Your Career: Making a Successful Leadership Transition in HR
You’ve achieved your long-term goal of ascending to a leadership role. Your early steps can help pave the way for enduring success.
Congratulations: You’ve landed a leadership role in HR! It’s the culmination of many years of experience and hard work, and you know you’ve earned it. But what can be perceived as your achievement of a lifelong goal is really just the beginning of what will be your true accomplishment: implementing the lessons you’ve learned over the years to build and sustain a dynamic HR department that adds true value to your overall organization.
Successfully starting your leadership journey takes preparation and a deep understanding of your organization. Upon being offered a top job, you must take the time to lay the groundwork for success so you can start off on the right foot and be ready to take on the challenges that will inevitably await you.
“HR leadership roles require a significant shift in mindset from tactical to strategic and from doer to delegator,” says Adam Weber, chief evangelist at 15Five, a San Francisco-based employee performance management platform provider.
Whether you are assuming an executive, director, or other leadership role, Weber advises creating a detailed plan for your first 90 days on the job. During that time, he says it’s essential to concentrate on investing in strong relationships across the company, gaining a thorough understanding of the business and its culture, and conducting a listening tour with key staff in the HR department, the larger business, and external partners.
Having this knowledge will better prepare you to have hard conversations about any issues you identify that you’d like to address. “[This means] being ready to speak up on critical issues and lead by example in upholding organizational culture,” says Ayaskant Sarangi, CHRO of Mphasis, an international applied technology services firm.
Know Who You Work For
Sarangi advises emergent HR leaders to take time to understand their company’s organizational culture, leadership expectations, success metrics, and employee sentiments. Combining these elements with insights into the larger business model helps leaders develop a road map for making an impact.
“A results-oriented mindset is crucial, ensuring that HR initiatives align with and support business goals,” says Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, executive vice president and chief people officer at Dayforce, a global HR services provider based in Minneapolis.
Successfully leading the HR function requires not only knowing what an organization does on paper, but also having a deeper understanding of how it operates. This way, HR can effectively partner with executive staff to support their larger goals, says Daniel Space, a seasoned HR leader who is also the HR content creator and influencer behind the popular TikTok account DanFromHR.
“HR is never going to be considered a business partner or credible unless it understands the business that it’s working with,” Space says.
Make sure you don’t position yourself as the person who fixes small things. As a leader, it’s important to be perceived as a strategic thinker and a business partner.
He advises HR leaders to focus on mastering key aspects of the business, such as product differentiators, the competitor landscape, and social media presence. Taking a hands-on approach to gathering this information can build both knowledge and critical relationships.
Sarangi agrees. “Engaging with sales teams, attending business reviews, and understanding financials has been essential,” he says. “This knowledge enhances HR credibility and demonstrates that HR is an integral part of the business.”
Beware Common Pitfalls
It’s also important to anticipate and avoid the common missteps that can trip up new HR leaders.
“Make sure you don’t position yourself as the person who fixes small things,” Space advises. “As a leader, it’s important to be perceived as a strategic thinker and a business partner.”
“Newly appointed HR leaders should avoid imposing past playbooks without considering the unique context of their new organization,” Cappellanti-Wolf adds. “One must resist the temptation to apply strategies that worked in previous roles without first understanding the current environment.”
Another typical error is not focusing on foundational data from the outset, according to Weber. “Since it’s data that will inform your focus and your priorities, having the right data—or identifying a way to start getting it—is an essential step for success,” he advises.
Finally, don’t be afraid to show your impact from the start. “Management should be seeing you as often as possible and should know what you do for the company and how that brings value,” says Tawny Lott Rodriguez, director of HR at Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City.
Signs that you’re on the right track include being invited to leadership meetings and having significant strategic conversations with senior staff, Sarangi says. New leaders can take feedback from their CEO and executive staff, clearly articulate the alignment of HR with the broader organization’s goals, and obtain early wins that establish their credibility as evidence that their strategy is on the right track.
Prepare for Long-Term Success
You may find that it can be lonely at the top, making it important to reach out and network with other HR leaders who can share their insights and experiences.
“Connect with others, especially people who have done it—who are one year ahead of you, three years ahead of you, and even five years ahead of you—and just really get their perspective and their advice,” Space recommends. A strong professional network enables you to pick up on best practices without having to reinvent the wheel when you need to develop new policies or tackle an HR challenge.
Transitioning to an HR leadership role is undoubtedly a major adjustment, and it requires the right mindset, approach, and perspective. But taking that next step is also an exciting time that can change the trajectory of your career. Experts agree that taking a listening-based approach, truly understanding your organization’s goals, and proactively monitoring your early performance feedback can help set you on the path to a long and successful leadership
tenure.
Liz Alton is a freelance HR and technology writer based in Boston.
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