The four value drivers HR leaders need to concentrate on the most right now
By Sandra Oliver, Impact Founder, Beth Dewitt, Executive Coach and Advisor, and Elaine Muzyczka, Impact’s Chief Operating Officer
A recent article in The Economist indicates organizations have invested significantly in their HR teams over the last decade. HR roles have expanded and increased in number, and top HR executives are receiving greater compensation than ever before.[1]
But the needs of organizations – and CEOs specifically – have changed dramatically. Today’s leaders need HR to play a more strategic, enterprise-level role than ever before. Are CHROs as strategic as they could be? Are they delivering the value and expertise today’s organizations need to thrive? Are they empowered to do so?
Most CEOs and leadership teams today are looking for their CHRO to be a trusted strategic partner. A leader who can help them tackle challenging relationships and nuanced issues at the very highest level. Someone who can resolve conflicts, navigate confidentiality, help protect the organization from risks, and support the CEO in leading the executive team.
Many senior HR leaders want to play at this level, and are well on their way to doing so, but the HR function hasn’t always been seen in this way – as a strategic thought partner. Or the HR executives themselves haven’t understood their roles to be true enterprise leaders and trusted partners to the CEO. Often HR leaders continue to focus disproportionate time on delivering programs and ensuring compliance to processes. Tasks that should be the roles of HR directors and managers.
This strategic focus will become even more important as the best talent becomes more scarce and the CHRO is increasingly expected to deliver services in a more efficient and nimble way. HR executives need to step up and be more than their functional role. They’ll need to be ahead of the curve.
HR leaders today have the opportunity to do much more
To provide the expertise executive teams need, HR leaders today have the opportunity to do far more. To challenge and work with the CEO and Board on coaching and advising individuals on the executive team, and the team itself. At the same time as they serve on the executive team and report to the CEO. It requires political astuteness and discretion. The ability to manage key stakeholders in a way that adds value and maintains trust. And most importantly, it requires confidence, presence and the judgement to navigate the human dynamics that drive business performance, from the CEO down to the newly hired intern.
Today’s most valued HR leaders also focus on and contribute to solving the organization’s biggest challenges.
Because the HR executive also leads culture on behalf of, and working with the CEO and leaders, and helps drive strategic change. It’s a role that requires strong leadership and business expertise. Staying ahead on topics like scarce talent, AI, returning to the office, and Gen Z. And critically, the ability to understand where the organization is going, and help the CEO and executive team get there.
The role of today’s CHRO
Delivering an enterprise-wide mandate, CHROs are part of the executive leadership team and report directly to the CEO. They oversee all people-related functions including talent acquisition, development, compensation, culture, DEI, HR operations, labour relations, succession, and leadership effectiveness. And they shape how the organization’s people strategy aligns with its long-term goals, culture, and business transformation.
CHROs are also responsible for:
Workforce Strategy & Organizational Design
Most CEOs expect the CHRO to help shape how the organization will work in the future including:
- Scenario planning for workforce needs
- Skills-based workforce design
- Long-term leadership and capability development
- Strategic restructuring and org model evolution
Change Leadership at Scale
CHROs increasingly act as the chief transformation officer, enabling transformation alongside the COO:
- Driving continuous adaptation
- Embedding agility into teams
- Creating leadership alignment and change readiness at all levels
Succession Planning 2.0
Ensuring the organization plans for and develops its future leaders including:
- The shift from title-based planning to capability-based pipelines
- Assessing executive bench strength with real data
- Multiple-scenario succession planning for crisis readiness
Focus on what the organization needs most to move forward
To deliver the kind of expertise today’s executive teams are looking for, HR leaders can prioritize these four, key value drivers:
Help the organization achieve its goals. Whether that’s increasing talent retention or finding and developing the best succession candidates; developing a return to the office plan that works or innovating and driving AI through the culture; enhancing organic business growth or integrating new acquisitions – the CHRO can lead the change on only the most important, strategic considerations that will help the organization achieve its goals – like talent and culture – not gatekeeping. This requires intentional focus. Not being everywhere, but being where it matters most.
Contribute political acumen. The CEO and executive team rely on the HR leader to find common ground. To see dynamics early and help address them constructively. To work with executive leaders effectively and develop them. To have tough conversations about why a group isn’t functioning well, how the CEO needs to change gears, or what the organization needs most to move forward. The HR leader has the opportunity to step up, be courageous, and draw attention to the people or areas that need improvement. Judiciously and diplomatically. And help address them.
Reduce complexity and enhance value. The HR leader should determine if the organization’s HR programs and processes meet the needs of the business and this generation. If the answer is “no”, the HR executive needs to have the courage to lead the organization forward in new directions. To stop things that don’t add value or aren’t needed at the time for the good of everyone. This isn’t about ensuring the organization has best-in-class systems and programs; it’s about ensuring it has the right ones.
Address challenges. Part of the HR leader’s role is delivering the insights and answers that help the organization solve its biggest, most pressing issues. If a member of the leadership team is offside from a culture perspective, it’s the HR leader’s role to get them the help they need to get onside. If back-to-the-office continues to be a challenge, the HR executive needs to work with the CEO and executive team to find common ground and get to a solution.
Ultimately, the CHRO helps the organization face the issues that matter – constructively, courageously, and with the long term in mind.
Leadership teams want insights and guidance
Like all executives, the HR leader needs to think beyond their functional role. The CEO and leadership team expects a strategic business advisor who contributes to helping the whole organization succeed. They’re looking for courage, clarity, and partnership. Insights and guidance. Answers and acumen. Are you ready?
Why CEOs and CHROs turn to Impact Coaches
Many organizations are discovering that the CHRO capabilities needed today and in the years ahead are different from what the role required in the past.
The work is broader, more complex, more relational, and more central to strategy than ever before.
Impact Coaches partners with CHROs and CEOs to support this evolution.
We coach CHROs to step confidently into their full strategic potential, strengthening their influence, presence, and judgment. We help CEOs clarify what they need from their HR leaders and create the conditions for that partnership to thrive.
And when organizations are in transition, we can provide interim CHRO leadership or senior advisory support to stabilize the system, accelerate alignment, and ensure momentum continues.
If your organization wants to elevate its HR leadership or strengthen the CEO–CHRO partnership, Impact Coaches is here to help build that future with confidence.
How IMPACT helps
If you’d like to learn more about how you can become the HR leader your organization needs today and for the future, contact us.
[1] “How HR took over the world”, The Economist, November 10, 2025
