Working with difficult stakeholders as a HRBP
You get your first HR Business Partner role. You’re super excited. You meet the people you’re going to be aligned to and will be business partnering and it soon becomes clear that it’s going to be a tricky relationship with one of them. This has been my experience so it does happen! I’m happy to say that by doing the things I’m going to talk about here, I was able to turn things around and by the time I left the role we had a brilliant working relationship.
There will be people who think they don’t need HR, they don’t value HR, they’re too busy to talk to you and they don’t think they have anything to talk to you about. Your aim should always to become a trusted partner to the point that they won’t do anything people related, or make decisions about people without speaking to you first. What does it mean to be a trusted partner? You want them to use you as a sounding board for things, to ask for your advice and value your input on people related topics. That they don’t do anything people related without speaking to you first.
So how on earth do you get past that point when everything just feels incredibly difficult right now?
Before I dive into the actions here’s your reminder that you’re good enough. You can do this. I know that when you first take that step up into a HR BP role you want to prove yourself and show people you can do it. Difficult stakeholders are not a reflection of you, it is a reflection of them. This is your first challenge as a HRBP and chances are you will come across this time and time again as you navigate your HR career.
Let’s get into the things you can do to turn this relationship around.
Well, the first tip is to be Persistent and Consistent. They will cancel meetings, they will try to reschedule meetings. If that happens I would do everything you can to keep the meeting in the diary, always reschedule rather than cancel and if they push it too far out then really insist on meeting them sooner. If they have a PA / EA it can always help to get them on side. At the end of the day you can’t build a relationship with the person if you don’t ever speak to them.
Regular meetings are important and give you an opportunity to ask questions, talk about things the HR team are working on and really get to understand what their challenges are. It may feel like pushing water uphill sometimes to even get the time in the diary but keep going, don’t give up!
Get to know the business area - Whilst you are building the relationship with the individual you must get to know the business area they are responsible for. You can shadow people in the team, attend meetings, ask questions, read documents and presentations. You should aim to able to articulate what the business area does, how the department is structured, what each team is responsible for and what the objectives are for the team / department. Knowing these things will significantly help you in your conversations and will enable you to align the people goals to their business goals.
Get buy in from the team around the stakeholders - You may not be directly aligned to managers within the team to business partner them on a regular basis it is a good idea to get to know them as much as you can. Build rapport with them, talk to them about the people issues on their mind. You may find it easier to build the relationship with them. I have no doubt that in turn they will be mentioning you to their boss!
Identify quick wins - From these conversations with line managers you will probably be talking about people issues, challenges the managers have been struggling with. There are normally quick, easy things that can be done to reduce some of the pain points. I would definitely recommend working on those to show the value you can add, even if it is on a smaller scale.
What should you be talking to them about when you do actually get to speak to them?
I saw a post in a HR Facebook group not that long ago and someone new into the HRBP role wanted to create an agenda. I can understand why they would want to do that being new into the role but I wouldn’t have a set agenda, mainly because it’s not really my style.
So what should you talk to them about in your first couple of meetings?
Themselves. People love talking about themselves so start the conversation asking about how their weekend was, where did they go on holiday last week. Mention your children and ask if they have any. Get to know them as a person. At the end of the day we are all people with families and personal lives. Don’t be intimidated if they are initially giving off vibes that they have somewhere better to be. They will eventually defrost a bit! Relationships are so important to be able to deliver your best work down the line, to be able to challenge in a safe environment.
Their Expectations - What would they like to get from the conversations every month? If they’re not sure then it’s your opportunity to set out your stall. That you are there to support them with all aspects of the people journey, to create a seamless people experience that ensures people can deliver their best performance and stay with the company. That your remit covers everything from the people you hire, to development, performance management, to making sure there is a positive exit when people leave. Let them know that it’s their opportunity every month to sit and really think about the people aspect of their role. Explain that you don’t need to talk about all of these topics every month but you’d love to get involved in their people challenges, future thoughts, anything that is rumbling and really anything related to people where they think you can add value. Talk to them about moving towards a people plan in place so you can track key initiatives as they come up. You’ll also keep them informed of things that are happening at a company / group level and you can discuss the impacts they might have on their department.
Their Challenges - You need to know what stuff is keeping them awake at night….so ask them, don’t be afraid. They may be worried about people leaving because a competitor has started paying more, they may be concerned that they need to move in a different direction and they don’t have the capability internally to deliver, they may be concerned about the performance of the Sales team. Finding these things out is gold for you as a HRBP because you can start to think about how you can support with these things. (Strategic thinking and strategic HR is a whole other topic we need to cover!)
I hope these initial pointers are a good start to get you going!