Making Technology the Foundation of HR so you can be more strategic: Tom Lokar, Mitel, CHRO (Prior)

Summary of Vlog Post by Emma Lokar, HR Intern (Ready an Internship, Summer 2019)

Technology the Foundation of Great HR: Tom Lokar, CHRO, Mitel

Technology as a Key Foundation:
Human Resources has quickly become one of the main drivers behind the use of technology throughout the business regardless of the industry. Not all companies are technology companies on the surface, but every industry is integrating technology into their strategy, core processes and employee experience.

Mitel’s, CHRO, Tom Lokar, discusses how he and his team put technology in their day-to-day to become more efficient and productive. With technology at the core of HR they are taking employee’s focus out of the weeds, and into more strategic growth. Growing the business and increasing the bottom line is every function’s goal. Technology should be the foundation of any great HR team and organization.

“To be a value center you have to look at many parts of the business, but it starts with good technology”

Technology companies especially Mitel, a telecommunications business, have begun to move from hardware phone sales to a unified communication company though the cloud:

“You need the best technology solution under your HR function to do the higher order things”

Who’s Apart of this New Technology Initiative?
To effectively choose the right system Mitel’s CFO, CIO, CSO, and CHRO had to look at cloud-based solutions that could effectively run a 4,000-person company across 80 countries. Mitel landed on SAP Hana for finance, Salesforce.com for sales, Office 365 for productivity, and Workday for HR and Planning. These were chosen because they were the best platform for the company as a whole. Picking the best platforms for the company is an important aspect. If you are picking the wrong systems, the technology initiative becomes useless. Mitel’s choice in software systems was driven by the pivot the company has taken in the market place in the last four years.

It is crucial to have a great CIO driving all the functions to the Cloud. The CIO finds all the links in Workforce Planning, Budgeting, and connects the links to different functions On the HR side it is important to put someone in charge to lead all Workday, LMS, L&D, and payroll. You need an individual whose sole focus is running HR systems and owning the work.

More Technology; New Criteria:
As technology becomes more prevalent throughout Human Resources’ typical nine-to five-day the hiring criteria is going to shift as well. When companies are hiring new HR leaders and employees, they will be looking for those who want to:

1 - Let Go of the Tactical
The more an employee strives to let go of the tactical tasks the more efficient an employee will be in driving change within your organization. Employees run the business, and new technology

“Run Efficient, and run effective”

There is a lot more strategy to be piloted by HR. The new normal will be employees who are ready to let go of those minuscule tasks and focus their energy on more strategic projects. If you are working hard to make technology for employees to shift to strategy-based work, it is important that you are hiring employees who want to do this kind of work.

2 -Lose Weak HR & Grow
Human Resources need to be able to say, “can I let go of this task and let someone else own it/handle it, or delegate it to Field HR?” This goes hand in hand with letting go of the tactical.

“You’re only as good as your weakest HR process”

We want to point employees towards the answer not do it for them. Hiring employees who can delegate and relinquish these jobs is essential, but HR needs to be growing and developing employees rather than holding their hand. You never stop learning, and organizations want employees who want to develop their skills. Technology is growing, and the employees of a business need to grow with the technology and within themselves.

3 -Relationship Builders
With technology making the day-to-day activities more simple employees in HR need to be able to communicate new ideas to managers, directors, and executives. Building relationships with executives gives employees another chance to learn.

“HR Employees need to be really good relationship builders at the executive level”

When building a relationship with an executive you are developing your communication skills, sharing your insights, and helping them work through a problem or opportunity. This process benefiting the executive and business while simultaneously continue to grow yourself.

Educating Yourself on Technology Opportunities:
As a developing professional there are so many conferences around emerging HR Systems that you should attend, and really listen to. The more knowledge you absorb about new systems the more effective you will be in impacting the business. When Tom first came on board at Mitel, he knew the organization was heading in the direction of an all-around technology-based company. He took the time to do the research on emerging technology on cloud-based solutions. This is a part of the desire to learn as an HR Professional you cannot drive changes in the organization if you are not learning yourself. If you don’t know where to begin: start with a consultant or consulting firm.

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P.S.  If you are leading in challenging times, and crave the (virtual) company of a group of HR leaders, join us in the HR Circle Group each month for live video discussions to solve your most pressing issues and learn from other HR leaders like you. To learn more:

https://www.chropartners.com/HRCircle19