Developing Yourself as an Effective Human Resources Practitioner Essay

Introduction This report will be divided in 2 activities, first, a brief description of the CIPD Professional Map, which will help us have a better understanding of the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to be an effective practitioner. The second activity will specify how an HR practitioner can ensure the services they provide are timely and effective. Activity 1 – Brief summary of CIPD Human Resources Professional Map The CPID Professional Map it’s a tool developed to help HR professionals understand what they need to know and do in each level of their careers. The Map is presented to us divided in 4 main sections: It begins with the Core professional Areas – These 2 areas are the center of the map and relevant for all no matter what level or position you work in HR, and they are: Insights, Strategy and Solutions – This professional area underpins the direction of the profession as an applied business discipline. This area also allows HR Professionals, to develop actionable insights and deliver situational HR solutions. Leading HR – This professional area focuses on HR Professionals that are active and insight-led and are actively leading others who own, shape and driving the organization. They develop the organization across 3 main areas of leadership: Personal leadership, leading others and leading issues. Then it describes the Specialist Professional Areas – the 8 specialist professional areas identify what you need to Know and to do, in each of the 4 bands. These are Organisational design, Organisational development, Resourcing and talent planning, Learning and development, Performance and reward, Employee engagement, Employee relations and finally Service delivery and Information, one of the areas I’m most interested, here we have to ensure that Hr services and information are delivered effectively, efficiently and timely and data is manage in a professional manner. To become effective there are 8 behaviours, these behaviours describe how an HR professional should carry out for their successful accomplishment and they are: 1. Curious – interested, willingness to learn and to develop, growing within an organization 2. Decisive thinker – uses information to make defendable decisions 3. Skilled influencer – ability to persuade in order to gain the necessary support 4. Personally credible – builds a reputation of professionalism at all times adding value to the organisation 5. Collaborative – team work, able to work with people of all levels 6. Driven to deliver – determination to get the job done using all resources to deliver the best result 7. Courage to challenge – confident to speak up, challenging others even in unfamiliar circumstances 8. Role model – impartial, straightforward, leads by example. There are also 4 bands that defines what professionals need to do to progress through the bands in order to develop their careers. Going from band 1 which reflect the people carrying out administrative and support activities up to the requirements needed in people in leading roles who make decisions and are responsible for the development of HR strategy. My role in HR Unfortunately for the time being I’m not working in HR but having a background of HR Administrator I would have to chose Service delivery and information as the professional area that best reflects my experience. I have placed myself at Band 1(or even before that), despite my short experience working in HR I developed interest in that particular area and would like to proceed my career in that direction. Considering Band 1 the activities and knowledge specified within this role would be: Activities Provide the relevant information and advice to managers and employees Keep accurate records of case history Delivery service excellence, customer care even through times of change Knowledge Be able to handle, escalate and resolve problems and complaints Manage employees lifecycle and other needs Know how to use HRIS and produce data reports Activity 2 – With reference to your own (or other identified) HR role, outline how an HR practitioner should ensure the services they provide are timely and effective Customer needs and their requirements of HR Understanding customers needs is essential for an HR professional if we what to deliver an effective service. Some of HR customers can be Managers requiring absence reports, company policies or support with employee relations. Employees who might request information regarding their holidays, salary or the terms of their contracts. Even Job candidates are HR customers, needing assistance with an application for an open vacancy. Not always is easy for HR practitioners to ensure that the services they provide will be timely and effective. Different customers can have different needs at the same time and if it conflicts with our workload we need to prioritize the tasks that have to be dealt with. Payroll normally is something that comes as a priority for customers. This kind of issues will be prioritized and handled in a timely manner in order to guarantee an efficient service and customer satisfaction. Who requested? When was requested? Are questions that need to be taken into account when you are planning your daily schedule. Communication methods When we talk about communication one of the most important things we always want to insure is that the message that is being sent is received and understood. Here are 3 examples of communications methods: Email – with email we can communicate with everyone in the company. It’s an easy tool to use, quickly and you can reach a lot of people at the same time, and you can always keep evidence of what was discussed. However it has some disadvantages can be sent by mistake to the wrong person (breaching dpa) and the receiver might understand something that was not supposed to be  the message sent. Telephone – It’s the most direct and quick method from where we can get immediate answers. The disadvantage is that if the conversations are not recorded there will be no evidence of the communication. Intranet – The intranet is increasingly becoming a privileged method of communication. It contains important information available to all staff. Normally is updated on a regular basis with the latest news, relevant information, organizational changes etc. The advantage is that not all employees reed what is posted. Effective service delivery To deliver effective service it’s crucial that you build and maintain relationships with all of your customers (managers, employees, finance). Keep your promises, expectations have to be met, if you compromise yourself with something your customers will be expecting that from you. This will build a trusty relationship and will build up their confidence in your service. When handling problems, complaints or difficulties make sure the issue is addressed to the right person or that it is your place to solve it. I believe the best way to approach these situations, is to first of all, identify the problem and the point of view of all parties, be sympathetic and come up with options to solve these problems. If it can’t be solved immediately give them a time frame and keep them updated of further developments. Customers need to know that something is being done with the complaint they presented. One of the factors in providing effective service that needs to be taken into account is company budget, every outlay has to be considered in your budget since stationary, Hr systems, training etc. If the company is thinking of acquire a new HR system the budget will be taken into consideration. As HR practitioners we need to provide the best on budget option. Where can money be saved? Can we economize time with this new tool? We have to try to find a new system that could allows us to incorporate multiple tools in one, for instance a new HR System that also enables us to have payroll and appraisal system. This could help the  company save resources such as time and money, making easier for HR to deliver an Effective service. To conclude we can say that throughout this report we were able to identify the 8 specialist professional areas in which we can develop our HR career and the necessary behaviours to be successful in it. Reflecting on my own experience or what I believe it’s effective we went through the different methods of communication available to you as an HR practitioner and how to handle your customer’s complaints and difficulties, always guarantying an effective service delivery. References: www.cipd.com.uk http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/profession-map/ http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/profession-map/professional-areas/service-delivery-information.aspx http://www.cipd.co.uk/community/freesummaries/whatismeantbycustomerservice.htm http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/employee-communication.aspx