What HR & the CEO want are the same things - yet being understaffed is keeping both from achieving these goals

Understaffed? Short on HR Budget? 4 Things HR Professionals want from their CEO, a rant by Cindy Lu based on the Entrepreneur article "4 Things CEOs Want from HR Leadership".

This post is in response to a 2016 Entrepreneur article by a CEO of a software company.  He writes about "4 things CEOs Want from HR Leadership". He starts the article by saying, “people are the biggest item on almost every company’s budget, and that CEOs consistently list talent as a top concern”.  Yet, rather than being seen as a strategically valuable, business-oriented leader, the head of HR is often regarded  as administration and compliance-focused.  

He listed 4 ways HR leaders can “reverse” this image:

• Match talent resources with company strategy.
• Help attract the best and brightest.
• Deliver excellence in the on-boarding process.
• Focus on employee engagement.

Even though this article is over 3 years old, I don’t think this type of CEO thinking has gone away. I don’t mean the 4 strategic areas he mentioned. I mean CEOs who believe the people business is for HR to handle. To be fair, he does go on to say, “of course, the CEO should also be a champion of the HR function and willing to take an active role in all these areas”, but that was it! No advice to the CEO on how to make it so the HR leader can be the strategic business partner they need.  HR is the only profession where there is no one to mentor or coach the head of HR and it is a lonely job. How often does the CEO come up through HR? How often does your board have a CHRO sitting on it? The HR leader is so often the “barber’s child” and the last to get development and support? Pushing for development dollars for everyone else but not themselves?

Sometimes when I don’t like the ending of a movie, I imagine what a better ending could have been so let’s change the end of the movie.

Here is what the CEO can do to champion HR:

1. Don’t set the budget for HR.

Instead ask HR what resources it needs for the operational side of HR (what I call “keep the lights work” in HR) and what is needed to actually do strategic HR (the side of the house the drives top-line growth, increase margins and propels profits). You may be surprised at how labor intensive the people business can be if your HR function doesn’t have the right technology to free them up for more strategic work. In my last business, the executive team owned HR and administrative HR stuff went to the controller. This is not the right formula for all businesses, but it worked for us and no one missed payroll.

2. As the CEO you might not even realize what a HUGE lever strategic human capital is to your firm.

I get it if you are a small to midsize business, you might not have the budget for a bunch of “C-Suite" executives. Don’t use the excuse that you don’t have the budget for a “C-Suite" level HR executive to not have the right level HR leadership. Put one on your board, advisory board, or have a CHRO level executive as a coach to you, the CEO.  I ran a fast growth mid-size company and I placed two CHROs on our advisory board and one on our governance board. It did wonders educating the Board of Directors on the value of good talent management. We were able to show how simple talent management practices had a direct correlation between career pathing and skyrocketing gross margins. In addition, most CEOs come up through the business or finance and they aren’t always the right mentor for the HR leader.

3. Make sure HR has a “Seat at the Table” (I am so sick of this term by the way)

You want your company to win? Be the CEO who the very best HR leaders want to work for.  How do you do that? Make sure HR has a “seat at the table”. Don’t be clueless as to what it takes to deliver HR well. Don’t say things like “help attract the best and brightest”, then turnaround and say the tools you have to use to do this is a $300 job posting. When in reality it will take a recruiter to pipelining talent year round to get the “best and brightest”. From where I sit is there are more strategic HR leaders than there are CEOs who know how to leverage strategic HR. I know this to be true because I have great HR leaders whisper in my ear every day that they are holding out to work for a CEO who gets it. It’s clear to me the education needs to be with the CEO community and shifting their context of HR.

4. Lastly, is mindset. Think of HR as the top of your sales pipeline and not a “G&A” line item.

If the HR team has the resources to attract and retain sales rainmakers, top developers, delightful customer service, does that make you look at the profession in a whole new way?

It’s a sad fact but, I hear it all the time that HR still doesn’t have a “seat at the table”. However, I am privileged to interact with many who do; and many who have seen the transformations from what they have been able to drive. They have a seat, not just because it was given to them or they were lucky enough to work for a CEO who gets it, but they also have the strategic influence skills to keep the seat.  They get to enjoy the best parts of HR and get to make a difference in the lives of those who count on them. They are the Executive Advisor to the “C-Suite", and they won’t make a move before consulting HR because they know people are in the middle of every business decision. They can see around corners and often help their organizations solve critical business challenges via human capital strategies (that look just like business strategies). They have the budget, staff, tech and resources they need so they have time to streamline the tactical work and allocate time, energy and focus on the strategic work that lifts those who count on them. They are the new golden child of the“C-Suite". It’s good to be them.

HR needs to take steps too. What I have seen after talking to hundreds and hundreds of HR leaders is the profession needs to work on its Influence Muscle. The muscle that helps us get bigger budgets, more resources and more staff. The same skills that the external consultants have and come in and convince the “C-Suite" they need to pay millions for the same human capital initiative that HR has been trying to push the whole time.

If you are interested in building your influence skills watch this free Masterclass (or read the transcript) on how to move from a “Responsive Relationship Manager” to a “Strategic Executive Advisor”. Sign up by clicking HERE to help with this movement and be part of a community of forward-thinking strategic HR leaders, or follow the link below:

https://www.chropartners.com/raise2