Human Resource leaders as business people

Human Resources professionals are being called to the leadership table as a regular part of business.  And why not!  The business can’t run with the people that handle sales, operations, administration day in and day out.  HR Professionals don’t necessarily need degrees in business, but they do need to keep up with the trends and vocabulary of the C-Suite. 

When I was in business school (yes in the 1980’s!) Biz 101 always included the 4 P’s of business – Price, Place, Product, and Promotion.  This defined the way organizations are going to go to market and set the basics of distributing products and services.  The four P’s exist to tell members of the business how to move forward in the same direction.

We know that business is far more complex then that in 2024.  Human Resources professionals need to stay on top of the new ways leaders approach their markets.  Literature has started to talk about the 4C’s of Marketing - Customer, Cost, Communication and Convenience. It’s easy to see how these are also important to business.  We know these are the things we look for in a product, and what the marketing teams focus on.   Find a great article about that here: https://www.business.org/marketing/sales/4cs-marketing-model-good-business/

But alas, once again the literature is looking at the market outside the organization.  We don’t seem to address the needs of our key contributors.  Where is the focus on employees in all these business discussions?

The idea of these models is to come up with ways we can address business issues with a new and innovative lens.  In the world of Human Resources, what if we look at a different set of 4C’s as a way to address what our employees need and want in the workplace.  HR Professions, Think Culture, Creation, Collaboration and Connection as internally focusing your HR initiatives.  This is a critical component of Senior HR Professionals.  It is not only what your business needs, it’s how employees today want to be engaged.  They care about your culture – want to create innovative processes and products – collaborate in teams and be connected to a great purpose. That’s got to drive business in the right direction!

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And what about what we need as HR professionals.  We are so busy working on the business, have you forgotten about your own growth and development?  Another set of 4C’s can actually relate to the skills we need as HR professions.  A recent article on the Achievers website talks about what we need to run HR departments.  They suggest the critical 4C’s for HR professionals are Catalyst, Coach, Conductor and Consultant.  This feels like what we do each and every day.  I consider them to be an excellent baseline for every HR leader to embrace.  See what they have to say in depth here: https://www.achievers.com/blog/4-cs-define-human-resource-department/ 

All these models of C’s speak to everything we do in human resources. As HR professionals, we have to know the business and that includes marketing, operations, accounting and planning.   We must understand our cost and customer if we are to hire the right team to meet customer needs.  Whether we address our internal teams, or our HR Function, both models highlight the goals of all HR departments. Consider this as a conversation starter in your organization you are having a difficult time getting your leaders attention.  Who knows what the future of our business is going to look like right now, but what we do know is that business has become connected and agile, and we better make sure our HR functions are too.