In the last 24 hours, I’ve listened to two podcasts on this topic:
a) The Modern People Leader, hosted by Stephen Huerta, Episode 186 with Hebba Youssef
b) Josh Bersin, The Ever-Expanding Role of the CHRO
To summarize, they point out that the CHRO role has grown in responsibilities and impact over the last few years. Not only do these leaders need to understand the multiple disciplines within HR but they also must know about:
· The labor market and the economic conditions that impact their employer’s industry and company
· Legal and compliance issues that seem to grow every more complex, especially globally
· The mental health and well-being of employees and how best to impact it
· What motivates employees, their productivity, and performance
· The company’s finances and how revenue growth will be achieved through the deployment of financial and human capital
· Planning for layoffs, reskilling and resiliency, as well as future workforce planning
· How best to set expectations, manage expectations, and communicate with transparency and empathy
· Build leadership capability within first level supervisors through senior management
· How to be the CEO’s therapist and executive coach
· Managing ALL the technology that supports the delivery of an excellent employee experience. Simplifying what isn’t simple is grueling work.
· The people data, ensuring it is accurate, and using it to tell a compelling story
· How to align human capital initiatives to the needed business results
You get the point.
The Head of HR isn’t overseeing just payroll and compliance anymore.
It is an interdisciplinary role that requires significant expertise and a nuanced understanding of the employer’s business and the behavior of people. AND the behavior of people changes with each new hire and departure of a team member.
CEOs and Board Members:
· It is time we think about the breadth and depth of the CHRO role. How does it differ from one company to another? What is essential versus nice to have?
· Do we need to allocate some of these areas of responsibility to separate roles to ensure that have designed a job that is doable? How much is too much?
· How do we develop leaders to fill these jobs with the necessary skills and capabilities for today’s workplace and tomorrows?
· And perhaps most importantly, why don’t we have more human capital leaders in the boardroom?
#chro #cpo #hr #humanresources #leadership #jobdesign #orgdesign #organizationaldesign #headofhr #boardofdirectors #boardmembers #CEO #csuite #employeeexperience