Hiring Your Strategic HR Partner

Finding the right fit: What you need to know

By: Evette Baker, President of Sparks Group 

Today’s HR leaders are now strategic business partners who communicate directly with executives to facilitate immediate and long-term success by working with the entire organization. Specific qualifications are required for this forward-thinking leader, who is enforcing regulations, ensuring compliance, branding employee culture, and managing retention. The outcome of these core HR functions can have a significant impact on your organization and the quality of your people. Therefore, this person must fully understand the company initiatives that drive revenue in order to build the strategic plans that fuel success and mitigate risks. When investing in your HR business partner, be sure to follow these three guidelines.

1.  It’s all about the soft skills.

An HR leader’s interpersonal skills are paramount to their success and must be regarded when understanding a company’s culture. These positions are communicating directly and indirectly with multiple levels of staff, which can dramatically increase efficiency and productivity. Soft skill characteristics critical for success include:

·       Strategic thinking.  HR leaders share a thorough knowledge of the specific industry they are leading and the business solutions that are driven from talent acquisition, retention, etc. HR leaders must not only know their functionality, they must also be students to the competitive landscape as well as best practices.

·       Ethics. Due to the sensitive nature of some situations, they must inspire trust and hold a confident relationship with everyone in the organization. Their high integrity is projected through positive and healthy employee relations. 

·       Problem-solving ability. Also known as “crisis managers,” they must be able to simplify complex problems with legal, employee and business matters. Problem-solvers have the ability to listen and take deep interest in enabling the solution. Great HR leaders provide an environment where employees come to be heard. They build their employees’ self-esteem by allowing them to have a voice.

·       Passion. Recruiting new talent, empowering employees to engage in professional growth, and coaching managers to build their leadership skills requires HR leaders to genuinely enjoy helping others. Passionate HR leaders are life-long learners, who are constantly seeking new ways to develop and gain new ideas. They strive for excellence and base their success on the success of their peers and the organization.

2. Strategic experience brings a competitive advantage.

When HR leaders understand overall business strategy and the core difference between their organization and the competition, the company benefits from their competitive knowledge. The best strategic behaviors include four components. 

·       Innovation. Outstanding HR practitioners must fully understand the company’s mission and goals to know what drives success and revenue. Through this knowledge they design creative systems to stand out from the competition. They align their work, projects, and goals with every need of the business.

·       Leadership experience. Strong management skills are required to implement guidelines and procedures across all business functions. HR leaders must cultivate a welcoming environment and operate with the mindset that matches the executive team.

·       Program implementation experience. In order to implement a new program successfully, HR leaders must manage several tasks between different departments. Their acute attention to detail and strategic planning methodologies are essential every step of the way.

·       Change management. Highly effective HR leaders who are successful at change management are respected and trusted by the workforce. Their ability to garner the support from the entire team impacts success. Whether it involves a simple change to the way customer complaints are handled or a major change to organizational policy or strategy, it is essential there is minimal disruption.

3. We need subject matter expert in HR systems.

HR managers touch all activities related to HR on a daily basis including accounting, management, and payroll. Expert leaders utilize HR information systems (HRIS) to more effectively manage these functions through HR software. The ability to effectively analyze these business functions is also a valuable tool for providing measurable results and metrics to stakeholders. 

Becoming a subject matter expert in HRIS will lead to increased efficiency when making large scale decisions that affect productivity.

4. The bottom line

Looking into the future, HR leaders are now business partners who sit at the table with the C-level executives and are part of the core leadership team. They are there to understand the company strategy and help CEOs anticipate human capital challenges. They are deeply involved in planning the initiatives that drive organizational success, and they mitigate risks across all departments with the people. The more knowledge HR has about business operations, the more critical they become in developing an efficient workforce, higher employee retention rates, and a positive company culture. All of these lead to attracting top talent and producing the best product and services. During the hiring process, take the time to understand these specific goals for the company and invest in an HR leader who is qualified to accomplish these goals.