What is a Strategic Mindset?

The SHRM- CP and SCP exams challenge HR professionals to demonstrate strategic action. HR professionals act as the organization's gatekeepers and strategy guides. As gatekeepers, we don't allow anything to threaten the strategic goals and vision. As guides, we lead the organization toward its goals and vision. Organizations depend on the expertise of HR professionals to advise the leaders about the part of the organization that is most important: Human capital. Because of this, HR professionals must always guide the organization with the mindset of a business partner. 

If you partnered with a friend in a business, you would always be thinking about the future of that business. You would plan for the goals you want to accomplish, the necessities to reach them, the threats that would undermine those goals, and how you could overcome them if they were to present. That is because you have a stake in the success of the business. The win of the business has an impact on you. Therefore, we must approach our organizations with the same zeal. With a strategic mindset, we see around corners. We see possibilities and choices where others see problems and constraints. We make decisions with the organization's strategic goals in mind, and our actions are steps toward the vision. This means you must understand what things support the organization's strategic goals and which things oppose them. Because of this, to succeed in your exam, you will need to understand the difference between tactical and strategic actions. 

Tactical actions have their place in every organization. Tactical actions are those taken on the way to the goals. These tactical actions are the day-to-day functions of the organization. E.g., Suppose the organization's goal is to diversify its revenue stream. In that case, there has to be an intentional effort on a day-to-day basis to do so. For example, someone has to make the phone calls once an additional revenue stream is identified, someone must set up the meetings, someone must acquire the talent, someone has to answer the emails, and someone has to inform the involved parties. 

These are all necessary tasks; they must be done for the strategic goal to be met and the vision to be realized. However, these things are tactical. The planning that has caused the need for these tasks has already happened; they now need to be executed. Regarding the above example, if the organization is now making phone calls, that means someone has already conducted market research to determine the opportunities to diversify. If someone is now acquiring talent, that means someone has already completed the forecasting and planning to determine the talent demands. Strategic action is the planning and research that caused these tasks to be necessary. Therefore, when determining the correct answers on your exam, you must look for the strategy that brings about the execution. Many of the choices will be tactical answers that need to demonstrate the value that a human resource business partner brings. These are not the answers you're looking for!

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