The art of business partnering: Making the move from an operational to a strategic role a success
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390780001015 |
| Pages | 32-35 |
| Author | Sharon Brockway |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
32 Volume 6 Issue 6 September/October 2007
R BUSINESS PARTNERING is increasingly
being seen as the future for HR professionals,
who in their traditional roles are all too often
criticized for their lack of understanding or
connection to the business. Meanwhile, the role of the
HR business partner has been heralded as the salvation
of HR and the route to making a strategic contribution.
The role of HR business partner is now
commonplace among organizations that want to realize
the benefits of a more strategic HR function. It will
usually involve an HR professional working with
business leaders to influence strategy and help guide its
implementation. The key responsibility is to ensure
that the organization is making best use of its people
and to shape HR strategy to meet business needs. The
real concept of business partnerships is to investigate
what HR is for and how it is measured.
But why this revised approach to HR?
There are three key reasons why businesses are
changing their methods. The first is reducing costs.
HR departments should no longer want to be seen as
just a support function and cost centre – they need to
show their value. Secondly, it is the competitiveness of
business today and the fight to employ and retain
people that will help drive the business. Finally, HR
departments are now expected to have an
understanding of how other departments function in
order to make a valuable contribution to the whole of
the business.
For HR professionals, however, moving from an
operational to a more strategic role is more than just a
change in job description, it requires a whole new skill set.
A new challenge for HR
Many HR business partners are struggling to establish
themselves in this new organizational role. Often issues
arise over credibility as well as a deeper understanding
from their colleagues of what the role entails and how
this can benefit the business function with which they
are partnering.
During several discussions I had with a group of
senior managers, the topic of HR and its value to the
business arose amid groans about how HR created
obstacles and offered little of the right support to
managers in need of help. The manager sitting next to
me talked of HR business partnering, complaining that
in his organization “it’s just been a re-labelling exercise,
with the same people and the same skills, conspicuously
failing to add any real value.” These are hard words to
hear, but they are often repeated by managers at the
operational end of the business who are sold high
expectations of this change in the HR role and are
frustrated when nothing new or productive emerges.
So what is the way ahead for HR professionals
embarking on this role when they are faced with
skepticism by the very people they will be working in
by Sharon Brockway, Roffey Park
The art of
business
partnering
Making the move from an operational
to a strategic role a success
H
The role of the HR business partner has been heralded as
the salvation of HR and the route to making a strategic
contribution. Sharon Brockway, director for Roffey Park’s
new HR Business Partnering program, explores why
business partnering too often fails to live up to
expectations and examines how HR at Lloyds TSB was
successfully respositioned from playing a transactionary
role to a more strategic one.
© Melcrum publishing 2007.For more information visit our website www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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