How HR Contributes to Company Strategy

Former Dean of the Rotman School, Professor Roger Martin is a writer, strategy advisor and in 2017, was named the #1 management thinker in the world. Martin recently wrote a piece entitled “The Proper Role of the Chief Strategy Officer” where he talks about the origins of a company’s strategy.

He makes a few interesting points including:

• Strategy is the job of strategy specialists, in this case, the Chief Strategy Officer position at the company and is NOT the job of the General Manager or CEO.
• Further that this CSO position has three main jobs — to facilitate the creation of strategy, coordinate the creation of strategy and to ensure the consistency of strategy.

Now nowhere in this equation for strategy does Martin mention HR. Our own HR expert, Lorein Brightwell had some commentary on that.

She says, “Professor Roger Martin may have been named #1 management thinker in world in 2017 (by whom?), but he is clearly out of step in 2021, or for some time, for that matter. Strategies are not executed without human capital (employees). Missing from Martin’s recommendations is that which is missing from companies doomed to continue to ignore the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room. While the companies he describes seem to be “C” suite happy, there is no mention of a CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer), or any level of HR leadership contributor at all. Though HR is not the department from which contributions of operational genius and vision are usually generated, leaving HR out of the equation is just like rendering a high-performance race car useless without gas (or tires).

A promising strategy for growth, prosperity, retooling or market dominance is crippled without strategic input and guidance from your HR leader to make certain that (like any other use of working capital) resources are available, capable, clearly informed, trained, at appropriate strength or headcount, etc., as well as provided for (protecting the capital) by ergonomic or OSHA-friendly adjustments, enhancement to training access and resources, potential additional compensation or projected computation of increased labor costs (overtime, signing bonuses, etc.)—and the list goes on and on. These concerns can turn tragic and serve as stumbling blocks if addressed as annoying afterthoughts, rather than part of the initial concept team planning.

One might say that HR is under the GM—that would be yet another fatal flaw. In 2021. your HR leader (did I mention a CHRO?) is of limited value to the organization if he/she/they does not report directly to the CEO.

And there you have it. Smart Employers know that HR needs to have a seat at the table when strategy is being developed and discussed–and frankly, this is old news to them. And the smartest ones KNOW PLB Resources can HELP them deal with any HR situation effectively and get/stay fully in compliance—while building that AMAZING workplace!

More info for Smart Employers:
https://rogermartin.medium.com/the-proper-role-of-the-chief-strategy-officer-bbc14e3234c5