Empower your HR team with a clear and simple project management and planning tool tailored for successful execution of people, culture, and talent acquisition initiatives.
Aligning HR Projects with Organizational Goals
People, culture, and HR connect disciplines, locations, and departments. We know that it's challenging to find the right tool to clearly summarize the scope, objectives, budget, roles, and progress of an initiative. To that end, our team's created this simple, but resonant, tool for building alignment and shared understanding on the main components of a project, including -
- Objectives and how it connects to your business strategy and goals
- Timeline
- Available resources
- Project Team Members and roles
- Expected return-on-investment
If your mind's first response to any section or part of the tool is "tilt," you can easily delete, edit, or pivot any section. Our goal is simply to share a possible approach and way of outlining the what, why, and how of a project grounded in your people across your organization, and ensure HR projects are seen as integral parts of the health of your business.
Realistic Recommendations for Successful Project Management
From having worked alongside, and led internally, many long-term projects around HR, people, and culture, we love that the guide we created provides the opportunity to outline your objectives ahead of time and then the results you achieve along the way. Below is a sample table you'll have in the Word document.
Preview: connect objectives with the intended impact. Access the full project management tool to make it your own and view all the components for successfully building and implementing an HR, people, and-or culture initiative.
Ultimately, this is just a project management tool in an easy to edit Word document. The intention, planning, and people you bring the to the project determine its success. With that in mind, here are a few core recommendations we've seen be successful for guiding these projects from inception to meaningful results.
- Include all relevant stakeholders. Make sure each affected stakeholder group has, at minimum, a voice in the development of the project. For example, we often work cross functionally with stakeholders from HR, training, and operations when building a solution and guiding its implementation.
- Team Selection. What if you built a project team with the same mindset you use for hiring? What skills, values, workstyles, and mindsets do you need to make the project successful?
- Data. The success and longevity of any HR and people project is multiplied when its based on data, evidence, and observation from your specific organization and teams. For talent acquisition, this might be understanding the competencies and skills required as well as reasons for turnover. For ongoing active listening and employee engagement, this could mean knowing the top operational and overall concerns and changes affecting employees.
- Continuous Improvement. While simple, this project management tool allows you to benchmark ROI and target areas for improvement over time. A project and initiative is more likely to endure if you're continually building on its success as well as adapting its implementation as needed as your environment and needs change.
Tracking and Analyzing Key Metrics for Project Success
Tracking and analyzing key metrics for project success is essential for ensuring that your HR, people, and culture initiatives are flawlessly executed and deliver the expected results. By consistently monitoring key metrics, you can identify areas of improvement, measure the impact of your projects, and make data-driven decisions to drive success.
We know with talent management related projects, determining the right metrics to track can be challenging. In addition to tracking the lagging indicators that are your ultimate goal (e.g., sales, turnover, tenure), consider leading indicators that are early signs you're on the right path and direct indicators the solution and project are working. This could include measures of engagement, 90 day or six month turnover, time-to-fill for open positions, training effectiveness, and overall end user satisfaction. By collecting and analyzing this data, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your projects from the leading indicators earlier allowing you to make data-backed changes sooner.
When we begin a project with an organization we start with a plan for tracking results and success. This data-first approach allows you to capture the impact of your work and share with stakeholders and building shared understanding and driving continuous improvement.
Incorporating a rich data tracking and analysis process into your project management approach will help you optimize your HR initiatives, drive meaningful results, and ultimately create a strong connection between your projects and strategic goals of your organization.
