When HR aims for the board. What must leaders change to be useful?
Sep 12, 2025
A few years ago, HR was seen as a supporting department. Recruitment, payroll, training, spreadsheets... today the situation is different.
Companies do not have an endless surplus of candidates. It is hard to find experienced people, and even harder to keep them. However, collaboration, performance, innovation, and the adaptation of the company depend on people. That means that today, HR issues are business issues. It's no longer enough to just execute operations well. Having "HR" is not enough. It needs to be done differently.
This change is not a fashion trend. It is a reality that we at Kogi see with clients every day.
HR strategy as a key competence of the company
The strategy has one main task: to correctly direct the attention and capacities of people beyond their daily operations. In a world where change is a constant state, companies cannot afford to manage “just the normal operation.” They need to know what to prioritize, what should be created, and what must stop being done. All of this relies on people. On their time, energy, willingness, and competencies. And this is where the role of HR begins.
A good HR strategy is not a wish list. It is not a catalog of benefits or a set of “nice” values. It is a practical plan on how to deliver business objectives through people. And if it lacks a specific impact on performance, collaboration, or the adaptability of the company, it makes no sense to create it at all.
Why do most strategies fail?
The most common problem is not a lack of ambition, but an unwillingness to get to the heart of the matter. Companies plan development programs, improve engagement, or create new values. But without asking the fundamental question: What is actually hindering performance, trust, collaboration, and retention in the company today?
Many companies avoid uncomfortable topics – tired middle management, distrust between leadership and frontline employees, micromanagement, stress, and lack of meaningfulness. The result is strategies that may look good on slides, but do not impact culture or decision-making in any way. And where systemic change is lacking, behavioral change cannot happen either.
HR strategies must not just be a piece of paper in a drawer
An HR strategy that is supposed to have an impact cannot focus on cosmetic changes. It is not enough to add a new benefit or redesign the career page. If the strategy does not address what actually influences the performance, collaboration, and adaptation of the company, it will remain just a nice document.
To be functional, it needs to get to the heart of the matter. That is, to systems, processes, and everyday reality. It needs to answer questions such as:
· What specifically today inhibits people from performing or collaborating across teams?
· Where are we wasting time due to unclear processes, duplication, or poor job assignments?
· Do we have an environment where problems are openly named and also solved?
· Who will leave the company in the coming years? And how are we preparing for it, both systematically and humanly?
A functioning HR strategy is not about promises, but about actions. It is not enough to formulate goals. It is necessary to specifically state what will change, who will do it, when it will be done, and how we will know it is happening.
That is the difference between a strategy on paper and a strategy in practice.
And how do you know if your strategy really works?
By the fact that people are making different decisions. That they know what the priority is, what to devote time to, and what can wait. A strategy lives when it reflects in how planning, delegating, evaluating, and collaborating happen in the company.
A strategy that works:
· Starts with reality, not an ideal state. It relies on data: culture, trust, engagement.
· Contains specific activities. With a clear owner, capacity, deadline. Not vague “we will improve collaboration”.
· Is understandable to everyone. If a person outside HR does not understand it, it has no chance of being realized.
· Lives in everyday operations. From priorities through decision-making to what is discussed in meetings.
The goal is not to create another folder on the disk. The goal is to change the way the company thinks and acts. Through concrete steps that happen today, not “from next quarter on”.
What competencies will HR really need?
The future of HR will not hinge on whether you can implement a new ATS or introduce another well-being benefit. It will hinge on whether you have the skills that will make you a partner for the board.
Not a junior training facilitator. Not an interpreter of employee sentiments. But a designer of the environment where people can perform, grow, and want to stay.
From my experience, the essential competencies of a strategic HR partner:
Business literacy. Understanding numbers, seeing connections between turnover and P&L, understanding how culture affects performance.
Culture as a tool. Being able to read it, measure it, manage it, and align it with the company’s objectives. Not emotionally, but methodically.
Courage to tell uncomfortable truths. Being able to say “this will not work” before it shows in turnover or declining results.
Facilitating change. The ability to lead difficult conversations, structure discussions, and manage team reflections and actual implementations.
This is not a nice-to-have toolkit. This is a fundamental skill set for anyone who wants to truly influence HR today.
What now? What to do with it?
At Kogi, we help companies make exactly this shift: from HR as an operation to HR as an executive part of the strategy.
We start with a diagnosis of reality. We help build a strategy that has direction, clear priorities, and specific activities. And most importantly: together with the company, we ensure that the strategy is truly lived.
📩 Reach out to me at filip.hurda@kogi.cz
📎 Or write directly on LinkedIn
Together we will find out how your HR is doing and what it needs to become a driving force for change. Not in the next quarter. But right now.