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HRO Summit Europe Preview Systematise to Create Value To deliver on such high promises, People CMM® is organised in a way that is consistent with the expectations of most practitioners of common-sense and systems thinking: by dividing the big whole into a number of well interconnected parts. People CMM® is therefore composed of 22 process areas that describe and focus on key process capabilities that any organisation must have in place in order to systematically deliver value to its key stakeholders. That includes, of course, its workforce and business managers or leaders. The practices included in these process areas effectively deal with current workforce and HR challenges of various types and nature, from understanding the underlying (real) causes of undesired turnover, to developing effective managers and agile work teams, or establishing a competency- development framework of real value to the business. 3. But, again, well beyond some of these specific contributions, true to its whole-systems view of organisations, People CMM® offers higher value for HR transformation projects, those that can deal and debunk persistent challenges, established myths, and even syndromes of the HR function; as well as transforming the way HR is positioned and perceived in organizations. Below, three considerations of why this transformation is possible are discussed. 1. . Probably one of the most promising uses and leverage points of People CMM® is in strategic planning for organisational development, for its human resources, and for managing its human capital. People CMM® offers a practical roadmap for medium and long-term planning of the evolution and transformation of the organisation, through the development of its workforce to deliver on its key core-competencies. This might start in various ways, including the identification of the key contributions people add to the business; establishing capability improvement objectives; offering specific/detailed criteria for designing and collecting significant/meaningful measurements to lead, communicate, track and monitor progress (i.e. balance scorecards, strategy maps, etc.); understand and evaluate different key aspects of any strategic human capital and HR management plan. People CMM® allows integrating all these aspects in a common approach and provides vehicles for it to be shared and well understood by all members and units of an organisation. This allows for an approach for HR strategic planning that is rooted in actual business needs and that delivers value to the organisation as a whole. This approach integrates various perspectives (cognitive models) in a coherent roadmap for sustainable improvement, superior performance, and ultimately, for lasting organisational effectiveness. 2. . People CMM® can be a very versatile model at times when organisations have to deal with significant change situations, for instance, for facilitating the integration and "fluency" in mergers/fusions/acquisitions processes; allowing for the proper capability evaluation of the different companies, organisations, or units involved in the transition; to the definition of better practices that integrate and establish coherency in the resulting integrated organisational processes and structures. In internal/external reorganisation processes—as the establishment and [20] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | SUMMER 2011 . This is, of course, true not only for internal capability development programmes, but also for any supplier/purchaser's contracting/subcontracting relationship, through outsourcing and/or any other collaboration or partnering modalities. In simple terms, it's not just about having the right people or the right processes/approaches/methods/tools it's about having both. With People CMM®, this integration is most eloquent when it comes to the competency analysis and competency development process areas (both at People CMM® Level 3 "Defined" maturity). In order to develop solid and lasting foundations for the successful implementation of competency management, one needs to consider these dimensions/factors (people and process) together. It is only in this "contextualised" approach to defining workforce competency that participatory knowledge management can truly emerge through various effective learning practices around competency-based processes such as communities of practice, interest and competency, informal learning, lessons learned, etc. These practices become the foundations for effectively introducing in the organisations successful mentoring, coaching programmes, and other mature competency development activities. From the many case studies available on successful adoption of People CMM® in first-class worldwide companies, it is clear it can be a serious game-changer for transforming HR in organisations. Additionally, considering the solid foundations (HR best practices, total quality management, change management, etc.) of this model, it has proved to be an additional value-generator for organisations in subcontracting/ outsourcing relationships and business process outsourcing. No doubt, in the complex and constantly changing business arena most organisations live in today, adopting/adapting a reference model to guide us through this landscape can provide great value for shaping, organizing, and directing some of our priorities in HR and line business alike. Various organisations have benefited doubly as they realised that creating these organisational capabilities improves the quality of management and the management of quality —not to mention their people and other critical resources. launch of a new organisational unit from existing departments, as a response to a new business line or activity sector, or by outsourcing previously internal business processes—People CMM® can be used as a guide. The roadmap can show different aspects regarding the impact, opportunities, and/or possible synergies to obtain as a result of such a restructuring process, being able to offer a coherent/ consistent view, more security and trust to the individuals and units involved, as well as specific guidelines/criteria of the critical processes and responsibilities to consider for improving the chances of success of such a transformational change. The shared understanding that emerges from using a common (paradoxically, "not-invented-here") reference model also works internally to close the usual gap between business and HR professionals. Yan Bello is president of SpaceMinds (spaceminds.com). He will be presenting a deep-dive session at the HRO Summit Europe in Barcelona November 2nd - 4th, 2011. Developing/creating performance capability requires an integrated approach to people and processes HR strategic planning requires a deep business alignment understanding and short/midterm value creation Significant change management relies on creating shared appreciation of actual values

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