Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times:  A Guide for HR and Training Professionals

The words have been said many times, many ways—you’ve got to become a business partner in your organization.  You’ve got to understand the business, you’ve got to be aligned with the organizational goals and by all means you’ve got to show your value.  How long have we been saying this?  It really doesn’t matter how long we’ve been saying it…what does matter is that in these economically challenging times, it is now time to make sure it happens.

So how do we make this happen—it’s not easy, but who said life was easy?  Surviving and thriving in these challenging times starts by understanding your role as strategic business partner.  How do you expect others to understand if you don’t yourself?  As Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind”.  What are the deliverables that you would like provide?  What do your business partners want/need/expect?

Once you’ve established your vision of what you need to be doing, it’s time to let others in on your secret.  Will they immediately buy in—probably not, that’s where your actions need to start talking.  Some things to consider are:

• Work to build your business acumen.  Challenge yourself to understand all aspects of your business.

• Align HR, training and benefits activities with corporate goals

• Prove your value.

If surviving and thriving in these turbulent times is an issue for you be sure to join Todd McDonald of ATW Training and the upcoming HR, Training and Benefits conference.  Todd will be speaking on this topic from 8:20 to 9:30.

If you would like to contact Todd prior to the session you can reach him at todd@atwtraining.com or through the ATW website www.atwtraining.com.