Driving our professional agency

Gillian Brookes is the programme facilitator on the HRNZ Governance for HR Leaders programme. Here, she outlines her insights from designing and running the programme.

As HR leaders, in many ways, we are exactly like any other senior leader. At our best, we’re constantly learning, looking out to our peers and broader organisational contexts, adapting our focus accordingly, and supporting our teams to perform at their best.

What about the things that make HR leaders professionally unique? For example, our particular role in the governance of the organisation and the relationship we have with the Board.

How often do we stop to reflect on this part of our role and the significance it holds?

For example, as HR leaders, our role typically reports through to the chief executive (CE). Yet there are situations where the Board needs to have a direct connection with us, as the head of HR, without CE involvement.

NAVIGATING BOARD AND EXEC DYNAMICS

Navigating these relationships, and the dynamics between ourselves, the CE and the Board, is a sensitive place to be. Whether the Board Chair wants advice about measuring and monitoring the CE’s performance or reviewing the remuneration of the entire senior team. Or, perhaps employee complaints are emerging about inappropriate behaviour they’ve experienced, and the Board is looking for insight and advice. None of these situations typically qualify as the easiest day at the office, yet they’re vital parts of our role, giving us an opportunity to lead in the way only we can.

Navigating the sensitivity of CE and Board dynamics and clarifying the role we can have are some of the most valuable things HR leaders can learn about in our new Governance for HR Leaders programme.

GET SPACE TO REFLECT AND LEARN

Alongside other governance topics, such as how to establish a people committee and reporting to the Board, the programme brings fresh light to an area of our role that we rarely create the time or headspace to reflect on. The distinction between management and governance is something most of us academically understand, but the lived reality often requires a lot more nuanced focus and practice. The programme also explores how to influence and engage with the Board, getting into the detail of what great governance for HR looks like in theory and in practice.

The programme runs for two full days and is facilitated by several experts who have the combined experience of decades of governance expertise. Some of the programme presenters are directors; others are chief executives. All of them share a love of supporting governance and strategic decision-making within the organisations they are involved in. You get to test your thinking on them and learn from a diverse group of peers, who you will continue to learn alongside, as you participate in the alumni programme, through deep-dive webinars and discussions.

You are the people experts and we need you, even if we don’t know it yet!

Having a group of senior HR leaders to connect with over all things governance, strategy and leadership can prove invaluable. We all need trusted peers to share the joy, hope, disappointment, frustration and everything in between. The connections you make in those two days can travel with you, in your role today and any other you move to in the future.

DRIVING OUR PROFESSIONAL AGENCY AT THE GOVERNANCE LEVEL

Lifting into the governance mindset provides us with so much more agency and possibility. It is invaluable to have time during the two days to deeply consider what we can do to build, maintain and drive the business with the people perspective front and centre.

Many of us are waiting to be asked to the Board table… We don’t need to wait.

One main lesson I took away was that many of us are waiting to be asked to the Board table, or asked the right question when we’re there. We don’t need to wait. We can take many actions without damaging the sensitive CE and Board dynamics to create that opportunity, and without waiting to be invited. As one experienced director said, “You are the people experts and we need you, even if we don’t know it yet!”

Board interactions might not always be comfortable, and that’s okay. We can expect push back and a robust discussion, but that is where change begins: in the robust discussion, disagreement and colliding perspectives. Through that friction and tension, we arrive somewhere new, following a shift in opinion and perspective, on all sides, including our own. All in the service of better governance. Isn’t it time for us to step up and lead our profession right through to the boardroom?

Join our upcoming cohorts for 2025: 27–28 March in Auckland, 5–6 June in Queenstown. For more information, email events@hrnz.org.nz.

Gillian Brookes, Chartered Fellow of HRNZ, runs a small consultancy, focused on leading for a better future of work. She specialises in workforce strategy development and flexible work. Gillian is the author of Flexperts: Getting the best from flex in a world that’s ever changing. You can find out more at her website www.gillianbrookes. co.nz and connect with her on LinkedIn.