More than one business leader in our orbit has recently questioned the value of the Human Resources Business Partner in today's organization. They wonder if the HRBP — traditionally a liaison between the business unit and HR centers of excellence — should be phased out. Well, we think there's still a uniquely valuable role for the HRBP in the organization... but some changes need to be made. In fact, we felt strongly enough about it that we put together a 3 minute postcard on the subject. Enjoy!

1. well, it may take a little
coaching on transformational
change leadership.
THE HR BUSINESS
PARTNERSHIP IN THE
21ST CENTURY.
REDESIGNING THE ROLE OF THE HRBP
*VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous
Upscaling the organization for the VUCA* world.

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A day in the life of your average
HRBP:

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º So why don’t we realize it
º really sucks when it happens at work?
Should an HR
Business Partner
really be doing all
that?

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Heck no.
But they should
be playing a
valuable role in
your org.

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Imagine an
HRBP who
is a true
strategic
partner.

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They might look a little like this…
Identifies business and
people risks.
Takes a strategic look at
the people side of
business decisions.
Plans ahead.
Drives talent
planning for critical
roles across the
org.
Acts as a change
management
thought leader.
Is an informed conduit
between leaders and HR
centers of expertise.
Helps rising star
leaders prepare for
the next level of
responsibility.
Builds great
succession plans.
Trusted advisor to
business leaders and
managers.

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So, what’s
stopping
them?

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It’s a little bit
of a lot
of things. Manager
shortcomings mean
HRBP has to come to
the rescue.
The organization
has outgrown its
HR services
model.
The HRPB takes on
stuff they shouldn’t,
then gets comfortable
because they like
being problem solvers.
The HRPB doesn’t have
the time to develop
the necessary skills
to be an effective
strategic partner.
Roles aren’t clearly
defined: many duties
that should be on the
manager end up on the
HRBP’s shoulders by
default.

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Let’s fix this
by redefining
this role, shall
we?

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1) Start with the business.
If we’ve said this before, we’ve said this a billion times: always start with the needs of your
business. What is the strategic direction of the organization? And how does HR best
support that direction?
What are the talent and
organizational
implications of your
strategy?
Who owns your employee
experience? Do you know who is
accountable for engagement?
How does the
HRBP work
with the rest
of HR?
Are you succession
ready? Who owns the
planning for it?
Are talent
decisions made
with reliable and
insightful data?

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2) Understand the role.
OK. You understand where the organization is
going. But what role does your HRBP play in
all that?
This is the time to think back to those two
images we gave you earlier: one HRBP that is
too overburdened to look at the big picture…
and one that is able to act as a business
advisor and has the bandwidth to take a
strategic look at the people side of business
decisions.
If the later sounds better, make sure you clearly
define the role so it fits that vision – and
establish capability requirements that
support it as well.
Tip: for this role redefinition to “take”, you’ll need to shift the emphasis
of the role from manager to strategic advisor. Many HRBPs
today have staffs of direct reports to handle all the work. If
you’ve successfully rebuilt the role, they won’t need those folks
— but it’s sometimes hard to give up that “manager” status.

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Now you’ll need to organize things. What tasks
are on the plate of the HRBP? What should be
pushed back to the managers? What should be
taken care of by the main HR function? How will
all that work be bucketed?
Exactly how this looks will vary from organization
to organization, but approach this logically: for
instance, think about putting employee issues in
the employee relations group – or with their
managers! And so on.
Your goal is for your HRBP to be able to focus
on their advisory role.
3) Divide and conquer.
Tip: If you’ve successfully redefined the role of HRBP in
your organization — and placed more functions back in
the hands of the managers (where they should be) —
you’ll end up with many fewer HRBPs than you had
before. But they will be rock stars!

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You’ve just made this role a strategic advisor
rather than an HR jack-of-all-trades. You can’t
expect your existing HRBPs to transition
immediately and seamlessly. It’s your job to
identify and clearly communicate what it takes to
knock this new strategic role out of the park.
Set expectations. Build self-awareness into your
existing HRBPs. Give them the training they
may need in forecasting, budgeting, and
business planning. Work on their time
prioritization. And interview for the skills you
need when you source new people.
4) Define success.
Tip: a big contributing factor in derailing an HRBP is a
lack of leadership ability on the part of the managers
they work with. Make sure these managers get the
training they need as well, so they don’t keep
coming to their HRBP for help.

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Got it? Let’s review.
1) Our HRBPs are mired in too much stuff.
2) There are a lot of reasons for this.
3) But if they could instead act as effective strategic partners to the business, wouldn’t
it be great?
4) To fix this, think about:
 Understanding the implications of your business strategy for HR.
 Redefining the HRBP role.
 Dividing the work in a smart way among your managers, HR generalists, and HRBP.
 Defining what “good” looks like in the role.
5) Like what you’ve read? Share it! (See that little arrow in the left corner?)
Your people will thank you.

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your people = your success.
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and engaged in your company’s growth.
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