The term human capital first stepped onto the scene a few years ago when company innovators began to understand the vital role superstar employees play in executing the organization’s success. What I like most about replacing “employees” with the phrase “human capital” is that it helps employers see that employees are an investment. In fact, employees are the biggest investment your company has made and will continue to make going forward.
Understanding the value of your “human capital” will not only help you be a better HR professional, it will also help you appreciate the strategic role you play at your organization. If you’re new to the idea of human capital and how you can better navigate the needs of your company to fulfill its human capital needs, then here are a few items to consider:
Before assessing your human capital needs, you need to know your company.
Before assessing your human capital needs, you need to know your company.
The key to being a more well-rounded and effective HR professional relative to hiring is simple – know everything about your company. In fact, if you contribute to hiring in any way, you should know just as much about the company as your CEO. I realize it’s a bold statement, but here’s why it’s vital for you to grasp: the success of your company is for the most part in your hands. After all, the executive team can only do so much and if they have a specific idea about the direction of the company, it is up to you to hire on the type of human capital that will help execute their mission statement. This brings me to my next point.
Human capital needs depend on the company’s mission.
If you don’t know everything there is to know about the mission of the company, how can your C-suite trust you to recruit the human capital they need in order to be successful? They can’t. So, let’s discuss a mission statement quickly because it can sometimes be an elusive topic. Simply put, your organization’s mission is essentially their reason for existence. Or, if metaphors make more sense to you, then think of your company’s mission as the “thesis” in a paper. It’s the foundation/main point of the rest of your paper and understanding what your business’s mission is the first step to assessing its human capital needs.
Understanding your vision statement is vital for recruiting solid human capital.
If your mission statement is the starting point and the “thesis” of your company, then the vision statement is essentially what the company would be if it met its goals and was “successful.” In other words, it’s what your company hopes to achieve. In our paper metaphor, your vision would be what you hope to accomplish by writing your paper and convincing your audience to accept your thesis as “truth.”
You can recruit for the future of the company instead of sticking to what you think your company needs “right now.”
Understanding the vision statement is perhaps the most important to fulfilling your organization’s human capital needs because having a firm grasp on where your company wants to go helps you better recognize the types of individuals you need in order to satisfy those goals. You can recruit for the future of the company instead of sticking to what you think your company needs “right now.”
A values statement helps your applicants (your future human capital) understand your company.
A values statement helps provide boundaries for its human capital. If you pepper your job ad with information that aligns with the values of your company, job candidates will have a better understanding of the role they’ll play on your human capital team.
With reference to the paper metaphor, the values statement would be the type of paper you’re writing. Is your paper persuasive or informative? It fills in the gaps for how you’re going to get where you going. It also directly aligns with company culture. So, if you work for a company that has very specific values, then it’s your responsibility to assemble human capital that supports this need.
How well do you know your company and its human capital needs? If you feel overwhelmed because you don’t know your company inside and out, we can help! Give us a call for a free consultation, today.
