Reflection

Submitted by Merna Ashry

Challenge:

In my role as an HR Business partner, one of the projects recently undertaken was to work directly with  my client groups on a People Strategy exercise with the intent of ensuring that we have the right  organizational structure manned with the right talent and capabilities, to achieve the company goals.  This approach required intensive scrutiny of the current organizational structure and a detailed thought  analysis of the workflow and activities being executed within the functional area.  Some of the other  imperatives we needed to address were:

•  How to prioritize the functional imperatives that face each leaders’ functional organization.    •  Identifying critical roles within the team   •  Highlighting talent that currently exists  •  Highlighting gaps in capabilities which are needed to support the business and determine how  to build talent in these areas to address these gaps  •  Identifying and selecting digitization opportunities within the function

Selection:

For this exercise I chose to use the mind mapping tool.  For me, this is the best way to break down a  complex situation. There was a large amount of data that we needed to review and synthesize, and as a  result we needed to break down the project into distinct areas to enable us to focus on each piece of  the strategy. We needed to outline each of the above-mentioned areas and establish the framework for  the strategy; and then work to generate the ideas to formulate the structure. This method is a creative  and visual way to capture the thoughts of the client and ensure we identify the appropriate information  in order to retrofit the data into the overall strategy. The example provided of the yard sale resonated  with me as you are going from a large and messy problem and categorizing the items into distinct areas  so they can be easily understood – or in the yard sales analogy – purchased.

Application:

From looking at the current reality of the situation, I chose to schedule an initial meeting of 30 minutes  with my clients to socialize the exercise.  This was to merely get them thinking about their organization  and what to expect when we delved into the actual exercise. After that, I scheduled a 2-hour block of  time with the Sr. Leadership team member and asked him to invite others to the meeting that would be  able to provide insight and add value to the process. During this meeting there was a great deal of  brainstorming that occurred and the questions ‘why’ and ‘why not’ were frequently used to force the  team to think out of the box and visualize utopia.  What would the department look like?  We asked  them to visualize a clean slate and inquired, “if you could restructure your department anyway you like,  what would it look like? If anything was possible, what would that look like?” This gave the team the  opportunity to unleash their creativity and intuition and come up with ideas that were perhaps a little  out there, but none the less, potentially brilliant. Lastly, we conducted a work-flow analysis and listed all  the activities executed and placed them into a 4-bucket prioritization matrix asking the questions, “What  are the must have/value added resources necessary?  What are the must have/nonvalue added  resources necessary?  Can these be automated or outsourced?”

There were many more sessions that occurred after that, and all in all the time spent with each client  group totaled approximately 10-12 hours.  This was an effective exercise and ultimately was presented  to the Sr. Leaders who were pleased with the outcome.

Insight:

Having to do this for 4 different client groups was a very burdensome task, but one that I am very glad I  undertook.  It was difficult at first for the leaders to look at a blank slate and fill it with ideas.  Equally  difficult was to constantly be asked the questions ‘why’ and ‘why not’. Eventually the difficulty subsided  and once they got the hang of it, the creatively juices started flowing.

Approach:

I don’t know if I would do this differently net time – the mind mapping worked very well for this  situation.  Visualization may also work well and it’s possible I will combine 2 of the tools the next time I  have a project of this magnitude. I really enjoyed the challenge of implementing this process in design  thinking and it helped to position me as a strategic business partner, but also one that was able to allow  the group to really become embedded in this design challenge.


Reflection Submitted by Merna Ashry Challenge : In my role as an HR Business partner , one of the projects recently undertaken was to work directly with my client groups on a People Strategy exercise with the intent of ensuring that we have the right organizational structure manned with the right talent and capabilities , to achieve the company goals . This approach required intensive scrutiny of the current organizational structure and a detailed thought analysis of the workflow and activities being executed within the functional area . Some of the other imperatives we needed to address were : • How to prioritize the functional imperatives that face each leaders ’ functional organization . • Identifying critical roles within the team • Highlighting talent that currently exists • Highlighting gaps in capabilities which are needed to support the business and determine how to build talent in these areas to address these gaps • Identifying and selecting digitization opportunities within the function Selection : For this exercise I chose to use the mind mapping tool . For me , this is the best way to break down a complex situation . There was a large amount of data that we needed to review and synthesize , and as a result we needed to break down the project into distinct areas to enable us to focus on each piece of the strategy . We needed to outline each of the above - mentioned areas and establish the framework for the strategy ; and then work to generate the ideas to formulate the structure . This method is a creative and visual way to capture the thoughts of the client and ensure we identify the appropriate information in order to retrofit the data into the overall strategy . The example provided of the yard sale resonated with me as you are going from a large and messy problem and categorizing the items into distinct areas so they can be easily understood – or in the yard sales analogy – purchased . Application : From looking at the current reality of the situation , I chose to schedule an initial meeting of 30 minutes with my clients to socialize the exercise . This was to merely get them thinking about their organization and what to expect when we delved into the actual exercise . After that , I scheduled a 2 - hour block of time with the Sr . Leadership team member and asked him to invite others to the meeting that would be able to provide insight and add value to the process . During this meeting there was a great deal of brainstorming that occurred and the questions ‘ why ’ and ‘ why not ’ were frequently used to force the team to think out of the box and visualize utopia . What would the department look like ? We asked them to visualize a clean slate and inquired , “ if you could restructure your department anyway you like , what would it look like ? If anything was possible , what would that look like ? ” This gave the team the opportunity to unleash their creativity and intuition and come up with ideas that were perhaps a little out there , but none the less , potentially brilliant . Lastly , we conducted a work - flow analysis and listed all the activities executed and placed them into a 4 - bucket prioritization matrix asking the questions , “ What are the must have / value added resources necessary ? What are the must have / nonvalue added resources necessary ? Can these be automated or outsourced ? ” There were many more sessions that occurred after that , and all in all the time spent with each client group totaled approximately 10 - 12 hours . This was an effective exercise and ultimately was presented to the Sr . Leaders who were pleased with the outcome . Insight : Having to do this for 4 different client groups was a very burdensome task , but one that I am very glad I undertook . It was difficult at first for the leaders to look at a blank slate and fill it with ideas . Equally difficult was to constantly be asked the questions ‘ why ’ and ‘ why not ’ . Eventually the difficulty subsided and once they got the hang of it , the creatively juices started flowing . Approach : I do n’t know if I would do this differently net time – the mind mapping worked very well for this situation . Visualization may also work well and it ’s possible I will combine 2 of the tools the next time I have a project of this magnitude . I really enjoyed the challenge of implementing this process in design thinking and it helped to position me as a strategic business partner , but also one that was able to allow the group to really become embedded in this design challenge .