The interim manager was commissioned by an IT services company as a consultant to the HR manager to drive HR digitalization forward. The family business specializes in the IT value chain of automotive manufacturers. It had recorded exponential growth for 5 consecutive years and had grown into a medium-sized company with several branches in Germany and around 800 employees (2020). However, business processes and organizational structures had lagged behind this growth. The newly appointed divisional manager and member of the Human Resources Management board was not a specialist and was now tasked with developing and expanding the company's very young and small department.
Initial situation: HR work limited to managing the daily chaos
At the start of the project in June 2017, the HR department had 3.5 full-time positions and was responsible for around 550 employees. The HR employees worked with 6 MS Excel spreadsheets, 1 MS Access database, DATEV Lodas and an in-house development for time recording and applicant management. The resulting lack of data clarity alone, with its numerous sources of error, presented HR with considerable challenges. The situation was further complicated by the fact that processes were only described on paper. There were just as few clear structures for salaries, roles and competencies as there were for recruiting, employer branding, HR development and controlling. In short, the day-to-day work in the HR department was limited to managing the chaos and HR was far from being able to act as a strategic partner for the management and executive level.
Technical manager from evaluation to the go-live of SAP SuccessFactors
The interim manager acted as a close advisor to the division manager, providing ideas and structures and implementing the digitalization of HR processes by introducing a cross-branch HR management system. The interim manager chose an agile coaching approach with the aim of leading the HR department into a self-determined and self-organized continuous improvement process. In the role of technical project manager, he was in close contact with the entire management of the company and led the project to success, from the initial evaluation of requirements, through the selection of a suitable software provider (SAP SuccessFactors), to the Germany-wide go-live of the system. He successfully applied his professional and technical expertise in the 4 system areas of "Recruiting/Marketing", "Onboarding", "Employee Central" and "Learning Management" in the following project steps:
- Data collection and cleansing
- Determination and realization of the rights landscape in SuccessFactors
- Design of the use cases
- Connection to the internal system landscapes (time recording, project management)
- Collaboration with internal interface departments (controlling, IT, Payroll)
- Preparation and implementation of key and end user training
- Escalation instance after implementation and support of the internal support role
SAP SuccessFactors HR management system successfully implemented in 4 months
SAP SuccessFactors went live in just 4 months thanks to the focused leadership of the interim manager. Applicants, managers and employees now experience the HR processes much more efficiently than before and save valuable time. The management now has complete information and transparency about the key HR metrics.
In retrospect of the project and with a view to the HR roadmap, the interim manager subsequently initiated the following projects: the optimization of the technical recruiting process, the introduction of the digital personnel file, the structuring of roles and remuneration as well as the introduction of people analytics with retrospective and forecasting.
Qualifying managers and teams through agile coaching
As part of his role as an agile coach, the consultant supported the Head of HR and the HR team leader in setting up and developing the HR team using agile methods with a focus on role and process design. He led several professional role development workshops to design the department structure, which was repeatedly reflected and reorganized according to agile principles. In this way, the interim manager successfully accompanied the emotional and personal development of the team, which grew from 2 to 15 people.
Annual team-building events away from the normal working day, consisting of 3-day workshops at different locations, as well as ongoing coaching and supervision in everyday working life helped team leaders and members to become more self-organized, reflective, cohesive and trusting.
