This deck takes the IRG Impact Study and asks what it means for the chief human resources officer. It moves from the pressures the function now faces to the five drivers of humanized growth, and ends with a ladder of possible roles a CHRO can occupy.
The study behind it draws on more than 450 vision interviews, a quantitative survey of over 750 respondents, and a social AI hypertrend analysis of 120,000 items across 52 markets, five C-suite functions and seven country deep-dives.
Key findings
- Growth ambitions differ by group. Everyone focuses on top-line revenue, but more underperformers put the bottom line first while more overperformers put impact on people first.
- Stakeholder value creation is seen as an opportunity by 90 percent of one group against 50 percent of the other, and the underlying practices show larger gaps still: understanding stakeholders at 76 against 17 percent, engaging them at 64 against 9, and representing them in decision making at 61 against 3.
- Transparency divides the groups sharply. Willingness to share good and bad news runs at 64 percent against 14 percent.
- Systemic change shows the same shape, at 69 percent against 9 percent, as does working interdependently at 67 against 7.
- The opportunity for the function is stated directly: 68 percent hold that CHROs should play a key role in shaping corporate strategy.
What changed in four years
The deck lists the pressures that arrived after the original growth study: COVID, inflation and planetary boundaries, with all four stakeholder groups becoming louder, more demanding and more powerful.
The result is a squeeze between accusations of doing too little and of doing too much, and companies keeping a low profile because of the fear of being accused of greenwashing or wokeness.
For human resources specifically, the pressures listed are the aftermath of COVID, transparency, a reskilling revolution, and the argument that the organization as a lifeform is at the end of its lifecycle.
The five drivers, seen from HR
Grounding the company in a human-first view becomes, for the CHRO, creating an integrated stakeholder map and genuinely seeking what employees want and need. The deck puts it as people, not numbers.
Reimagining shows up as long term focus, at 70 percent against 23, and as pride in the company’s purpose, at 90 percent against 26. Purpose has to work as a strategic filter, where the split is 71 percent against 7.
Focus means prioritizing stakeholders and defining value for each of them, at 71 percent against 7. The CHRO version is using the voice of the colleague to actually shift strategy, and finding intangible HR metrics.
Organizing for interdependence starts internally across functional silos, and extends to the changing organization, employee experience, and rethinking incentive systems.
Unleashing Da Vinci leadership is described through situational leadership, visioning, role modeling and vulnerability, and through partnering with the rest of the C-suite. The brand claim is uncompromising: there is no employer brand, there is just the brand.
Five levels of accountability
The deck asks the CHRO to place their own ambition and accountability on a scale from supporter through challenger and collaborator to leader and creator.
Each driver is then mapped across that scale. On grounding, the range runs from understanding colleagues to understanding the full ecosystem. On reimagining, from embedding an employer brand vision to co-creating and continuously recalibrating it.
On focus, the range runs from optimizing HR processes with a transaction orientation to working on humans and growth and building a culture. On organizing, from incremental improvements in existing structures to a radical rethink of internal and external collaboration models.
On unleashing, the range runs from developing existing capabilities and functional leadership to investing in next-generation capabilities and Da Vinci leaders.
Scope and limitations
The document is marked as a draft deck. The revenue growth correlation rests on 651 respondents comparing themselves against direct competitors, and the social analysis covers a defined set of tweets and LinkedIn posts.
Source
This page summarises The Role of the CHRO: Achieving Sustained Stakeholder Value Creation, by Institute for Real Growth, Saïd Business School, Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative, 2023.