SHRM-CP / SHRM-SCP Certification Exam: Behavioral Competencies - Business Skills - Consultation

Behavioral Competency 7—Consultation
Providing advice and counsel to your clients is one of the biggest roles and most important for HR professionals. There are some important components of that effort you should be developing or polishing.

Five subcompetencies comprise the Consultation competency. They are defined by SHRM45 as follows:
- Evaluating business challenges Working with business partners and leaders to identify business challenges and opportunities for HR solutions
- Designing HR solutions Working with business partners and leaders to design HR solutions and initiatives that meet the business needs
- Implementing and supporting HR solutions Working with business partners and leaders to implement and support HR solutions and initiatives
- Managing change Leading and supporting maintenance of or changes in strategy, organization, and/or operations
- Interacting with customers Providing high-quality customer service and contributing to a strong customer service culture

Key Concepts
- Organizational change management theories, models (e.g., Lewin’s change management model, McKinsey 7-6 model, Kotter’s eight-step change model), and processes (e.g., leadership buy-in, building a case for change, engaging employees, communicating change, removing barriers)
- Consulting processes and models (e.g., discovery, analysis and solution, recommendation, implementation), including the contributions of consulting to organizational systems and processes
- Effective consulting techniques (e.g., understanding organizational culture, understanding areas and limits of one’s own expertise, setting reasonable expectations, avoiding overpromising)
- Key components of successful client interactions (e.g., listening, empathy, communication, follow-up)
- Methods for design and delivery of HR service functions and processes (e.g., issue tracking, client service)

Definition
According to SHRM, Consultation is defined “as the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed to work with organizational stakeholders in evaluating business challenges and identifying opportunities for the design, implementation, and evaluation of change initiatives and to build ongoing support for HR solutions that meet the changing needs of customers and the business.”

Proficiency Indicators for All HR Professionals
Every HR professional should have the ability to behave in ways that will offer their organization these competencies.

Applying Creative Problem-Solving
Of course, there are “old” problems that keep cycling back demanding attention. Those include open insurance benefit enrollment each year. Yet there are even more “new” problems that arise requiring more than compliance. Those problems demand unique approaches that can keep our organizations running smoothly with attention to new requirements. Perhaps the conversion of HR’s role to include oversight of electronic employee records is the best example. Each organization has its own needs and cultural expectations demand that the HRIS respond to those needs.
Creative problem-solving for such a company-wide effort should involve representatives from all aspects of company life. Together, identifying the problem (“How do we convert paper record systems into an HRIS?”) and exploring possible solutions can result in a superior approach that wouldn’t have been possible absent a bit of creativity.
Remember the basics of creative problem-solving and assume the role of facilitator so you can guide your colleagues to a proper conclusion.
 

Steps to Creative Problem-Solving
These are the steps to creative problem-solving:
1.   Identify the problem. Rushing into generating a list of solutions without everyone being clear about what problem you are trying to solve will result in a lot of wasted time. It is likely that your committee will generate solutions for many different problems, without any idea how they all fit together.
2.   Generate a list of possible solutions. This can be done by brainstorming or some other technique you personally prefer. Teach people in your group how to apply the technique you choose and then go to town. Get as many solutions on your list as you can. You can evaluate them in the next step. For now, just make the list as long as possible.
3.   Create a list of criteria for acceptable solutions. It is necessary to have an idea about how to evaluate the solutions you generate so you can compare each against the criteria and determine which will meet all the requirements and which must be scratched from the list.
4.   Re-evaluate your list of remaining solutions. Select the one you want to use as your problem solution. Assign responsibilities for communication of the new solution to managers and employees.
5.   Coordinate implementation of the solution across the company. Perhaps a pilot program could determine whether the solution will really work as expected. If so, you can expand the pilot into a full-blown introduction company-wide.
6.   Evaluate the results. It is important to measure the results to determine whether they meet your expectations.

Serving as an In-House Expert
No one in the organization knows as much about employee programs as the professionals in the HR department. Being an in-house expert is just part of what HR people do. Remember that being accurate is one of the job demands. Loss of credibility can happen in a heartbeat. So, be sure you are correct before answering questions. Do your homework. Study each of the subject areas you are assigned. They can include wage and hour rules, union contract provisions, discrimination prevention requirements, management skills training, employee relocation services, HRIS administration, and so many more. Become the expert people will look to for answers when they have questions. Again, you should know all applicable U.S. employment laws and your local laws that apply to where you have employment.

Analyzing Specific Business Challenges
Have you ever had one of your external customers tell the sales and marketing organization that you must attest that your organization is compliant with equal employment opportunity and affirmative action requirements? It is not unusual for customer organizations, particularly local governmental entities, to say they require adherence to stricter requirements than those imposed by the federal government. There are many reasons for such a difference, many of which are not founded in law. They may require release of sensitive employee data to “prove” your organization is doing what the customer’s requirements demand. In these situations, along with your sales and marketing people, you have the opportunity to determine whether you are willing to release the data required or push back with objections and negotiate. When the customer is adamant about its submission demands, you are faced with the question about whether you will comply or forego business with that customer. All along the way, you must identify issues, provide assessment of those issues to others in the decision-making group, and offer recommendations with your rationale. The final decision is not going to be made by HR for many of these types of issues. Yet the final decision depends on high-quality staff work by HR professionals.

Generating Organizational Interventions
What happens when the production department and the maintenance department have a conflict over access to machinery? Production wants to use the machinery for production. Maintenance wants to use the machinery for updates and repair. Both cannot prevail without some compromise. HR can help identify how union and wage and hour rules can be used to support a solution to the problem. Scheduling maintenance work during a shift that is not used for production is one approach. HR can facilitate the resolution by knowing legal requirements and offering support to both departments and their own missions. In the end, the only thing that matters is having the company reach its objectives.

Developing Consultative and Coaching Skills
Everyone needs personal help from time to time, even managers and executives. One of the most satisfying and productive HR roles is that of counselor and coach.
 

Ten Tips for Building Relationships with Your Clients During Meetings47
- Do your homework. Be sure you know the mission and goals of the organizational unit you will be working with.
- Listen before you talk. Ask questions to be sure you understand the client’s needs. Tell them you will be taking notes as the meeting progresses. That is so you don’t forget a follow-up item and also so you capture key points along the way.
- Learn about your client’s vision of the future. Where will their portion of the organization be in another few years? Will their role be changing within the company?
- Provide anecdotes and examples. Help your clients understand the nuances of HR requirements and options. Always try to relate your message specifically to your clients through conversation and with a storytelling approach. Describe similar situations and offer examples of how others handled situations successfully.
- Offer to work with other advisors. Perhaps the legal staff or accounting should be involved in the discussion. Be willing to work with others so your advice can satisfy the client’s needs.
- Save your clients time and effort. Your client is busy like you are. If you can help them save their time and budget dollars, you will be doing them a favor.
- Use technology. Suggest web portals or apps that can help the client with their problem(s).
- Build a team approach. Whenever possible, make use of your HR colleagues as backup to your personal participation in the discussions. If you are a sole HR practitioner, this will be more difficult, but it may be possible for your boss to help out.
- Find out how clients prefer to be contacted. Not everyone prefers e-mail contact. Some would rather have text messages or even a voice phone call. If the client doesn’t have a preference and you do, ask if you can contact them the way you find best for you.
- Follow up. After the meeting, follow up with your client to thank them for their time and suggest you are available for additional discussions if they would like to have more sessions.
There are some steps you can take to practice your coaching skills in addition to those you use for consultation.
 

Coaching Skills
- Listen with curiosity. Convey a genuine interest in what others have to say.
- Take in what you hear. Concentrate on what the other person is saying. Don’t be thinking about what your next comment will be.
- Reflect with accuracy. Active listening is a skill that HR professionals must develop. Comments like “So, what you’re saying is…” and “What I’m hearing is…” are good ways to recap what you think you heard. If it is incorrect, the other person can make the necessary correction by saying, “No. What I really meant was….”
- Ask open-ended questions to explore more fully. Who, what, when, where, and how are the way to begin questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” They require an explanation and allow the coach to get additional information that will be helpful in providing the advice necessary.
- Provide feedback for development. Understand the individual’s strengths and weaknesses and know that feedback is what we all need to be sure we are on track with the journey to our goals. Feedback is not an accusation or complaint. Feedback consists of suggestion and rationale, reinforcement, and praise.

Guiding Employees
Every day, employees will walk into the HR department with questions. Today it will be about life insurance. Tomorrow it will be about a discrimination complaint. Later in the week it will be someone asking how to correct some of the information in their employee records. Guiding employees to a solution that they can implement themselves is going to free you to help others more quickly than if you took on the problem resolution yourself.
Employees are sometimes confused. They don’t often know the law and its application. And sometimes they don’t even know company policy. Guiding them through understanding where to find the answers they need is a good approach. You may have an employee who wants to file a discrimination complaint because their boss has just told them their work performance must be improved or there will be further steps toward a performance improvement program. Everything is called discrimination when it actually may not be discrimination. Employees don’t know that. You can help them understand the legal requirements for something to actually be called illegal discrimination.
Sexual harassment problems are usually just the opposite. People say, “I need to tell you something, but I don’t want you to do anything.” You have to guide them to understand that once you are aware of the problem, you are obligated to do something about it. You can’t keep things to yourself.

Proficiency Indicators for Senior HR Professionals
Senior HR professionals have much more impact on the business because they are involved in developing strategies that will contribute to the company achieving its goals.

Creating Talent Management Strategies
Managing talent depends on knowing two things. What talent exists in the incumbent workforce, and what talent needs exist in the organization now and into the future?

A strategy is a plan for how you will reach your goal. If the goal is to determine what talent needs exist that can’t be met by your incumbent workforce, then the strategy can reflect how you will obtain that talent from external sources. Finding new recruiting sources for minorities, women, disabled, and veterans can be helpful. Utilizing the resources of specific groups such as the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), technical school graduates, or the United States Chef Association can tap into specific talent and skills that you may require. Identify the needs you have and then explore how those needs might be met with a campaign aimed at specific groups.

Listening
Listening is an often-underrated skill. Most people don’t do it very well. Senior HR professionals must develop this skill so it can be used to help internal clients and even vendors and recruiting sources from outside.
You will recall our discussion earlier about the communication cycle. It requires a message to be sent from the speaker to the listener. Then, it requires feedback from the listener to the speaker to be sure the message was received and understood in its entirety. The communication cycle embodies the concept of active listening. It requires listening for the meaning of the message, not just the words being used. Feedback to the speaker will allow the speaker to confirm the listener’s understanding or give the speaker an opportunity to correct the misunderstanding.
Feedback amounts to comments like “What I hear you saying is…” or “You’re telling me….” It is often helpful as the speaker to request feedback from the listener. This is helpful for supervisors and managers who are giving instructions to workers. After the instruction, say something like, “Now, tell me what you are going to do,” Or “so I know I have clearly conveyed what I intended, please tell me what you understood and what action you will be taking.”

Developing Human Capital Visions
A vision is a statement of what you want for the future. Steve Jobs had a vision that Apple’s desktop computer would be the best on the market. He also had a vision that Pixar could become a leader in animated entertainment. He articulated those visions and developed strategic plans to support them. And, guess what? They came to pass.
It is always amazing to hear people talk about “overnight successes.” The fact is, not very many successes actually develop overnight. They take years and suddenly appear to have just happened because they broke through the background clutter and are now visible as a force in the world.
Human capital changes, faster in some industries than in others. Yet it changes. When USS-POSCO, the joint venture of U.S. Steel and POSCO steel in Korea, decided to work together, there were some basic requirements they had to meet for the success they wanted. They completely refurbished the factory that U.S. Steel had in Pittsburg, California. It was changed from a steel smelting operation to a plant that would “cold-roll” steel for customer use. Cold-rolled steel is used to make refrigerators, computer housings, automobile parts, and “tin” cans for the food industry. The smelting and hot rolling was to be done in Korea; then the rolls of steel would be shipped to Pittsburg, California, where they would be rolled again but without heating. Some of the stock would be zinc coated to produce galvanized steel. The thing is, none of this can be done by people manually operating the machinery that squeezes the steel smaller and smaller in thickness by thousands of an inch at a time. It is all controlled by computer. That meant employees had to undergo 6 months of training in statistical process control, machinery, and hydraulic operations. The talent requirements for the new factory shifted from laborer and craftspeople to technicians. They had to find their new employees somewhere other than they had been looking historically.
Your vision of human capital in the future of your organization will demand a new strategic plan for attaining the goals associated with that vision.

Maximizing ROI for the Organization
HR Professionals magazine identifies several elements of the effort to maximize return on investment for an organization.49
- Perceptual elements How we learn and retain new knowledge (auditory, visual, tactile and/or kinesthetic, and verbal)
- Psychological elements How we process new information and for making decisions/solving problems (analytic/global, reflective/impulsive)
- Environmental elements How the work environment contributes to or detracts from productivity (sound or quiet, bright or low light, warm or cool temperature, informal or formal seating)
- Physiological elements How we remain energized and stay alert at work (time of day, intake, and mobility)
- Emotional elements How quickly we complete challenging and complex tasks (internal or external motivation, single- or multiple-task persistence, more or less conformity, and more or less structure)
- Sociological elements How we prefer to work and interact effectively with others (alone/pair/ small or large group, more or less authority, more or less variety)
Making sure the organization receives the greatest financial return on its investment in HR is the duty of every senior HR professional.

Using Appropriate Analytical Tools
Data analysis is a growing responsibility of the HR professional. Particularly at the senior HR levels, determining and interpreting the data are critical functions. The question is, how do we perform those analyses?
Some of the software available for use in data analyses include Orange Data Mining, R Software Environment, Weka Data Mining, Tableau Public, Arcadia Data, Microsoft R, ITALASSI, Shogun, Trifacta, ELKI, Scikit-learn, Data Applied, Lavastorm Analytics Engine, Gephi, DataMelt, TANAGRA, Julia, RapidMiner Starter Edition, SciPy, KNIME Analytics Platform Community, and Dataiku DSS Community. Most of these are languages that will require programming assistance.
 

“As enterprises have more and more data at their fingertips, the expectation is now that your average business user can have access to key metrics in real-time—without having to know what SQL means.”

This has led to a boom in companies dedicated to building data visualization and analysis tools that can be used by almost anyone within the business. Gone are the days of waiting for an analyst to generate a report that is out of date the minute you get it or spending weeks mired in Excel.” The explosion of databases and uncounted web sites gathering information about visitors has led to a boom in the software being offered to do the analysis job. “This boom is reflected in the figures … that the global business intelligence (BI) and analytics software market could grow further to $22.8 billion by 2020.”

Identifying Creative Solutions
Senior HR professionals are the key players in their organizations who can explore alternative solutions for difficult, often new problems. Sure, the old problems about helping employees understand the benefit plan choices will still be around. But now there are issues such as protecting the HRIS data from external hackers. Dealing with industrial espionage, key employees walking away for jobs at competitor companies, and key vendors closing up shop are just three of the types of problems you can face in today’s world.

How you deal with these problems will determine whether you are going to survive as an HR department without turnover in key HR personnel. Creative approaches are the ones that explore options. Executives want to know what is possible, not what is impossible. It is up to senior HR executives to help them find those alternatives.

Supervising HR Investigations
One element of HR management that should be consistent is the investigation of employee complaints. There are some legal experts who believe that the employer’s legal staff should conduct all the investigations. Other people within the legal community counsel that HR should be the investigating group so there is a separation of investigator and legal counsel.
However you approach the issue in your organization, you will want to be sure that every complaint investigation is handled in the same rigorous and systematic way. Methodology is important. Touchstones during the investigation are important. Discrimination complaints must meet certain requirements. If an employee says she has been discriminated against because of her sex, it is necessary to determine what happened that has resulted in her paying a penalty of some kind. And what was that penalty? If those basic elements are present, the prima facie case has been established. Then the investigation must gather evidence to show that the complaint can be substantiated.
Should our organization treat each complaint on its emotional value rather than its evidentiary value, our liability will likely be increased. Ultimately, the complaint will migrate to state or federal enforcement agencies and sometimes to the courts. Senior HR managers must supervise those conducting the investigations to remedy problems when that is appropriate and to explain that the employee does not have the evidence to support her claim if that is the appropriate outcome.

Recognizing HR Liabilities
According to SHRM,51 these are the top ten employment liabilities in the modern workplace. Some of these may be covered by insurance, and others will not be subject to insurance protections.

Some coverage will depend on specific policies designed to cover risks of discriminatory treatment among other issues.
- Wage and hour claims Violations of FLSA and state counterparts can cause employer exposure to financial remedies.
- Class action lawsuits More frequently these days employees are banding together to consolidate their complaints into a class action lawsuit. It means the exposure for employers is higher as a result.
- FMLA violations Not following the Family and Medical Leave Act can bring financial remedies that could be quite costly.
- Whistleblowers These are employees who file complaints that something illegal is happening at the employer’s organization.
- Data breaches This is loss of employee data that could lead to identity theft.
- Social media Beware of negative reviews of company policies or employment practices.
- Alternative work arrangements Telecommuting, job sharing, and other alternative work schedules can lead to FMLA complaints and more.
- Discrimination complaints Violations of civil rights laws brings exposure for financial remedies.
- Sexual harassment Also a violation of civil rights law, workplace behavior that is sexual in nature can bring employer liability.
- Gender and sexual orientation claims Most recently defined of the civil rights protections, this type of complaint and financial remedy is just gaining traction.

Coaching Executives
More than any other, this skill will allow HR managers to leverage influence in the employer organization. Teaching line executives how to evaluate problems that have HR implications is a way to help them deal with issues within their own organizational unit. And there is the personal element of coaching. Executives sometimes need help to adjust their personal approach to managing employees. Sometimes they don’t see what their behavior is doing adversely to the workforce. Helping them understand that impact and exploring alternative approaches can give the executive a path to greater effectiveness.

Designing Strategic HR and Business Solutions
Strategy is the plan that you will implement to achieve your goals. HR strategy should always support business solutions. HR must help the organization meet its goals. Proving that link is the duty of a senior HR professional. When problems arise that were not anticipated, HR professionals should be key players in developing the appropriate solutions so company goals will be supported.

Summary
We have explored the things that HR professionals say and do that will provide quality support to other departments. Collaborative interactions can be rewarding and satisfying when the impact is measured and found to contribute to company goals.