The role of the HR business partner is more important than ever, now that there are more demands on HR to add value. And more leaders are realizing that by making better use of their employees, they can better achieve the profitability goals of the business.

In addition, more of the transactional HR work is being outsourced, so HR is not only able to focus more on the strategic side of the business but is also being asked to make a strategic contribution and develop people strategies that clearly add value to bottom-line results. This is the role of the human resources business partner.

A strategic HR business partner works closely with other business leaders influencing strategy, steering its implementation, and making the best use of the organization's people. The HR business partner role is more of a consultative role. Human resource business partners have clients within the organization to whom they provide services and build relationships focused on the vision and objectives of the organization with much less focus on compliance and administration.

Research shows considerable agreement between business leaders and HR professionals as to the preferred vision for HR:

• Business leaders want HR to be making visible, meaningful contributions to the business strategy
• HR professionals want to be managing the organization's HR processes so that they have a significant impact on the success of their organizations

Unfortunately, however, there are many HR departments that are seen as processing transactions vs. turning their internal customers' strategies into the HR department’s priorities in order to deliver desired outcomes

Today's HR business partners need to be:

• internal customer focused - knowledgeable of their customer's expectations and needs
• strategic - offering services aligned with their customer’s expectations and the business strategy
• change-oriented - continuously improving those HR services for their customers’ benefit

Making the significant transition from the traditional to the strategic HR role is best accomplished by adhering to an HR Internal Service Improvement Process that involves:

• Identifying HR's primary customer(s)
• Seeking customer feedback utilizing a SWOT analysis, Internal Customer Report Card, Service Level Agreements, and/or I/P Matrix
• Sharing that customer feedback with the employees in the department
• Creating a strategic service improvement plan based on that customer feedback
• Developing standards of performance for key HR Moments of Truth & processes
• Recognizing and rewarding customer-oriented behavior from HR department employees and keeping the HR Internal Service Improvement Process ‘alive’.