Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 1

Your First 90 Days Top Tips For New HR leaders

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Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders

Contents

Introduction

Understand The Landscape

The Organisation’s Strategic Priorities

HR’s Current People Plan

The Company Culture

Build Relationships

Optimise Your Employee Engagement Strategy

Agree Strategic Priorities

About WorkBuzz

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Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 1

IntroductionCongratulations on your new HR leadership role – it’s an exciting time for you personally for the organisation.

The first 90 days in your new role are crucial. You will want to make the right impression, build your credibility and show what you’re capable of delivering. Even if you’re in the same organisation, you may be tackling new job responsibilities, working in a different environment or reporting to a new boss. No pressure then?

The key is understanding your organisation’s culture, identifying where to focus your energy, objectively using data, and building your network throughout the company. That’s where this guide will help you to keep on track, as well as providing some handy checklists to refer to.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 2

Understand The LandscapeResearch from the past experiences of executives indicates that the first 90 to 100 days - often known as “the honeymoon period” - is a period of initial learning and orientation, correcting obvious problems, establishing initial credibility, and avoiding common landmines. The goal is to understand the context you are operating within and avoid making premature business judgement decisions.

Source: Gary Myszkowski, Ph.D. Senior Consultant from Executive Core

During the recruitment phase you will have learned about the challenges you will face, at a superficial or deeper

level. You may need to redefine the HR function or work on HR’s reputation and its value add. Your approach to

your new role will depend on what the organisation needs and your natural style. Make sure that you and your

manager are agreed on expectations for your first 90 days so that you’re not accused of creating instability or

making insufficient impact. Now you are in place, you may want to consider asking those with whom you’ll have

a key relationship questions about why you were chosen:

As well as improving your credibility, this will help when considering your priorities and where to focus your limited

time and resources. If, for example, the business strategy is focused on innovation, empowering top talent, then

encouraging risk taking and breaking down silos may be high on your list of priorities. In contrast, if aggressive

expansion could be held back by skills shortages, you may decide to double down on developing your employer

brand, expanding the skills of existing talent and setting up an apprenticeship scheme to help build your talent

pipeline.

The Organisation’s Strategic PrioritiesRead up and speak with your key stakeholders about:

• What value did they think you could bring?

• Whatdifferencecantheyseeyouoffering?

• The organisation’s mission, vision and values

• Its corporate or business plan, including key strategic priorities

• How it intends to win in a competitive marketplaceandwhatmakesitdifferent

• What strengths do they think you will add to the team?

• How do they view the HR function?

• The business model – how it makes money and its economic engine

• What the business needs from its people in order to achieve the strategy and how well HR is currently aligned to this

• How they view the HR function and its internal reputation

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 3

What is Driving HR?

Introduce new business models

Minimise business or compliance risks

Supportspecificdigitisation/businesstransformation initiatives

Increase revenue

Increaseprofitsorlowercosts

Improvebusinessagility/responsiveness

Increase employee productivity/efficiency

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0

Best Run

Striver

Survivor

Laggard

Support new products and revenue streams

Grow or maintain market share

Improve customer experience

Source: “The HR Role in Best-Run Midsize Companies: Using Intelligent Technologies to Manage the Total Workforce.” IDC sponsored by SAP 2019

To thrive, or even survive, companies are racing to become more agile. In everything from leadership approaches to financial processes, businesses are transforming the way they work. The objective now is to become nimble and surmount new, unexpected hurdles without skipping a beat.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 4

HR’s Current People PlanReview the HR function’s business or people plan:

It’s also important to understand the context:

Every leader wants to make their own mark. The goal is to build on the good work currently being done,

whilst identifying other priorities for change.

Checklist

Review the people plan – is this fully aligned to the organisation’s goals and strategy?

Identify what to build on and what to change

Evaluate the HR function – its reputation and capability

• Does this strategically answer questions like what are we good at; what capabilities do we need;f and when and where do we need them?

• Is this a logical extension of the business strategy? Does it lay out how the organisation intends to utilise its most important asset, your people, to deliver its objectives?

• What’s been tried before and failed? Why?

• Are there any landmines or politically sensitive areas to avoid?

• What is the approach to attraction, recruitment, on-boarding, development and performance management?

• Is there a clear employee engagement strategy in place, that leaders, people managers and front-line employees are brought into?

• What metrics are in place? Are the right things being measured?

• HoweffectiveistheHRfunctionandits structure? Does the capability need building up?

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 5

The Company CultureIt’s important to understand the culture for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it will help you comply with the

organisation’s norms and ways of working. Ask colleagues what’s really rewarded at the company and how

promotions are determined. Go to company culture activities, like social and team builds - observe how people

interact. Notice if colleagues are expected to stay until 6 p.m. each day, or if hours are flexible so long as you get

your job done. Learn who the real influencers are within your organisation.

Secondly, as a HR leader you’ll play a central role in creating and sustaining the culture that your organisation aspires to have and that it needs to achieve its goals. As the stewards and keepers of the culture, HR leaders are responsible for inspiring desired employee behaviours and beliefs, and, in turn, realising the performance gains of a thriving culture.

Culture is important because it shapes:

• What the organisation considers to be the “right” decisions.

• What employees consider to be appropriate behaviours and how they interact with each other within the organisation, as well as with external stakeholders.

• The speed and efficiency with which things get done.

• The organisation’s capacity for and receptiveness to change.

Culture eats Strategy for breakfast

“ “

Peter Drucker

Does the current culture support or hinder high performance?

In short, an organisation’s culture can be supportive of – or hinder – the implementation of new initiatives and

the achievement of its overall goals. It’s therefore important to evaluate the current culture and if there is a

disparity compared to the aspired culture.

Culture is often implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of

the people the company hires.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 6

Your organisation’s culture is played out in every interaction. If you want to develop it, you have to spot the signs of what’s working and what isn’t.

Strong cultures live by a set of values. The sort that people believe in, get feedback on and feel inspired by… every day.

What past events people talk about inside and outside the organisation - successes or failures.

Who and what are heroes/heroines?

Pockets of real power & influence over decisions, operations, direction. This can include social power.

Internal control systems relating to e.g. finance, performance quality and rewards/salaries.

Organisational ‘semiotics’ including, logos, how grand the offices are, plus

formal or informal dress codes.

Behaviour and rules that signal importance. What’s supposed to happen in given situations and what’s valued by

management.

This includes the formal organisational structure and relationships that dictate whose contributions are most valued.

Johnson and Scholes Cultural Web

Stories

PowerStructures

OrganisationalStructures

CultureSymbols

Rituals andRoutines

Controls

Think about your organisation’s “cultural web” as best summarised by Johnson and Scholes:

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 7

As you you explore your organisation’s “cultural web”, you’ll be sensing the speed and efficiency of how things are done, the rituals and the stories that are played out. The heritage and ways of working may be deeply entrenched, and can be supportive of – or hamper - change.

Culture is also a driver of decisions, actions, and ‘ultimately’ the overall performance of the organisation. If there is a cultural gap, how do you describe that? What are the disconnects you see, hear and feel? How are these disconnects impacting business results? Note down the gap between actual and desired; an exercise to be completed at different organisational levels and certainly at the top, as leadership behaviours can stop any attempt to build the desired culture.

If you cannot articulate specific gaps between your current and desired ways of working, culture will be hard to change. The disconnects have a way of finding their way back to the status quo. An Employee engagement survey can help here, by providing an objective breakdown of the culture, including strengths and areas that require change. This also helps evidence where cultural changes are needed the most and demonstrate your impact over time.

Checklist

Immerse yourself in your organisation’s culture – consciously decide when to adjust to its norms and ways of working.

Use the “Cultural Web” to evaluate any cultural gaps.

Leverage data from employee engagement surveys to evidence where change is needed.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 8

Build RelationshipsAs a HR leader, you can only drive lasting change through others and that’s where relationships come in. Start by mapping your stakeholders across the organisation – who’s got a vested interest in HR’s success and how much influence do they have:

As you map your stakeholders, decide who can help you make an impact or block your progress. Focus your time on understanding their needs and building your relationships. Explain how HR can positively impact the wider business and its agenda.

From the start, your team will be anxious to know if you’re planning any big changes. Your direct reports will want to understand your management style. Your boss will also be looking for evidence they made the right decision in hiring you and will want to hear your assessment of the organisation as it stands.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 9

Engaging in an open, compassionate, authentically interested and inquiring conversation builds trust which in turn creates effective dialogue, creative solutions and knowledge transfer. Building trust and good rapport are two of the foundation stones which allow relationships to develop to allow cooperation to really flourish. Yet, you’ll find that colleagues may be wary, unsure of how to behave with you, or may be defensive. That’s because you are an unknown quantity and you are there to challenge the things that don’t work.

Your facilitation skills will help you to ask the right questions and to search for solutions. You can temporarily remove obstacles and barriers, allowing colleagues to express what their actions would be if they had complete control and no restrictions. Factors such as time frames and budgets can be purposely removed from questions to allow your colleagues to freely express thoughts and feelings.

Checklist

Identify your key stakeholders – who has the power to support or hinder progress?

Invest in building your relationships and network.

Explain to your team your leadership style and expectations.

Encourage honest dialogue and invite their ideas and suggestions.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 10

Optimise Your Employee Engagement Strategy4 in 5 organisations are focused on improving engagement (State of Employee Engagement, 2018), but for too many, what they’re doing isn’t working. In the UK only 1 in 3 employees are engaged and productivity is 15% lower than the average of EU competitors (Office for Budget Responsibility, 2018).

The most common reasons for prioritising employee engagement are improving morale, attracting

and retaining talented employees, and motivating employees to give their best.

Source: State of Employee Engagement (2018)

Improvemorale/culture 53%

44%

41%

41%

20%

18%

16%

16%

10%

9%

5%

4%

3%

Attractthebestemployees/improveemployerbrand

Keep talented employees

Motivate employees to give their best

Reduce employee turnover

Seek feedback to be able to address challenges faced

Encourage employees to contribute to the company

Boostthetop/bottomline

Leadership decision

Part of our DNA and normal ‘BAU’ process

To benchmark against other similar organisations

A budget was allocated by the organisation

Other

The main reasons for focusing on employee engagement:

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 11

Critiquing your employee engagement survey

Employee surveys help you to measure employee engagement levels across your organisation and benchmark your culture. Traditionally, companies relied on an annual employee survey, but these only provided a snapshot of their culture in time. A record number are embracing regular pulse surveys, which enable them to track their culture better, identify emerging issues faster and provide more timely and digestible feedback for managers.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but studies have found organisations running quarterly surveys are on average 17% more satisfied than those relying on an annual survey.

Source: State of Employee Engagement (2018)

Quarterly Every 6 months

Once a year

Every 18 months

Less frequently than every 18 months

Level of satisfaction with frequency of employee engagement survey:

11%23%

4%

39%

8%

26%21%11%

26%

19%

17% 30%47% 44%

34%33%

32%21% 17%

11%

4%

22%

Verysatisfied

Satisfied

NeitherSatisfiednordissatisfiedDissatisfied

Verydissatisfied

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 12

How quarterly pulse and traditional annual surveys compare:

Quarterly pulse surveys enable us to get timely feedback on new initiatives. We are now able to track our culture and identify any emerging issues faster. As a result our managers are better informed and empowered to be better leaders through regular, bite-size feedback from their teams.

“

“

Tracey Winson, Head of HR, Agrovista

Traditional annual(Typically 35-45 questions)

Quarterly pulses (Typically 15-20 questions)

Pros

Provides a full assessment of an organisation’s culture

Enables comprehensive internal benchmarking

Enables organisations to track culture and identify any emerging issues

More bite-sized, regular feedback for managers is likely to change behaviours

Greater chance of embedding engagement in organisational culture

More timely and agile feedback

Cons

Too much happens between annual surveys / they do not identify emerging issues

Harder to keep engagement on the agenda

Managers may be overwhelmed with all their feedback at once

Proportionally more time spent on survey planning and administration, rather than acting on feedback

As questions are phased, it can take several cycles to get an overall assessment of organisational culture

Less suitable if there is a high proportion of offline employees

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 13

Linking employee engagement to business results

Most leaders intuitively understand that in order to deliver a great customer experience or outperform the competition, they need their people engaged and highly motivated. However, with many competing priorities, it’s easy for employee engagement to slip down the priority list.

High-performing organisations counter this by linking their employee engagement feedback to business outcomes, like higher customer satisfaction and employee retention, demonstrating the return on investment.

Source: State of Employee Engagement (2018)

Checklist

Develop a clear narrative about why employee engagement is important for your organisation.

Review the current employee engagement survey – is there an opportunity to modernise this and switch to more agile, regular pulse surveys?

Link employee engagement data to business metrics like customer satisfaction and staff retention.

Customer satisfaction e.g. NPS 42%

42%

28%

27%

26%

24%

23%

16%

11%

7%

3%

Turnover/retentiondata

Productivity measures

Talent management

Financialperformancee.g.Profit,Revenue,Cost

Performance review data

Quality measures

Absence data e.g. Sick days or Bradford Factor

Benefits

Pay

Other

Most popular metrics for linking to employee engagment survey results:

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 14

Agree Strategic PrioritiesData is HR’s most important asset and according to Forbes (2018), the average HR team is sitting on a data goldmine. There’s recruitment data, staff turnover figures, career progression data, training data, absenteeism figures, exit interview data, Glassdoor reviews and employee survey insights, just for starters.

When deciding on your key priorities, these should be data-driven, analytical decisions, linked back to how

they will contribute to the bottom line. By basing this on objective data, you’ll help avoid bias and gain the

commitment of internal and external stakeholders, galvanising support for your people plan.

For example, if you have retention issues, identify common themes in exit interview data and at what stage of

the employee life cycle this seems to spike. Use your employee engagement survey data to track the proportion

of employees who may be considering leaving and break this down by demographics like role and department

to pinpoint ‘at risk’ talent groups. Use your engagement survey to understand the reasons why some employees

are considering leaving so you can tackle the root causes. Here’s some insight from an anonymised

WorkBuzz employee engagement survey.

What is the main reason(s) you are considering leaving? (Please select a maximum of three answers)

My career - I don’t have development or advancement opportunitiesMy pay - other jobs pay more or have betterbenefitsMy recognition - I don’t feel appreciated or valuedMy work - I don’t like what i do or it doesn’t make the most of my talents

My desire for change - I want to try something newOther opportunities - I think better jobs inmyfieldareavailableMy job conditions - I don’t have the flexibility,commuteetcthatIneed

My manager - I don’t like working for him or her

My colleagues - I don’t enjoy working with them

My recruitment - The role did not turn out to be what i expected when i joined

61%

29%

29%

20%

19%

17%

14%

5%

4%

44%

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 15

Thebestthingaboutusingdatatoinfluencemanagers is... it’s hard for them to contest it.“ “

Source: Google

Checklist

Review all your people data and trends.

Check your Glassdoor reviews and how they compare to the competition.

Extract maximum value from the data in your employee engagement survey.

Create a data-driven narrative of where to focus on, linking this back to the organisation’s goals and strategy.

SummaryYour first 90 days are crucial – it’s the honeymoon period but also a critical time to make the right impression, build your credibility and show what you’re capable of delivering.

Before taking action, focus on understanding the landscape: the organisation’s strategic goals and

challenges; evaluate HR’s current priorities, including what’s working and what to change; and understand

the culture – both cultural norms you may need to conform to and whether there is a gap between the

current and desired culture. Next, focus on building your relationships and network – you’ll need to drive

change through others and involve them in shaping this. The key to their buy-in and confidence in you is

creating a data-driven narrative explaining the reasons behind your strategy and people plan.

It’s an exciting time and one that will be impactful for you and your organisation.

Good luck!

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 16

About WorkBuzzHundreds of organisations use WorkBuzz to gather regular, bite-sized feedback from their people and improve their cultures.

Built for people, by people

Less admin, more action

Ask the right questions at the right time with traditional annual or regular pulse surveys. Our employee engagement experts are on hand to help you craft questions, interpret results and drive positive change.

Designed with simplicity in mind, fully mobile and tablet optimised. Get all your feedback and analysis within minutes of your surveys closing.

GET A PERSONALISED TOUR

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 17

Get to the heart of what matters

Drive lasting change

Segment results by demographic, seniority, location and more to truly understand what makes people tick. Benchmark against your sector and track your progress.

Pinpoint what factors drive engagement the most in your organisation, helping managers to prioritise and become better leaders. Get access to a host of best practice resources, designed to help boost employee engagement and drive positive cultural change.

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 18

Having moved from an annual survey with

a large, well-known provider I’ve been really

impressed with the agility,flexibilityandpace

of WorkBuzz.

WorkBuzz have been so supportiveandflexibleinhelpingusgetourfirstsurvey set up. Our Exec

team were delighted with how quickly we received the

feedback and how simple and user-friendly the tool is.

The team at WorkBuzz have beenfirst-class.Weare

delighted with the outcome of the survey, the format it is presented in and how we can identify areas that can make us even better as an

employer.

“ “ “

Di GwinnellHR Director, SACO, The

Serviced Apartments Company

Richard ChattenSenior Business Development

Manager, TaxAssist Accountants

Rated9.3/10 by HR Professionals

Helen GrayHead of HR, Royal

Pharmaceutical Society

Organisations with 25 - 10,000 employees choose WorkBuzz, including:

Your First 90 Days | Top Tips For New HR leaders 19

Arrange your free demowww.WorkBuzz.comor call our team on+44 (0) 3333 446 530