A client who uses the pronoun ‘they’ came to see me the other day about their future. They are a key business player whom I first met in the 1990s, regularly spoken of at the time as having ‘boardroom potential’. For confidentiality, I’ll refer to them as ‘HR’. Although I hadn’t seen HR for a while, previous encounters had suggested a possible pattern of promise unfulfilled. I was curious to find out whether anything had changed.
They arrived bustling and energetic at the end of a remarkable year. Covid, furlough, WFH – so much had happened which broke new ground. HR claimed to be optimistic that ‘the HR agenda will be key to building back better. We won’t go back to what we had before.’
Me: ‘You sense the possibility of a bold new dawn?’
HR: ‘Yes.’
Me: ‘Is that a feeling which you have had before?’
HR gave me their ‘you’re not the only coach on the list, you know’ look, before pointing out that covid stacked up as a 1-in-300 years event so far as the British economy was concerned. ‘It’s mould-breaking.’
Me: ‘It’s also a biological accident. If it takes a bat in Wuhan to get you into the boardroom, how long do you expect to stay there? Tell me something encouraging that happened before the virus.’
HR brightened up. ‘We became Chief People Officer.’
The conversation advanced positively until the Supreme Court plunged into confusion who ‘the People’ of whom they were ‘Chief Officer’ might be – yet another ruling on employees, workers and independent contractors. The idea of HR taking everyone under their wing didn’t appeal to the CEO one bit.
Me: ‘I’m trying to imagine being Chief Financial Officer without any stable clarity on what is money. You are on the senior executive team?’
HR: ‘Of course!’
Me: ‘But not the board.’ Silence. This is a place we have visited before. ‘Let’s focus on where you’ve made progress. What are you proud of?’
HR: ‘We’ve done brilliantly with business partnering. We are deeply at the heart of teams leading business units. We’re valued colleagues who contribute to the bottom line. That’s embedded now, just normal. We’re light years away from a focus on administration and compliance.’
Me: ‘That’s great news! I can remember us talking about business partnering in the 1990s.  That’s long enough for us to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Would you mind?’ I continue. ‘I don’t normally do this, but I want to be sure my facts are up to date.’
HR: ‘Go ahead.’
I flick through a few articles on the internet about boardrooms. There’s the occasional beam of light, for example a 2020 piece from Odgers Berndtson with some eye-catching CHRO appointments to boards, but for the most part the story is deeply familiar. In 2018 one report says that not one CEO of a FTSE 100 company has an HR background. In the same vein the Robert Half CEO Tracker from 2019 shows 52% of CEOs coming from finance and 13% from marketing; HR doesn’t appear on the scoreboard. In the same year the CIPD expresses anger that one-quarter of HRDs are still kept out of relevant boardroom decisions. In 2020 a board review consultancy reports that only 5% of non-executive directors have HR or people expertise. I pass my tablet to my client. They glance at it with a sigh. ‘Sure, there’s further to go,’ they mutter.
Me: ‘Further to go to what?’
HR: ‘Until what we’ve got to offer is recognised.’
Me: ‘Can we call that a Cinderella strategy? One day my prince will come?’ The temperature in the room falls. ‘We’ve been having these conversations for some time now.’
HR: ‘During that time business partnering has been a great success.’
Me: ‘For whom?’
HR: ‘For businesses, of course! For shareholders and stakeholders. For society.’
Me: ‘Well, certainly for the general managers and accountants who have made it into boardrooms in the last twenty years.’
HR: ‘You’re being unhelpful. These days, every general manager we meet knows how much they need a fantastic HR business partner.’
Me: ‘How different is that from every wanna-be CEO knowing how much they need a fantastic partner at home? Someone superb who never makes it into the boardroom in their own right?’
HR: (angry) ‘We don’t just serve, we lead! Our professional body, for example, the CIPD speaks out about society’s big questions, especially the future of work.’
Me (picking up the 2020 book, ‘Humanocracy’ by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini): ‘Yes, Gary Hamel’s keen on that, isn’t he? More human, future-fit, agile organisations. If I remember right, the CIPD brought him in a few years ago to help hack the future of HR. I assume he’s your friend.’
HR: ‘Yes.’
Me: ‘His book says you’re done for, just part of ‘bureaucracy’ which has to be minimised.’
HR: ‘Really?’
Me: ‘Pages 57 and 136.’ Silence. ‘Could there be a pattern here? Forming relationships with princes who, if you bust your gut, might recognise your true worth ̶ but then disappoint? Or give you abuse?’
HR: ‘What should we do instead?’
Me: ‘Let me guess: within the last six months, an exec has come to you, complaining that despite outstanding performance, they keep getting passed over for the top jobs.’
HR: ‘More than one.’
Me: ‘What did you advise?’
HR: ‘To stop playing the victim. Be more proactive. Get in the game. Waiting for recognition is not a strategy.’ Silence. ‘You know, it really pisses us off how coaches do this.’
Douglas Board (@BoardWryter) is a coach, novelist and writer on leadership. His latest book ‘Elites: can you rise to the top without losing your soul?’) rethinks power and purpose, and argues for HR to have a new role in the boardroom. (Eye Books, 29 March 2021, £12.99 paperback original, ebook and audio). On 7 June in https://www.inspiring-workplaces.com/our-events/summer-series-2/ Douglas will name the three traps which, in his view, have kept HR out of the boardroom (compared, for example, to finance) and offer steps forward on two. The last trap is down to you.
