HR professionals risk being left behind unless they find ways to help senior managers reach their goal of building a genuinely sustainable business model for the future.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the first report from its Next Generation HR project said that the HR function needed to move from its traditional role of “corporate policeman” to one of stewardship in order to understand what was truly happening in the organisation.
Jackie Orme, the CIPD’s chief executive, explained that “a swift evolution” was required from HR’s “service-driven and process-owning heritage” so that it could become “the provider of relevant and timely insight that adds real future value to organisations”.
This shift would see professionals developing a deep understanding of the organisation and its business drivers, which would, in turn, enable them to clarify the implications of any given decision or behaviour that might undermine the long-term health of the business.
It would also see HR managers using their position to inform leaders of likely future challenges and opportunities and guide them in potential ways of changing course if certain activities were not working.
If combined with business-savvy and an appreciation of the underlying people, political and cultural factors that determine corporate culture, HR would be in a strong position to play a key role in helping organisations boost performance in a genuinely sustainable fashion.
One of the key considerations in this context is developing a staff culture of deep corporate loyalty, which should be valued in the same way as customer loyalty.
“The danger for HR is that if it does not step up with sufficient urgency or credibility, it will be left behind as CEOs turn elsewhere for the solutions to the challenges we’ve identified,” said Orme.
