Here's why the CEO and CHRO need to have a trust-based partnership

A CHRO is expected to connect the dots and predict patterns in the organization. And this requires one to step out of the realm of traditional expectations from HR and embrace a more strategic business role. If people are the key contributors to business success, the relationship between the CEO, the driver of business strategy, and the CHRO, the driver of people policies becomes very critical for a thriving enterprise. There has to be a strong trust-based partnership and bonding between both the leaders. Below are some of CEO’s expectations from the CHRO (though not an exhaustive list) are:

CHRO should be a key advisor to all strategic business decisions, with the ability to advice on the talent needs and having the capacity to execute the strategic decisions successfully. For this, the CHRO has to have a good understanding of the business imperatives and the talent capacity. That requires the CHRO to not just be bound by the functional responsibilities of the HR department but also focus on a higher mission and be a driving force for business growth. The CEO-CHRO partnership is pivotal in building a high-performing and cohesive executive leadership team. With the increasing war for talent, the CHRO is the key driver who ensures that the organization ecosystem is equipped to sustain and engage top talent. On the other hand, a CHRO has to have the courage and candor to be a critic and tell the CEO of the planned actions that are not helpful for the organization specifically the people.  

To aid the CEO, a CHRO has to be prepared to be the bad cop to the CEO. Specifically, on talent-related issues, a negative feedback from the CEO has a greater impact while the intervention of CHRO becomes a filter and allows the affected to have a chance to recover. A CEO entrusts the CHRO with the task of explaining the vision and mission of the company to the internal stakeholders.

Evolving technology is bringing about transformational changes for the HR professionals that in-turn necessitates the need for them to be prepared for changes and also transform themselves. The CHRO should be prepared to leverage data, identify trends, and help the CEO to develop a perspective on the many issues faced by the organization. They have to bring more solutions and analytics that the organization didn’t know existed earlier. Only when the regular HR operations are simplified or standardized with the use of technology, will the CHROs be able to focus on playing a more strategic role that supports business priorities.

CHROs should be aware of the pulse of the organization and advise the management or the CEO accordingly. With increasing access to technology, the transfer of information has become very fast. Technology now allows employees to give feedback and how they feel about the organization, which helps the talent leader to work in the appropriate direction — whether it is to mitigate a concern before it becomes a crisis or developing ideas to create best practices in the organization.

With millennials and more women joining the workforce, the management of employee expectations and perception of employment is changing. Managing employees successfully is becoming similar to managing customers, and to do that, the HR and CHRO need to go beyond just employee satisfaction to create an experience for employees. This process should be similar to what marketers do for their customers, to keep them engaged in and with the organization.

Eventually, the CEO & CHRO have to work closely together and for their relationship to succeed, there has to be a strong element of trust and respect in each other’s intentions and judgment. A CHRO should know how to establish a balance between the business imperatives and the HR departmental needs, and a CEO should acknowledge the critical role that the CHRO plays as an enabler of the business strategy, and regard him as a partner who walks alongside in the journey of business growth.