Organizations struggle

In our Systemic HR study, we uncovered the truth about the HRBP role today: Most organizations are still stuck in legacy approaches, struggling to adopt leading practices and strategies.

Only 24% of organizations have HRBPs partner with business leaders on solution design.
Only 15% of companies believe their HRBPs can redesign work or organizations.
Only 12% of companies train HRBPs on offerings and issues.

Learn how global organizations are leveraging HRBPs at HRE's HR Technology Europe, May 2-3 in Amsterdam. Click here to register.

Getting started on the new role of the HRBP

Leading companies are rethinking the HRBP role from the inside out, focusing on capability building, establishing a vision for the role and redesigning organizational structures to support this journey. Here are five suggestions for beginning the work.

Build full-stack HRBP capabilities. HRBPs need new capabilities to become effective consultants to the business. For instance, the LEGO Group defined the capabilities of HRBPs to focus on change management, transformation readiness, leadership coaching, business acumen, data-based decision making and organization design, and it leverages project assignments in addition to formal training with the Josh Bersin Academy to foster these new capabilities.
Rotate HRBPs inside and outside of HR. To build these capabilities, companies need to move HRBPs around, rotating them within HR and outside of HR. Dropbox has "bungee" assignments for HRBPs that could be two weeks to several months long, enabling them to explore other areas of HR and the business. This increases business acumen and helps break down siloes while also creating better solutions for the business.
Clarify the HRBP role. Clearly stating the roles and expectations for HRBPs with the business helps avoid the "jack of all trades" trap. Mastercard focused on establishing a clear vision for the people business partner role, creating more consistency around responsibilities, and aligning capabilities with business needs. This approach has enabled the company to increase operational excellence and better support rapid employee growth and a changing external environment.
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. Central to Systemic HR is the philosophy of deeply understanding the root causes of problems before attempting to solve them. TomTom is actively pursuing this mindset change. By focusing on understanding the complexity of problems and ensuring the right people are working on them, TomTom's HRBPs are able to devise solutions that are effective and aligned with the company's strategic objectives.
Restructure the HRBP team. Legacy approaches where HRBPs are assigned to each business group leave gaping holes in enterprise priorities. IBM and ING leverage pools of HRBPs to address critical enterprise business challenges, redesign the role of the senior-most HRBP to function as a senior consulting partner—unburdened from tactical team management responsibilities—and include HRBPs in key design projects, breaking down siloes.

The role of the HR business partner is more critical than ever in the era of Systemic HR. As organizations strive to navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape, HRBPs stand at the crossroads of HR and business, driving strategic initiatives that align with business objectives and enhance organizational performance.

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The new role of the HR business partner: Powering Systemic HR™

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