A company is only as good as the people employed there. Good, qualified talent is essential for all job roles across all industries.
According to the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), many senior-level HR executives believe they lack impact and influence within their companies. However, the same study shows CEOs are looking to their HR leaders to consult them on the key challenges—particularly in matters pertaining to managing across generations, continuous change management and communications in the digital and social media age.
What CEOs Want
In terms of what CEOs want from HR, it comes down to one simple objective: align HR strategy to the business strategy.
HRPA reports explain that if HR professionals want to be more valuable to the business, they need to align the HR organization strategy with the business strategy.
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HR affects the efficiency of a company and its ability to maintain and achieve goals on all levels. Most of the time this is part of the HR’s enterprise-wide staffing responsibility. However, this also extends to the entire life-cycle of employment within the organization.
HR functions that most affect the overall business strategies are:
- Talent acquisition
- Performance management
- Training and development
- Employee retention and engagement
- Compensation and benefits
Therefore, properly aligning HR’s strategy with the organization’s business strategy is critical to achieving the organization’s overall goals and mission.
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According to Forbes, Chief Human Resource Officers must help their company increase sales and create new sources of revenue. PwC 18th Annual Global CEO Survey reports that 73% of CEOs are increasingly worried about finding talent with the right skill set. Under-qualified talent means money wasted. Knowing this, it’s very likely that your CEO will make time to meet with you about attracting or retaining the best professionals—no matter how busy he or she is.
CEOs want to see that their HR department is thinking and considering growth and sustainability as much as they are.
When you are ready to present an HR strategy to a VP or CEO, consider these questions:
- Is our company suffering because of weaknesses in our recruiting efforts?
- Are we attracting, hiring and retaining top-quality hires or candidates with specific skill sets that will help the business to succeed?
- Do we currently have the right people in place to lead the organization to success?
- What meaningful improvements can we make to help retain our top talent?
- How can we reduce our rate of attrition?
- How do we help support a comfortable and nice work environment to help keep our qualified talent happy?
- Where are the weakest links in our recruiting efforts and how do we solve this problem?
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So as an HR Executive, don’t be afraid to request a meeting with the CEO. Moreover, utilize hard facts to clearly explain how your new plan is expected to impact the business. Your CEO is bound to want in.
