Boyden Executive Monitor Finds CEO and CHRO Partnership Essential for Strategic Vision

In partnership with CEOs, Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) are playing increasingly critical roles to ensure companies win the war for talent and maximise employee motivation across the globe, according to the Executive Monitor released today by Boyden Global Executive Search.

Boyden’s Executive Monitor report, entitled The Rise of the CHRO, explores the many challenges CHROs face on their paths to earning respected roles in the C-suite and boardroom. In addition, the report looks at the need for CHROs to develop close working relationships with their CEOs and demonstrate their value as key leaders with the ability to align human capital strategy with the company’s business strategy. address business challenges and opportunities in a holistic way.

“The war for talent will continue to intensify. CHROs are key drivers to ensure the right strategic environment to maximise talent motivation”, said Jörg Kasten, Chairman of Boyden and Managing Partner, Boyden Germany. “Conversely, companies that do not have HR executives at the C-level will face serious strategic economic and cultural problems. It’s imperative for CEOs to reshape their HR function as well as treat their HR executives as equal partners.”

The Boyden Executive Monitor report also covers the complex nature of the CEO-CHRO relationship; HR’s journey to demonstrate its value within an ever-changing economic landscape; key challenges it has faced along the way; a contentious proposal to split the function in two; how availability of new metrics is changing the way HR operates; why now may be the best time yet for CHROs; and what the future holds for the HR function including ways CEOs can cultivate these invaluable advisors and the qualities that will be key to their success.

“It’s very clear that the CEO-CHRO relationship is of paramount importance when considering the fact that a change of CEO will, as statistics prove, often prompt a change of CHRO”, said Lisa Gerhardt, Global Leader of Boyden’s Consumer & Retail and Human Resources Practices and Partner, Boyden New York and Boyden UK. “This is much more common than in any other function with a new CEO appointment, either internal or external. The need for a trusted partner who will act as a confidante as well as the conscience of the business gives a new CEO impetus to choose his or her own HR leader.”

“CHROs should serve as a sounding board for CEOs and ensure that their input sheds a somewhat different light in decision making”, asserts Kristen Smit, Boyden Board Member and Managing Partner, Boyden France. “The CHRO must be able to have a clear and strategic vision of the road ahead, as projected by the CEO, in order to be able to anticipate the obstacles he or she will encounter on the journey.”

In addition, the report focuses on the following topics regarding CHROs’ ascent to the role of an indispensable member of the leadership team:

CEO support for the HR function and proactive measures to cultivate well-rounded HR leaders

The importance of allowing the CHRO to spend more time on strategy and less on administration

The role of the CHRO in affecting change within an organisation, driven by a deep understanding of human capital needs and their impact on the bottom line

Advances in HR technology, including automation, expanded access to information, and new modes of data collection

“Just as the best finance or marketing executives are expected to be creative and transformational, great companies also need HR leaders to solve problems that stand in the way of the business, rather than inhibiting organisations with rigidity”, explains Jim Harmon, Managing Partner, Boyden Canada.

The new Boyden report also includes case studies and sidebar interviews offering diverse perspectives on the CHRO’s journey from Sébastien Froidefond, Chief Human Resources Officer at Coty, John Lucas, Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Dean Carter, Vice President of Human Resources and Shared Services at Patagonia.

To view the full report, visit www.boyden.com/media/10749/12820/boyden_executive_monitor