Blog: One HR – Strategic, Aligned, and Outcome-Focused

By Nick Holley, Director of CRF Learning

A key finding from CRF’s ‘The Changing Role of the HR Leader’ report (2025), is the critical need for integration, alignment, and collective accountability within HR. In many organisations, HR still operates in silos. Business Partners, Talent, Reward, L&D, and Operations each focus on their own priorities. But this fragmentation is no longer sustainable.

The business doesn’t care how HR is structured. As one Group HRD put it: “They just want to know that we can solve their problems.”

That’s the essence of One HR – a unified function with shared purpose, shared priorities, and shared accountability.

One HR doesn’t mean uniformity. It means integration. It means aligning around the needs of the business, not the needs of each HR sub-function. It means co-creating solutions that are joined-up, targeted, and strategic.

When HR presents a cohesive voice, it builds credibility. When it doesn’t, it creates confusion, duplication, and delay.

The research shows that the most effective HR teams are those that operate horizontally across their function, not vertically within their domain. They partner with the business to drive value, not simply deliver services.

This requires a shift in how HR works together – moving from coordination to collaboration, from activity to impact. It also requires HRBPs to take ownership of aligning the whole HR function behind what matters most.

It is not enough to be excellent in your own lane. The business expects HR to act as one team, delivering solutions that are integrated, strategic, and driven by evidence.

The HRBP Business Catalyst programme brings this to life through an immersive simulation where participants step into a complex business scenario and learn what it really means to lead HR in a strategic, aligned way.