the last word
Looking at the Big Picture
HR IS IN THE FRAME
By Jane Sunley
HR is about engaged employees,
strategic people planning and
becoming the lynchpin of orga-nizational
development, having
positive impacts on bottom lines and bal-ance
sheets. It’s also about compliance,
employee relations and sifting resumes for
optimal recruitment, among many other
functions and priorities.
Most HR professionals command re-spect,
positioning themselves to make
waves within their organization. However,
are you really maximizing your impact?
HR, in its 21st century incarnation,
is a department that continues to evolve
at a pace faster than any other branch of
business, yet rather than being viewed as
a fresh and exciting business driver, too
many HR departments are tarnished with
“hangover” negative perceptions. There is
an ongoing evolution in HR strategy –
HR needs to continue taking visible and
high-impact action to prove its strategic
worth.
Is HR positioned firmly, on equal foot-ing,
within a “holy trinity” alongside the
CEO and CFO? Are you the number one
trusted advisor on all manner of business
decisions to members of the board and, in
particular, in the confidence of the CEO?
Are you a skilled marketer, selling the
employer brand and employee value prop-osition
internally and externally? Have
you ensured your organization is posi-tioned
as a “go-to” place for top talent?
In order for HR to move forward, there
is a real need for HR professionals to
move across the business, breaking down
silos and building strategic alliances with
all other departments to help them under-stand
the business case for investment in
talent.
A WELL-ROUNDED VIEW
HR must fully understand the whole
business and its priorities so as to fully
contribute to board-level conversations.
For example, understanding how to make
a clear, compelling business case clearly
boosts the credibility and impact of the
C-suite HR director.
You need to understand your business,
which is all around people. But you also
need to understand THE business in or-der
to marry up the two and make the
right recommendations. It’s about seeing
the big picture, making things simple, be-ing
brave and asking the right questions
– leading fellow directors to look at things
differently. Proving your worth in an in-spiring
way means you’ll always be taken
seriously.
A growing body of research shows
that CEOs are becoming more and more
involved in talent strategy, leadership de-velopment,
change management and
organizational development, so now is the
time to fully align and help shape their
thinking.
As people strategy moves up the corpo-rate
agenda, the strategy currently devised
by HR departments is becoming a vi-tal
business driver. The HR director has
the opportunity and the challenge to step
into the driving seat of people strategy, or
– perhaps more importantly – the HR
professional should ensure that he or she
is ready to be an excellent navigator. ■
Jane Sunley is CEO of Purple Cubed and au-thor
of It’s Never OK to Kiss the Interviewer
– and other secrets to surviving, thriving and
high-fiving at work and Purple Your People –
the secrets to inspired, happy, more profitable
people.
Photographer: Nastco / Photos.com
IT’S ABOUT SEEING THE BIG PICTURE, MAKING
THINGS SIMPLE, BEING BRAVE AND ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS – LEADING FELLOW
DIRECTORS TO LOOK AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY.
56 ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL