Business Core · Object
The people the organisation has, the people it needs, and everything between the two. HR is where capability stops being an abstraction and becomes a headcount with names attached.
The term
HR sits in the Business Core because people are a resource in the same sense that capital and systems are: finite, allocated, and capable of being invested in or run down. That framing is uncomfortable and analytically useful, and it is not the whole of what HR is.
The distinction worth holding is between administration and capability. Payroll, contracts and holiday tracking are necessary and largely solved; deciding what the organisation needs to be able to do in two years, and whether the people to do it exist yet, is neither.
Almost every strategic goal eventually turns into an HR question. A new market needs people who understand it, a new offer needs people who can build it, and both usually arrive as a hiring plan long before they arrive as revenue.
Why it earns a place
Money can often be found in weeks. A team with a skill it does not currently have takes months to hire and longer to become effective, which is why HR is usually the binding constraint on a plan rather than the budget.
Hiring, restructuring and departures all carry costs that persist well beyond the decision. That asymmetry is why they belong at the same level of deliberation as capital commitments, and rarely receive it.
Most organisations know their headcount and not their capability. What people can actually do drifts away from what their titles say, and nobody notices until a plan depends on it.
One level in
Four working areas, running from what the organisation will need to whether it keeps what it has.
Working out what capability the organisation will need, when, and whether it currently has it. The gap between the two is the input to everything else in this object.
LearnFinding and choosing people, and doing it in a way that predicts performance rather than comfort. The selection method matters more than the sourcing, and is usually given less attention.
LearnBuilding capability in people already present, which is usually cheaper and slower than hiring it. The decision between the two is a real trade-off and is often made by default.
LearnKeeping the capability the organisation has already paid for. Departures are the most expensive and least tracked way of losing capability, because the cost appears in several places and none of them is labelled.
LearnAcross the framework
Beyond the framework
The Omnigoal says where this belongs and what it touches. It does not tell you how to think about it — other people have done that, and done it well. These are theirs.
Also known as Forming, storming, norming, performing
Teams pass through forming, storming, norming and performing, and the difficult stage is not a failure of the team.
Drawn from a review of studies of small groups, it describes a sequence rather than prescribing one. Its practical value is almost entirely in the second stage: knowing that conflict over roles and direction is a normal passage stops managers from treating it as evidence that they hired the wrong people.
Bruce W. Tuckman, “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups”, Psychological Bulletin, 1965.
People contribute to a team in recognisable ways, and a team of one kind fails in a predictable direction.
Built from years of business-game experiments at Henley, it separates the job someone holds from the role they play — the one who finishes things, the one who brings ideas, the one who asks the awkward question. The finding that made it useful was that teams of the most able people performed badly, because they all played the same role.
R. Meredith Belbin, Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail, Heinemann, 1981.
Also known as Motivation–hygiene theory
What makes people dissatisfied at work and what motivates them are two different lists, not two ends of one.
Pay, conditions, policy and supervision are hygiene factors: get them wrong and people are unhappy, get them right and they are merely not unhappy. Achievement, recognition, responsibility and the work itself are what actually motivate. The consequence is uncomfortable and often ignored — you cannot fix a motivation problem by improving the conditions.
Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner & Barbara Snyderman, The Motivation to Work, Wiley, 1959.
People attend to basic needs before higher ones, and what motivates someone depends on which are already met.
Physiological needs, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualisation, each becoming pressing as the one below it is satisfied. Its practical use at work is narrow but real: an offer of purpose and growth lands very differently on someone who is worried about whether the job still exists in six months.
Abraham H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation”, Psychological Review, 1943.
Also known as Leading Change
Eight steps for changing how an organisation works, beginning with urgency and ending with making the change stick.
Drawn from watching change efforts fail, the sequence runs from establishing urgency and building a guiding coalition, through a clear vision and communicating it relentlessly, to short-term wins and anchoring the change in the culture. Kotter’s finding was that skipping any step feels faster and reliably costs more later; most efforts fail at the first, because everyone is already busy.
John P. Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”, Harvard Business Review, 1995; Leading Change, HBS Press, 1996.
There is no single right way to lead — the right amount of direction depends on how ready the person is for that particular task.
Four styles, from telling someone exactly what to do, through coaching and supporting, to handing the task over entirely. The variable is not the person’s worth but their competence and confidence at the task in front of them, which means the same person needs different handling on two different jobs.
Paul Hersey & Kenneth H. Blanchard, “Life Cycle Theory of Leadership”, Training and Development Journal, 1969.
These are other people’s models, named here so you can go to the source and use them properly. The Omnigoal is not affiliated with their authors and is not endorsed by them; nothing of theirs is reproduced here — no canvas, no diagram, no wording. Each is described in our own words, with the originator credited, because the framework is a place to put thinking, not a replacement for the people who did it. Model names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here only to refer to the work itself.
Every model in the framework, and where each one belongsThe most useful HR artefact is a capability register that is honest about what people can do rather than what their titles claim. It is also the one organisations are most reluctant to produce.
Centres on articulating the unique benefits and value that your business’s products and services provide to customers, ensuring these offerings are directly aligned with customer needs and contribute effectively to the organisation’s overall strategy.
LearnFocuses on defining and implementing revenue generation strategies that are integral to the business’s financial sustainability and overall strategic success, ensuring every monetisation effort aligns with and supports the company’s broader objectives.
LearnThese are the unique strengths and abilities that give the company a competitive advantage in the market. The purpose is to focus on these key areas to drive innovation, efficiency, and value creation.
LearnRepresents the valuable resources owned by the company, such as physical property, intellectual property, technology, or capital. The purpose of assets is to support the company’s operations and strategic objectives, providing the foundation for growth and stability.
LearnThese are the procedures and tools used to conduct the day-to-day business activities efficiently. The purpose is to ensure smooth operations, optimise productivity, and maintain quality standards across the organisation.
LearnInvolves collaboration with external organisations or individuals that complement or enhance your business capabilities. The purpose is to leverage these partnerships for mutual benefits, such as expanding market reach, sharing resources, or enhancing product offerings.
LearnThese are the individuals or groups that have an interest in or are affected by the company’s activities, including employees, customers, investors, and the community. The purpose is to manage and balance their expectations and needs, fostering positive relationships and ensuring the long-term success of the business.
LearnEnsures the strategic management and oversight of company funds, focusing on budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation to support sustainable growth and financial health.
LearnSupply Chain encompasses the strategic and operational management of goods and services from procurement to delivery, optimising logistics to ensure timely distribution and customer satisfaction.
LearnManufacturing Operations focuses on optimising factory performance and production processes. This object ensures that machinery and manufacturing systems are managed strategically to maximise efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance product quality.
LearnFocuses on maintaining legal and ethical integrity across all business operations. This includes ensuring regulatory, financial, data, environmental, health & safety, and corporate social responsibility standards are met to foster a sustainable and trustworthy business environment.
Learn