Credibility in the C-Suite
Credibility is critical if you want to be part of strategic business conversations. At today’s HRL Lunch Break, we talked about how you can build your own credibility with the C-suite, why it’s important to the C-suite, and where HR is lacking credibility.
The first step is getting a snap-shot of your own credibility – how are you perceived by various departments within the organization? By your customers? By your colleagues? Are you seen as an expert in you field? Ask people that you trust and whose opinion you value to give you some honest feedback. Last week we talked about building strategic alliances in different parts of the organization such as Finance. Once you’ve developed a relationship based on trust and respect, this is a great opportunity to learn how your credibility is perceived. And remember – if we want to truly increase credibility – we have to embrace for the truth which may be painful. Getting this 360 view will be very valuable, and you might want to consider having an objective party facilitate the review such as an external consultant or someone outside your department.
Why does HR lack credibility?
We’ve seen it over and over again in many organizations where, in our opinion, HR has missed the opportunity and importance of standardizing metrics, providing quality control, and focusing on metrics instead of behaviors which has perpetuated the perception that HR doesn’t know how to align with business goals and demonstrate ROI.
As HR practitioners, you have your hand on the pulse of the organization – the workforce – which happens to be a very large expense. There is a critical need for HR practitioners to take the strategic theory that they know and begin applying strategic practices and demonstrating their value.
Improve your own credibility
So what can you do today to begin to improve your own credibility? Here are 3 simple steps Kristie outlined to get you on the right track:
- Remain objective – Presenting your recommendation based on facts, data, and research will hold way more water than making an assumption or guessing the right decision. Have you explored all the options? Listed all the pros and cons of each decision? Asked for feedback? Even if you have a gut feeling about what is right – do your homework because you might be surprised what you find. I had a situation where I was comparing two similar technologies, and because I had extensive experience with one of them my gut was telling me to go with what I knew because I knew how it worked and what it offered. But because I knew the “I’m more familiar with it” approach wasn’t going to fly, I researched the one I didn’t know, watched a few videos and did an online training – and come to find out (if you haven’t guessed it already) – the other one that I wasn’t familiar with turned out to be the better option. If I hadn’t remained objective, we would have ultimately purchased the wrong product.
- Make sure your data supports the 3 R’s – The data that you use to support your decision should be based on credible, consistent measurements which are replicable, reliable, and relevant. We seriously cannot say this enough. And most importantly, are you covering areas that are important to the C-suite? For example – will this process increase income, decrease expenses, decrease staffing needs, or improve communication throughout the organization? What kind of story does your data tell the C-suite? And it is a story that is interesting to them?
- Finally, know the business goals and ALWAYS be aligned with them – Talking about a project and how it aligns to the business goals shows that you are thinking about how the business runs as a whole, not just how your department will be impacted by this project or initiative. Taking this approach will immediately begin to improve your credibility as you start to be seen as a strategic, big-picture thinker.
Please feel free to post your comments or questions here. We look forward to and welcome any and all discussions on this topic!
Our next HRL Lunch Break is Thursday, August 11th – same time – 1:15 – 1:45 and we will be talking about how to position your project with executive sponsors.
To check out and register for upcoming events, check out our Calendar
If you have any questions or would like the PowerPoint file, please send me a message. Thanks for reading!
-Heather
There is little doubt that HR needs to get with it! Business first that usually protects the people!