No organization can succeed if leaders work in isolation.  Today’s business world has become increasingly more complicated and it is critical that leaders in all areas of the organization understand other functional areas and know how to work effectively together to maximize the strategic advantage.

Where Do Leaders Go to Get Answers?

If you have a question or concern about the finances in an organization you talk with the financial professionals.  As leaders if you don’t have a financial background you need to learn the language so you can understand the finances and make legal and ethical decisions that will give your organization the competitive advantage.  Many leaders don’t know who to go to when making decisions about the human capital in the company.  The human resource professionals are key strategic players and they want to utilize and leverage human capital in order to remain competitive.  The problem is that many leaders think that dealing with employees is just common sense.  It is much more than that in our complicated global and legalistic world economy so all leaders need to connect with HR professionals.

What Can Human Resource Professionals Do to Help Leaders?

HR professionals need to fully understand the business and industry in which they are working.  Leaders need to include the top HR person in the organization on the leadership team and include that person in decisions relating to the employees.  Trained HR professionals can advise the leaders on how key policies and procedures will impact the workforce and the organizations’ bottom line. 

What Does HR Need to Do to Be Effective?

HR professionals need to stop being afraid of numbers!   Too many HR people avoid numbers out of the belief that dealing with numbers is too complicated or difficult.  When that is done the other leaders lose respect for the value HR can have within the organization.   The HR professional needs to be an expert in HR competencies but also have a solid understand of business competencies.

What Can Leaders and HR Professionals Do to Work Better Together?

Every professional should look at their weaknesses and work to improve them.  That might include additional formal education but it can also include some quick and easy self-study.  The following two Internet sites are great tools for any professional to use to increase their general business acumen. 

}        http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/

}        http://www.12manage.com/

Many leaders and HR professionals say they want to work better together and to be more strategic.  It takes commitment and effort on both sides to encourage each other, communicate on an on-going basis, and work through inevitable misunderstandings and conflicts that will occur along the way.  The problem is each professional cannot just say they want to work more strategically together, they must do it!