As your business grows, you will reach a point where the administrative, operational HR function no longer serves its purpose.
Time spent on reactive case management, employee frustrations and recruitment admin takes time away from thinking about the business' goals and how it can be a strategic partner to the business. This is a design issue, as the function is operating in the manner the business set it up to.
HR becomes the escalation point for People decisions that should be owned by the business. They are expected to manage performance issues, complaints or have difficult conversations on behalf of the managers in the company.
Your accountability structure prevents the function from driving business performance aligned to strategic goals. When managers aren't expected to own their People decisions, and there is no role clarity, the HR function slips into a service provider role.
Some founders believe that bringing a seat at the table or bringing in someone external with a different background can change the function into something more strategic.
This is a fallacy.
Addressing how the business is structured through:
- Changed expectations of the function
- How decision rights are distributed
- What managers are accountable for
...will change the way your HR function operates.
At WMP, we work with businesses that need more from their HR department. We start by asking what the function was originally designed to do, and if that design works for the future state of the business.
Redefining the function, how it operates and where it sits will change whether it is a strategic partner.
The People function is not inherently strategic or administrative. It becomes whatever the business has designed it to be through its structure, decision-making processes, accountability model and leadership expectations.
If founders want a more strategic HR function, they must redesign the system around it rather than simply changing the person leading it.