off the shelf
The designation of CHRO is the next generation of HR
executives. What role does the CHRO play in the organization?
LD: The CHRO, first and foremost, is directly accountable to the
CEO. It’s an evolving role, and at the heart of it you are both the in-dividual
coach to the C-suite and below, including the CEO, plus
you are the team coach. As the head of HR, you hire these people.
You develop them, promote them and support them as they exe-cute
their jobs. The bottom line is because you are at the front end
of the hiring, you’re also accountable for making sure they per-form
effectively. You need to develop them for future assignments
and you need to coach them in terms of how they operate, not just
within their own teams but how they operate within the execu-tive
team. The CEO must be totally aligned with you in terms of
what you want to get done with the team. Most importantly, the
CHRO is the architect of an organization’s talent strategy. Where
HR may have been let go when a strike hit the plant, today’s HR
strategists will find themselves out of a job if they cannot execute
a well-defined people strategy.
You include a chapter on plant-level HR management. What
are some of the specific skills HR professionals need to be
effective at this level?
LD: In a manufacturing company, there are two functions that real-ly
matter in terms of making money on a sustainable basis: making
the product and selling it. In HR, you have to understand those
two functions to understand how the business makes money. In
a labour-intensive manufacturing setting, most of the employees
are in the plants and quite often unionized. If you are successful in
that environment, you will be successful anywhere because you are
dealing with the essence of the business. It’s the same case if you
are supporting the sales and marketing function. You understand
the business and know what it takes to be successful in those roles.
You also need to know how to find and develop the right people
so that every day in manufacturing, they can put out a high qual-ity,
safe and cost effective product, or similarly if you are selling a
product. Getting that experience early on in a career helps balance
technical knowledge of HR with strong business acumen. That’s
been the biggest gap in HR. We are all technical experts but we
don’t always have the business acumen to the level we need. You
can fix that by taking an operating assignment.
The next generation CEO will lead differently. What are the
differences?
LD: The next generation of CEO has had more personal devel-opment
and is more sensitive to talent development, succession
planning and career planning than the previous generation, who
came up the ranks not necessarily having a well-planned out game
plan. Many CEOs were selected early in their careers as high po-tentials
and they’ve had special development. They get it. This
means that the CHRO will have an ally right from the start.
Secondly, orientation around development has a larger focus on
people than in the past. CEOs will be more interested in turning
to their CHRO and saying, “Here is our business strategy; what is
your people strategy to support this?”
How can the CHRO be a strong strategic partner and
confidante to the CEO?
LD: The strategic partner and confidante are two distinct roles.
Some CHROs are successful at both; others pick one. The best
way for the CHRO to be the strategic partner to the CEO is to
have strong business acumen and make the direct link between
business strategy for the company and the people strategy that
helps the CEO execute the business strategy. It used to be that
the only time you were fired as the head of HR is if you ended up
in a strike that you didn’t want. Now, the biggest reason a CHRO
would be fired is if they did not have a people strategy to help the
CEO execute the business strategy.
The confidante role is related, but independent in terms of skills
required. The confidante is part psychologist, part listener and
part nurturing parent. The confidante is there to listen, but there
are times when they have to be the one to “kick the CEO in the
butt” – you have to have the courage to do this, and there may be
times when you cross the line and it’s irreparable to the relation-ship.
It’s a fine line to challenge your boss. Most CEOs appreciate
the honest feedback, but some do not.
What are your predictions for the CHRO role in next
five years?
LD: I see a formal acknowledgement that the CHRO will report
dually to the head of the HR committee on the board of directors
and the CEO. The CHRO will be regarded as the people expert
when it comes to executing the business strategy of the compa-ny.
If the company doesn’t successfully implement their strategy
by the time that the three- to five-year period is over, the CHRO
needs to be held just as accountable as the CEO. n
MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE
CHRO IS THE ARCHITECT
OF AN ORGANIZATION’S
TALENT STRATEGY.
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62 ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL