Organizations are still not adopting HR strategic initiatives, despite success

Dive Brief:

HR strategic initiatives are successful where they occur, but less than one-in-three organizations adopt them according to a new HR Certification Institute (HRCI) study. Strategic HR Emerges as a Company-Wide Priority found that business leaders, including HR, want more HR strategies, but company-wide support and commitment to these strategies is lacking.
In organizations that have adopted HR strategic initiatives, 87% of HR leaders and 88% of non-HR C-suite executives and line managers said the results satisfied them.
Many organizations still don't view HR as a strategic contributor, the study shows. Just 13% of HR leaders at companies lacking strategic HR initiatives described their companies as "very" or "extremely" committed. C-suite executives and line managers in those companies were slightly more optimistic than HR; 21% said their companies' were "very" or "extremely" committed.

Dive Insight:

Non-HR C-suite executives are more optimistic about HR strategic initiatives than HR leaders. Their optimism suggests that they accept and support HR as a strategic business partner. The challenge is getting organizations to adopt HR initiatives.

Researchers in the study said that perhaps non-HR C-suite executives and line managers were slightly more optimistic about HR strategic initiatives because they don't have a deep understanding of what those initiatives entail. If so, HR can educate them.

HR managers can become more strategic by backing up their insights with data-driven storytelling — that is, using data to pinpoint problems and using expertise to create solutions to those problems.

HR has been struggling with finding a "seat at the table" that's on par with revenue-generating C-suite executives, like finance and marketing. A recent SHRM survey shows that HR executives recognize the need to understand their organization's financial side and how their strategic initiatives align with company goals.