How to Hire the Best CHRO
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A company’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is as critical to a company’s success as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO). CEOs are relying on the combined insights of their CHRO and CFO to drive organizational strategy, as these are the two other roles within the executive team most likely to take an enterprise view.
If your company has an open CHRO position, take some time to hire slowly to go fast to ensure that the CHRO capabilities align with the company’s goals, values and plans, remaining in the position long enough to usher improvements. The best-fit CHRO can create a workplace and work environment that brings out the best in people, which is good for business and customers.
Most importantly, the C-suite hiring a leader for the CHRO job should be clear on the qualities and attributes of a high-performing HR executive and HR team. If you have an open CHRO role, answer these few questions before you decide to hire a replacement.
Questions to Ask When Choosing a CHRO
Based on your experiences and interactions, did your CHRO:
- Apply holistic understanding of the organizational business strategy, financial data and external trends to understand talent needs, develop and communicate the talent strategy to drive the business?
- Effectively and succinctly frame complex cost-benefit analyses and ask the right questions to advise the board/C-suite on major human capital decisions?
- Proactively identify and implement solutions for business problems?
- Partner with their executive peers and the CEO to craft business strategy and desired culture?
- Understand and exhibit change management capability?
- Engage peers, CEO, and the board in important, controversial issues and demonstrate a point of view?
- Continuously scout out, assess and recruit key talent to the leadership bench?
- Evaluate HR structure, processes, talent, technology and implement necessary changes?
Does your HR function:
- Have the right balance of compliance and strategic mind-set?
- Use and report key performance indicators and if so, have formal plans for improvement?
- Have a formal operating model that is reviewed annually to harmonize HR with organizational need?
- Have a good general reputation as a key and effective business function that drives other business unit success?
- Facilitate a structured and formal assessment of leaders, including succession and development plans for key roles?
- Demonstrate high-performance based on a formally defined definition of performance?
- Have a workforce plan in place to deliver the right number of people, at the right time and cost.
If your answer to any of the questions is, “No,” it’s time to pause and determine what kind of CHRO you need. This is especially critical in an the age of perpetual change, when an incorrectly cast CHRO can negatively impact your company’s performance.
For example, if HR does not measure and report its performance, programs, and services using data and relevant metrics, then HR will be unable to adjust and improve over time. If HR behaves and is perceived as a compliance function versus a solution center, then it cannot function as a partner to the business.
Therefore, the next CHRO must demonstrate via experience and skills, the ability to use qualitative and quantitative data to make decisions and harmonize HR services and programs. In addition, the CHRO must be willing and able to realign Human Resources to provide solutions versus barriers.
Audit Human Resources
To help determine what type of CHRO best fits your organization, conduct an examination of your HR department’s effectiveness. Engage an objective external expert partner to examine the current HR capability’s effectiveness. The HR examination provides information that guides the basis for sourcing and recruiting a CHRO.
Also, the results can be used to create a hiring plan for the role. The thoughtfully crafted plan and process will select and include the right stakeholders, screening tools, behavioral-based interview questions and feedback tools.
In addition, all interviewees should be oriented to the hiring plan and provided some light training on the best interview techniques. Interviewers must ask the candidates to demonstrate their relevant expertise and ability to lead the HR function and close performance gaps to best support the organization. You also may consider including a CHRO consultant on the interview and assessment team to ensure the executive HR viewpoint is represented.
You can’t have a successful business without the right people in the right seats at the right time. A highly competent CHRO can help an organization navigate change proactively and guide the necessary culture changes that will be required to continue to recruit and retain the best talent.
Therefore, a company should intentionally invest time and energy to ensure it has the best person in the CHRO seat. After all, people are a company’s true competitive advantage.
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