I was asked to give a talk to 'Good School' on the topic: "Why & how do we work as a strategic HR partner to management here at Wooga" Here are the slides.

1. // Why & how does HR work as a strategic
partner for the management?
Generic HR statement from generic HR robot:
“Strategic human resources management is geared
toward developing strategic plans that fit within the
larger structure of the company's plans, whereas
traditional HR management is almost purely
administrative in nature. “

2. // Historically
• Previously we had a “Traditional HR”
approach.
• During a period of rapid growth.
• Growth leveled out and we needed to
adapt our HR approach to a new
organization.
• A more “Strategic HR” approach.

3. //
• We listened to the business
• Clear need for a stronger support structure
• Newly formed teams
• Changing market
• Changing company
• Changing skills of employees
This is Holly!
Our Employee Assistance Manager (trained councilor)
She listened to everyone 1 on 1.

4. // Change of focus & New HR setup
Head of
HR
Business Partners Generalists Recruiters
Employee
Assistance
Head of
HR
HR Managers Recruiters

5. // Change of focus & New setup
Meet the HR Strategic Partners!

6. // So what has been the outcome?
“the people I work with… love them”
“The working conditions here at Wooga are great and it is a
very positive place to be. I have loads of confidence and
respect for the HR department. They are streamlined,
competent and effective.”
“HR Team manages our personal needs and goes
the extra mile for us”
“We have amazing people. There is a
fantastic sense of fun, friendliness,
dedication and passion. I appreciate the
culture, in my opinion it is a
flexible/supportive environment and I like
the freedom that it gives me.”
“Friendly, relaxed yet very productive atmosphere, aim
for high quality work, one office for everybody, strong
and active HR team”
HR has done a great job on recruiting people who get
along with mostly everyone, the culture here is very nice
and after work activities are great fun.
“love and care from our HR!”
great help from HR, the great atmosphere,
flexibility and enthusiasm at work, great learning
opportunities and the awesome OPENNESS of the
company.
“transparency, empowerment, culture, great people”
trust in employees, great atmosphere
I love the spirit and the amount of
super professional people.

7. // So what has been the outcome?
• Employee satisfaction survey instigated every quarter
• Over 80% Completion
• 74% of which left comments (not a required field).
• 100% positive & 100% of which were focus areas for the HR
Strategic Partners

8. // How did we do this?
• Again, we listened!
• We forgot buzzwords
• We didn’t force a strategy
• We contemplated
• We started by creating a
Manifesto

9. //
By aligning the team together and creating a Manifesto we focused
in on what we wanted to achieve.
1. We Keep the Talent Happy
2. We Look out for Equality
3. We Are Neutral Parties
4. We Remove Barriers
5. We Empower People
6. We Promote Accountability
7. We Both Challenge & Support the Status Quo
8. We Make the Environment Right for Innovation
9. We Keep our Eyes on The Bottom Line
Then we went out into the company and improved things

10. // The Strategic Partner Style
In my humble opinion working as a Strategic Partner allows
you to much better:
• Understand your organization.
• Understand your people.
• Then use this understanding
in a clearer way.
• Allow management to make
more informed decisions.
• You can become a lethal weapon

11. // Understanding Your People
• The key to this is Trust.
• But you have to earn credibility before trust.
• To gain credibility, you must understand your organization

12. // Understanding Your Organization
• Shows the employees that you care about what they are doing.
• Makes senior managers truly value your input.
• Understand the business from top to bottom and inside out.
Here are my tips for doing this:

13. // Get to know the products or services
• It sounds so simple! Right?
• Sign up to every testing opportunity, if there are no
opportunities like this, then push to create these.
• Understand what you are putting out into the world.
• Understand the market that you are putting the product
in to.
You won’t lose anything from getting to know more, but you
could gain a lot more respect & credibility.

14. // How do these products fit into the bigger
picture
• Which are under the most pressure?
• Which are behind schedule?
• Which are tipped for huge success?
• Which are struggling?
If you know these things you can use
your skills to support teams better and
you can help Senior Management to do
the same.

15. // Absorb & Share Information
• Here at Wooga we have:
• Teams/Department sharing - Weekly team meetings
• Job group sharing “5 Minutes of Fame” for
specialized topics within job groups.
Open to anyone to join/Lessons learned/Project
status/Why decisions were made/Team changes
communicated
• We try to share everything.
• We also share daily company financial information.
• Keep everyone engaged, involved and invested in the
future.

16. // Now go back and understand your people
• Talk to team leads and business leaders.
• My Strategy:
• 1 – 1 meetings with all.
• Explained HR goals, explained my goals, asked
what support they wanted from me. Listened
again! A lot!
• Explained my skills and what I can offer.

17. // Now go back and understand your people
• I adapted to their schedules
• Became a collaboration between me and senior
management.
• I became more visible to all employees.
• I tried to be as open as possible to help every one.
It takes time, trust needs to be built up, trust in your
skills, knowledge and competence and a trust that you
have the best interests of the individual, team and the
company at heart.

18. // Accomplishments with Senior Management
Satisfaction survey AmA with CEO &
Heads of Dept.
5-2-7 workshops
Lab Time Game Jam Feedback for all

19. // Don’t rest on your laurels
• Your market will change
• Your company will change
• Your people will change
• Don’t stop listening
• Don’t think the work is done
• Stay Agile *Buzzword alert* lol

20. // Cheesy quote of the day
// almost finished!

21. // Summary
• We found that for us Strategic Partnering worked
• We were able to have a greater impact.
• We were able to ease the pressure on the
management & the company as a whole.
• We were able to give real insight into the business
areas that needed changing.
• But I can guarantee that things will change.

22. // Q & A