As you may (or may not) know, one of the major issues we discussed in our November whitepaper, “The Future of HR”, was why HR Change projects fail.

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Now, we know that you weren’t born yesterday, so we’re not going to shy away from the fact that, like most things in life, it can’t always go to plan. As much as you may try to avoid it, there are issues that may arise within the Business Transformation & HR Change project space.

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However, issues that do arise on your projects will have been experienced by your fellow HR professionals before, with valuable lessons learned that will benefit you on your own journey, ensuring best practice for the future or helping you get your train back on it’s rails!

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So low and behold, here come the three top reasons why HR Change projects fail:

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1.

HR Not Delivering On It's Promises

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As a consultancy focused in supporting HR Change programmes, we’ve seen transformations fail or succeed based on their ability to stick to the fundamental characteristics of the Ulrich Model. As discussed by Volker Schrank in our November whitepaper, the majority of Ulrich-based HR transformations are efficiency focused that prioritised the down-scaling of the HR function, automation & transferring service delivery to low-cost centers or introducing self-service facilities.

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One major factor of the Ulrich model that was massively overlooked was the overall effectiveness of this change and how well it will integrate within your business’ environment. The top tip here is the plan further than the end of your nose! Don’t just consider the challenges you’ll face during the project life cycle, but the functionality of the new system afterwards.

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2.Ongoing Battle For Top Talent

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In order to efficiently deliver the most sophisticated and fully functioning HR Change & HR Transformation programmes, you need the most talented professionals working on your team. A lot of companies struggle to find employees or consultants with the sufficient level of skills, competence, project experience and top talent to build an effective internal team that will successfully deliver the programme objectives that drive change management as well as cultural change, typically required for long-term success and positive user adoption.

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This is where you can either sit down with your internal recruitment function team and ensure they’re trying their best to find you the top talent, engage Professional Services firms or partner with consultancies such as ourselves who:

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  • Take the weight off your shoulders by offering you a cost-effective solution to your need for the best talent in the industry
  • Provide strategic guidance with our Project Advisory Workshops
  • Guarantee a successful delivery of Internal Project teams, supplying only the best experts you need for as long as you need it
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Find out more about projects we’ve delivered here!

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3. Lack of Understanding In How The Mind Works

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This is an area where I’m personally the most interested in, being an avid learner in the field of Psychology, the effect that taking neuroscience in to consideration can have when creating an efficient, easy and revolutionised Human Resources function is undeniably powerful.

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Every day we are learning more and more about how the human brain works and what are the pain and pleasure triggers for it. Therefore, the way in which we design our talent processes, such as Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits and Succession Management functions can be aligned with this new-found understanding and appeal more to the users, inevitably increasing productivity!

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So what do we recommend? Taking some time out of your day to read up on some reliable resources about how the human mind behaves, I’d personally recommend reading Dr. Steve Peters’ “The Chimp Paradox”, which can definitely help understanding your own mind as well as others.

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As a company, we are passionate about supporting Strategic HR Transformation success, we spend every day talking to our clients about their project needs; providing guidance; advisory consulting and project delivery capability as required, supporting their project delivery success. So don’t hesitate about getting in to contact with a member of our team if you’re considering transforming your HR function or stuck in a difficult place and need experts to dig you out of the dirt!

+44 (0) 20 3051 9077

[email protected]

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For a more in-depth view of the HR project issues we’ve discussed today, please download our whitepaper for free here!