HR/Top management

A question that most of us ask and I have heard over and over again is: Why the HR doesn't have a seat on the decision makers table to have a say on strategic matters??

The simple answer is: "It all depends on the leadership style of the top management"; you can be a strong HR but can have constraints to take the HR role to the next level, if :

- The leader on top is not educated about HR and what impact it can have on the organization; changing paradigm is not something easy to do mainly with old school people.

- Empowerment if not completely given, or even if it's "forcibly" taken, is another type of constraint to have a control freak manager who doesn't trust people around and everything is linked to him/her decision...and solely.

- If the top manager has limited capacity or not visionary enough to take his/her organization to the next level, how would you take your department or even your own role.??!!....most likely this type of organization shouldn't have an HR, yet, in our part of the world sometimes it is a prestige, they hire people to do the "nasty" job with no difference at the HR level.

- Another type of resistance HR people may face is the top management towards the development of HR processes, training, with some other spending, for reasons that can vary from cash problems, threat of cultural change, threat of losing people to the competition, ...and many many other ones.

I have worked with various types of leadership, and lived many change management periods and roles all over my career ...and still. I can tell you that I've been the same person everywhere but with a significant change at the level of my motivation, productivity, missions, role, thinking, learning ...the expectations and achievements were different because of the leader I've worked with, specially that the HR function is usually close enough to the top management ...

It requires always two to tango...whether you have a strong leader with poor HR, or a strong HR with poor top management leadership, it's the same, it will lead nowhere. Both roles should be aligned on the current and future plans, one can't be faster than the other, they both need to provide a mutual support ..because each is working to defend the same vision to reach the same end results; so when the "common ground" is not clear, unstable, not defined or not communicated...then comes the "divorce". :)