Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/227268
The Profession Pull Up A Chair Only if you are ready to answer the strategic questions. By Zena Brand Does the following sound at all familiar: "We need and deserve a seat at the strategy table." It's become a constant refrain in recent years—HR leaders' wanting the C-level status of a real business partner. Few CEOs would disagree that HR deserves it, given the vital role that human capital plays in generating profitable business growth. But one does not get offered this coveted seat merely by cutting administrative costs or getting the payroll out in time. HR should be commended for the ways in which the role has transformed over the past decade—spearheading and implementing innovative expense efficiency projects and various technology solutions. But these are strategic ventures with a lower case "s." To sit at the "big kid" table requires doing things that really deliver value, such as: • identifying the rock stars the organization needs to fuel growth; • finding the right mix of permanent full-time employees and contingent labor that balances internal knowledge with cost management; and • ensuring that everyone in the organization understands the mission and values that drive success. [58] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 Now that's strategic, with a capital S, and it has nothing to do with cutting costs or automating more processes—or even developing an integrated database—activities that appear to be consuming much of HR's time and effort of late. It has to do with identifying, assessing, quantifying, and managing human capital, while addressing and mitigating the risks that inhibit strategic goal attainment. Being strategic has to do with communicating a bold vision and growth objectives, and even having a hand in the navigation of the strategic course of the organization. In a nutshell, HR will earn its place at the table when it can accurately assure the CEO and other business leaders that the human resources team understands the business, has an accurate grasp of its skill sets and voids, and can empower the organization to achieve its strategic imperatives. HR as a Talent Agent It is news to no one that there is a war for talent raging at the moment. Those enterprises that best battle for people with these increasingly hard-to-find skills sets should be in a better competitive position. And this battle is intensifying, according to the annual resourcing report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The 2013 CIPD/Hays Resourcing