Unlocking HR & TA’s Strategic Impact: 5 Key Takeaways from a Manhattan Breakfast

Picture this: A sun-drenched Manhattan morning, a room buzzing with the brightest minds in HR and Talent Acquisition (TA). What happens when you bring them together? Magic. We recently hosted an exclusive gathering of HR and TA leaders to crack the code on boosting HR's strategic and business impact.

Here are five nuggets of wisdom that we picked up during our discussion.

1. The Power of Positivity: Elevating Executive Impact

Peter Phelan began the morning with an insightful presentation on increasing executive-level impact. His focus? Appreciative inquiry and positive psychology as tools for change.

What is Appreciative Inquiry? Instead of dwelling on negatives when talking to key stakeholders focus on what's going well.

Use questions and dialogue to uncover existing strengths, advantages or opportunities,  and collectively work to develop strategies for improvement.

The process:

Definition: Topic to work on
Discovery: What's already working?
Dream: Overall vision
Design: Options to make it happen
Delivery: Action planning

Position yourself and your team as contributors who add value co-creating a vision with leadership for the future. This approach can significantly change perceptions and outcomes of the team and leads to teams co-designing the future.

2. Breaking Down Silos: Bridging HR & TA for Greater Impact

A recurring theme was the need for HR and TA to work together more cohesively. Most of the time there are too many silos between the two departments. Embrace an open office and understanding of each other’s roles and challenges. Focus on “how can I make someone else’s job easier”.

Data-Driven Approach: Combining HRIS and TA data can provide a comprehensive view. Use these insights to build a case for collaboration and align everyone towards common goals.

3. Improving Relationships with Hiring Managers

Let's face it – hiring managers can be... challenging. But they're the secret ingredient to TA success. So where do we start? One practical solution is developing a charter of expected behaviors for both parties. Set clear expectations for both sides and watch the magic happen.

Training is also key, making sure to partner with Hiring Managers so they know how the process should work and what good looks like.

Data is key – again! Leverage data to show how certain behaviors impact the talent lifecycle. Nothing speaks louder than cold, hard facts about delayed hiring, the impact on budget and the bottom line.

4. Communicating Effectively with the Board

Presenting data to the board in an accessible way can significantly boost HR's strategic impact. The key is to connect your insights directly to the board's priorities.

Useful Tip: AI tools are making it easier to extract board-relevant insights from HR data. Focus on showing the direct impact of HR initiatives on key business objectives.

5. The Holy Grail: Quality of Hire

It's 2024, and we're still chasing the elusive "Quality of Hire" metric. Frustrating. But our delegates put their heads together and came up with several potential components, including:

• Line manager satisfaction
• Performance against targets
• Employee satisfaction

Ongoing Development: At II, we're currently testing a Quality of Hire measure. Curious? Check out our previous article: The Insights and Data the business really wants.

Thank you to everyone who took the time out to join us and share their valuable insights, as well as our Partners Pinpoint and Recruitmentmarketing.com.

To be the first to get notified of future US events, register below!