Not your old school Head of HR
While most CEOs and boards are familiar with Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), you may get some blank stares when you suggest a Chief People Officer (CPO). Partly, there is a branding problem; we’ve been called Chief Human Resource Officers, Heads of Talent, and VP, Human Assets. And let’s face it, Toby from The Office didn’t help the brand either. But the reality is that this role, whatever you may call it, is the anchor for successful, evolving organizations. While other senior roles are focused on their line of business, the CPO focuses across the company to ensure success throughout the organization. As Peter Drucker, a management consultant, reminded us, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The best strategy is only as good as the people that are making it happen, and a CPO stays focused right there.
At coLeague, we have seen CPOs lead the way for companies. They are members of the senior leadership team/cabinet and report directly to the CEO so that they can nimbly recommend and implement the changes that are necessary. They do this in a few ways.
1. They develop the talent strategy
Every company needs a talent strategy aligned to the business plan. CPOs develop the strategy by reviewing the data (e.g., the latest engagement survey, attrition data, time to hire, diversity at every level), hearing from the team either in interviews or focus groups to get deeper into the why behind the data, and leading the senior team through a prioritization exercise. Instead of HR in reaction mode, the strategy proactively creates the roadmap to the workforce needed for years to come.
2. They go to the root and develop the capacity of the leadership team
They start with identifying the competencies, skills, and behaviors most important to being successful as a leader in the organization. Those competencies become the building blocks for hiring leaders, developing the next group of leaders, coaching current leaders, and continuing to build their capacity over time. The ability to meet ambitious goals happens when there are strong managers in place and CPOs are obsessed with great management.
3. They run the day to day
Once they build the systems and policies highlighted in the talent strategy work, CPOs make sure the ship is sailing, that systems and structures are in place, and that precedence is documented so that as the reactive comes up, there isn’t a mad scramble, but a strategic response.
As you are thinking about what you need in a CPO, you should probably think about finding the person how has:
The technical skills
While your CPO doesn’t have to know the details of running payroll or the science behind benchmarking market rates for compensation, they need to know enough to be dangerous, or to be more specific, to manage the people on the team or vendors supporting the work. They’ll need to be able to ask questions and understand the ramifications of going with one decision over another. And they need to be a model manager for their peers and for their team.
The ability to manage change
Talent work is change work, and change means stakeholder engagement through transparent communication and skill development. A great CPO understands what leads to resistance to change and mitigates those concerns along the way. They know that an off-the-shelf solution rarely works in the long-run so they invest in the change work from the beginning.
Lots and lots of experiences
When I was first starting work in the human capital space I read lots of books and articles, but in retrospect, I lament not having a grown-up in the room. This isn’t about age, it is about having someone that has seen how decisions can play out. We spent so much time and resources on recruiting a diverse staff without changing the culture to support our newly hired people of color. And we lost a lot of people as we learned that lesson. It is really helpful to have someone that has learned those lessons already, sometimes the hard way themselves, to help subvert potential costly mistakes.
Having a Chief People Officer at your organization sends a powerful message about what you care about – your people. Your CPO focuses on making sure that your company is a great place to work and actively shapes a culture where your people can thrive. If you still aren’t sure what a CPO might do for your company, it may make sense to bring in some interim support. coLeague helps companies start the work of a CPO and build out the job description to find their long term solution. And we love this ever evolving body of work. So move over CFOs, we have your counterpart that needs to be sitting alongside you.
