Human Resource Management

What is an HR strategy?

An HR strategy identifies the current and future needs when it comes to people and lays out specific procedures and processes to be followed to fulfill the identified needs. For ELSA Groups, this means your needs in regards to ELSA Members and ELSA Officers. Members are needed for participating in events, supporting your ELSA Group financially through Membership contributions, and subsequently becoming officers so that your ELSA Group continues to exist. At the same time, officers are needed who are knowledgeable and competent to organise events and projects and generally ensure the survival and thriving of your ELSA Group. You can find an example of an ELSA HR strategy below and many "best practices" from across the Network in the HR Handbook. 

How should we create our HR strategy?

In order to first of all identify your needs, you may want to conduct a survey across existing members to find out what attracted them towards ELSA, whether they enjoy ELSA, what projects they like most, whether they are interested in becoming ELSA Officers, or what you could still improve for them to enjoy their time in ELSA even more. The results of such a survey will provide you with a large amount of data from which you can identify your your group’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the present situation, as well as the opportunities and threats it could face in the future. From that, you can evaluate current practices and establish or update your HR strategy to perform even better. You may want to do the same for your officers, so that they can gain an opportunity to share feedback on how they can be supported and trained more effectively and efficently.

Secondly, it is important to make sure that the process of creating or updating an HR strategy should be aligned with the Broader Goals of your ELSA group to answer its needs. This means that what works for one group may not work for another. For example, a group with a few highly motivated board members that struggles to attract passive members to join would require a different HR approach than a group that has no difficulty in recruiting active members but is still inexperienced when it comes to board work. To conclude, a tightly-knit system of strategies that work in harmony together is more efficient than a single disconnected plan that does not relate to your Strategic or Operational Goals. 

Your next step needs to be to plan specific actions and formulate a strategy. You can find an example of this in the following section. 

The final step involves implementation and review.  Once quantifiable targets have been set, they must be implemented by the relevant officers using the mechanisms provided for in your HR strategy draft. After a certain period within the HR strategy cycle you have established, you should analyse whether and to what extent the objectives have been achieved. In doing so, you should once again consider both the current situation – in terms of strengths and weaknesses – and the future – in terms of opportunities and threats. The strategy should then be repeated or continued. To ensure that the HR strategy meets your needs, adjustments based on the feedback gathered from your analysis within the relevant circle can be made. 

How could an HR strategy look like? Example (ELSA Narnia):

Section 1. The Human Resources Strategy of ELSA Narnia – Individual Members

1.1 Attraction and Engagement refers to attracting new members to join ELSA Narnia and to engage them to participate in ELSA events; to achieve               this objective, the following approaches shall be taken:

a) The Director for HR shall organise a social event within the first two weeks of the new university term.

b) ELSA Narnia shall be present at the Freshers’ Fair during the first week of the new term and any other event organised by the University of Narnia showcasing students’ organisations.

c) The Vice President in charge of Seminars and Conferences shall organise an academic event within the first three weeks of the new university term.

d) The Director for HR shall organise an event explaining ELSA’s projects and the Association before the first academic event of the term.

e) The Vice President in charge of Academic Activities and the Vice President in charge of Competitions shall organise taster sessions for members to practice and learn skills for them to apply for ELSA Competitions.

f) The Director for HR shall organise soft skills training for members at least twice per term.

g) ELSA Narnia shall promote events via social media, mailing lists and shout outs before lectures.

h) The Board Members of ELSA Narnia shall develop an event calendar for the whole term during their transition but latest within four weeks of the beginning of the new term.

 Section 2. The Human Resources Strategy of ELSA Narnia –  Officers

2.1 There are four general processes to consider when dealing with the Human Resource Management of ELSA Officers in ELSA Narnia:

a) Attraction and Selection;

b) Training and Development;

c) Engagement and Retention; 

d) Transition and Exit.

2.2 The Attraction and Selection process refers to attracting interested individuals and encouraging them to become active ELSA Officers:

a) ELSA Narnia shall offer positions for Freshers and newer members such as Helper for specific events and Assistant or Director to support Board Members.

b) The Director for HR shall organise informational events for interested individuals to learn more about positions within ELSA and the Association itself. These events shall take place when opening call for Directors, Assistants or Helpers and before opening a call for candidates for the Board of ELSA Narnia.

c) The Director for HR shall organise bi-monthly social events.

d) ELSA Narnia shall develop a selection procedure that ensures that individuals apply for the most suitable position considering their skills and interests.

2.3 The Training and Development process refers to providing officers with the necessary knowledge and skills to have a successful term and to                    providing them with opportunities to develop their soft skills:

a) The outgoing Board of ELSA Narnia shall organise a transition period of at least two full weekends consisting of team building sessions, soft skills training, Association knowledge, National Network knowledge, and Area knowledge.

b) The Director for HR shall organise at least two ELSA Training sessions for all officers of ELSA Narnia during the term.

c) ELSA Narnia shall participate in all National Officers Meetings, National Council Meetings, and International Internal Meetings.

2.4 The Engagement and Retention process refers to encouraging officers to keep motivation high and retain talent within the Association or Alumni         networks:

a) The Secretary General shall organise a mid-term evaluation halfway through the term.

b) The Director for HR shall organise wellbeing events, especially before exam periods.

c) ELSA Narnia shall develop a recognition procedure that celebrates achievements of individual officers and/or ELSA Groups such as awards or certificates.

d) The President shall, with the support of the Director for HR, research and create partnerships that directly benefit the officers of ELSA Narnia such as discounts for traveling, hotels or well-being items.

e) The Director for HR shall organise collaborative events with ELSA Narnia Alumni at least twice per term.

f) ELSA Narnia Alumni shall be invited to Local Council Meetings to present their activities and network.

g) ELSA Narnia shall promote National and International Train the Trainers’ events.

2.5 The Transition and Exit process refers towards maintaining the involvement of experienced members within ELSA at the end of an Officer’s                     membership and active engagement in ELSA:

a) The Director for HR shall organise at least one open call or meeting per term to explain the role of positions in the National Board and/or National Team to prospective interested members; this open call shall take place no later than four weeks before the second National Council Meeting of the term.

b) Every board member shall, in accordance to previously developed outlines of the responsibilities of the National Board, during the process of actively seeking out a successor, hold individual conversations with members of Local Boards showing interest in progressing as members of the National Board.

c) ELSA Narnia shall support prospective candidates by promptly responding to queries about the work of the National Board and/or National   Team and establishing an FAQ with frequent questions concerning the role of different National Board and National Team members.

d) The Secretary General shall organise a general transition session for all newly elected National Board members, covering basic information about all areas, the current state of the National Group (including the relationship with Local Groups), collective Board responsibilities and international obligations.

e) Each board member shall organise area-specific transitions with their successors.

f) In order to ensure the quality standard of transition, ELSA Narnia shall establish a transition checklist for each area and develop individual      and project-specific Transition handbooks and guidelines for incoming National Board and/or National Team members; additionally ELSA         Narnia shall organise an ELSA Training session for successors.

g) ELSA Narnia shall develop a National Alumni database and shall coordinate bi-annual National Alumni meetings.

h) ELSA Narnia shall establish a National Alumni Association which is either which is either an independent legal entity with separate governance from ELSA Narnia or connected to ELSA Narnia and being coordinated by the National Board.

i) The Secretary General shall promote the membership in the International Trainers’ Pool of ELSA and/or National Trainers’ Pool as well as the membership in ELSA Alumni itself.