HRHeadStart #58: Emerging HR Operating Models; Specialized Generalists; Creativity

The Talent Agenda

The most common way large organizations set up their HR function is through a combination of HR Centers of Expertise (specialist teams which develop policies, processes, systems, tools and technologies), HR Shared Services (operational and administrative services) and HR Business Partners (interface and advisory to the business).

Today’s HR teams face a range of demands like being agile to the needs of the business and reallocate HR resources, delivering a world-class personalized employee experience, data excellence, execution excellence and automation of routine processes to name a few.

Recent research from McKinsey captures CHROs’ views on how these varied demands are leading to the emergence of new HR operating models.

Diver deeper into the research to understand these models and explore some case studies.

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Working Better

A question I often encounter when working with students and young professionals is whether they should opt for a generalist or a specialist career track in HR. There is no single answer to that question. But I came across a good way to think about combining those two choices. Tim Ferris (author of The 4-hour Workweek) calls it the Specialized Generalist. He makes an interesting point that real value lies in combining and building a few skills, which are usually not found together in the same person. Watch the first ~ 2 minutes of this video to learn more about this idea.

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Tiny Thought

Creativity requires you to recognize patterns across related and unrelated phenomena. You start recognizing patterns when you have a wide body of knowledge. In effect, your ability to innovate depends on your inventory of knowledge. What are you doing today to expand this inventory?