“Oh no, HR is in the room. We better be on our best behavior.” This sentiment is one of many outdated notions surrounding HR. Notions such as: HR is the compliance police. HR is the therapy department. HR professionals don’t have any skills beyond being good talkers. Wrong, wrong and wrong again!

HR is so much more than that. HR is a valued partner in helping businesses achieve their goals. In fact, HR is critical when it comes to business growth. HR partners with the leaders to articulate an organization’s vision, mission, purpose and culture in order to attract the right talent. But HR doesn’t stop there.

HR coaches leaders and creates programs to nurture and develop that talent. Retaining the right people allows a business to thrive. When you’re constantly struggling with turnover, teams can’t keep up, people get overwhelmed and people leave. It’s a vicious and expensive cycle. HR is the key to breaking it.

Beyond talent acquisition, an optimized HR department serves as trusted advisors and advocates for both team members and business leaders. Basically, HR is crucial across the board. We’re not exaggerating when we say, HR has the ability to change people’s lives.

HR used to be about compliance, hiring, firing and handling “problems” that managers sought to avoid. These perceptions are hopelessly outdated, yet tough to overcome. People still think that anyone can do it and that anyone can be an HR leader. But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a complicated profession. It deals with human beings after all!

The HR profession has evolved. The new HR asks thoughtful questions and makes impactful business decisions. When we enter an organization, we ask ourselves, do we understand the business that we’re in? Do we understand its mission and purpose? Do we understand the staffing, development, and retention matters related to that business? Do we understand the labor market, the industry, and our competition?

As HR professionals we need to conduct ourselves as business leaders who focus on the human assets of an organization. Much like accountants are business leaders focusing on the financial assets of an organization, procurement leaders focus on the materials and physical assets of an organization. HR professionals need to understand the implications of “people assets” to reaching a company’s goals. We need to do away with “HR speak” and speak in the language of leaders instead. And finally, we need to commit ourselves to developing foundational qualities like CHARGE™ in order to earn the trust of business leaders.

What HR stereotypes are you sick of hearing? What qualities do you think are important for the future of HR? We’d love to hear your thoughts and discuss your experiences which is why we created our Virtual HR Warrior^® Workshop. This workshop is for all HR professionals who are ready to rewrite the script and reach their highest potential.

Take CHARGE™ of your narrative. Join our community of HR Warriors^® and register for our workshop today!