HRDs – your time is now!
From tea and tissues to Influence and Impact
The impact of HR has come a long way from the 1970s view of “Tea and Tissues”!
During the pandemic, CEOs, top executives, and the board relied on HR (specifically the HR leader) to help them figure out, “What should we be doing? How should we be responding?”
Many would argue that HR leaders were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a strategic leadership role in the global conversation about the future of work; the people agenda is recognised as one of the most important considerations for any business.
Can HR leaders take advantage of the opportunity?
The Leathwaite 2022 Global HR Survey predicts an optimistic future especially when it highlights that HR appears unconstrained by resource, with nearly half of HR leaders (46%) expecting both an increase in budget and headcount over the coming 12 months.
Where the survey does ask penetrating questions is around the ability of HR leaders to get buy in and understanding of the HR agenda, with 48% not feeling that their deliverables are understood by their organization’s Board.
Additionally, 28% of HR leaders don’t feel valued within their organization, which is up 10% from last year. What is causing this disconnect? Could it be that some HR leaders are not balancing the operational with the strategic side of their work, or not communicating as effectively with their executive team?
Spending time in the most meaningful and impactful way
HR is always a juggling act between the necessary operational effort and the longer-term outlook so one needs to be strategic about your use of time. Focus on the areas where you can make the biggest contribution and what it is that the organisation needs going forward. Simply put, how can you help the business to be a better place to work and to deliver better commercial results?
Aligning the business and HR agenda
One of the most prized competencies of HR leaders is commerciality. This is more than trotting out figures at a weekly meeting but about getting under the skin of the business, understanding the metrics and the drivers from the standpoint of the customer, profitability, delivery, etc. What data and insights are you sharing, or could you gather, that could help to align the business and HR plans?
Know the pressures your Executive colleagues are under
Try and walk in the shoes of others in the executive team and understand their challenges, pressures and aspirations. How often do you ask them about their current challenges or expected future challenges and how the people agenda can support those challenges?
Create time for intentional conversations
The means of communicating have changed and some informal ways of gathering information need to be replaced. Create time for intentional conversations to help strengthen relationships – listen, show your curiosity about other leaders work, their passions, find ways to collaborate and to challenge.
Reflect on how you are communicating
Think about where you, as an HR leader, are adding value to the business? How are you articulating it? How are you making sure that your view is being heard? Are you enriching the conversations and the decision-making process? Ensure that you show up as a business leader, contribute ideas and ask questions if it’s not your area of expertise to show a broad view of the business. Use active, authoritative language and don’t qualify or downplay the things you say.
This is the opportunity for HR to be driving the agenda, shaping conversation not at the receiving end of decisions that are made.
Helen Quinlivan is CEO Whispering’s chief blogger and researcher. She has worked for over 30 years in global corporate HR and L&D.
CEO Whispering www.ceowhispering.co.uk enables new, inexperienced, and aspiring HR Directors to achieve the results you desire, through increased influence, credibility, and impact.
CEO Whispering’s Influence & Impact programme has been designed specifically to address these problems, enabling you to effectively articulate & win support for your agenda with your CEO and Executive Team.