--- title: Ask HR’s Users and Providers the Same Questions | Case Study description: "How a multilateral organisation refocused its people strategy by listening to both sides: 24 pain points, 8 priority areas, no rewrite." image: https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation#main-content) [![PeopleCentrix](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/assets/images/peoplecentrix-logo.svg "PeopleCentrix")](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/) [LET'S CONNECT →](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) People Strategy case study # Ask HR’s Users and HR’s Providers *the Same Questions* **11**executive interviews **19**HR team members surveyed **24**capability domains mapped **8**priority areas in the plan Snapshot Client A multilateral organisation (anonymised) Sector, size, geography International Public Sector; 1,000–2,500 staff; headquartered in Europe, mandate delivered through partners in the field Engagement People Strategy · Definition Our role Led the people strategy refocus — two-sided listening, prioritisation and sequencing with the HR leadership team, action plan and metric framework; implementation by the client’s HR leadership Mode of engagement Led Timeframe 2024 Project duration 1–3 months · Empathise, Strategise and metric definition (Analyse); Realise delivered by the client through Dec 2024 The situation ## The question behind *the question.* A people strategy is a stack of good intentions with a budget attached, until someone tests it against the people it was written for. This one had been written a few years earlier by another advisor, without a real listening phase. Then the pandemic made hybrid work permanent and tightened the funding environment. By late 2023 the executive committee was questioning it, and HR had to answer fast. The ambition still held. What no longer held was the order in which it was being delivered. As it was asked “Is our people strategy still the right one?” As we reframed it Not whether the ambition was right, but in which order to deliver it: which pain points to answer first, which to fold into the day job, and which to set aside, with the reasons said out loud. How we worked ## Four moves, *one loop.* This engagement ran on the [People Centricity Methodology™](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work): four moves turning what people say and do into insight, insight into choices, choices into measured impact — and impact back into evidence. 01 ### Empathise Data → Insights Understand before prescribing. We listened on both sides of the counter. On the receiving side, the executive committee, where the questions came from: 11 one-to-one interviews, plus the feedback already reaching HR. On the delivering side, 19 members of the HR function, in a structured survey rating each topic and naming its root cause. Laid side by side, the 2 voices show where both see the same problem, where one sees a symptom and the other its cause, and where only one side feels the pain. In 2 half-day workshops, the HR leadership team tested the combined list and agreed on the problem before anyone proposed a fix. 02 ### Strategise Insights → Strategy Turn insight into choices. Then the choices. We kept the ambition and rebuilt the plan: the content stayed, the order changed. Each of the 24 pain points was mapped to one of the 5 pillars of the existing people ambition and sorted 3 ways: a dedicated project, continuous improvement inside the day job, or out of scope, said out loud. The order followed 3 tests, in turn: the business impact of fixing it, or the cost of leaving it; then the same question from HR’s side; then HR’s capacity to deliver. What survived converged into 8 priority areas, each with a named lead and a date to report back to the executive committee. 03 ### Realise Strategy → Impact Make it real, and make it yours. The refocused plan was delivered by the organisation’s own HR leadership through the rest of the year, outside our engagement. Some priorities built on work already under way; others started from zero. Each was reviewed with the executive committee every quarter, starting 3 months in, using the same numbers from the metric dictionary, and benefits were promised from the following year, not before. 04 ### Analyse Impact → Data Measure, learn, return. Before anything could be reported, it had to be defined. With the HR team, we built the measurement layer behind the dashboard: a metric dictionary in which every indicator is written down once, with its definition, its formula and its data source in Workday. We kept only metrics that measured a priority, that an owner could move, and that the platform could actually produce. Progress is reported from that single source, on the executive committee’s quarterly cadence. The instrument ### A two-sided pain-point map **24 domains, one map.** The listening started from the PeopleCentriX HR Capability Framework™ — 24 capabilities across Run, Grow and Shape — tailored into 24 domains in the client’s own language. **The receiving side.** Each domain scored by criticality: the share of executives who raised it in a structured interview. A domain raised by most of the committee outranks one raised by 2, however loudly the second is discussed in the corridor. **The delivering side.** The HR team rated the domains it owns on severity, scale and urgency, and traced each to its root cause. Overlaid, the 2 maps separate the pain everyone sees from the pain only one side feels. What moved ## What changed, *and what didn't.* **20 of 24**pain points built into the plan within 2 months, each with a named lead, a milestone and a reporting date. Evidence Decision taken Adopted in practice Measured impact What moved Every one of the 24 pain points had an answer. **83%** of what the executives and the HR team had raised is owned in the plan; the other 4 were declared out of scope, in writing. Progress then went back to the executive committee every quarter, on the same numbers. What didn't move The deadline left no room to hear staff and managers directly, and the refocused plan was shared only with the executive committee and HR. Part of what the HR team raised about its own capacity was also deferred to a later review. The plan answered the executives faster than it relieved the providers. What we'd say to a peer Under pressure, the reflex is to rewrite. Often the ambition is sound and only the order is wrong. Ask the people who receive HR’s services and the people who deliver them the same questions, lay the answers side by side, and sequence by what the business loses if a pain is left alone. A refocus is cheaper than a rewrite, if it listens to both sides of the counter. [Let's talk](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) [Discover People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) [Read more cases](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) **Method note:** PeopleCentriX HR Capability Framework™ as a two-sided pain-point map; 3-test sequencing; a metric dictionary. ## Keep reading [![A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg?width=300&name=case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) [![A People Strategy That Listened to Every Shift](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg?width=300&name=case-people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [A People Strategy That Listened to Every Shift](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [![Treat Hiring Managers as Customers: A Recruiting Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company.jpg?width=300&name=case-talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [Treat Hiring Managers as Customers: A Recruiting Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company) WeAreHuman@Work One piece of evidence on sustainable work, every Sunday. Free, and one click to leave. [Get the weekly edition](https://www.wearehumanatwork.com/) ##### ![logo-white-ls-sample-theme](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/raw_assets/public/popular-theme-v2/assets/images/peoplecentrix-footer-logo.svg) We help HR leaders turn people investment into measurable results — strategies that get approved, interventions that get delivered, impact that gets proven. ##### Follow Us [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoplecentrixconsulting/) ##### Quick Links - [Home](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/en/) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Our Client Case Studies](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) ##### Contact PeopleCentriX Geneva, Switzerland    [tanguy.dulac@peoplecentrix.eu](mailto:info@peoplecentrix.eu) --- Copyright © 2026 PeopleCentriX SARL. All rights reserved. PeopleCentriX name and logo are registered trademarks of PeopleCentriX SARL. - [Privacy statement](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/en/privacy-page) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization", "@type" : [ "ProfessionalService", "Organization" ], "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "CH", "addressLocality" : "Founex", "addressRegion" : "Vaud", "postalCode" : "1297", "streetAddress" : "Chemin du Lac 19A" }, "alternateName" : [ "PeopleCentriX Consulting", "PeopleCentriX SARL" ], "areaServed" : [ "Worldwide", "International organisations", "Private sector", "Public sector" ], "audience" : [ { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief People Officers and Chief Human Resources Officers" }, { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief Talent Officers and Heads of Talent Management" } ], "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "availableLanguage" : [ "English", "French" ], "contactType" : "sales", "email" : "tanguy.dulac@peoplecentrix.eu", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us" }, "description" : "PeopleCentriX is an evidence-based people-strategy advisory founded in Switzerland in March 2022 by Tanguy Dulac, PhD. It serves Chief People Officers defining, activating and proving a board-approved people strategy, and Chief Talent Officers attracting, engaging and unleashing talent through focused people-centricity interventions. It helps both turn people investment into measurable results — strategies that get approved, interventions that get delivered, impact that gets proven.", "email" : "tanguy.dulac@peoplecentrix.eu", "employee" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#tanguy-dulac" }, "founder" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#tanguy-dulac" }, "foundingDate" : "2022-03", "foundingLocation" : { "@type" : "Place", "name" : "Founex, Vaud, Switzerland" }, "hasOfferCatalog" : { "@type" : "OfferCatalog", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "Offer", "itemOffered" : { "@type" : "Service", "audience" : { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief People Officers" }, "description" : "Define, Activate, Prove — the sparring partner for the Chief People Officer carrying the board mandate: build the evidence base and business case, govern implementation from inside the programme office, and prove what the investment returned against baselines set before the work starts.", "name" : "People Strategy", "provider" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization" }, "serviceType" : "People strategy advisory", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy" } }, { "@type" : "Offer", "itemOffered" : { "@type" : "Service", "audience" : { "@type" : "Audience", "audienceType" : "Chief Talent Officers" }, "description" : "Attract, Engage, Unleash — focused interventions for Chief Talent Officers, each targeting one component of the People Centricity Formula™: an employee value proposition built on researched expectations, moments that matter redesigned, and talent frameworks that develop potential. Closed when solved.", "name" : "People Centricity", "provider" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization" }, "serviceType" : "Talent and employee-experience interventions", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity" } } ], "name" : "PeopleCentriX offerings" }, "image" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/assets/images/peoplecentrix-logo.svg", "knowsAbout" : [ "People strategy", "People centricity", "Programme management", "Change management", "Business case", "HR metrics", "People analytics", "Employee attraction", "Employee experience", "Employee engagement", "Design thinking", "Human-centred design in HR", "HR operating model", "Human capital risk management", "People risks", "Human sustainability", "People sustainability", "Talent management", "Talent strategy" ], "knowsLanguage" : [ "en", "fr" ], "legalName" : "PeopleCentriX Sàrl", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "caption" : "PeopleCentriX logo", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/assets/images/peoplecentrix-logo.svg" }, "memberOf" : { "@type" : "Organization", "name" : "Swiss Triple Impact (B Lab Switzerland)", "url" : "https://www.swisstripleimpact.ch" }, "name" : "PeopleCentriX", "publishingPrinciples" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoplecentrixconsulting" ], "slogan" : "People Strategy for Chief People Officers — defined, activated, proven. People Centricity for Chief Talent Officers — attracted, engaged, unleashed.", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/en/" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#tanguy-dulac", "@type" : "Person", "affiliation" : [ { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Université de Fribourg", "url" : "https://www.unifr.ch" }, { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Haute École de Gestion de Genève", "url" : "https://www.hesge.ch/heg" } ], "alumniOf" : [ { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "London School of Economics and Political Science", "url" : "https://www.lse.ac.uk" }, { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Université catholique de Louvain", "url" : "https://uclouvain.be" } ], "description" : "Tanguy Dulac is the Founder & Managing Director of PeopleCentriX, an evidence-based people-strategy advisory in Switzerland, and Editor-in-Chief of WeAreHuman@Work, a weekly newsletter on sustainable work. More than 15,000 people follow him on LinkedIn. He holds a joint PhD in Applied Economics from the London School of Economics and the Université catholique de Louvain on the psychological contract — research published in the Academy of Management Journal and cited by more than 1,000 academic articles. He has built people strategies since 2006 at PwC, Deloitte and PeopleCentriX, across 72 engagements in 40 organisations, and lectures on Sustainable Human Capital Management at the University of Fribourg and on Human Capital Risk Management at the Haute École de Gestion de Genève.", "email" : "tanguy.dulac@peoplecentrix.eu", "familyName" : "Dulac", "givenName" : "Tanguy", "hasCredential" : [ { "@type" : "EducationalOccupationalCredential", "credentialCategory" : "PhD in Applied Economics", "recognizedBy" : [ { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "London School of Economics and Political Science" }, { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Université catholique de Louvain" } ] }, { "@type" : "EducationalOccupationalCredential", "credentialCategory" : "MSc Applied Economics", "recognizedBy" : { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Université catholique de Louvain" } }, { "@type" : "EducationalOccupationalCredential", "credentialCategory" : "MSc Organisational Psychology", "recognizedBy" : { "@type" : "CollegeOrUniversity", "name" : "Université catholique de Louvain" } } ], "hasOccupation" : [ { "@type" : "Occupation", "name" : "People strategy consultant" }, { "@type" : "Occupation", "name" : "University lecturer" }, { "@type" : "Occupation", "name" : "Newsletter editor" } ], "honorificSuffix" : "PhD", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "caption" : "Tanguy Dulac, Founder & Managing Director of PeopleCentriX", "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/DSC09993.jpg" }, "jobTitle" : "Founder & Managing Director", "knowsAbout" : [ "People strategy", "People centricity", "Programme management", "Change management", "Business case", "HR metrics", "People analytics", "Employee attraction", "Employee experience", "Employee engagement", "Design thinking", "Human-centred design in HR", "HR operating model", "Human capital risk management", "People risks", "Human sustainability", "People sustainability", "Talent management", "Talent strategy" ], "knowsLanguage" : [ "fr", "en" ], "name" : "Tanguy Dulac", "nationality" : { "@type" : "Country", "name" : "Belgium" }, "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanguy-dulac", "https://www.wearehumanatwork.com", "https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lE2o3sYAAAAJ" ], "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us", "worksFor" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#amj-2008", "@type" : "ScholarlyArticle", "about" : "Psychological contract breach and violation", "author" : [ { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#tanguy-dulac" }, { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacqueline A-M. Coyle-Shapiro" }, { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "David J. Henderson" }, { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Sandy J. Wayne" } ], "datePublished" : "2008", "headline" : "Not All Responses to Breach Are the Same: The Interconnection of Social Exchange and Psychological Contract Processes in Organizations", "isPartOf" : { "@type" : "Periodical", "name" : "Academy of Management Journal" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.wearehumanatwork.com/#newsletter", "@type" : "Periodical", "description" : "A newsletter on sustainable work — Work with Purpose — edited by Tanguy Dulac.", "editor" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#tanguy-dulac" }, "inLanguage" : "en", "name" : "WeAreHuman@Work", "publisher" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization" }, "url" : "https://www.wearehumanatwork.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#website", "@type" : "WebSite", "inLanguage" : "en", "name" : "PeopleCentriX", "publisher" : { "@id" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/#organization" }, "url" : "https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/en/" } ```