What are the Key Steps in Producing a Business Case?

The previous discussion highlights the purpose of the business case as being:

• the next step in the design process;
• the next step in the change process;
• the mechanism for obtaining funding and approval;
• a reference point for decisions during implementation;

The development of the business case clearly needs to address each of these elements and may be developed in the following four steps:

1. Define target benefits and associated costs. This first step involves detailing the value that the transformation programme will deliver to the business and specifying how a transformed HR service will enable the organisation to deliver its corporate strategy and goals.
2. Conduct cost—benefit and risk analysis. This step takes the financial costs of the proposed operating model and demonstrates how it will deliver financial efficiency savings and business benefits. This provides the case for obtaining funding and approval to proceed.
3. Produce transformation roadmap. This step delivers an overview of all of the activities that are required to deliver the transformation and specifies when activities need to be delivered and how they are linked, thereby providing the reference point for implementation decisions.
4. Gain buy-in and ownership. This step focuses on communicating the transformational change to the business and involving stakeholders from across the organisation. This involves taking differing perspectives from frontline delivery staff, finance staff, IT staff, etc. and gaining their buy-in and support for change. Change within HR services often comes as a shock and is automatically resisted. Working early on with the business to explain what will change and the benefits this change will deliver is key to overcoming resistance.

Case Study

The HR leadership team of a major UK government department wanted to seek ways of reducing resources engaged in routine administrative tasks, and to concentrate resources on supporting departmental managers in delivering government targets.

Therefore the objective of the business case development phase was to provide:

• the identification and detailed financial analysis of the benefits in relation to the HR process areas;
• the integration of the related people programme initiatives into the implementation plan setting out the linkages with the business case;
• HR organisation structure proposals and benefits integration with the business case.

The department was able to produce a three-tier business case that included:

• Executive summary — setting out the key factors for executive decision-making regarding this programme;
• Main body — defining the specific costs, benefits and risks associated with the project in the context of the proposed delivery approach;
• Appendices — providing the detail behind the body of the report, including detailed cost analysis, benefit calculations and assumptions.

Following approval of the business case, the programme team used it as the key control document throughout the implementation.

What is the Purpose of the Business Case? | The Business Rationale

The purpose of the business case is four-fold:

1. the next step in the design process, where assumptions and high-level designs are turned into a delivery model, which describes how HR service will be delivered in the future;
2. the next step in the change process, where the business case and designs are communicated across the organisation to describe how transformation and change within HR will benefit the organisation as a whole and the delivery of overall goals and objectives;
3. the mechanism to obtain approval and funding to proceed with the transformation of the HR service;
4. the reference point for guiding all decisions and activities during implementation.

The business case is a document which needs to be more than numbers and a hard financial analysis. It needs to be a document which can articulate to colleagues from across the business the future vision for HR. Whilst you and your colleagues have developed and fully understand the vision, others need to understand it as well.

This means that business case needs to be able to explain the following:

• what the HR department will look like in the future, its size and structure;
• how the HR service will operate, that is, how staff will access support from HR; what information on HR policies and guidance will be available; how much will be provided through self service, a service centre and face-to-face advice; what strategic support will be provided to senior management;
• how the HR service will be measured and assessed to ensure that is delivering benefit and value.

A good method of communicating the vision for HR is to develop an operating mode. This model will demonstrate how HR will be organised in the future and how it will deliver HR services. An example of a generic operating model is presented in Figure 1. This model is important because it is not only a communication tool but also identifies for the business case what changes need to be made within people, technology and processes. These changes can then be used to assess the financial impact of the transformation and its potential benefits. When presenting this model it will also be important to identify whether any services will be outsourced to another company, or whether services will remain within your company but moved to another team (such as a shared service centre) and/or country.

Figure 1: Example of HR operating model.

This information in the business case can then be communicated to your colleagues across the organisation. This process of communication helps to identify the advocates of change, those who are ambivalent and those who oppose the proposed transformation. Identifying the members of these different camps, and taking appropriate action at an early stage will significantly increase the likelihood of success.

In addition to its role in the change process, the business case will also become a document around which future programme management decisions should be based. The business case should be used as a reference point all the way through the programme, not just as a tool to get permission to start. For example, when the going gets tough it can be used to galvanise stakeholder support by reminding them of the commitments they have made.

Often it is prudent to develop an 'initial' business case prior to a more detailed 'full' business case. The objective of the initial business case is to obtain permission and funding to do more detailed work. As a result, every aspect does not have to be designed in extreme detail. The second, and more detailed, full business case is the document used to secure funding to do the main implementation, and to act as the reference point for all decisions and activities during the implementation, as long as any assumptions on which it is based, for example costs estimates, remain stable. Of course, not all assumptions hold true, and the business case becomes a document which is updated and refined throughout the life of the programme. 

An approach for developing an initial business case is to complete an 'Opportunity Chart', for each of the areas where HR transformation will deliver benefits.

An example of an 'Opportunity Chart' is provided in Figure 2.

Opportunity	Reduce costs and time taken to manually book training courses by providing staff with an on line course booking system.
Description of the problem	14 full time staff are employed to receive forms requesting training and these staff have to chase missing information on the forms, check that courses are available, manually input information from the forms into the training system to book the courses, manage waiting lists and notify staff when they have been booked onto a course.
Indicators used to measure the problem	Number of working days to process training forms Ratio of training administration staff to total staff
Current level	5–7 working days to process training forms 14 training administration FTE supporting 4500 staff — ratio of 1:321. Target benchmark is 1:600
Target level	1 working day to input approved training request into self service and to get confirmation of booking or notification that staff member is on waiting list 7 FTE to manage technology courses on self service and monitor waiting lists. Ratio 1:642
Financial saving	7 FTE
Non financial benefit	Eliminate administration and time lag when booking training courses
Costs	Configuration of training administration system Development of on line courses and guidance documents for all staff on how to use self service to book training courses Development of courses to train HR staff to use and manage new self service functionality

Figure 2: Opportunity chart.

Key issues to remember when completing the opportunity charts are as follows:

1. Provide short headings and descriptions of opportunities, further detail will be added in the full business case.
2. Identify some benchmarks and/or performance indicators to baseline current performance and set improvement targets. For example, in Figure 2, key measures are the ratio of training administration staff to total staff and the number of days taken to process training requests.
3. Use the difference between current performance and targets to estimate percentage of saving and identify key areas for savings. In Figure 2 for example, it is noted that the potential exists to save seven full time equivalent (FTE).
4. Not all benefits will be financial. Again in Figure 2, the time taken to process training requests will be significantly reduced.
5. Identify key costs such as configuration, training and communications. These can be estimated by contacting relevant software providers or by estimating the time that the IT team would need to configure and test a new self service function and the time that would be needed to produce training and guidance materials.

When a chart has been completed for each opportunity, they can be aggregated to produce the initial business case.

Case Study

A local Authority was undergoing significant and radical change in the way that it provided services for its customers. The nature of this change meant that the Authority had to think much more radically than it used to, as it positioned itself to become an innovative, integrated and customer-focused authority. The HR community was identified as having a key role to play in supporting, driving and sustaining this change agenda.

The challenge for the HR community was to undertake a fundamental review of the HR service and ensure that it was capable of supporting the Authority with its transformation. This involved reviewing every aspect of HR and identifying those opportunities that would support the organisational transformation agenda, improve the performance of the service and reduce costs. In order to identify these opportunities they performed feasibility study which was divided into four stages:

• Stage 1 — Baseline performance and costs. This involved:
  • Identifying the total number of HR, payroll, health and safety and learning and development staff.
  • Identifying the cost of providing the HR service. This included salary costs, on costs, accommodation costs, IT costs and procurement spending.
  • Producing an inventory of HR processes and activities, assessing their performance against a range of benchmarks.
  • Identifying the number of staff supporting these processes and their indicative costs.
  • Undertaking a survey across the Council to test views on performance and quality of HR service.
• Stage 2 — Identify opportunities. This involved completing opportunity charts for areas where benchmarking, feedback from surveys and consultation with HR staff had identified the potential for service improvements and cost reduction.
• Stage 3 — Prioritise opportunities. A workshop was convened with senior HR staff and representatives from all Authority departments to identify those opportunities which would support the Authority's objectives for the organisational transformation programme, improve the quality and performance of HR services and reduce costs. Three key opportunities were identified:
  • the creation of a new HR model;
  • better buying (within recruitment and training);
  • implementation of Web-enabled HR systems and the automation and streamlining of processes.
• Stage 4 — Produce initial business case. The costs and benefits of each of the selected opportunities were aggregated into an initial business case which summarised the value of the HR transformation programme both in terms of financial savings and its contribution to the Authority's overall transformation programme. This initial business case, which estimated annual savings of between £1 and 1.5 million, was approved by the Authority leadership team who were able to quickly and easily understand key opportunities and benefits. The initial business case was then used to develop a detailed business case and to initiate the HR transformation programme.

Who Should be Involved? | Fast Tracking the Envisioning Process

This will vary between organisations, but as a minimum we recommend that this initial phase includes:

• the senior HR leadership team,
• key people within the broader HR community,
• critical business stakeholders,
• a sample of line managers.

Most of these key stakeholders can be involved initially through one-to-one interviews, although in some instances we have used a short HR effectiveness questionnaire with line managers.

The outputs from these interviews will be used to prepare a number of inputs to the envisioning workshop (which should include the senior HR leadership team and, if possible, some senior business stakeholders). These inputs may include:

• a summary of customer feedback,
• a straw man 'as is — current HR' and 'to be — new world HR',
• draft HR priorities,
• draft governance process to oversee HR transformation.

Once there is broad agreement around the 'as is — current HR' and the 'to be — future world of HR', there are three final outputs that flow from this early envisioning work:

1. Gap analysis

The 'gap' is the distance that needs to be travelled between where you are now and where you want to be.

Having established your 'as is' and 'to be', you are then able to do a reality check to test whether this gap can be closed within the time and resource constraints of your organisation. Part of this assessment will be your gut feeling about the readiness of the organisation to make the proposed change happen. Other tools that will support this assessment will be the change equation and a more structured look at business impact and change readiness.

The way in which you can use the change equation with your key stakeholders is as follows:

• Ask your stakeholders to rate the elements of the change equation from their point of view (and how they might judge the reactions of key decision makers outside of HR). These reactions could be: dissatisfaction with the way we currently do HR; level of clarity about what HR should be; level of clarity about the next practical steps and their will to make the change happen (high, medium and low will be sufficient).
• Then ask your stakeholders to identify the main costs, for example, financial, resources, time, etc.
• Then ask them to weigh both sides — in their judgement, where is the balance? Is the new world of HR that they have envisioned likely to get the support needed to make it happen?

If the assessment is favourable, then moving to the next task is straightforward. If the assessment is not favourable, then you need to look at:

• increasing levels of dissatisfaction with the way things are, that is, helping people to realise that the way HR is delivered into the organisation is not fit for purpose. Your 'as is' and 'to be' analysis will be a powerful aid in achieving this;
• how you might modify your 'to be' vision so that the gap that needs to be closed is smaller;
• how you might reduce the perceived costs of making the change — either through reworking what has to be done or by looking for greater organisational benefits.

2. Building the case for change

Having completed your gap analysis, you are in a position to put together a compelling case for change. There is also another 'case for change' that needs to be made to a range of stakeholder groups. This case for change will be less detailed, broader brush. But it will incorporate all the key outputs that have been developed as part of the envisioning process. Figure 1 summarises its key elements.

 

Figure 1: Building the case for change—key elements.

3. Planning and keeping on track

The final outputs from this envisioning process are the next practical steps; in other words, the pathway from where we are today to where we want to be.

 At this stage, the senior HR leadership group will be in a position to do the following things:

• Set up a process of 90-day milestones to show how the function will bridge the gap from current to future HR.
• Commission (or establish and commission) the HR transformation programme team to initiate work streams/projects around these key 90-day deliverables.
• Establish appropriate levels of reporting between 90-day milestones.

Figure 2 shows an example of a high-level 90-day milestone developed by one organisation we have worked with. What this high-level plan does is to give the senior HR leadership group a sense of focus and enable issues around pacing and resource allocation to be aired in an environment where all have committed to delivery timescales.

 

Figure 2: Ninety-day milestones—key steps to HR transformation.

The final word in this section is that the most powerful way of ensuring senior HR leadership group focus on HR transformation is to organise 90-day workshops around milestones so that there is a strong focus on reviewing deliverables, assessing progress and mobilising for the next 90 days. 

Fast Tracking the Envisioning Process

When we discuss with clients the need for envisioning at the start of the HR transformation process, any resistance usually falls into one or other of these two reactions:

The first, and most worrying, reaction is that there is no need to envision because 'we all know what HR transformation is all about'. This is worrying because in our experience we have yet to be involved in any major change programme (HR or other business changes) where there is a common and absolute agreement on the nature, purpose and vision of the change. It may be because individuals know what they want to achieve. But unless the organisation has a highly autocratic culture, there will be a need to engage with others to build a shared vision and a coalition of support for change. If you find yourself identifying with this reaction, we would encourage you to let go and to recognise that there is nothing to be gained in pressing on regardless — even if it does mean that the vision for HR transformation becomes a shared rather than a single vision and involves some degree of compromise.

The second reaction is that the envisioning process will take too long and end up in navel gazing, without much action. This is always possible, of course, but with good process and facilitation skills momentum can be gathered. Momentum building is extremely important from the outset, as envisioning can lead to prevarication. We have yet to be involved in an HR transformation programme that has dwelt too long on envisioning.

Indeed, using the tools set out above, the envisioning process does not need to be either a confrontational or long drawn out affair. A good example is how a large global business was able to reach a high level of agreement on 'current HR' and the 'new, envisioned world of HR' within a 4-week period. (Figure 1 illustrates this 'fast track' process.) This is not to say that no further work on the HR transformation vision was needed. But, applying the 80/20 rule, there can be sufficient definition to take the next practical steps in the transformation process; that is, to build a case for change.

Figure 1: Fast track envisioning process—example.

We believe that if there is good cooperation from key stakeholders, a robust HR transformation vision can be reached within a few weeks, culminating in a stakeholder workshop.

Visualisation | Envisioning Tools

When Should We Use this Tool?

The other frameworks and models presented in this section are generally aimed at the left side of the brain, which is the logical/rational part of our thinking processes. However, envisioning also needs to tap into the right side of the brain, which is the creative/playful side of our thinking processes. One of the best ways we have found to stimulate a more creative approach to current-state analysis and future-state envisioning is through visualisation.

We could say that you should use this tool with a degree of fear and trepidation — some of your stakeholders may need some encouragement to participate in a visualisation exercise. Do persevere, though, as visualisation usually produces some important and rich insights into the current and future worlds of HR. It is also valuable in engaging at the emotional level around HR.

What Do the Tools Look Like and How Do I Use Them?

There are quite a few ways to engage people in visualisation, but the two types of visualisation exercise that we have found to work well are as follows:

1. Free-form drawing

A simple exercise to set up, participants are asked to draw a picture (or a number of images) describing (a) the current world of HR and (b) how the future world of HR would look if it was contributing most effectively to the organisation. Remember the focus is on content and not the quality of artwork!

In debriefing the exercise, ask each person in turn to present and talk about their 'current HR' picture. Typically there will be a richness of analogy and metaphor. Take time to explore the language and imagery, and do not assume that everyone understands things the same way. Often, metaphors will trigger interesting discussions, either around the original metaphor or through some tangential connections. Record some of the themes that emerge. Then repeat the exercise with the 'future world of HR' picture.

2. Picture cards/collage

If you are not feeling bold enough to run a free-form drawing exercise, then an alternative approach is to give people images to work with. This is inevitably a more structured approach and less spontaneous. Using the same questions as above, you can introduce images either through giving people some magazines with a good variety of pictures in them and asking them to produce two collages addressing each question, or by giving people a variety of picture stills (we have found that you will need between 50 and 60 pictures) and asking them to identify ones that speak to both questions. As an additional twist to this second exercise, the organisational levers model can be used to give structure to the visual presentation; for example, to pull out pictures that best describe current or future technology, HR people and culture, etc.

The debriefing of the exercise will be the same as for the free-form drawing exercise.

We have used these exercises when working with larger groups (more than 50 people) and with smaller groups (around 12 people).

Case Studies

Organisation 1

Context

A large global telecoms company was in the process of integrating a number of its businesses into a global Internet technology business. An HR transformation programme director had been appointed, but there was not yet a proper HR transformation programme team in place or a coherent HR transformation vision.

Process

In the run-up to the launch of the new global business, a series of one-to-one interviews were held with the newly appointed HR leadership team and senior business stakeholders. The organisational levers model was the primary tool used during these interviews, which enabled us to prepare a straw man view of both the 'as is — current HR' and 'to be — future world of HR'.

A workshop was held with all the HR leadership team present, and in working through the process outlined above an HR vision was agreed around the organisational levers model. Additionally, an HR transformation governance structure was agreed to based on this work, which ensured that the HR transformation programme team was not solely focused on Web-based HR, but embraced transformation of the whole function.

Organisation 2

Context

A major energy utility had recently made a major acquisition in the United States, and the group-wide HR leadership team met to think through the implications for the HR function and to identify critical issues that needed to be worked on collaboratively.

Process

The team worked through a process using three of the tools set out above:

1. identification of critical business issues and the HR implications of these;
2. use of the visualisation technique mentioned earlier to encourage dialogue about the HR function;
3. use of the organisational levers model to develop a more structured view of the current and envisioned HR world.

This workshop identified a number of critical HR issues that needed to be progressed and also set the framework for the HR transformation agenda that has been implemented.

HR Value Pyramid Model

When Should We Use this Model?

The aim of this tool is two-fold:

1. to engage stakeholders in thinking about where HR adds value;
2. to engage stakeholders in identifying where the balance of effort/resource in HR is now and where it should be in the future.

The model should clearly be used at the outset of the transformation journey in considering how the function adds value now and where it needs to focus in the future. We have also found the model useful in undertaking quick, high-level reviews during transformation.

What Does the Model Look Like?

Figure 1 represents visually the HR value pyramid. The HR value pyramid has four main propositions:

1. There is a hierarchy of roles within HR.
2. The basic administration and transactional roles will be most impacted by e-HR (including employee and manager self service) and new organisational arrangements, such as shared service centres and outsourcing.
3. The HR processes impact roles within and outside of the HR function and an important task during the HR transformation process is to determine those activities which can be embedded within Web-based HR, who is accountable for data entry and where knowledge-based roles need to make their unique contributions.
4. The HR professionals will acquire widely sought after expertise when they become business partners, proactively engaging with critical organisational issues as part of the management team.
   
   

 

Figure 1: HR value pyramid.

How Do I Use the Model?

This model is helpful in stimulating initial debate with key stakeholders about what they want from HR. On a one-to-one basis, it is a simple model for stakeholders to engage quickly and can take discussions into a number of interesting areas, such as what service internal clients need from the administrative/transactional side of HR and the nature of business partnership.

In a workshop format, the model has been particularly helpful around sourcing and resourcing discussions; that is, what percentage of HR activity, resource or cost currently sits across the four areas and what percentages should exist in the new world of HR. We have found that this exercise stimulates quality discussion around themes such as cost versus headcount (e.g., you may have fewer people in the administrative/transactional space, but there are clearly costs associated with Web-based HR) and cost versus type of resource (e.g., you may have a lower overall headcount in HR, but the people you will have may cost more).

At the early stages of the transformation process there is considerable value in encouraging key stakeholders to play with these ideas and their implications. This helps people to work through for themselves what the new world of HR might look and feel like.

Organisational Levers Model

When Should We Use this Model?

This model is extremely useful when applied to any significant change effort. It is applicable not only to HR transformation, but also to any organisational change. It is a foundation model and helps to explain the impact of change within the context of the broader organisational system.

Its value is to engage key stakeholders in a dialogue concerning 'current HR' and 'the future world of HR'. It is also a powerful way of capturing and presenting the outputs from discussions.

If you have not already familiarised yourself with the model, we strongly suggest that you do so now. We do not intend to repeat the description of the model in this section, but will instead focus in greater detail on its application.

You should note that you might come across other versions of this model with slightly different labels. This does not matter. Taking a systems perspective is the important part of this model, and we would encourage you to use whatever terminology fits best with your business.

How Do I Use the Model?

The examples below show how the organisational levers model has been used in a variety of ways (and alongside the other envisioning tools) to develop a 'whole system' approach to HR transformation and build a coalition of support around the new world of HR.

The two main ways in which the organisational levers model has been used to support envisioning are as follows:

1. As a pre-prepared input to an envisioning workshop

Prior to an envisioning workshop, a series of one-to-one discussions is held with key stakeholders to discuss 'current HR' and 'the future world of HR'. Interviews are structured using the organisational levers model (although some of the other envisioning tools presented above can also be used if appropriate). The outcome of the interviews is the preparation of a 'straw man' set of descriptors relating to 'current HR' and 'the future world of HR', linked to each of the six organisational levers, namely external forces, performance outcomes, technology, processes, structure and people/culture. These descriptors are displayed in a workshop environment, typically on large sheets of paper; one sheet for each of the six levers.

Participants (hopefully most, if not all, of the key stakeholders you would have interviewed) are asked to challenge any descriptor that they either disagree with or are unclear about. They are also given an opportunity to add anything they believe to be missing from the straw man descriptors.

In debriefing the exercise, focus first on those descriptors where there are most challenges and work through them to seek clarification and gain agreement on the wording. Then follow a similar process with the suggested additions.

The outcome should be agreement of a set of 'as is — current HR' and 'to be — future world of HR' descriptors. This approach is particularly helpful when working with larger groups, and we have found that in a workshop setting agreement is typically reached within a matter of hours.

2. Realtime in a workshop

For smaller groups, you can achieve the above-mentioned realtime.

Ensure that your room has plenty of wall space and is divided into two areas: 'current HR' and 'future world of HR'. Display the headings of the six organisational levers under each.

Give participants two colours of Post-it™ notes. Ask participants to write (on one colour) descriptors that best describe 'current HR' for each of the six organisational levers. Repeat the process for 'future world of HR' using the other colour. Cluster descriptors where you can. Then work through each of the Post-it™ notes to ensure that there is agreement on any new descriptors that have been written (or agree a change to the existing wording).

What Might an Output Look Like?

As you will see, the descriptors are succinct, but specific enough to enable the next steps in the process to take place — gap analysis and project planning. Just to illustrate that envisioning is not a one-off exercise, the example shown in the appendix was actually produced 1 year after the initial envisioning exercise as part of HR transformation review and taking stock.

Business Drivers Framework

When Should We Use this Framework?

HR transformation and the envisioned new world of HR must be hard wired to the critical business issues. Our starting point is, therefore, to consider critical business drivers. Why? Without this thought, it will be impossible to:

• make a coherent case for HR transformation;
• identify HR's priorities;
• link the new world of HR to the realities that face your business.

Put another way, identifying your critical business drivers helps the HR function to answer:

• What is wrong with the way things are?
• Where is the focus for the future?
• How will the proposed way of delivering HR help the business to perform more effectively?

What Does the Framework Look Like?

Figure 1 represents visually the business drivers framework. This framework has been used in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors; hence its broad applicability has been proven.

 

Figure 1: Business drivers framework.

The framework considers the three main drivers of organisational effectiveness: revenue growth, cost efficiency and brand identity. Each of the drivers is then considered from three perspectives (you may wish to tailor these, but we have found that they tend to work well).

For revenue growth we consider:

• Customers, who are the recipients of the products/services provided by the organisation (who are they, how do we retain them, how do we attract new customers in existing markets and will we need to move into new markets and attract new types of customer?),
• Geography (where do we operate now and where are we likely to operate in the future?),
• Innovation around new products and services (what do we need to do differently to compete effectively or satisfy customer requirements?).

For cost efficiency we consider:

• Productivity (how productive are we compared to relevant benchmarks? Where do we need to raise performance and productivity? How well do we measure and reward productivity?),
• Work process efficiency/effectiveness (how well do key processes work? What are the areas of strength, areas for improvement and future needs?)
• Capital project returns (What are our key capital projects? What is our track record in delivering anticipated benefits?).

For brand identity we consider:

• Brand values (what do we stand for as an organisation and how well do we demonstrate our values internally and externally?),
• Image and reputation (what is our current image and reputation, what might undermine it and how can we protect/enhance it?),
• Consistency (to what extent are we acting in a consistent way with our customers and employees and how might future challenges help/hinder our ability to deliver consistently?).
  
  

How Do I Use this Framework?

This framework is best used in a workshop setting. We have also found it useful in one-to-one discussions to get individual perspectives and stimulate debate, but ultimately there needs to be a sharing of perspectives on critical business drivers, and this is best achieved when people are in the same room and are able to engage with one another.

To have a meaningful discussion about business drivers requires some preparation. You should draw on current knowledge of the business to populate these areas in advance of the workshop or, if you are confident that workshop attendees will have sufficient knowledge, you can populate these areas at the workshop. Where we have doubted that sufficient information will surface at a workshop, we have used a combination of pre-briefing people, inviting a senior internal client to talk about key organisational issues, and allocating pre-work so that participants can research an area.

Once there is a shared understanding of the critical business drivers, this then enables the key HR leaders and stakeholders to address three questions:

1. What are the critical people priorities that emerge from these business drivers?
2. How well are we currently equipped as an HR function to deliver these priorities?
3. How does the HR function need to change to help the business succeed?

Discussion of these areas will move you a long way towards defining the HR transformation agenda and priorities.