The emerging role of the HR chief operating officer (HR COO)

Empowering HR leadership

Business leaders today fully understand the value of people, and they can clearly articulate their top people priorities. At the same time, Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) know they have to deliver what the business needs and wants. As a result, when business and HR leaders sit down to work together, they’re often focused less on what needs to be done, and more on how.

Predictably, these business leaders want better, faster, and more compliant HR services at a lower cost and an HR organization that can turn on a dime to support their ever-changing business strategies and goals. Unfortunately, many HR organizations continue to struggle to meet those demanding requirements. The challenge of getting to “better, faster, cheaper, and more agile” is daunting for any organization, but it’s doubly difficult for HR organizations, where many leadership teams still operate with structures and roles that have been in place for decades.

Despite the proven benefits of HR transformation, business executives and HR leaders alike continue to voice frustration with HR’s ability to deliver value. With no shortage of talented people doing great work, what’s the problem? All signs point to the need to rethink how HR organizations deliver on the promise of supporting the business – with a new role designed to drive performance improvements across the entire HR organization. The HR Chief Operating Officer (HR COO).

In “The Emerging Role of the HR COO,” we focus on the need for and benefits of this new HR COO role as we discuss:

• The traditional model for HR leadership and why it's not working
  
• Rethinking the structure
  
• Division of leadership responsibilities with an HR COO
  
• Responsibilities of the HR COO
  
• The mandate to drive business results
  
• Changing the operating model of the HR organization to harness the power of how