The Human Factor
There is
one topic, apart from entrepreneurship, that I can talk about for hours (if it
is not days) on end without getting bored with myself. Trust me, those who
really know me became aware of this the hard way.. This topic is the Vacancy to
Pay (V2P) process for hiring of external staff.
While
working on that topic with various clients over quite some years now, it keeps
on surprising me how far the chemistry is usually off in this part of
procurement. While the people are far from stupid, the orders and targets are
often pretty clear, and even every once in a while there is someone involved
with some sort of vision, still somehow the stakeholders don’t mix. Outcomes of
projects for optimization can be easily predicted: pointing fingers, harsh
words, unsatisfied operational agents and most of the time at least one of the
stakeholders that is not reaching its goals. Off course I am talking about the
Hiring-stakeholder triangle of Procurement, HR Management and IT.
Okay, sure
thing that the blood types of the average agent in those three business
functions do not really match. Reference frameworks of the daily work could not
be further apart and the primary work focus is quite something else when you work
with people, savings or technology. But usually the claim is made that
optimizing their Hiring-V2P processes together is difficult because their
targets are differently set. And then there is that surprise again…! Because
how can it be, that departmental goals within a company do not match, and thus
do not add up clearly to the company’s global goals?
For the
sake of argument, let us just conclude that any professionally driven
organisation simply does not let that happen, so there must be other reasons
like politics, general understanding, priority settings, etcetera. To
summarize: the Human Factor is involved!
When we realize
this, we can also conclude that optimizing the V2P process, and organisational
aspects surrounding it, for any organization is never a matter of having a
proper solution-set alone. It takes some managed change efforts at stakeholder
level to get there, where the focus is “common ground”. Below some of my experiences
to start the right path towards successful V2P optimization:
1. Counter one-sided focus: Get the V2P change lead by a
person who is, in behaviour, not explicitly a product of one of the three blood
types, but knows her/his way in all walks of business involved.
2. Level the playing field and manage
priorities: Make
sure that this neutral lead does not only have access to the highest levels of internal
clients, but also to the common problem owner(s) above that (SSC-owner or
Board).
3. Lead the way, don’t hassle on orders: Realize that above tips give some
clear pointers on the best-fitting profile and seniority of the required
resource to lead the project.
4. Grow your playing field together: Start any project initiation phase
by investing in identification of common goals before you start drawing towards
end results. This can take some time and workshop effort, but will certainly
pay off!
5. Constructive solutions come from
constructive teamwork:
Realize that above tip gives some clear pointers on the best-fitting profiles
of the mandated project members involved for the initiation.
6. Joint success means joint failure: Eventually initiate the change
from both business stakeholders Procurement and HR Management, make sure the
success and failure rests on both shoulders.
7. Solutions support vision: Involve IT from a process-driven
perspective and make them accountable for their part in the success.
In the end,
a proper and accepted V2P solution is driven by logic, usability, cost-cutting
capabilities and, certainly not at the least, added value in managing the price/quality
ratio in temporary staff. No matter what the interpretations on targets and
goals are, these will (or at least should!) always stand firm in a project that
carries vision. And so these should be covered by the right mind-set for all
parties involved in getting there. The Human Factor is usually the problem but can also make the difference..
Doede van Haperen
www.lakran.com
www.postulit.com
