Thought Leadership

I feel like I first heard the words, ‘HR needs to be more strategic’ in the womb… and I’m 52.

But in recent months, speaking with HR professionals, many still feel that their role is more akin to waiting on the corporate table than being a strategic partner, with the organisation ordering from a well-worn, traditional menu of administrative tasks, created in last century.

It’s not difficult to picture the scene:

HR: “Hello Sir, are you ordering from the à la carte menu today?”

Organisation: “No, just the set lunch.  Could we have 2 rounds of redundancy, with outplacement (hold the dressing, it doesn’t need to be fancy), a generic leadership programme, 1 appraisal system – make sure it’s well-done, oh, and one recruitment and selection, with a side of payroll processing, and reward and benefits admin.  If you could throw in some employee engagement and well-being, without the optional DEI, that’d be great.”

HR: “We do have some new items on the menu today, HR attending strategy meetings, consultation and input into future recruitment needs, systemic well-being models that increase productivity, replacing appraisals, a learning and development plan in line with the business goals, there’s plenty of more interesting options.”

Organisation: “Thanks.  That all sounds amazing, but I’ll stick to the set menu.”

In short, the current model limits the ability of HR to perform its true function, leading the way in creating the workforce needed for growth, productivity and innovation.

Many ideas about how HR professionals can have a strategic voice rely on supportive organisations, leadership champions, increased budgets and systemic cultural change.

And since you don’t have a strategic voice to influence those things, you end up on a mental merry-go-round.

Start with yourself - make a shift in your identity

The difficulty with the current situation between organisations and HR is that it positions you as someone who exists to do their bidding.  Offering a menu and waiting on the table.  And your behaviour emanates from that more limited identity.

But in a quality restaurant the menu itself is created by the Head Chef, not by the front of house team. Maybe organisations are ordering what is presented because you don’t see yourself as the one who creates the menu.

In a recent conversation, a Global HR Director told us that whilst they knew the organisation needed to be more strategic in their approach, it wasn’t in their place to say anything.  They would try and drop some hints and hope that another C-Suite member picked up on it.

Although we were inwardly saddened, we were not surprised.  But this conversation is what got me thinking about identity as an issue because the way HR is seen is impacting the way HR behaves.

The longer HR continues to see itself as administrative because it is responding to the way it is seen, the longer the status quo will be maintained.

You have the power to change how you see yourself. Even if it takes others a bit longer to catch up.

Re-imagine the menu

Instead of feeling frustrated that you weren’t consulted, or that, yet again, HR has been brought in too late, or that it isn’t in your current remit; start to think ahead to what you want the menu to be like.

If you are an HR professional that wants to have a strategic voice, what would you like to have happen?

There’s no blueprint for this.  You can create your own model.  What do you want this to be like?

It’s difficult to act with an amorphous idea of ‘having a strategic voice’.  It’s far easier if you have a concrete idea of how that would be.

A clear vision of what it would be like to be more strategic will get the part of your brain responsible for spotting opportunities (the reticular activating system) working on your behalf.

Here’s some coaching questions that I might ask you if we were together, to help you create that vision and start spotting ways to move towards it:

What is important to you about this?

If you had a strategic voice, how would relationship with the organisation be?

How would you need to be to have that relationship?

How would that be different to what exists now?

Expand your circle of influence - look for opportunities to take small steps

When smart Head Chefs want to shift their clientele’s palates, whilst still retaining them as paying customers, they do it gradually and they keep old favourites on the menu.

Let’s face it, just like finance and marketing, there are things that HR must do that are administrative and respond to the needs of the organisation.  Some of the menu will stay the same (although a large side of embracing AI is inevitable and a topic for another day).

Shifting your organisation’s perspective and relationship with HR will likely not come through sweeping changes at a systemic level.  Although if you’ve got revolutionary vibes and want to become a voice for that change, then have at it.  We need you because it cannot just be down to individuals.

If that’s not your jam right now, then hope is not lost.  Remember that significant change often happens through small, incremental steps consistently taken with a clear vision in mind.

Certainly significant change for you as an individual happens that way, so have a think:

What is one project you are working on where you could influence a more strategic outcome?

If there isn’t one, what is one area of the business where your strategic vision for how it should be, is better than what currently exists?

What would be a baby step towards that?

What would you need to do to have that idea heard?

Who could you enlist to support you?

What these questions are aimed at is supporting you to operate in what Steven Covey called your circle of influence, those areas where you can see it is possible to make a difference; and keep your focus away from your circle of concern, those areas where you can’t.

Possible doesn’t always mean certain, but we increase our circle of influence when we push at its edges. Letting people know you have other ideas and how they would benefit the organisation creates that push.

There has never been a better time

Businesses are searching for growth, productivity and innovation, and although AI is a game-changer it needs to work in harmony with human capital, so the opportunity for HR to step into a more influential role has never been greater.

By working from your identity as Head Chef (strategic partner), having a clear vision for how you want that relationship to be, and operating within your circle of influence, you can demonstrate your ability to contribute meaningfully to organisational strategy.