HR professionals, particularly those within talent acquisition, face enormous pressure to deliver talent quickly into the business – but not always in a way that will improve and elevate their positions internally.
As a result, they’re almost stuck between a rock and a hard place; over-delivering doesn’t really help them to be properly valued and under delivery definitely doesn’t. Why?
Because people across HR and talent acquisition are often viewed as ‘order takers’ when it comes to hiring. (This is also the case with L&D) Departments and hiring managers hand them job briefs that need fulfilling, and they expect nothing more than talent acquisition teams to fill such roles quickly and without issue. Even HR more widely has fallen into an order-taking mentality, with certain challenges or tasks handed to them to sort without expectation of HR teams to provide appropriate consultancy.
This is a huge problem; instead of a strategic partner that brings value, HR risks being too mechanical. With technological advancements, it’s the mechanical roles – with simple input and output tasks – that are exposed to replacement.
To bring true value to a business – and to not only defend their roles but exceed in them – HR must make a significant shift.
Talent acquisition professionals need to change how they are perceived internally, becoming true partners and consultants to the business and providing insight and guidance. This is how they will make the biggest impact within the organisation and it’s how HR leaders can get that well-deserved recognition at the board level.
The three steps to transformation
The number one issue here is building genuine credibility. To move from order taking to consultancy, HR and talent acquisition leaders need to follow three principles.
Principle one: A deep understanding of the organisation
HR engagement needs to span across all parts of the organisation to acquire a deep understanding of specific needs and targets, and to properly consult on what is required.
This involves understanding granular details such as which departments work best in a fully remote, hybrid or office environment, which departments need restructuring, and which areas require new hires or upskilling.
The silo that HR and talent acquisition currently sit in needs to become more integrated.
Once you understand how the overall organisation knits together from a structural and operational perspective, the next step is to consult with the business to support key decisions and changes.
Principle two: Increased communications and relationships
Through better engagement and understanding across the whole organisation, it becomes easier to identify the right people to engage in conversations around their needs and build closer relationships.
It becomes easier to spot talent gaps and assess who is most critical to the business’ success. It also helps to elevate the profile of HR internally, plugging into key stakeholders and decision makers to consult better with them.
Principle three: Gathering ‘talent intelligence’
Importantly, HR and talent teams can boost their influence through providing data-informed recommendations and enabling better business decisions. With a deeper understanding of the organisation and knowing who the key decision makers are regarding hiring, data enables talent acquisition to go beyond order taking and provide real influence and guidance on the right decisions that should be made.
Data has become an essential lever for connecting the C-Suite, HR and talent teams to support business needs and ensure a fully aligned hiring strategy.
From transactional to consultative
Through this holistic view that combines people, processes, and data, HR can move away from a more transactional approach to a truly consultative one. This makes the department as a whole more resilient in the face of job cuts and a technology takeover, but it also helps HR to find its rightful place at the top table of an organisation.
