Over the past decade, the role of HR has undergone a significant transformation, moving from a compliance-oriented function, to being much more strategic and with greater responsibilities for workplace culture and the employee experience. This shift has no doubt been accelerated by the pandemic, where many businesses found that through a combination of modern leadership and a thriving workplace culture, they were able to navigate the challenges brought on by the impact of Covid-19 with relative success.

Even the term ‘Human Resources’ is becoming outdated. The role is not about managing resources anymore, but rather about driving people strategy, connecting employees to purpose, to accomplishment and to each other. And leaders operating in HR have to be deeper thinkers and more intentional about culture, than ever before.

So, what does today’s HR leader look like? Who is the HR leader of the future? And how can organisations nurture the new generation of HR leaders so they can help drive business success? Robert Ordever, European MD of workplace culture expert, O.C. Tanner, explains.

HR continues to change
The last ten years have seen an HR leader’s responsibilities grow to include greater sophistication in attracting and retaining talent, developing leaders, managing performance and driving diversity and inclusion strategy.

Developments in technology have increasingly allowed HR teams to focus less on administration, compliance and paper shuffling, and more on how to add value. A growing understanding of the importance of ’employee engagement’ and increasingly ’employee experience’ for business success has also led to an evolution in how HR leaders are perceived by the C-Suite. However, it took a pandemic for many business leaders to recognise the true value of HR, far beyond the immediate need to quickly communicate changes, uphold health and safety protocols, assist employees who were sick or needing extra support, all while navigating layoffs and furloughs. Even those that are buried in the tactical efforts of shepherding the return to offices in a new hybrid world, are having to focus on intentional culture and connection, including for those who were never able to work remotely in the first place.

The HR leader of today
As HR teams continue to design many of the experiences that employees need to excel both personally and professionally, they are focusing all the more on building diverse and inclusive workplaces, while finding ways to prevent burnout, keep people connected, and inspire great work.

Working alongside the rest of the C-suite, HR leaders play a crucial role in developing workplace culture and implementing people strategy.

The HR leader of the future
The scope and complexity of today’s HR leader is only a fraction of what the future holds. HR is the architect of the employee experience and will have to work with business leaders to continue to find ways to create peak everyday experiences. Gone are the days of compliance and transaction, HR will only grow in influence as they focus on ways to enhance connections. HR will be looking to design organisational cultures that create a sense of belonging, while providing opportunities for everyone to grow, develop and thrive. Ultimately, HR Leaders will and should be as accountable for business results as any of their counterparts. Never has the link between people strategy and business outcomes, been more certain.

Over the next decade, organisations must adopt a new approach to leadership development if they want to create leaders who connect employees to purpose, accomplishment, and one another. The approach involves creating leadership development opportunities throughout the employee experience and melding the expectation that “all employees are leaders” into the culture. Modern leaders have been proven to create more positive business outcomes when compared with traditional leaders who focus on ‘command and control’. In fact, modern leadership improves the employee experience by 55 per cent and burnout is reduced by 57 per cent (O.C. Tanner’s Global Culture Report). Modern leaders embrace new technology, build a more inclusive workplace, and help see companies through challenging times. They will bring organisations together by unifying diverse employees in a common purpose. And they will appreciate and blend unique skillsets that deliver unrivalled results. In short, modern leaders are compulsory for organisations to thrive in the next decade.

Nurturing tomorrow’s HR leader
So, how can businesses best look to the future and nurture the new generation of HR leader? Here are some key ways.

1. Deliberately defining HR’s role and training tomorrow’s leaders to become modern, strategic thinkers

People strategy is not owned by HR, it’s owned by all senior leadership (for instance everyone at the top table) and so business leaders must be clear about the role of the HR leader and how it fits with the rest of the senior management team. There must be an understanding that HR is the architect of workplace culture and a valuable strategic asset, and as such, the HR team must be given the resources and training needed to develop skills, and transition to a place where they can deliver valuable strategic consulting.

2. Embedding leadership development into your organisation’s culture

Existing leaders play a pivotal role in developing future leaders by making the development opportunities more meaningful and integrating them into the organisation’s culture.

Organisations that encourage employees to express leadership behaviours also have a higher concentration of modern leaders. Workers in these places have more autonomy, lead special projects, and provide feedback to peers. By supporting employees in continually practicing and perfecting leadership skills, organisations provide ongoing development and reinforce the idea that every employee is a leader. This in turn results in positive business outcomes. When organisations believe that every employee is a leader, the employee experience is improved by 155 per cent, inclusion improves by 292 per cent and employee wellness is increased by 40 per cent (O.C. Tanner’s Global Culture Report).

3. Supporting HR with technologies that improve decision making

HR technology is the only way to achieve genuine globalisation. By connecting employees across the globe, we make the world smaller and create employee engagement opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t have existed.

Organisations must invest in HR technologies to cut administration, streamline processes, and support organisation-wide initiatives. They also need to be able to collect and analyse employee feedback, identify who is getting recognised and promoted, and understand how employees are performing. With these systems to hand, HR teams can guide decision making and develop more targeted strategies to improve the employee experience.

4. Empowering HR leaders to make changes

HR leaders are the guardians of workplace culture and the employee experience. It’s vital to give HR the authority to make decisions and the free reign to run with their ideas. For instance, if the aim is to build an equal and inclusive culture, the HR leader must be allowed to challenge the business and hold other leaders accountable.

Growing tomorrow’s leaders today
HR plays a pivotal role in the employee experience, workplace culture, and business prosperity. It’s therefore crucial for business leaders to understand the HR leader’s potential and help them to realise it, supporting them as they transition to a role with strategic influence and the authority to make changes. If nurtured correctly, the HR leader of tomorrow will become even more of a key adviser to the CEO, offering strategic insight on how the organisation can continue to evolve and move forward.