Human Capital & Organizational Performance Solutions
Your most valuable resources are your people.
Harkcon is a premier human capital solutions provider. Our customers have trusted us for over 17 years to provide a broad range of high-quality products and services. A discriminator for Harkcon is we don’t come into project with a
pre-determined set of solutions or outcomes.
Rather, we believe human capital interventions are based on a full understanding of the issues at hand, their context, and their root causes. If you get the up-front wrong, then everything that follows is wrong. We take the time to understand and analyze first, then design the intervention to best fit within the entire system and culture of the organization.
We offer a full suite of human capital support solutions in both domestic and international environments. We have superior past performance developing, delivering, supporting, and managing human capital projects across a wide variety of federal government and private sector business systems, and adeptly develop solutions that work within our clients' operating environment.
Organizational
Workforce Planning and Assessment
Organizational needs decisions should be made based real data that tell you the most efficient and effective use of your resources. Understanding the root cause of any kind of organizational and human performance issue is key, and that is where Harkcon separates from other organizations.
Strategic Planning
Harkcon is well versed in strategic planning and supporting organizations to define their strategic direction through various types of detailed analyses so leadership can make important, data-driven decisions and effectively allocate or modify their resources to ensure alignment with the organization’s vision, mission, values, and culture.
In a nutshell, Harkcon’s strategic planning assistance involves:
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Helping the organization clearly articulate the desired end state. The process includes interviews with selected key senior personnel and careful review of high-level organizational documents.
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Identifying, exploring, and analyzing the various options and avenues to move toward that desired end state, and selecting the best action steps.
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Examining and ensuring alignment of effort, focus, plans, and resources.
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Developing measures to track progress.
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Working all of the above into a Plan of Action & Milestones with targeted and meaningful activities.
Organizational Needs and Workforce Analysis
Organizational needs decisions should be made based real data that tell you the most efficient and effective use of your resources. Understanding the root cause of any kind of organizational and human performance issue is key, and that is where Harkcon separates from other organizations.
Harkcon uses our Work, Worker Workplace (W3) Model, a thorough and systematic approach to help us understand the issues at every level to best design interventions. This approach, coupled with our Mainstay software analysis tool, help us quickly answer the question, "How can you achieve business goals more efficiently and effectively?"
Harkcon’s approach includes:
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Identifying desired outcomes based on capstone documents such as mission and vision statements and strategic goals.
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Comparing desired outcomes to the current state to determine gaps at the organization, work unit, and/or individual levels.
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Conducting a root-cause analysis to determine the real causes of the gaps.
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Identifying solutions and providing options to address the root causes.
While gathering data, we are constantly evaluating how they actually influence the work being done (Work), the necessary skill set of the people doing it (Worker), and the environment (Workplace). We then conduct an in-depth analysis of the processes and procedures you already have in place, review your organizational structure, identify your environmental influences (both internal and external), and identify your key suppliers and customers. We then analyze your workplace, including your office layout, your workspace configuration, or any equipment, tools, hardware, and software that you currently use. At the same time, we benchmark other high performing businesses and organizations to see what they look like and what they are doing, and we compare that against your business.
Staffing (or Manpower) Requirements Analysis
How many people do you need to do the work or your organization? What are the skills sets, education, training and background necessary among the work force for that work? Our Staffing Requirements Analysis (SRA) precisely answers these difficult questions.
Harkcon’s SRA methodology provides a systematic in-depth look across all levels of your organization and work components. We’ve done this type of analysis hundreds of times and have proven it be a defendable and verifiable way to collect, measure, and analyze the human capital needed to achieve your mission, vision, and goals.
To speed up, automate and improve the accuracy of our work, we use our Mainstay software analysis tool to help you determine:
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The exact amount of work currently being accomplished and the associated workload.
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The work that should be done in the future based on logical assumptions.
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Who specifically should do the work and the required skill sets those people need.
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The number of people needed to do the work.
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Realistic options to move forward to obtain the right size and make-up of the workforce.
All of the above components are documented in detailed reports that enable anyone to connect the dots of the analysis. The benefits of an SRA are:
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Clarity needed to do effective workforce planning, forecasting, and recruiting.
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Clarity on the needed competencies in your workforce, and the training required to get them.
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Information which enables you to improve your professional development and promotion systems because you understand the labor categories and pay bands you need to complete your work.
Front End Analyses
Attempts to resolve performance problems at the individual worker level often fail because identified solutions are designed to treat only visible symptoms rather than underlying causes. When the root causes are identified, the probability of eliminating problems is greatly enhanced. Front End Analysis (FEA) is the critical link between performance gaps and appropriate interventions at the worker level. While executing our distinct FEA protocols, the Harkcon W3 approach directly ties your work to improved performance by determining the effective design of solutions most appropriate for each specific situation.
Unlike analysis that starts with the solutions in mind and works from there to determine tasks and steps, our W3 approach starts with the goals of your organization. We use those goals as the basis for determining the job accomplishments required to meet those goals and the on-the-job behaviors (tasks and steps) required to complete the identified job accomplishments.
We focus on your expert performers; the people who make the difference in improving business performance. Through a combination of expert performer interviews and direct observation of how they do their work, we will complete our analysis of the world of work for your business. Our Mainstay software data analysis tool allows us to do that quickly and effectively, enabling us to design and develop customized solutions to distribute the special tools and tactics of the expert performers to the entire workforce through Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSSs), job aids, training, and e-learning blended solutions.
However, training solutions alone may not resolve your performance problems. Our W3 approach will also provide you with solutions sets that include environmental performance supports such as work design, organizational design, policy, and technical manual updates and information technology improvements; motivation/incentive supports such as revised pay and benefit packages; and/or assignment/selection performance supports such as competency position descriptions.
Cost Benefit Analyses
Cost Benefit Analyses (CBA) allow you to select those projects that maximize the dollars invested in your people by identifying the costs associated with each performance improvement solution option, and then presenting that information so that you can compare each option and select the one that best works for your organization. CBAs quantify the relative benefits (both negative and positive) of multiple approaches at a given level of cost, so you can lay several options together and identify the best "bang for the buck." We identify and compute the monetary benefits that are associated with the cost of implementing a given solution.
A CBA is also done to determine how well or how poorly a planned action, process, system, or system of systems will accomplish a stated or desired goal. It finds, quantifies, and adds all the positive factors (the benefits) and it identifies, quantifies, and subtracts all the negatives (the costs). The difference between the two indicates whether the planned action, process, or system is advisable and if accomplishing the stated or desired organizational goal is possible. The bottom line for conducting a CBA is ensuring that costs and all benefits are included and properly quantified. In simple terms, a CBA imposes an accounting framework that prescribes classes of benefits and costs to consider, means to measure them, and approaches for aggregating them.
Harkcon CBAs identify a minimum of three viable options for each projected solution, their associated costs, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Overall costs are based on development costs, staffing costs, equipment costs, maintenance costs, and the life expectancy of the solution; non-recurring, annually recurring, and life cycle costs are all considered.
Advantages and disadvantages of each option will be listed. They will focus on:
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Potential risks
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Maintenance costs
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Life expectancy
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Recurring costs
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Resource and/or staffing requirements
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Time required to produce and/or field the option
Survey Development & Deployment
Harkcon has extensive experience designing, developing and executing surveys. We can to simplify our clients' most sophisticated research and survey needs through a broad array of survey research capabilities. We understand that surveys are much more than just asking a series of questions designed to solve problems or understand a particular issue. When done right, surveys are valuable research tools for systematically examining, understanding, and addressing complex business, customer, employee, and organizational challenges and opportunities.
Our consultants can help you:
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Apply comprehensive project management principles in the areas of research/survey project initiation, justification, planning, execution, monitoring/control, and reporting.
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Develop meaningful research concepts, survey goals, objectives, and management plans.
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Construct comprehensive research plans and survey questionnaires that employ the latest techniques to ensure accuracy and reliability.
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Develop targeted surveys using state of the art delivery mechanisms such as web-based surveys, telephone surveys, direct mail questionnaires, or round table surveys.
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Compile, analyze, and interpret survey data to extract key information.
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Construct hypotheses, correlate cause and effect, and develop options.
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Construct sound recommendations and impactful courses of action based on validated findings.
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Draft formal reports outlining the purpose, methodology, findings, and recommendations of your research projects.
Organizational Development (OD) is designing and aligning the internal systems of the organization to best achieve a desired outcome, while at the same time effectively managing any the change. Harkcon’s approach to OD is logical, current, and has been refined through many years of interactions with our clients. Our basic approach includes:
Articulate the Desired End State
Stephen Covey’s timeless principle of “Begin with the End in Mind” certainly applies in the field of OD. No matter the organizational issue being addressed, taking the time to first establish the desired end state is the early and hard work that needs to be taken on. And this shouldn’t be a cursory eye cast toward the future. Rather, it should be worked until sufficient clarity is reached, so the workforce can see it, can feel and use the vision as a source of motivation and inspiration as they work toward achieving that desired end state. This is Harkcon’s first step in any OD intervention.
Conduct a Gap Analysis
Once the desired end state is articulated, we then conduct a simple but effective gap analysis, as follows:
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Study and document the current or existing state of select internal systems.
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Compare the existing to desired state. Analyze and document the gaps between the two.
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Develop the best options to close the gap by pulling together the right people to work out and plan the best strategies to move forward.
Establish Alignment and Maintain Over Time
When selecting and planning interventions, the key is to evaluate if your options align with the various internal components of the organization. Are things working at cross purposes? For example, is the rewards and recognition program promote behavior that is consistent with desired organizational direction? Have the right measures been established to track the progress? There needs to be a focused scrutiny of alignment among all internal components of the organization in the following areas:
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Strategic plans, goals and objectives: high level guidance
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Doctrinal papers, speeches, presentations
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Organizational Structures
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Organizational Culture, either formally established or implied
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Key processes
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People with the right skills, education, training and background
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Rewards and recognition program
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Metrics at every level of the organization
All of the above stated actions must be supported by and driven from the top levels of the organization. They should be tracked and monitored organization-wide and employ the best analytic and social sciences available.
Managing the Change
A critical step, and often neglected, when executing interventions is managing the change. Many efforts fail because the changes that are a part of the improvement process are not well handled or communicated. The organization fails to get buy in from various key stakeholders, fails to get the right people involved, and fails to effectively socialize the proper messages.
There are many good change management models are the market. Regardless of the brand name of the good models, the fundamental principles are the. Harkcon has chosen to adopt the Prosci ADKAR change management model too ensure a thorough, standard and repeatable process for manage it change. The key features of the ADKAR model are as follows:
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A - Awareness. All impacted members of the organization need to be aware (the logic and reasons) for the need to improve and change
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D - Desire. It’s one thing to understand the need to change, its another to have the conviction or desire to actually do it. This step fans the flames of desire to ensure action is take to make the change. Communicate the benefits.
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K - Knowledge. After awareness and desire are established, people need to know how to make the change. SMEs, communicators, early adopters all become a part of showing, teaching and coaching members of the organization how to make the necessary behavioral changes. Help develop the skills
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A - Action. This step is where the rubber meets the road. All the thinking and planning in the world means nothing unless and until action is taken. Put a specific action plan in place: with action items and milestones. Then track progress. Start small if necessary, and then build momentum.
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R - Re-enforce. Once progress has started, and small victories have become apparent, take time to recognize the celebrate them. Have key stakeholders talk about the successes. Put project champions up front to demonstrate to others the progress and success of the change. All of these actions work together to re-enforce change that is occurring.
Competency Modeling & Management
Competency Modeling and Management is the practice of identifying those competencies required to do the work of your organization, organizing that information to allow you to describe all of your individual job positions, and then using that information to attain (or develop) employees with the right skill sets to fill those positions.
Harkcon is prepared to assist your organization in identifying and describing the knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes (collectively known as competencies) required to accomplish your work. Our analysts do this through competency modeling and management.
Competency Modeling and Management is the practice of identifying those competencies required to do the work of your organization, organizing that information to allow you to describe all of your individual job positions, and then using that information to attain (or develop) employees with the right skill sets to fill those positions. Specific consulting and facilitation services include:
Competency Management System Development
The basic purpose of competency management is to align each team member's capabilities with the specific needs of their respective jobs. The jobs, in turn, should be aligned with larger organizational priorities to help the organization fulfill its mission and purpose. We have built these systems for major organizations, from scratch. A well-designed competency management system is a powerful human capital tool to inform decision-makers and shape personnel decisions.
Competency Modeling
A competency model is an organized set of competency data. Competency data are collected by examining all or parts of an organization including: mission and vision, goals and objectives of divisions, teams or groups, and requirements of specific positions. The information is then structured to define the requirements of a position, team, staff, or the entire organization. Harkcon has created a number of competency models for various organizations.
Competency models come in various forms and formats, but generally contain one or more of the following characteristics:
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A list of core competencies required by organizational members, group or functional area.
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An organization chart showing the primary competencies required of each position.
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A searchable database that lists the primary competencies held by each member of the organization, group, or team.
Competency Data Entry and Analysis
Harkcon provides client data entry and analytical support solutions for overseeing critical competency management systems and improving the data integrity of associated human resources information management systems. Our processes include analytical support, competency management support, and data entry support.
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Analytical Support. We analyze information contained in client information systems to evaluate the accuracy, completeness, validity, and conformance to business rules and policy of competency data on personnel and positions. This analysis is used in developing recommendations for potential changes in business policy, business process, and IT applications needed to correct and update competency data.
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Competency Management Support. We maintain detailed competency data records, including master competency dictionaries, and ensure accurate capture and recording of competency requirements. We continuously review competency data for correctness and accuracy.
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Data Entry Support. We provide detailed competency data entry and related HR data entry into client information systems, including personnel and position data.
Competency Toolbox® Development
The Harkcon Competency Toolbox® integrates the effectiveness of competency modeling with the power of information technology and data management in a truly unique way. It fully leverages years of technical, personnel, leadership, and management experience, and it presents a simple yet profound application.
The Competency Toolbox® is a web-based application that creates a collection of customizable documents and tools to help you complete some of the more time-consuming Human Resources (HR) tasks with ease including:
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Job Advertisements
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Pre-employment Tests
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Interview Questions
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Individual Development Plans
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Performance Evaluations
The Competency Toolbox® can be customized quickly for your organization, staff, or team. Leaders and managers with even just a basic level of human capital management training and knowledge will be able to find, hire, and retain the best-qualified and most professional people.
Harkcon is prepared to assist you and your organization stay competitive by analyzing and improving the way you conduct your business. Our business process reengineering (BPR) experts will help you evaluate and potentially rethink how you work, using your organization's mission and vision to guide their efforts. This top-down alignment ensures all processes are linked to your key business objectives and allows everyone connected to the process to see how their efforts support the organization's goals and objectives. Designing your work this way not only improves your operation's effectiveness and efficiency, but it also reduces costs and improves customer service and satisfaction. Let us help you create a vision for the future and design new business processes to support that vision. Specific consulting and facilitation services include:
Strategic, Business and Action Plan Development
Strategy is the primary driver for business process reengineering initiatives. Without an understanding of an organization's mission and vision, as well as strategic goals, any changes to existing processes could be hit or miss. If you do not have strategic doctrine, we can help you create a mission, vision and goals for the future, as well as detailed business and action plans for meeting each of the goals.
We will help you define what you do, who you do it for, and how you can succeed by leading you through a series of interviews, group discussions, and facilitated exercises designed to determine your organization's desired end state, compare that to its current state, and define the actions needed to bridge the gaps between the two.
The results of these efforts will produce the following strategic documents for your organization:
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Mission Statement
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Vision Statement
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Guiding Principles
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SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis
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Strategic Goals
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Annual Business Goals
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Action Plan to achieve Business Goals
Program and Policy Development
With strategic direction complete, program and policy development to implement that strategy is a natural follow-on. Harkcon's Business Process Reengineers and analysts will help you develop programs or policies that are based on a rigorous analysis of data, and that are consistent with your organization's mission, vision, and goals. We capture current state operations, the desired state, and gaps between the two, and then flowchart your existing structure and work processes to identify potential problem areas, choke points, and single-point failures. From there, we design and develop the necessary programs and policy documents, continually ensuring their alignment with your mission and strategic goals. These documents will create a more efficient organization using the same or fewer resources and provide you with a more effective way to go about business.
Depending on your need, the results of these efforts will produce a variety of documents for your organization, including:
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Organizational Instructions
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Program Doctrine
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Process-based Policies
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Standard Operating Procedures
Program Audits and Evaluations
A program can only remain effective and relevant if it is continually and rigorously evaluated and improved. One means to accomplish this is through program audits and evaluations.
Program audits and evaluations is the process of obtaining and analyzing data regarding a program or some aspect of a program in order to support various types of decision-making activities. However, in order for it to be viewed as useful, it must focus on utility, relevance, and practicality, and it must provide the organization with the specific information leadership needs to make informed decisions.
Program audits and evaluations can be used to:
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Better understand, verify, or increase the impact of products or services on customers or clients;
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Improve the efficiency of processes and procedures;
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Verify if the program is running as planned; or
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Produce data or verify results that can be used to promote the contributions of the program to the organization.
There are a number of types of audits or evaluations you can undertake to review and improve your programs, depending on what you want to learn about the program; techniques range from needs assessments to cost/benefit analyses, and from goal or process-based evaluations to outcomes-based assessments. Our analysts will help you determine what you need to know to make the program decisions you need to make, and then they will provide you with an effective solution for accurately collecting and assessing that information.
Depending on your need, the results of these efforts will produce a variety of documents for your organization, including:
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Program Audit and Evaluation Reports
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Program Evaluation Systems
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Quality Assurance and Control Recommendations
Process Improvement
Process improvement is a methodology used to analyze a specific work activity and determine ways to improve it. Our analysts will assist you in understanding what causes things to happen in a process and to use this knowledge to remove unnecessary activities, reduce re-work, and improve customer satisfaction. We will examine all of the factors affecting the process: the people performing the work, work unit relationships, process inputs and outputs, tools and equipment, and organizational support. We will also review any applicable measurement systems.
By involving your key personnel, we can collectively focus on eliminating waste – resources, people, time and opportunities – and ensure the job can be done more quickly, more easily, and most importantly, more safely.
The results of these efforts will produce the following process improvement documents for your organization:
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Key Processes Flow Diagrams
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"Optimal Processes" Report
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Quality Management System Recommendations
HR System Development and Integration
When it comes to the people in your organization, everything is connected to everything else. But before you can recruit and select, you’ve got to know what you are looking for. Harkcon does the groundwork necessary to help you develop the KSA’s that drive your processes of getting the right people interested and into your organization.
Position Classification
Harkcon has extensive experience working through the process of writing, evaluating, updating and classifying Federal position descriptions in accordance with OPM guidelines and standards. From ensuring the title is accurate, to evaluating the job-related essential tasks, education and background, and following the classification criteria, all is done with thoroughness and accuracy.
Recruitment, Selection, Retention and Evaluation Support
When it comes to the people in your organization, everything is connected to everything else. But before you can recruit and select, you’ve got to know what you are looking for. Harkcon does the groundwork necessary to help you develop the KSA’s that drive your processes of getting the right people interested and into your organization. Once you’ve got them in, you’ve got to provide a system of features that serve to keep them: attractive compensation and benefits, a dynamic culture, challenge and growth opportunities, effective evaluation systems, and strong and effective leadership. All of these elements work together to attract and retain a top-level workforce. Harkcon has done all of these things and stands ready to assist.
Systems Development
Harkcon has been called upon to provide human capital program support, feeding all elements of the human resources system. Our comprehensive front-end requirements analysis and diagnostics applied to all HR system components enable us to pinpoint deficiency root causes and determine the optimal interventions. The key, of course, is the proper integration of the various pieces. For example, key processes are not stand-alone systems. Proper integration of system components is critical to ensure alignment with the strategic direction, mission, vision, and culture.
We develop human resources solutions using cost-efficient, schedule-responsive processes and industry best practices. We provide human resources Project Management Office support, to include such activities as program analysis, stakeholder coordination, program status reporting, special topics reporting, and capital asset planning. We provide responsive, innovative human resources solutions that ensure requirements traceability and effectively control the entire development effort.