How Can HR Improve Its Credibility

"I've been telling the President that for years - now someone else says the same thing and all of a sudden they are a genius and everyone is listening to them."

If you're in HR the above feeling may be very familiar. How many times have you said those same words to a colleague, friend or spouse? So why is it that companies hire HR professional to serve as experts in their field but then don't listen to what HR has to say? If you are in HR how do you get your ideas through to the business unit leaders? Why is it that after all these years, in many companies, HR does not yet have "a seat at the table"?

There are key actions that HR professionals can take to ensure their voices are heard and that they have real input into the business. A few of those actions are:

• KNOW THE BUSINESS! The bottom-line is that you need to understand the bottom-line and how the company got there. Know what is going on in the industry as a whole and how that is impacting your company.
• Embrace the company's overall strategic objectives and develop HR strategies that link directly to and support the overall business. Present those strategies in terms of how they will contribute to the company's goals.
• Be proactive. While being responsive to the needs and requests of internal customers is critical it is equally critical to develop proactive HR business strategies and initiatives that make some of the requests unnecessary. Don't wait for another department to define your workload.
• Identify and selectively utilize outside experts who can help you reposition HR's potential role within the company. Learn from them and partner with them to gain the ear of your senior leadership team.

These all sound obvious and simplistic. If that is true, why is it still a struggle for HR professionals to be respected as business people? Why does HR not have more credibility with senior leadership teams?

We would love to hear from both those of you have have successfully created partnerships with your company's senior leadership team and from those who are still struggling to get there.

Those of you who have gained the infamous seat at the table - How did you get there? What is different now about HR and how HR is perceived? What advice would you give other HR professionals trying to reach the same level of professional credibility?

Those that are struggling to break out of the old HR (or worse yet - personnel) mold - What obstacles are you encountering? What have you tried without success? What would you like to learn from your peers who have made the transition?

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group