Practice makes a man perfect. It’s not just an idiom, but a reality of life. And that is a big reason behind hr professionals with a vast experience in the domain, swiftly transitioning themselves into effective CHROs across industries. Experience working as hr, makes you adept at handling varied tasks pertaining to hr management. Hr people are usually more aware than anyone else at their respective organizations, about the company culture and work environment.
As they handle a majority of vital facets of the company, such as managing recruitment, benefits, retention, pay, incentives, labour relations, internal communications, succession planning, among many others, they understand the pulse of the organization better than anyone else.
What Extra is Needed to Become a CHRO, Being a Senior HR Manager?
Apart from the leadership skills, to become a successful CHRO, one needs to understand the company’s ultimate business goals, and how he/she, as a CHRO, can help contribute to achieving those. A strategic prowess is another aspect that is often attached with an effective HR leadership.
Business acumen, when backed by a robust foundation in hr management, results in the forming of a human resource leader, who can draft and execute on a people strategy, that is in line with the business’s end goals. Remember, an HR leader’s credibility is built upon his knowledge and skillset, that can only be mastered over a period of time, by practising.
CHROs, with a prior experience working as an hr professional, can quickly build critical business relationships, that are in their respective company’s interest. Because they have been trained at cooperating with senior leaders and line managers in their earlier professional lives as HR recruiters, they tend to handle workforce issues with much ease, apart from having an eye for recognizing talent.
Effective CHROs & High-Performing CEOs Work in Tandem
As per a 2015 research conducted by the University of Michigan in collaboration with recruitment consultancy Korn Ferry, it was concluded that the high-performing CEOs were closely connected with effective CHROs than any other C-suite leaders within the same organization. Such C-suite executives would comprise CFOs, CIOs, and CMOs.
The CHROs were being able to provide deep insights to their respective CEOs, into organizational collective behavior, work environment, productivity, and degrees of workforce engagement. Besides this, CHROs were able to offer their valuable advice to CEOs, in terms of ways to manage people, sitting at different hierarchical positions within the organization.
Other Studies & Stats on the Contribution of CHROs to Organizational Success
As per a Forbes 2015 article, wherein leadership advisor Mr Mike Myatt chose his best picks for CHROs working at leading firms across the world. He chose more than 50% of such hr executives that have had at least 10 years of experience working as HR administrators, before becoming a chief HR officer (CHRO).
SMEs across the world and industries, do prefer executives equipped with strong people-management skills, alongside having an expertise at handling new-age HR tech.
Chief of Human Resources, Are Usually Executives with a Great Business Acumen
What is that makes a CHRO successful, apart from being an experienced HR professional? That is one question prevalent in the said industry. It’s the business acumen of an individual, and farsightedness.
Once someone climbs to the position of a CHRO, functional and technical prowess becomes a bit irrational, and what matters the most, are the leadership skills, and a strong foundation at dissecting any business to foresee its future prospects. Further, the future of work, would pose upon the CHROs, a few completely new workplace challenges, that would demand of them to be equipped with diverse hr skillset to handle the same.
