Executive Education

HR Strategy: Creating Competitive Advantage through People

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Overview

The HR Strategy: Creating Competitive Advantage through People program is now for company teams only. Each company sends a small team (4-5 people) to the course to provide a combination experience. Teams learn best practices from other participating companies, while also working together on issues specific to their company—the type of work from which we find deeper learning and transfer take place.

Teams can be comprised of mid- to senior level HR generalists/managers, or can be multifunctional teams that include HR managers. We can accept a maximum of six (6) teams per class, and registration is on a first-come basis. If a course is full, companies can request to be added to our waiting list for the next available course dates.

Learning Objectives

Each company team is expected to come to this course with a focused, current business problem for which they are expected to begin generating the HR solution through their work in class.

The course curriculum generally covers:

• Understanding and identifying how companies create value for key stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, communities, etc.), and how the value chain informs strategy formation.
• Identifying HR activities that help optimize value creation for those stakeholders, vertically aligning individual HR practices with corporate strategy, and horizontally aligning HR practices with each other into a coherent whole.
• HR's Role in Driving Organizational Change - The Change Acceleration Program (CAP) helps identify the steps for a successful change process, while separating change content from change process; this session lays out and discusses diagnostic and planning tools for change.
• Leading the HR Function: The Next Paradigm - HR's critical roles in building capabilities, providing critical information to influence corporate strategy formation, and guarding against human frailties in executive decision-making.
• Plus, at least one half-day session dedicated to an intense analysis of a pressing business HR issue. Recent topics have included “Courage and Ethics in HR,” and “Driving Innovation at Work.” 

Key Feature » Action Learning Strategic Business Case

Before the course begins, company teams will develop a firm-specific strategic business—not HR—case on which to focus their activities during the week. Throughout the program, this case will provide applied context for each team's learning experience. Group work through the week addresses specific questions related to the business case, and teams cap the week with presentations of their solutions to the class and faculty for feedback.

On the final day of the course, faculty also guide attendees in using their strategic case work to meet firm challenges back in the office. The week-long format of the program allows for ample time, in class and out, to explore how the ideas we discuss can be applied or adapted. The critical last step is working with faculty and peers to begin creating action plans.

Participant Profile

HR Strategy is for mid- to senior level HR professionals with:

• Ten or more years of HR experience.
• Responsibility for designing, implementing and measuring HR organizations.
• Responsibility for developing and managing HR processes and practices that support firm objectives.
• Line executives moving into a senior HR leadership/business partner role.

* Fee includes all materials and most meals. Accommodations are not included, but a block of hotel rooms is reserved at a reduced rate for attendees. Attendees are responsible for making their own reservations. Fee is payable in advance and subject to change. *