Business Partnering

This book shows how to make the drive for quality, productivity, and profit improvement a permanent feature of any organization through the concept of partnering--building alliances among employees, suppliers, and customers--as an integral part of every activity. Poirier and Houser give detailed action tools needed to make changes in any organization.

A Business Partner is a professional who supports and advises strategic and operational decision-making through insights that drive better business performance. Often as a result of external changes, business partners must respond quickly to map out the future strategic development, keep the firm competitive and ensure all objectives and legal requirements are met. In this book, business partnering expert Steven Swientozielskyj introduces a framework that provides a set of practical tools and techniques via a simple six stage model that, when replicated, will take the practitioner from start to finish through strategic change; from the formation and agreement of the strategy to its delivery and sustainability. Business Partnering is a one-stop shop for understanding this important phenomenon and as such will be vital reading for practitioners and academics in the business arena.

Research clearly indicates that there is a strong need for the Human Resources (HR) function, and the people in it, to adopt a more strategic and business-linked approach. In one study business executives ranked the HR function as third, after sales and customer service, as a function that makes a very significant contribution to a company's bottom line. Unfortunately research also indicates that few HR functions have become strategic. Most still operate in a primarily administrative and tactical manner—the very work that is increasingly being outsourced. Clearly there is a gap between what business leaders and employees need from their HR departments and what HR is providing. HR functions must become more integrated into the business, with some people on the HR team assuming the role of Strategic Business Partner (SBP). Here, Dana and Jim Robinson offer guidance for HR, Organization Development and Learning professionals who aspire to transform themselves into effective Strategic Business Partners. They explain how SBPs build partnerships, based upon credibility and trust, with key organization leaders. These partnerships provide SBPs with opportunities to identify and support projects directly aligned with business goals. The success of these projects deepens the SBPs' credibility, enabling them to be viewed as strategic partners. At this higher level of accountability, SBPs work with business leaders to form long-range business strategies and plans, creating and implementing people initiatives that link into and support the business strategies and plans. This practical guide offers case studies, exercises, tips, and tools you can use to become a Strategic Business Partner in your organization.

How do I balance delivery of the HR strategy with the needs of the business? How can I solve key people issues while also becoming a true strategic HR business partner? This book has the answers. Packed with expert advice, The HR Business Partner Handbook explains how HR Business Partners can be both the go-to people expert needed by employees and the trusted strategic ally needed by the business. This book covers how to develop an authoritative knowledge of HR practice as well as deep understanding of what the organization does and its business goals. It includes guidance on all the people fundamentals needed as well as the importance of empathy, humility and how to demonstrate leadership on moral and ethical issues. It also covers how to adapt advice and activity for different stakeholders. This book explains how to identify the root of an HR issue and not just treat the symptoms and most importantly, how to develop solutions that work for an organization and its people. There is practical guidance on how to develop a strategic mindset, learn what to start doing and what to stop. It also features an assessment of the common pitfalls and intra-profession challenges and how HR business partners should seek to approach them. Written by an HR Business Partner, for HR Business Partners, this is an indispensable guide for everyone wanting to excel in this role and drive improvement in an organization, its leaders and HR. Finally, a 'how-to' guide for HR business partners at every stage of their career!

Innovation studies and partnering/collaborative alliances are rapidly growing areas of interest. Originally combining the two areas, this book examines the role of business partnering as a pathway to innovation for small and medium enterprises – SMEs. This text outlines global and regional trends, focusing in particular on the role of Poland and Eastern Europe as an emerging region for new innovative ideas, how innovation is promoted in the United States, and how it is facilitated in Japan. It assesses the reasons why American SMEs are significantly ahead of their European counterparts in the fields of research and development investment and innovation, and demonstrates how business partnering can assist in increasing research and development investment, profit, finding new suppliers and aiding growth. In addition, the book shows how business partners can cut the costs of doing research for innovation and analyzes the threat that poorly constructed and over-burdensome regulation and bureaucracy pose to innovation. This book is a timely contribution to the literature on both innovation and business partnering in Japan, Europe and the United States.

With HR professionals increasingly expected to be “business partners”, are you prepared with the skills and tools to make a positive difference to your organization? As the recognised definitive guide to the topic, HR: The Business Partner, second edition, offers practical insights to take you through the challenging process of business partnering, including: • No-nonsense description of what business partnering entails, with case studies to illustrate real-life practice • Detailed coverage of the common challenges and advice on how to overcome them • Guidance on how to develop the skills and confidence required to work effectively Covering the transition from working operationally to working strategically and the tools, techniques and skill sets needed for partnering, this inexpensive guide will help to both add real value to your business and to develop your career in business partnering. If you are aspiring to or about to embark on a business partner role, this book will provide you with ideas and inspiration for the position.

Having the skills is not enough - applying them in the chaotic and frantic world of work while still delivering the transactional duties of HR is the real challenge. This toolkit helps you to first identify those skills gaps and develop your team's capability and then to apply those skills to become genuine business partners.