What Do CEOs Expect from HR?
Discover what top business leaders truly expect from the HR department and how that transforms people management.
HR needs to understand the entire company value chain to find that answer.
Have you ever thought about HR operating outside the company?
I went through that exercise without even planning it, and I found the key answers I had been missing about how to make HR have a direct impact on our business. It was EXCELLENT!
That was the greatest lesson I had this week. Let me explain..
On Tuesday evening, I went (as a gate-crasher) to attend a talk by Milton Camargo (Grupo Empreenda), a business consultant who would speak on “What CEOs expect from HR goes far beyond human capital.” The topic sparked my curiosity, so I dedicated that hour — which was meant for rest — to listening to him and understanding his perspective.
As a result, I returned to Laços Corporativos with a wealth of ideas and action plans (which have already started taking shape). Everything he said made a lot of sense. Here is what stood out:
It started like this: when we talk about HR aligned with the CEO’s plan for the company, we immediately think that day-to-day business operations overshadow all the area’s action plans that converge with this idea — and unfortunately it ends up sounding like a somewhat utopian speech.
No! That is not what will make HR be definitively treated as a stakeholder in the company’s strategy. HR needs to step away from that mindset and start speaking the CEO’s language more — ensuring that all of its routine work correlates with each pillar of the business strategy.
At Empreenda, they held a CEO summit and were able to identify some of the leaders’ main concerns. Here are the ones that stood out most to me:
- Happiness (yes, CEOs are concerned about happiness)
- Scarcity of leaders / succession :(
- Customer Retention
- Entrepreneurship (yes, they want to retain entrepreneurial minds!)
- Skilled Workforce
- Cost Reduction (no surprise there…lol)
And so on…
Why am I bringing this up? Because the answer lies right there.
HR must engage with these priorities, address these factors within the business, and measure results. For example:
To foster an entrepreneurial environment in the company, I need an entrepreneurial HR! For instance, what changes and innovations can I introduce in the company to make it more attractive and retain talent?
If my company is struggling with customer retention, I can visit some of those customers to understand their biggest pain points. If I diagnose that the problem is service quality (68% of customers stop buying due to inadequate service), HR can design a training program for all customer-facing staff that will directly impact business results and even generate measurable financial indicators. Imagine if we are talking about a franchise with 500 stores. The impact is enormous!
This is the clearest sign that everyone is pulling in the same direction — everyone feels responsible for the Customer!
So, my main goal here was to share the insights that have helped me greatly over these past few days:
- Operate beyond the company’s walls;
- Speak the same language as the CEO;
- Understand the challenges of each department so you can help solve them;
- Think and act entrepreneurially within your area of expertise; and
- Create business metrics for HR that are aligned with the company’s roadmap.
Warm regards!
