ewlett Packard vice president and chief learning officer Sam Szteinbaum says
it’s difficult to separate leadership development from the overall performance level
of the HR function. That’s why HP has set out to do both simultaneously, with the
"Best in Class" HR development program it started a year ago.
HP started out by benchmarking its HR performance against
other companies that it perceived as having strong HR functions. Additionally, the
computer manufacturer did in-depth assessments of the skills and expertise of its
directors and vice presidents in HR and is in the process of conducting a similar
analysis of the abilities of its senior managers.
That detailed profiling of its leaders, HP hopes, will enable
the company to customize its development program and get the maximum benefit. "We’re
looking not just at individuals’ capabilities, but also at whatever gaps a large
number of people have," Szteinbaum says. "That enables us to build targeted solutions
and development programs to raise the bar in those areas."
HP’s initial focus is improving the organizational effectiveness
of its HR leaders by improving their competence in the areas of organizational diagnostics,
business analytics, business transformation and influencing skills. "We want them
to become trusted advisors to the businesses they’re involved with," Szteinbaum
says.
HP aims to accomplish that through a yearlong training program
for 80 of its high-potential leadership candidates. After a quarterly Web conference
on an area of competence, the candidates gather face-to-face in groups of 20 for
three-day training modules that go into the subject in more detail. Then they break
up again into smaller groups that continue to work together on practical applications
of the knowledge and to coach one another.
"For example, a small group could be working on the transformation
of a business that has brought in a new leader," Szteinbaum says. "They have to
revamp the group and change its charter, and perhaps move out a few key members
of the old team so they can help the manager develop a new one."
In addition, HP hopes to boost the business acumen of its
HR leaders through a separate, HP-specific online financial training program that
it is developing with an outside partner. "Where there are HR people who have more
financial and business model knowledge, we’ll use them as coaches to help the others,"
Szteinbaum says.
Workforce Management, June 25, 2007, p. 38
-- Subscribe Now!
= Member Only
