HR's Evolving Image

Some companies are making sure their HR leaders are familiar with the working of the whole company. “It’s more common now that the HR head is not just an HR person,” Loeper says. “Many HR heads now have MBAs, and in some cases they come from other parts of the corporation.” An employee being groomed for a leadership position from the manufacturing or marketing division will sometimes take an HR job for a year or two so that their expertise can inform HR decisions, and they in turn gain human resources and management skills.

“I think we’re seeing more of this cross-fertilization,” Loeper says. He notes that one of his clients needed its human resources staff to understand the daily tasks required of a manufacturing manager in order to successfully fill the position.

Making the Scene

To effectively influence company strategy, Gebelein says that human resources leaders need to “show up differently.” That is to say, they have to change the way they approach their jobs because a CEO who doesn’t have experience with strategic HR doesn’t know what he’s missing.

Company executives need strategic HR to show them where the business can be more innovative, Gebelein says. If the CEO wants to improve product design or distribution strategy, she needs to hire the right talent to make this happen. Strategic HR doesn’t ask “how many,” but rather, “Where do you need more or better people than your competitor?” and then acts to create compensation plans that will motivate and reward the employees who are the most crucial to the organization’s livelihood.

Besides asking the right questions, HR professionals need to “speak the language of business,” says Lori Schmaltz, vice president of Twin Cities business development with Lee Hecht Harrison, a career management and leadership consulting company. “They should be just as clear as the CEO on the bigger picture.”

Knowing the lingo certainly helps, but HR experts need to “become a student of the business,” Loeper says. “Regardless of what industry you’re in, you have to take yourself out of the traditional HR role and force yourself to become more knowledgeable about the guts of the business.”

Larimore recommends an approach that she calls “HR with an attitude.” HR professionals should invite themselves to strategic meetings, she says, and find ways to contribute. Interview the CEO about what he thinks is important, what keeps him awake at night, and how he perceives the talent in the organization. This will form the basis for aligning with an executive’s goals.

Another way to indirectly raise HR’s profile within the company is to engage in activities outside the company. “HR professionals are increasingly networking and learning outside of their work environments to enhance and finesse their skills,” says Renee Ernste, general manager of Gevity, a human resources consulting firm in Bloomington. Other HR experts say earning certification can raise HR’s visibility. Certification as a professional of human resources or a senior professional of human resources is available through the Society for Human Resource Management, an association based in Virginia.