098 | HR insider insights: how to create a powerful People Strategy for an SME, with Kelly Vincent

If you’re wrestling with the challenge of crafting an effective People Strategy, this episode of HR Coffee Time is here to help. Kelly Vincent, Head of People & Culture at a thriving edtech company, shares her insights into building a powerful People Strategy from the ground up.Kelly’s key insights, tips and learnings from the experience of creating a powerful People Strategy for an SME include:Get buy-in from the CEO and senior leadership team.Spend time getting to understand the business and the people within it.Align the People Strategy with the business strategy.Review what is already in place.Get all your ideas out of your head and onto paper, so you can focus.Prioritise because you’ll have more ideas than you can implement in one year.Identify what the outputs will be from your strategy.Assess how long it will take you to achieve the goals you’ve set in the People Strategy.Identify whether your plans need to involve other departments and find out if they have time to support you.Your strategy will be shaped by how much time your ideas will take to implement and the resources that you’ll need.Keep a record of you ‘spilled over ideas’ that didn’t make it into this year’s strategy, so you can consider them again in the future.Chose KPIs and measures that are suitable for your strategy.Carve out dedicated time to work on your strategy – giving yourself regular time slots, instead of trying to write the whole thing in one day can be helpful.Kelly chose to have 3 pillars in her People Strategy because this aligned with the overall business strategy that also used 3 pillars. Useful LinksConnect with Fay on LinkedInFay’s website: Bright Sky Career CoachingKelly’s Book Recommendation(Disclosure: the book link is an affiliate link which means that Fay will receive a small commission from Amazon if you make a purchase through it)‘Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work’, by Deborah Liu Other Relevant HR Coffee Time EpisodesEpisode 58: How to feel more confident using data & analytics in your HR role, with Angela MoyleEpisode 26: How to be strategic in your new HR leadership roleEpisode 61: The 4 pillars that will help you be strategic in your HR roleEpisode 77: How to create an effective DEI strategy, with Metra Rowe Rate and Review the PodcastIf you found this episode of HR Coffee Time helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're kind enough to leave a review, let Fay know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]. Enjoyed This Episode? Don't Miss the Next One!Be notified each time a new episode of HR Coffee Time is released and get access to other free career tips, tools and resources by signing up to receive the free weekly HR Coffee Time email.Mentioned in this episode:Kara Connect - Help When It's Needed MostMenopause, grief, ADHD, relationship breakdown... Every day, employees dealing with these situations are turned away by their EAP because they didn't qualify for counselling. When someone finally asks for help, they deserve better. Visit Kara Connect, where no employee is ever turned away. Kara Connect