179 | (Day 4) The Strategic HR Sprint – Deepening Your Strategic Thinking

When you spot a problem at work, how quickly does your mind start coming up with solutions?

Welcome to Day 4 of The Strategic HR Sprint, a free five-day experience to help you build your confidence and skills in being strategic in your HR role.

👉 Join the sprint for free and access all five episodes, worksheets and resources here: https://brightskyhr.co.uk/sprint

One of the most important parts of being strategic is taking the time to understand what is really driving a challenge before deciding how to respond.

It is easy to assume that the answer is training, a new policy, more people or better pay. But if you have not explored what is really causing the challenge, you could invest time and energy in an idea that only treats the symptoms.

Getting to the root cause helps you make better decisions about where HR can have the greatest impact and identify actions that are more likely to create lasting improvements.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to stay curious for longer and use a simple technique called the Five Whys to explore the challenge you identified during Day 3.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

Why understanding the root cause is an important part of being strategic
How to use the Five Whys technique
How to avoid treating a symptom instead of the underlying cause
Why involving people who are close to the challenge can lead to better insights
How to ask “why” without sounding critical or pushy

Your Day 4 Activity

Today’s worksheet will help you explore the challenge you chose during Day 3 and identify what may be causing it.

You’ll work through the Five Whys, think about where HR could have the biggest influence and note down your first ideas for how the challenge could be addressed.

You might also find it helpful to talk the challenge through with someone who sees or experiences it day to day, as they may notice things that are easy to miss from your perspective.

Once you have completed the worksheet, you can also use the optional AI prompt to suggest practical HR and People initiatives, including quick wins and longer-term ideas.

Before using the prompt, remember to remove or change anything that could identify your organisation or the people involved.

Access all the sprint resources here:

https://brightskyhr.co.uk/sprint

Chapters

[00:00] – Welcome to Day 4 of The Strategic HR Sprint

[01:09] – A recap of the sprint so far

[01:42] – Why we jump straight to solutions

[02:41] – Staying curious for longer

[03:03] – How the Five Whys works

[03:37] – Finding the right starting point

[04:45] – The employee turnover example

[06:10] – Your Day 4 worksheet

[07:18] – Involving other people

[07:43] – How to ask “why” without sounding critical

[08:51] – Using the optional AI prompt

[09:34] – Protecting confidential information

[10:42] – What to expect from Day 5

Useful Links

Join the free Strategic HR Sprint:https://brightskyhr.co.uk/sprint/
Connect with Fay Wallis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faywallis/
The Essential HR Planner:https://essentialhrplanner.co.uk/
Learn about the Inspiring HR Leadership Programme:https://brightskyhr.co.uk/hr-leadership-course/

Helpful Episodes to Listen to Next

Enjoyed This Episode? Don’t Miss the Next One!

Sign up to the free weekly HR Coffee Time email to be notified each time a new episode is released – and get free career tips, tools, and resources.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(185)

184 | Two Great Decision-Making Techniques for When You’re Stuck Between Two Options

Have you ever found yourself going round and round in circles trying to choose between two options?Perhaps you’re deciding whether to recruit externally or promote someone internally, introduce a new ...

11 Syys 16min

183 | What Is Employee Experience? How HR Can Actually Improve It

What exactly is employee experience? How is it different from workplace culture, employer brand or your employee value proposition? And what can you actually do to improve it?In this episode of HR Cof...

28 Elo 36min

182 | HR Team Building: An Activity Every New HR Leader Should Try

🎁 Download your free Personal User Manual template:https://brightskyhr.co.uk/resourcesTaking over the leadership of an HR team can come with a long list of things you want to improve, but one of the ...

14 Elo 14min

181 | HR in the AI Era – The 5 Foundations Every HR Leader Needs (with Charlotte Goulding)

HR professionals have a huge opportunity to shape how, why and when AI is used across their organisations.Because AI is not only changing technology. It is changing jobs, skills, teams, management and...

31 Heinä 48min

180 | (Day 5) The Strategic HR Sprint – Making Strategic Work a Priority

Does it feel hard to make time for strategic work when you’re already so busy?Welcome to Day 5 of The Strategic HR Sprint, a free five-day learning experience designed to help you strengthen your stra...

17 Heinä 8min

178 | (Day 3) The Strategic HR Sprint – Finding Your Strategic Focus

When there are dozens of things you could be working on, how do you decide what deserves your attention most?Welcome to Day 3 of The Strategic HR Sprint, a free five-day learning experience designed t...

15 Heinä 7min

177 | (Day 2) The Strategic HR Sprint – Seeing the Bigger Picture

What does it really mean to be strategic in HR?One of the biggest shifts you can make is to stop looking only at HR and start paying much more attention to the world your organisation operates in.In D...

14 Heinä 8min