The High-Impact HR Organization

Top 10 Best Practices on the Road to Excellence

Bersin & Associates, 2011

15 min read

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To earn a seat in the boardroom, HR has to transcend business as usual and generate strategic “high impact.” Yes, you can.

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Human resources professionals may be used to a lack of in-house popularity, but the more serious issue is whether they have an influential voice in the boardroom. As managers of a firm’s most critical asset – “its talent” – that voice is imperative. To earn it, HR must become “high impact.” Using well documented research, this Bersin & Associates report details 10 important practices HR professionals can use to move beyond basic personnel functions and chart a path to providing “strategic HR.” Under the leadership of former senior analyst Stacey Harris, Bersin surveyed more than 700 companies and conducted detailed interviews with 50 representatives of different firms from diverse sectors, including health care, retail, banking, and education. The result: a highly applicable guide that getAbstract recommends to HR professionals who want a seat at the corporate table, not just for their own careers, but for the good of the company and everyone in it.

Summary

The Necessity of “High-Impact” HR

Too often, a human resources department functions only administratively and never earns a compelling, influential voice in the corporate boardroom. To obtain that powerful voice, HR must become “strategic” and “high impact.” Human resources’ core responsibilities begin with managing the “people side of the business” and running a menu of “service models,” from basic to very sophisticated. Its planning and strategy must fit its firm’s overall goals, and serve both internal and external audiences. The HR unit’s scope includes its own management, its metrics, and its “people culture and performance” – how it works and what goals it fulfills. HR’s main objective is to be a “business-driven” operation that makes a vital contribution to the overall firm and has a maximum impact. Three pivotal factors provide the basis for meeting that goal:

The number of employees – Firms with fewer than 5,000 workers tend to have more individualized HR approaches, while HR units at firms of 15,000-plus employees generally have more in common with each other and may use similar approaches.
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About the Author

Stacey Harris spearheaded Bersin & Associates’ human resources division and led research projects on HR-related topics. She is now vice president of research and advisory services for the Brandon Hall Group in Cleveland, Ohio.

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R. S. 1 decade ago

Good summary - confirms we are on the right track with our vision for HR.
N. A. 1 decade ago

This a must read for anyone in HR who needs to become more effective in aligning HR to the business strategy

Stacey Harris