Many moons ago the HR role was seen as an administrative role, looking at the rules and processes that govern the organization. Nowadays HR is much more than that, HR is (or should be) a strategic partner to an organization and can help an organization leverage human capital to the maximum. However some organization’s still see HR departments as cost centers and refuse to give them what is needed. HR are a core part of any business and should occupy a seat at the C-suite table.

So how does HR get a seat at the table?
Get to know your business – Understand your business and what makes it tick. What is your organization trying to achieve? What constraints are managers under? The structure and decision power in your organizations. Learning about what is important to the business will help you plan and prioritize what needs to be done in HR.
Knowledge is power – HR professionals need to have a vast understanding of the world around them. It’s not only important to understand what is going on in the world of HR but also to understand the environment, the industry. HR skill-set’s also need to be evaluated, are the team equipped with the necessary skills to work at a strategic level?
Develop key relationships – Network within your organization, drop in ways the HR department can help with problems people might have. Offer advice to managers informally. Be present!
HR tools – Research what tools are out there to help you show how you turn results into meaningful actions. Google’s HR division (at Google HR is called People operation’s) is tuned in with what the business needs and provides it. It has a data driven HR function, that works with analytic’s and data rather than subjective decision making. If you want to learn more about how Google use this data please check out Dr. John Sullivan’s blog post (Click Here).
Bottom Line – HR need to link their strategic plans to the organizational goal and business needs. If HR actions are linked to a business need it will be easier to demonstrate how it has contributed to the bottom line. Until this happens HR will continue to be seen as a cost center.
Unfortunately when budgets are cut, it seems to be the HR budget that is hit first. HR need to prove their worth to the organization in order to gain a seat at the table.