As more companies outsource benefits administration, recruitment, and other administrative functions, some have also developed new roles for their human resource departments. In the best of these examples, the HR department’s contributions have blossomed into authentic strategic involvement, and its stature has reached parity with other core business units.

The changing environment is also driving more HR professionals to reexamine their responsibilities. The result is a push to achieve more meaningful business outcomes from HR activities.

Partners in a paradigm

Shifting the expectations and priorities of the HR department requires the full support of management. An organization’s leaders can begin by recognizing the potential HR has to drive its business performance. This potential takes form whenever HR puts its might behind recruiting stellar talent, developing the company’s next leaders, and cultivating a productive work environment -- all the factors that can give an organization its competitive edge.

Management can reaffirm this value by creating a strategic role for HR within the executive circle, or at the very least, among strategic planning teams.

But before it can take a seat at the table, HR professionals must merit the invitation. Many HR individuals are not particularly well-versed or experienced in business matters. These changing assignments demand that HR professionals develop a different skill set that involves a greater business acumen.

Going forward, both management and HR directors must leave their respective comfort zones behind in order to evolve the HR role into that of strategic partner.

A new field of vision

As it stands, most companies are content with traditional HR efforts to “fill” openings and benchmark salaries against industry norms. It’s an efficient approach, but it doesn’t necessarily produce the value that’s needed for strategic momentum.

HR leaders who embrace the new opportunities within strategy-driven organizations often do so by reframing their focus. This means less emphasis on administrative functions and more attention to aligning HR policies and practices with the overall strategy of the organization.

HR and management must cultivate better foresight. Considering the knowledge economy in which many high-growth companies now operate, many organizations would be better served by HR initiatives that invest in intense recruitment programs and offer greater rewards, monetary or otherwise, to high-performing employees, regardless of where they stand on the corporate ladder. HR leaders with the leeway to try bold new approaches can do a lot more for their organizations than merely plugging gaps and filling holes.

For its part, the HR department should be able to show the connection between all of its programs and activities and the company’s big-picture objectives. Like other business units, HR should also be able to measure outcomes and demonstrate value -- how training, for instance, increases product quality, improves customer service, enhances cost-effectiveness, or contributes to profitability.

These are the metrics that mean something to business leaders -- and provide a common language for building trust and pursuing organizational success.

Ready for the next step? If you would like to learn more about how to transition your HR department into a strategic partner within your organization, please contact Wipfli’s People Systems consulting group at your nearest Wipfli office.