HR Persons Urged To Strategize

Mrs Irene Asare, the Director of Human Resource (HR) Tullow Ghana Limited has urged HR practitioners to align business goals of organisation with the HR strategy to achieve results.

She said the practice of HR was evolving and it was imperative for practitioners to be innovative and be able to impact and influence decision at the table and link them to business goals for success.

Mrs Asare gave the advice on Wednesday in Accra at a forum with HR practitioners on the topic: 'Empowering HR Professionals for Business Transformation'.

The forum was organised by Alica Consulting Limited in collaboration with the Institute of Human Resource Management Practitioners.

She posited that an empowered HR team was one in which individuals have the knowledge, skills, experience, passion, drive and opportunity to positively impact business outcomes and results.

This she explained was critical because the world is not standing still but evolving and call for progressive and forward thinking to be abreast with current happenings in the sector.

Ms Asare said it behoves on practitioners to be successful and relevant in an organisation to attract the right talents for their business needs and champion the change agenda for organisation effectiveness.

'You need to retain the right people with the requisite skills and competence, ensure workforce planning and organisation effectiveness and as well build the capacity of employees for knowledge and skills transfer', she added.

According to her, it was important for organisations to transform their business strategy because of competition, globalisation, digitisation and customer demands so that they are not short-changed in the process of development.

She said many organisations pay little more than lip-service to the role their employees play in executing their strategic plans, and frequently underestimated the human capital implications of their decisions.

Mrs Asare stressed that the reality, was that HR strategy was a core component of the overall business planning, and for either to be effective, the two need to be developed hand-in-hand.

She noted that for HR practitioners to influence business transformation, they need to know much about the company, take ownership of the people agenda and benchmark new global HR practices against local organisational practices.

She urged companies to give HR a seat in the boardroom and the opportunity to help shape their corporate plans to drive the needed outcomes.

Mr Andy Osei Okrah, the Lead Consultant for Alica Consulting Limited said the forum was to sharpen the skills and capabilities of HR practitioners through share thinking and finding solutions to problems.

He was of the view that HR practitioners need to be grounded in the field and use every opportunity to drive the needed change in the organisation.

Mr Okrah said HR strategies, must focus on how to get the best out of the HR team and develop a strategy that complements corporate planning.

Mrs Bridget Asante Addae, a participant said the forum had enabled her to seek more education in learning various strategic methods and learn from other practitioners.

'The platform has also improve my perspective of how to deal with various challenges I faced in my field of work and how to be a skilful influencer', she added.

GNA
By Kodjo Adams/ Papa Yaw Danso, GNA