HR Professionals as Internal Consultants: Futile Dream or Upcoming Reality?

During the past decade, I’ve seen a real push in the Western world to transform the role of the HR professional from that of a keeper/policeman of organizational policies and procedures into that of a Strategic Business Partner. I’m not sure that we’ve made much progress with this transformation, but today, I’m even more convinced that the future of HR lies in its ability to act as a business partner.

As Egypt faces ever-spiraling challenges coming from both local market factors and the realities of globalization, the demands placed on and expectations of HR professionals continue to grow and change. To keep up with all of these demands, even if only in the most basic way, HR professionals will need to continually develop new value-creating skill sets to add to those they already have. One of the essential skill sets required of the HR Professional as a Business Partner is that of consulting skills.

Role of Internal Consultant

As internal consultants, HR professionals must be able to act as “proactive” advisors contributing key inputs into the strategic initiatives of the organization. They must also become increasingly involved in the implementation of corporate strategies. As they take on these additional responsibilities, their role will change. They must learn how to hold themselves accountable for their greater impact on the organization, because senior management will hold them accountable. Accountable … not just for completing tasks but for business results.

For the good of the organization as a whole and for our national competitiveness as a workforce, I believe that HR Managers and HR professionals must make the critical transition from the functional or SM (Subject Matter) “expert” role to the business partner role.

Traditional Roles Are Not Enough

Managers and other professionals in “staff” or “support” roles often get locked into traditional ways of dealing with internal clients. During change initiatives, they might be able to request compliance with processes and procedures but rarely can they force compliance based on direct reporting relationships. They don’t have the authority. As a result, they are often frustrated, caught between achieving their work objectives while at the same time, helping their internal clients achieve theirs. On another level, the HR function continues to struggle to be viewed as a strategic business partner that needs to be consulted early and often in a change initiative, rather than one who is simply told to implement the decisions of senior management.

Do HR professionals really need to become Strategic Business Partners?

If you believe as I do that becoming a Strategic Business Partner is the future for HR, then HR professionals must be trained as Internal Consultants. Since HR professionals do not have the authority to impose their ideas, their change initiatives or their methods on the rest of the organization, they must be trained in how to collaborate as equal partners, how to implement an effective consulting process and how to focus on creating workplace results which inevitably will be translated into Egyptian Pounds.

Only after HR professionals have been adequately trained as internal consultants, should Senior Management hold HR Professionals accountable for their contribution to the business results. I strongly believe that HR, as a function, can make strategic contributions to the future of any company. What we have to do is make sure that HR professionals have the consulting skills required to succeed.

Dr. Rita Maselli is a writer and an international consultant and trainer, living and working in Cairo, Egypt. She is the Managing Director of RMA, a Management and HR Consultancy specialized in improving employee productivity through a combination of results-based training workshops, customized business surveys and assessments and business metrics in particular the ROI and KPIs.