A guest blog by David O’Connor, Regional Manager, Customer Development, Maxxia
Connecting with people and building relationships – the foundations of HR work – are absolute superpowers in 2024. But too often, HR professionals are reluctant to take their space in the boardroom. HR has the opportunity to amplify their impact at every level of an organisation, but first they’ll need the confidence to trust themselves. In this blog, we’ll look at how HR can build their influence and explore the role data can play in harnessing HR’s true potential.
Getting comfortable with influence
HR has the capacity to influence key business decisions, so feeling comfortable across the business and with key stakeholders is important. Gaining confidence is predicated on getting really clear on the value that you can add, and connecting with your professional meaning and purpose will help you feel like they have something to contribute, something worth being heard. Knowing why you’re there takes away a lot of the “imposter syndrome”. In that sense, it’s important to both know your values, and understand your value.
Maxxia spoke to HR leadership experts Rebecca Houghton, CEO of BoldHR, and Celeste Halliday on their top tips for building influence.
The key is knowing the right questions to ask and feeling confident to ask them. Others can do the extrapolating of the numbers—and this is where your tech and data allies in the business will be invaluable. Focus on building those key relationships (more on that below), learn to think about the questions you’d like answered, and data will become your new secret weapon.
Today, tech and data are king, and CFOs and CMOs (and their teams) are natural collaborators for HR to focus on building relationships with. Marketing teams already know how to engage effectively and measure sentiment and insights; technology might be intimidating, but everything we do relies on it, and it’s the tech team that delivers people experiences. Strategic connections with these parts of the business will give HR access to the know-how and data they don’t have.
And don’t forget your external providers – with the right data, they can help you demonstrate the difference (and dollar value) that your initiatives and programs are delivering. Your external providers, including for employee benefits, should be able to measure performance of your program across key metrics and outcomes, including participation rate, employee engagement and the overall financial value of your program. Ask them to provide insights based on your sector, organisation type and workforce makeup. Benchmarking is a powerful tool for building credibility and influence with executive leadership.
We know that collaboration breeds performance, and in part that is because when you build the relationships you can borrow the skillsets. It’s also a matter of simple visibility: if HR is in the room, so are their strategies, insights and influence. That’s why intentional collaborations are key. For example, embedding an HR partner in the executive team immediately amplifies influence. Simply calling on advice from other parts of the business can help build trust and connection—the key to achieving your goals.
Benchmarking for success
Take a benefits assessment, health check today. Maxxia will measure the effectiveness of your current employee benefits offer and put a dollar figure on the potential savings and efficiencies from running the program.