So you’ve got great basic human resource skills, on top of that you’ve added strategic/value-adding skills but you still aren’t getting asked to be involved in the business? So why? In my experience most HR people have great generalist knowledge, have or are developing value-added skills, and have a good understanding of their organizations operations – but what is holding them back is a lack of a business relationship with their clients. They often have a great personal relationship, but just aren’t getting the business side. Below I will cover a few key actions you can use to build that business relationship and get involved with your clients business. To do this you need to do a couple things well: your key message, building rapport, and deliver.Key Message: Always know your message. In most cases this is your value-proposition. I don’t just mean a sales pitch, I mean you need to know exactly how HR can help your organization. Is your business area going through a change? Do they know that about half of all changes fail, so effective change management is just as important as the change itself. Are they having trouble with filling key positions, or are worried about finding or keeping talent? How will you respond to that. This means knowing your skill-set, the value you add, and where the business can use these skills.
Build Rapport: Your clients need to feel comfortable with you before they’ll want your help with their people issues. Just being an expert in your area isn’t enough, they need to want to sit down and discuss their issues. They keys to building rapport (and helping in getting to the bottom of the issue) are:
- Make a connection: Look for something you share in common, and talk about that first. Don’t dive into a difficult conversation until you have made a connection and you’re comfortable.
- Be present: Don’t start thinking ahead, or thinking about how you will jump in. Focus on what they are saying, and how they are acting. Listen, don’t talk*. This will make the next part easier.
- Ask good questions. Dive in, get details – but make sure they are on topic. Each question should provide clarity.
- Before the end, make sure you check your conclusions (paraphrase) and be clear about what is needed.
Once you’ve developed report and a business relationship with your clients just be a sounding board. They don’t always need an answer. Just having clients who are comfortable talking about their issues with you makes it far easier to identify where you can add value.
Deliver on the small things. There are no small things when you’re building trust and demonstrating your value. Not everything needs to be polished, on small projects timeliness can be more important (when good is better than great).
Lastly, put thought into about how you can market yourself to your clients in the future.
*This is an area I personally am working on