We live and work in changing times – times where the only certainty is that things are uncertain, and will continue to be so. External market and societal forces, especially in the wake of Brexit, mean the people aspect of organisations becomes ever more important. For organisations to create sustainable success in lean times, they need to be able to access and harness the collective power of the people who work for them.
All this means HR should be more influential than ever, bringing the critical people aspects of business into boardroom conversations; but in many organisations it is not. Those HR directors we celebrate in this year’s HR Most Influential rankings, the 11th year of HRMI, are making a difference to their organisations and the people that work within and with them. And those thinkers who make the top 30 HR Most Influential Thinkers list are pushing and supporting HR practitioners to go even further in creating sustainable and thriving workplaces.
As HR Most Influential enters its next phase, following our 10-year anniversary celebrations last year, we have continued to refine the process to ensure the lists remain as credible, and the people on them as influential, as ever. This year, we commissioned Ashridge Business School to undertake some research on the concept of influence, and we asked the HR directors in our HR in the Boardroom network about what influence in HR means to them. Using this, we came up with eight factors of influence, which we believe comprise influence in HR, and which we used to compile the HR Most Influential practitioners main ranking and sector listings. You can read more about them here.
The HRDs on the Most Influential lists are role models of how influential HR can be, whether it’s in delivering success through people to their own organisations, contributing to the governance of external organisations via NED positions, or giving back to the function at large through sharing knowledge, mentoring others and engaging with the profession more widely. They are shining beacons of the value HR can add.
We couldn’t run HR Most Influential without our partners: payroll and HR consultancy provider SD Worx, which has supported HR Most Influential since day one, and Open University Business School. Plus, our research partner Ashridge Business School, who has helped us redefine what influence means and also carried out a hefty research project looking at all the HRDs in the FTSE 100, and many outside of it. We thank our partners, and hope you enjoy the HR Most Influential website.
Katie Jacobs is editor of HR magazine
