As an HR Business Partner, you need to have a serious interest in the business strategy

In the HR Podcast on HR innovation and leadership, Toine Al and Ruud Coumans talk to Lotte de Burlet, who has been Director of HR Advisory at Exact for two years. Lotte's responsibilities include the development of HR Business Partners at Exact and helping to professionalise HR further.

Some sound bites from the interview with Lotte:

Innovation is in Exact's DNA. It's therefore a very important pillar of our strategy. It's a necessity to stay relevant to our customers of course, but continued innovation is also important for our colleagues. HR really makes our colleagues' growth and development a priority, now and for the future. We do this firstly by offering a range of development options and secondly, we talk to our leaders a lot about how they can help their team members in this growth. We encourage colleagues to grow within the organisation. This growth can be either vertical or horizontal. They can switch to another discipline – from Customer Success to Marketing, for example. We use career journeys to clearly show the paths you can follow at Exact and the skills and competences you need for them.

When I switched to HR in 2016, an HR colleague of mine told me at the time that HR really is a profession. By that she meant that I shouldn't take my decision lightly. And she was right: you have to learn several of the role's content-related aspects on the job. For me, that is the foundation. However, it is also incredibly important that you have a feel for it, you have a serious interest in the business strategy and you understand how to get people on board. You also have to be curious about what else is happening in the world around you.

If you want HR to 'have a proper seat at the table', you need to make it relevant. You need to have a good understanding of the business strategy and the world around you, both in terms of HR and the business. To do this, it's important that you know your business stakeholders well; you know what drives them, and you also know in what areas you can help them. You can also make a difference by offering other insights, sometimes from the outside.

The HR Business Partner is truly a Business Partner. Every member of the Executive Committee, our management, works together with their own Business Partner to realise Exact's strategy. They set the people agenda together, so they are in very close contact. The role of an HR Business Partner is that of a true partner, so you need to be comfortable coming to the table as an equal of the management, which isn't always easy as the hierarchical difference tends to persist. It's important to be a good listener, and you also act as the organisation's conscience. You can't be afraid to say things, even if the message is less than positive.

Stay interested in the strategy and your stakeholders, delve into the HR processes, and understand what steps you need to take to maximise your impact with the people agenda. Partnership is key. You shape the strategy together, so you need to keep working on that relationship.

Listen to the full podcast here.