Away with paper trails: The rise of strategic HR

There’s been talk of moving HR out of the back room and into the boardroom, but do we know why a strategic HR team or business partner is essential?

Today, the rhetoric of control and compliance once expected from the HR profession has taken a backseat to innovation and speed to market.

The common use of the term “HR business partner” today connotes the perspective that HR can no longer operate in silos and stay isolated and administrative in nature.

To stay relevant, HR will have to ride the waves of change and reinvent itself as a business enabler instead of remaining a class monitor.

A recent trend we are seeing is the rise of the Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO), which catapults the role of HR from a support function to one with a seat at the C-suite table.

This comes with the recognition that employees are in fact the most important asset of any business. Because the pace of change is set to accelerate, businesses can only effectively compete and stay ahead of the game if they are able to retain their most talented employees.

What is stopping HR from moving to a strategic role?

There is a lack of clarity in terms of what one should expect from a strategic HR team. Other roles in the C-suite have the benefit of legacy and specificity.

Since HR deals with the most complex and fickle domain of all – people – it will need to adopt greater flexibility and nimbleness in negotiating its role and establishing where it can value add.

It has to start at the top: the captain of the ship has to have a deeper and more wide-ranging appreciation of the intricacies of the business, so as to create common understanding across functions and to do so with credibility.

Mindset is also a barrier to the progression, as many HR professionals believe their roles encompass cost control, righting procedures and gatekeeping.

Why should the role of HR be less administrative and more strategic?

Thomas Wai: Jobs that require less creativity, compassion, strategic, empathy and abstract thinking are easily replaceable by robots and computerisation. In our industry, many administrative HR processes will become increasingly automated – namely payroll, recruitment, on-boarding and time management. Consequently, the demand for strategic HR will grow.

Andrew Chan: If HR professionals today are not somehow transforming themselves to be more aligned with forward-thinking practices that deliver a strategic outcome, company leaders should seriously be questioning their HR teams’ effectiveness and ability to influence.

How can HR become more strategic?

Thomas Wai: It takes three steps.

1. Proactively position HR as a business strategy function but not a tactical compliance unit. HR professionals need to understand the business, know what’s going on, and provide partnership and support when needed.
2. Create a culture and reputation that HR is an enabler, not a restrictor. Ensure that HR is providing talent-related business solutions, not roadblocks, and enable HR specialists to jointly develop programmes and human capital strategies with other business unit leaders.
3. Teach HR professionals to use the same language our unit leaders use, instead of the jargon HR use among themselves. Language plays a big part in communication.

Andrew Chan: HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners in order to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute in today’s corporate environment.

To add value, HR specialists must innovate and continue to step outside of their traditional roles and proactively seek out opportunities to study the business it supports, and that includes the ability to understand the company’s Profit & Loss statements.

To participate and contribute in business dialogues, HR specialists must not only ensure that smooth systems and processes are in place, but consider the strategic impact from talent in their organisation.

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