Passion to build the credibility and influence of HR

Why building HR credibility matters

As many of you will know, I’m passionate about building the credibility and influence of HR.

Over the years, I have spoken with countless HR professionals who want to move beyond reactive work and become more strategic partners to their organisations. They want to contribute at a higher level; influence decision making and add meaningful value to the business.

Yet many tell me the same thing. Despite their expertise, the path to becoming a more strategic HR leader can feel difficult to navigate. HR roles are complex and multi-faceted, and the day-to-day demands of the job often leave little time for reflection or development.

We kept hearing HR professionals say they wanted to become more strategic, less reactive and more influential within their organisations. They wanted to build credibility with senior leaders and demonstrate the value that HR can bring to business success.

It was clear that this challenge was widely shared across the profession.

Listening to business leaders and HR professionals

To understand the issue more deeply, we began researching the views of CEOs, business leaders, thought leaders and HR experts.

There is certainly no shortage of commentary about what HR should be doing. Many articles and leadership discussions describe what the modern HR function ought to look like.

But the word “should” rarely leads to meaningful change.

Many of the people judging HR functions have never actually worked within HR themselves. They may have strong opinions about what HR should deliver, but they may not fully appreciate the practical realities of the role.

We have been there.

That experience shaped our approach. Rather than focusing on theoretical expectations, we wanted to understand the practical behaviours and activities that genuinely build great HR functions.

Identifying the behaviours that create strategic HR

Our aim was simple. We wanted to identify the behaviours that help HR professionals develop credibility, influence and strategic value within their organisations.

This led to the development of our HR Enablers framework and the programmes that support it.

We focused on identifying behaviours that could be clearly described, developed and evaluated across different levels of the HR profession. Importantly, these behaviours needed to be practical and applicable to real workplace situations.

The framework allows HR professionals and teams to evaluate their capabilities in a structured way. This includes self-assessment, 360-degree feedback, team evaluations and wider function reviews.

By doing this, organisations can open opportunities for development, create clearer career pathways and help HR professionals build the confidence and influence they need to operate more strategically.

The Seven HR Enablers