“Today’s tactical victory does not guarantee tomorrow’s strategic success.” – Peter Pace
One of the common complaints of HR in smaller businesses is that they are not strategic enough. But, when the HR leader responds to this question with their own question about what this means, there is often silence.
And here’s the rub. Smaller, post start-up businesses know that they need to be more strategic about their people as they grow. But the in-house understanding and experience of strategic HR is limited at best, and non-existent in many cases.
So, here’s some advice that may bring some clarity for everyone. This advice is built on the back of research carried out by PWC on the behaviours that highly successful strategic HR leaders consistently displayed. They found that there were 5 common behaviours observed in this group. Behaviours that were typically missing from HR leaders not considered as being strategic.
They put business strategy first, HR function second
The first step is to consider yourself as a business leader who happens to know a thing or two about HR. Not the other way around. The focus should be on enabling the business to achieve its goals through HR initiatives. If you can’t succinctly explain how your HR initiative will add value to the business goals then take a step back and decide whether you should be doing it.
They optimise the organisation, not just HR processes
Having a highly effective HR function is just table-stakes. It’s the minimum requirement of an HR leader. To be truly strategic your thinking needs to extend beyond the function and look at how to ensure the entire business can operate better. HR is unique in its ability to look at the business holistically and you should use this viewpoint to add value everywhere.
They bring a business viewpoint to the boardroom
Strategic HR leaders don’t just speak about HR topics. Your unique, holistic perspective that we mentioned above should be used to stimulate debate and discussion about the entire business. Often functional leaders can become blinkered. HR can and should provide challenge to avoid stale thinking.
They view culture as a strategic driver
Culture is not a fluffy, nice-to-do thing. It is a key business driver that can be one of the biggest performance improvers. Culture is not HR’s job – it belongs to the entire leadership team. But HR is ideally placed to lead the charge and help others understand its importance.
They model leadership excellence
Finally, HR leaders must embody the leadership qualities they seek to instil in others. You must be the perfect role model for other leaders. And this includes how they manage their own teams. You can’t expect other managers to deal with poor performance appropriately, if you don’t manage your people in the same way.
So there you have it. Five tangible ways that you can be more strategic in your HR leadership role.