our services
In elevating HR and organizational issues to strategic-level topics, it is important to intentionally create an environment where management, including the company's board of directors, can have frank discussions about how they want to handle their company's human capital. The first step is to hold a workshop on a topic that will serve as a starting point, or to create a platform for discussion, and the approach varies depending on the client company.
We provide customized services that appropriately combine our own developed solutions with external general-purpose solutions to suit our clients' situations and requests, and we believe that our customization ability is our greatest strength.
Click on each box below to go to the details
How human capital drives organizational value
Building better relations between board and HR
Understanding the future of human capital management
Model Services
1. Aligning business and HR strategies
When we ask the HR leaders of Japanese companies about their human resource challenges, we hear the usual response: "We urgently need to develop and secure management and digital talent." It is true that every industry and organization needs talent who excel in business management and digital technology, although the degree of urgency of the need may vary. As a perspective for thinking about the alignment of a company's unique business strategy and human resource strategy, we advocate the idea of "pivotal jobs" and "pivotal talent." According to Dr. John Boudreau of the University of Southern California Marshall School, a "pivotal role" is defined as "a role that has a significant impact on the realization of a strategy by increasing the quantity or quality of the talent in that role." Understanding and sharing which roles are pivotal in your company's business is closely related to what kind of talent you hire, how much you pay them, and how you want them to work.
2. Developing a pipeline of leadership talent
Regardless of the size of the company, there are many managers and HR leaders who want the next generation of leaders to have a deep understanding of the thoughts and actions that embody the unique values of their company, and who want to formalize the outstanding management decisions and strategic actions of the founding managers and convey them to the next generation of leaders. Based on the "Superior CEO's Competencies" from BI's unique research, we customize and build management models for our clients' companies, and strongly support the leader pipeline, including training and coaching for the next generation of talent.
<Superior CEO's Competency>
The "Superior CEO Model," developed by the BoardHR Initiative, is based on publicly available information regarding the behaviors and statements of successful Japanese CEOs. This competency model was constructed through the collection and analysis of over 1,000 qualitative data points. The "Superior CEO Model" consists of the following five factors and ten competencies:
Note; For details about the CEO Model, please refer to the BI Article “Superior CEOs’ Competency (June 2021)”. To read the white paper, click here.
3. Employee Experience Design
In redefining the role of HR leaders, we are focusing on the concept of the "CMO of People."* The CMO of People designs and develops the "employee experience" just as marketers have developed the concept of "customer experience." The "employee experience" is not just a novel concept, but focuses on specific visible events. For example, "What does it look like to an employee on their first day at work?" or "What does it look like to an employee when they use a conference room?" What is important is whether the employee experience is aligned with the company's brand and culture, and whether it contributes to productivity. The concept of "employee experience" evolves the HR function from an abstract discussion to concrete activities that can be improved. Ultimately, this leads to improving the "lifetime value of an employee."
*A model for strengthening and expanding the role of HR is introduced, including examples, in the book "The CMO of People; Manage Employee Like Customers" (by Peter Navin and David Creelman), co-authored by David Creelman, one of the co-founders of BI.
4. Promoting diversity
The purpose of promoting diversity is to bring out the best performance from each of our diverse employees and to ensure that prejudices do not negatively affect decisions on recruitment, placement, and promotion. When diversity promotion was first advocated, the discussion was relatively simple, and in Japan, the focus was particularly on women's participation in the workplace, and related information disclosure guidance was also issued.
However, in recent years, promoting diversity has become a more complicated and controversial topic. We believe that promoting diversity requires a two-stage approach. First, we ask the management team of our client companies to strategically review their approach to diversity. To achieve this, we place emphasis on the following three perspectives:
1. How can we recognize different types of diversity within our organization and increase corporate value?
2. How will you handle gender diversity (promotion of women's participation in the workforce), which is particularly emphasized in Japan, and disclose information, including related indicators?
3. How can we promote diversity, especially in our international operations, without getting caught up in political issues that could divide our organization?
Secondly, we help all managers acquire basic knowledge about gender diversity (promotion of women's participation in the workplace), which is particularly important in Japan, and use this knowledge in how they treat their subordinates and create a good workplace. With regard to gender diversity for managers, we provide a training program through our partner, Minori Management Research Institute.
5. Promoting board discussions on human capital
One issue we often hear from HR leaders (CHROs) in Japanese companies is that the HR issues they face are not being discussed at the board of directors level. The reasons for this vary from company to company, but we believe that the key to overcoming this situation is to elevate HR and organizational issues and policies to leadership-level topics from the perspective of their impact on corporate value. We provide customized consultations to meet the needs and circumstances of our clients.
6. Human capital risk management
We often see cases where the progress and risks in terms of organizational and human resource management are not properly understood at the board level in order to realize the strategy. In such companies, can the management confidently answer the question from institutional investors, "Do you have the human resources who can reliably realize the ambitious mid-term plan?"
We start by understanding the client's strategy, then identify the organizational and human resource management risks involved in implementing the strategy, and support the management in regularly checking the situation. We recommend using the Human Capital Risk Register (HCRR)* as a tool for constantly monitoring the alignment between business strategy and human resource strategy at the management level.
"Human Capital Risk Register" is a registered trademark of BoardHR Initiative.
<Components of the Human Capital Risk Register (HCRR)>
7. Selection of human capital-related key indicators (KPIs)
In Japan in recent years, the number of companies issuing integrated reports, particularly publicly listed companies, has been increasing rapidly. However, there are quite a few cases in which the KPIs (key performance indicators) related to human capital reported are limited to those specific to ESG, and the relevance to realizing strategies is not clear.
Our members have experience as HR experts in the creation of the international HR standard ISO30414, and can provide global knowledge and deep insight into what indicators are available in the HR and organizational fields and what those indicators mean from the perspective of their impact on corporate value. The important thing is not to blindly develop global standard indicators. From the perspective of the impact on your company's corporate value, you should select relevant indicators and, if necessary, set your own unique indicators to create your own yardstick so as not to lose sight of the path to improving your corporate value.
*If you are interested in obtaining ISO30414 certification, please click here. (Direct to next page)
8. Explanation and advice on global standards
In recent years, there has been an increase in the trend toward global standards, such as those from ISO and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), regarding human capital. It is especially important for public companies to keep an eye on the latest global trends, in addition to information disclosure guidelines in Japan.
We explain the latest global trends regarding human capital disclosure to our Japanese corporate clients and provide advice on what indicators our clients should use when disclosing information to institutional investors.
9. The Future of Human Capital Management
Isn't it important for management to discuss and share a vision for their company's human capital management in 10 years' time?
We present a future environment that will see business automation, the use of AI, individualized training and development, the automation of the recruitment process, and a relative increase in older employees. We facilitate discussions among top management on what the role of human capital management in client companies will be and how it will change from the present.
