HRBP Community Summary Notes: Changing Role of HR Leaders Debrief

On May 14^th, CRF hosted an online session for its HR Business Partner (HRBP) Community, focusing on CRF’s recent Changing Role of the HR Leader research and its implications for HRBPs. During the session Emma Lucas, CRF Associate, presented the key findings of the research, which are summarised below.

Research Overview: The Changing Role of the HR Leader

Whilst the HR role itself is not changing substantially, the context surrounding the role is shifting at pace. HR leaders need to anticipate and prepare for this changing context.

The overarching theme is increasing complexity – HR leaders need to fulfil their traditional roles in areas like performance and HR service delivery, whilst also navigating an increasingly employee-centric social agenda and supporting the business to deliver its strategy in an increasingly challenging global context. Key trends identified in the research are outlined below.

HR Leaders Must Be Business Leaders First

CRF believes the fundamental purpose of HR is to help the organisation achieve its objectives, which remains the core priority for HR leaders. This means focusing on how HR initiatives create measurable business value, support innovation and drive change.

Research led by Professor Pat Wright at the Center for Executive Succession at the University of South Carolina and cited in the Changing Role of the HR Leader report, showed that business acumen and contribution to strategy are the most important attributes that distinguish top-performing CHROs. At the same time, these capabilities are the most in short supply amongst HR leaders. In order to become strategic, HR professionals need to shift towards the left of the diagram below.

Getting the Organisation Ready for Technology Transformation

HR has a critical role in preparing the workforce for technology change. This includes:

• Understanding the implications for skills, roles and workforce planning.
• Identifying opportunities to improve productivity.
• Redesigning work to improve collaboration between humans and technology.
• Managing change – both technically and emotionally.
• Ensuring alignment with organisational values.

Employee Relations is Back

We’re seeing a resurgence in employee relations (ER) driven by rising workforce expectations, increased social activism, and growing union activity, even in previously unaffected sectors like technology. ER has become a lost art and many HR professionals need upskilling in this area. CRF’s ER Network can help to support in this area.

It’s Time to Reframe the DE&I and Social Agendas

Many organisations are recalibrating their approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), particularly in light of shifting commercial and political landscapes (such as the DE&I backlash in the US). For HR leaders the DE&I space is becoming increasingly complex and requires striking a balance between commercial, regulatory, ethical and political judgments. HR leaders will need to partner with their CEOs and executive teams to work out how to navigate this space and find a way forward that addresses the organisation’s business and social objectives.

Looking at HR Through a Risk Lens

Viewing HR activity through a risk lens can help HR leaders to deal with increasing complexity. The range of risks faced by businesses is widening, and many of which – such as cyber attacks or data leaks – are largely people-related. HR therefore has a key role in anticipating, assessing and mitigating risks and bringing a people-centric view of risk into broader business conversations.

Being Evidence-Based Helps Us Be Better Business Leaders

Adopting an evidence-based approach helps HR leaders ensure they are adding value to the business priorities. This means using evidence to:

1. Identify the right priorities
2. Select the most effective solutions

CRF’s Evidence-Based toolkit and on-demand course support this capability.

We Must Get Better at Developing Future Generations of HR leaders

HR needs to get better at developing the next generation of HR leaders and asking whether the current pathways to HR leadership are evolving in line with the demands of the role. Research from Professor Pat Wright suggests only 32% of CHROs reached their position through internal succession – a figure significantly lower than for leaders in other functions such as finance or legal.

HR needs to be purposeful about the experiences emerging HR leaders gain and building business experience – not just technical HR expertise. CHROs now spend significantly more time with boards and executive teams and we must ensure future leaders gain exposure and credibility at this level.

Recommendations

• For the HR leader: Think about how you can deepen your understanding of your organisation’s business strategy, competitive environment and future trends. Consider upskilling yourself in areas such as organisation design, employee relations and job design.
• For the organisation: Consider how good the organisation is at scanning the horizon for opportunities and threats and running experiments. E.g. can you influence the agenda of leadership team meetings to ensure longer-term strategic topics get more airtime?
• For the HR function: Take time to take stock of your HR succession plan and talent pipeline, identify any skills gaps within the function and make sure you have a plan for addressing the gaps.

Member Insights

Members additionally shared the following experiences and lessons learned:

Risk

• One member shared how they spread their approach to risk across several areas. For example, in people risk they meet quarterly to evaluate the likelihood and impact of individual attrition and use this to inform succession planning and recruitment, and in revenue risk they consider areas like budget forecasting and scenario planning (e.g. what do we do if we’re not hitting numbers? Or if we’re growing too fast?).
• Emma Lucas also emphasised the importance of growing closer to compliance or security teams and learning how they identify risks (e.g. What’s the difference between a risk and an issue? How do you identify mitigating actions? Who’s accountable? How do you track and update those risks over time?). Then, apply this thinking across HR domains, paying special attention to HR transformation projects.

Employee Relations

• Participants highlighted the importance of having a clear, organisation-wide strategy for employee relations, whether following a more traditional, adversarial model or adopting a collaborative, modern approach.
• Clarity on your approach to collective agreements and the ability to cascade this through the organisation is essential. Line managers and senior leaders should be aligned and trained to deliver this approach.

Technology

• The discussion focused on mindset, particularly on how the pandemic may have helped encourage tech adoption among groups previously resistant to it.
• Appetite to change and a strong learning culture were identified as key enablers, creating space for people to take time out to learn and adapt – essential for reskilling and job redesign. However, a key challenge is preparing different audiences within the business. For example, highly skilled, senior professionals may have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and therefore be resistant to change.

DE&I

• Participants shared how the organisational appetite for DE&I is often strong, though many businesses face uncertainty about where to focus efforts. Some are hesitant to take action due to fear of getting it wrong, leading to more localised initiatives tailored to specific groups or regions. For others, DE&I has become so embedded that it is now part of everyday practice, rather than a standalone agenda.
• HR should help managers understand how to create psychologically safe environments where people feel safe to speak up. HR leaders must invest in building their own confidence to lead in this space and support others to do the same.

Further Resources
CRF. 2025. The Changing Role of the HR Leader
CRF. 2025. Post Meeting Notes: The Changing Role of the HR Leader
CRF. 2025. Reimagining HRBP Critical Capabilities On-Demand Suite