage the HR department.

Conversely, in general, an HR Business Partner does not take the same administrative tasks over a department, and instead focus their time on working alongside the organisation’s senior leadership team and department managers to optimise and guide company strategy. HR Business Partners are still heavily involved in the HR department, they just don’t take on the same administrative tasks that an HR manager may be involved in. Instead, they help to form HR strategies and initiatives which will have an impact on the entire organisation.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post What is an HR Business Partner? appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Taking more responsibilities is the perfect way to grow your current skillset and even achieve goals that would usually be above your grade.  Meaning that when it’s time for promotions or bonuses you will be first in line.  After all, you will have the appropriate experience to take on a bigger role, unlike those who didn’t take up the offer of the extra responsibility at work.

How to be given increased responsibilities?

It’s all good and well knowing how beneficial additional responsibilities will aid your career, however you firstly need to be given them. It’s much easier than you may think – below we have outlined some easy tips to help get you started.

1. Don’t wait to be asked

Take the initiative!  Perhaps you can directly approach your boss and ask if there are any extra projects that you can be a part of.  Create an open dialogue and share how you’re feeling about your career, your progress, and your part in the company’s future.  More often than not, they will be happy to designate extra work to you if they feel as though you’re up for it.  Keep in mind the skills you already have that can be developed upon and ask to get more involved in those specific areas.

2. Always be reliable

Be a steady reliable figure in your team.  Create a relationship of trust – by being punctual and complete all your work to a high standard and be willing to help with extra.  If your peers are not able to keep up with their present workload you could even volunteer to help them out or offer some valuable input (without trying to take the credit for yourself!). These good deeds will show how dependable you are to everyone you work with, meaning that you’ll be a great candidate for promotion and additionally the team will respect your leadership once you reach your dream position.

3. Always be looking to learn more 

In your leisure time, select an area that nobody in your team has great expertise in, yet would be a valuable asset to the workplace.  By investing time into this topic, you will become more knowledgeable than your peers, meaning that the team will begin to rely on you for feedback or help in anything in that area, thus gaining yourself a new responsibility and making yourself an invaluable member.

4. Network! 

Having valuable connections will always lead to increased opportunities.  Every time you take on a new project you may end up working with a new, diverse array of people, all of whom will be able to contribute to your career with either new knowledge or information, or about roles that you may be able to apply for.  Having a vast professional network is crucial to going up the ranks in a company, and these new people may be able to designate extra responsibilities to you too.

But how can these responsibilities convert into opportunity? 

Having more responsibilities inevitably means spending more time with your boss, especially if you’re working on projects crucial to them. Being around them in meetings, briefings or consulting them about your progress will allow you to learn from their experience, making yourself even more capable, and build a better bond with them. When this happens, it should be no problem for you to ask for the promotion you want as you’ve adeptly proven how you can handle all your current tasks and are ready for more. Ultimately, you have nothing to lose!  It’s better to go for it than wallow in what-ifs and later regret that your career hasn’t developed the way that you wanted.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post Ways to turn increased responsibilities at work into an opportunity for yourself appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

What does GROW even mean?

The acronym stands for:

• Goal
• Reality
• Options
• Way Forward

1. GOAL

Within this first stage of the model, the goal is the main focus, and everything in this stage is orientated around ensuring the client will get to where they want to be. It’s expected that a specific topic will be discussed between the mentor/coach and the mentee/client. From this, it’s vital that exact objectives and end results are set – these may be both long and short term. It’s also crucial for these goals to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely).

For example, in the context of weight loss, it would be useless to set a goal like “I want to look slim” or “I want to lose 15 kilos by next week”. Instead, something like “I want to lose 10 kilos in 3 months and retain that weight” provides a specific short and a long term goal, whilst being realistic and quantifiable. Most importantly positive and inspirational to the client, acting as an attainable challenge that will sensibly push them.

Within this goal setting stage, the coach may ask a variety of questions, such as

• ‘What are you aiming for?’
• ‘How would you feel once this goal is achieved?’
• ‘How will your life be different then from now?’

2. REALITY

Here, the mentor and client shall examine the present reality of the client, using specialist techniques. This could start by the client assessing their current situation by themselves, before the mentor steps in to provide more specific advice on the scenario at hand. The mentor should be looking to identify their client’s potential, rather than focusing on any personal problems.

Back to our previous example of weight loss, questions that the mentor may ask could be, “What did you do differently when you’ve successfully lost weight in the past?”, “between the times when you’ve kept weight off versus putting it back on again, what was different?”

More broad questions should be able to identify any hurdles that may occur on their path to improvement and accurately determine how far they are from the end goal.

3.OPTIONS

At this point both the mentor and mentee need to figure out how to make this plan achievable. There will naturally be an array of options available as to how the client will be able to conquer any of the current issues laid out in the Reality section. The mentor should endeavour to initially have the client dominate the conversation, and invite them to make a range of suggestions, which can then be discussed. It is vital for the mentor to be cautious and sensitive when offering their own ideas, and ensure that it is aligned with the client’s own capabilities.

4. WAY FORWARD

We have arrived at the final stage! The Options discussed now need to be converted into actionable steps and strategies which will deliver the client to their goal. A plan will be drawn up by the mentor, which should include specific guidelines and times in order to increase the manageability of this plan, making it more likely for the client to succeed. With any personal plan retaining flexibility is vital, if the client experiences any negative events, the plan should not make them feel defeated or disheartened.

An example question that a coach may ask could include, “what actions will you take to achieve your goals?”. Drawing us back to our weight loss scenario, those actions could include making a daily diet plan or shopping list, remembering to include celebration on achievement at certain points.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post What is the GROW Model? appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

What does SMART mean?

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time bound

This acronym, first coined in the 1980s by George T. Duran, is used to break down goals and objectives to make them easier to accomplish. These criteria have mostly come from Peter Drucker’s ‘Management by Objectives’ concept and has been further developed by Robert S. Rubin and other authors who have expanded the acronym to SMARTER, adding Evaluated and Reviewed.

How to use SMART goals to optimise your potential 

1. Specific

It is important for your goal to be precise and targeted as otherwise it may feel overwhelming to begin working towards it, leading to lack of motivation and ultimately no success. Your goal should be able to address these five ‘W’ questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• Which resources or limits are involved?

2. Measurable

Your goal should be measurable and have quantifiable objectives that can easily be worked towards. This is vital so that your improvement and progress is trackable, making it more motivating than trying to work towards something abstract.
A measurable goal should be able to answer questions such as:

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?

3. Achievable

In order for your goal to be achievable, it’s essential that your target is realistic. No matter how ambitious you may be, setting unrealistic goals will be disheartening. You should be able to find a balance between pushing yourself and testing the best of your abilities whilst also keeping it attainable.

Ask yourself these questions as you set your achievable goal:

• How can I accomplish this goal?
• How realistic is the goal, whilst factoring potential hurdles, for example finances?

4. Relevant

There’s no point setting any targets unless they mean something to you!  This stage is to make sure that your goal matters to you and will benefit your life.  Additionally, by creating worthwhile goals, people will be more likely to help and assist you along the way, and this peer support can be crucial in remaining on target.

A relevant goal should answer “yes” to these example questions:

• Will this be worthwhile?
• Is this the right time for me?
• Does this align with my other needs?
• Am I a suitable person to reach this goal?

5. Time-bound

Setting yourself a deadline can be very helpful as it can give you something to work towards and add extra motivation. Every goal should have a specific target date, and your everyday tasks should not overshadow your long-term aspirations.

A time-bound target should be able to answer:

• When will I achieve this?
• What can I do six months from now?
• What can I do today?

Why use SMART?

SMART goals are able to give the clarity and focus, which in turn create motivation, needed to achieve your real goals.  It can turn your ideas into actionable objectives by defining the specifics of your goals and what exactly needs to be completed to achieve them. Additionally, a completion deadline can be highly encouraging if you enjoy a challenge and pushing yourself, and at the end you’ll be able to see in literal terms how much progress you have made. The best part? SMART goals can be used by anyone for anything without any type of formal training due to its clearly defined steps.  Goals can be changed based on the individual and their abilities, and ever-adapting plans can still easily follow the SMART guidelines.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business, or call 07771 642 182 to book a 30 minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post SMART goals at work: examples for what, how & why appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.

Welcome to the January 2021 edition of our monthly newsletter. Following the exciting launch of our new website in October, this month we have shifted our focus to plans for the coming year with even more thoughtful human resources content to inform and inspire you.

Here at Karen HRM for the New Year 2021 we have planned expert blogs coming out in the next few weeks on the themes of; Probationary Reviews, Using the GROW model for coaching and mentoring, SMART objectives, Challenging Conversations, and more.

To learn more about this innovative approach, be sure to watch the second in our series of videos hosted by our founder Karen Dolan, below. In this instalment, Karen explains how our HR services and many years of experience can help guide you throughout every phase of managing your people.

You can expect professional advice and support whatever your people issue or need.

Submit an enquiry via our online form today to find out how we can help your business or call 07771642182 to book a 30-minute consultation with Karen directly.

The post KarenHRM newsletter: Happy New Year 2021 appeared first on Karen HRM Limited.