Let’s get HR a seat at the table | 2-minute video

In HR, you face a lot of frustrations. Near the top of that list: It’s difficult to get a seat at the table where corporate decisions are made.

Whether you have a request for information, resources or time to be heard, the C-Suite sometimes leaves HR in the lurch.

Gain your seat at the table

Here, in our 3-Point from HRMorning video series, we dig up three (go figure!) practical, expert-driven tactics to get noticed and heard.

In fact, one of our experts “flabbergasted” her colleagues — and it won her a seat at the table.

Watch and listen for more from a few of our panel of experts.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

When you’re an HR professional, there’s a familiar and frustrating struggle you don’t feel seen, heard or supported by the C Suite instead, you hear that’s a great idea, but it’s not in the budget.

Meanwhile, if the company focused a little more on talent management, everything could change yet.

A study by Bamboo HR found a quarter of Fortune 100 companies still don’t have an executive people leader. HR literally doesn’t have a seat at the table or a desk in the C Suite or a strong voice in strategy.

So how can we make it happen?

Suzanne Lemen is the CEO of dynamic corporate solutions. Her advice is personal. She admits she invited herself to meetings.

Lemen: I used to say, hey, I wanna go to lunch with you guys and it was guys, you know, right. I got the gray hair to prove it. And, and, and what are they gonna say? No, you can’t go to lunch with us. They didn’t, they were flabbergasted. But I went.

So let’s say you aren’t that bold then.

Burch: With HR being required to be a leader more than they ever have been before, I think they were perceived as part of that middle management team. And I think today they’re being called on to true leadership and that means they have to be visionaries, they have to look to the future. I think they’re going to be called to solve bigger problems.

And sometimes it’s about the money oftentimes.

Brundage: What happens is that HR professionals, we don’t think about the work that we do and how it actually literally generates revenue for an organization from more productive employees who are producing at a commensurate rate. More empowered employees produce at 86% higher rate than those who don’t feel empowered.

Here’s the good news. You don’t have to be CHRO or a VP to get a seat. Any dedicated HR leader has a voice that can help. Here’s how:

• Show up. Invite yourself to the meeting, sit down at the table.
• Speak up. Show your swagger, you’ve been in the trenches, you know how people can affect corporate results. The C-suite needs to know what you already know.
• Show the numbers. Bring hard numbers on productivity, ROI and potential gains to the table.

The seat is open and waiting for HR it’s time to take it.