Aligning HR with business goals helps support the business impact

‘Alignment between HR’s work and broader business goals helps support the business impact.’

They’re talking here about AI. But building strategic partnership between HR and the business is pivotal to future-proofing HR’s role, whatever the topic.

This quote and the graph below are from the Harvard Business Review report ‘Empowering HR Teams to Become AI-Savvy Talent Leaders‘ and reveals the traction that HR leaders feel they’ve achieved (or not) in playing a key role in their organisations’ AI journey.

There’s lots of optimism about the opportunity that this presents for HR; “This is an exciting time to be in the people profession, because we’ve got more tools and resources in our hands to make a business impact than ever before,” says Melissa Keiser, SHRM-SCP, Executive Director, Global Skills at Bristol Myers Squibb. However, I don’t hear many HR leaders sounding confident. Often they’re already under-resourced, and don’t feel well positioned to get into the strategic scrum of AI.

In addition, it’s tough to feel well informed about the topic; ‘Above all else,’ says the report, ‘HR leaders must overcome the perception that supporting the AI strategy is beyond their capabilities.‘

Wherever you feel you stand in your understanding of AI and all its implications, you can still be building your strategic platform as an HR leader and function. That’s what we work on with our clients.

We are holding a confidential roundtable on AI for CPOs and senior leaders to explore this in January, find out more here.