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At a time when there are more job openings than workers to fill them and organizational transformation is the new norm, heads of human resources departments have found themselves with a unique opportunity: the chance to shed their administrator images and grab a seat at the table alongside the CEO.
Many have donned new titles, trading in the standard “CHRO” for the more modern “CPO,” or chief people officer. But few have truly embraced their evolving role. According to a report by the Society of Human Resource Management and global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, just 35% of senior business leaders believe that CPOs are prepared to tackle the challenges their companies will face in the future. The report, “The Future Chief People Officer,” identified five behaviors that CPOs will need to embody in order to accelerate their growth, not to mention that of their businesses. “A highly engaged workforce delivers stronger business performance,” says Suzanne McAndrew, global head of talent advisory, data and software at Willis Towers Watson and coauthor of the report. “The chief people officer needs to sit at the center of these issues and be the navigator and strategic advisor.”
1. Push boundaries to power organizational agility.
Agile companies can turn ideas into initiatives three times faster than those that are not agile, and in the future, it will be up to CPOs to ensure that their workforces are able to respond to change quickly and effectively. Part of that will involve adopting a forward-thinking, risk-taking mentality. “Organizations are changing faster than ever before,” says McAndrew. “The chief people officer needs to have the ambidexterity to be able to both motivate people and also build some critical capabilities that businesses need to drive real outcomes.”
2. Unleash digitalization.
The percentage of work done using automation has more than doubled to 17% over the past three years and is expected to reach 30% by 2023. Talent leaders must understand the implications of this and should be able to implement these technologies in recruitment and in the process of employee engagement.
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3. Embrace perpetual work reinvention.
Some 94% of business leaders believe that constant reskilling will soon replace periodic training, but just 18% of leaders feel prepared to make that transition as more than half of employees will need both reskilling and upskilling by 2022. Over the coming years, it will be up to CPOs to anticipate and identify potential skills gaps based on their businesses’ strategies and to cultivate corporate cultures that value continuous learning.
4. Rethink culture and leadership.
“Culture needs to be the glue that keeps the organization together,” McAndrews says. In a climate when one in five U.S. employees have left a job because of a poor culture and turnover has cost American businesses more than $223 billion over the past five years, CPOs should want to take that sentiment to heart. Those with any hope of attracting and retaining diverse workforces should prioritize the promotion of inclusive cultures in which all employees feel welcome and that they share a common purpose.
5. Elevate HR decision science.
Human resources leaders can make use of data to predict talent shortages and improve the employee experience. Yet, less than 20% of organizations currently have the ability to apply predictive analytics in addressing people issues. The real challenge for CPOs, however, isn’t accessing the information—it’s interpreting and using it with empathy. Otherwise, it’s all too easy to allow bias to creep into decision-making.
If it seems as though there’s overlap among these five behaviors, that’s because there is, and for good reason—doing one without the other four will not adequately prepare CPOs for the future. McAndrew suggests that CPOs consider how each of these points align with their people and business strategies, and ask themselves how they can work with their C-suite colleagues to drive growth. “These five pivot points have to work in combination in order to take the organization as a whole to the next level,” McAndrew says, adding that CPOs must be “willing to have a growth mindset and ask the bold questions in order for things to come together in a cohesive way.”
