While CHROs may be well-versed in the nuances of HR and confident experts in their own discipline, these accomplished HR experts acknowledge that they often lag behind as corporate experts. Seven in 10 (69%) of first-year CHROs we surveyed said they wish they’d known how to better partner with the board upon assuming their role, and more than one in five CHROs wish they’d known how to work with the C-suite.

These findings have important implications for their development, suggesting CHROs could benefit from more exposure to boards and the C-suite earlier in their careers. More board exposure — coupled with a stronger focus on cross-functional experiences, participation in non-HR initiatives, and relationship-building with other successors and emerging leaders — could help HR leaders strengthen their relationships and cross-functional acumen as they enter the C-suite.  This could lead to more fruitful executive and board interactions and allow CHROs to gain the vital experiences and business and industry knowledge that come only through collaborating with non-HR functions and greater exposure to enterprise-wide and other functional business challenges. Finding opportunities to work with other leaders and senior executives across their organization can also help combat another significant challenge facing CHROs: isolation.

A recurring theme in the survey responses — troubling and ironic — is that while CHROs are strong advocates for mentoring and coaching for others, they themselves are often overlooked and fail to receive this critical support. Without coaching and mentoring, CHROs may miss vital development opportunities and feel depleted, compromising their ability to continue supporting the C-suite and others in their organization. As one respondent lamented, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

However, ensuring CHROs have adequate support structures to aid their development and help them feel connected is sometimes more complicated. HR leaders’ access to sensitive information can affect their ability to form relationships — they may feel restricted when soliciting help or advice, limited by the “cone of silence” that often surrounds leaders who occupy a role where data privacy and discretion are paramount. And CHROs’ dual role as the HR Business Partner to the senior-most executives in the organization may lead those executives to relate to CHROs with some degree of caution or formality. Perhaps for this reason, HR leaders do some of their most productive networking and development with fellow HR leaders outside their organization, executive coaches, and consultants focused on supporting their resilience and effectiveness.

The Five Key Attributes for Successfully Leading the People Function is still essential reading for CHROs, whether newly minted or seasoned veterans. These foundational attributes have stood the test of time, but new skills will be needed as the CHRO role evolves. CHROs can complement those foundational traits by actively cultivating new skills to heighten their impact in the first 100 days and beyond. 

Our survey findings point to the evolving role of the CHRO as a futurist — looking to tomorrow and confronting change and disruption with innovation and insight. The majority of CHROs in our survey believe the future of their role demands more strategic management skills and better utilization of analytics and technology, and nearly eight in 10 expect the need to lead more strategically in the face of greater disruption. For top HR leaders, this will translate to confidently predicting the talent and skills needed to move their business forward, identifying the exposure and experiences necessary to nurture and develop that talent, choosing technology that will raise productivity while freeing team members up to focus on more strategic and less operational work, and helping their organizations overcome new challenges as work transforms and the velocity of change increases. In the wake of changes experienced during the past several years — and in anticipation of more changes and challenges ahead — CHROs are left to wonder, am I prepared for these challenges? What am I doing now to address them? And how can I be more effective? 

To ensure HR leaders propel — rather than hinder — the transformation efforts underway to help make their organizations more flexible and responsive, the CHRO role and its attendant leadership skills must evolve. Ensuring the right support mechanisms are in place and establishing a network for HR leaders to share best practices — along with giving emerging HR leaders and other high-potential team members exposure to digital transformation and technology innovation — can help HR leaders gain insights into applying technology and other (nonhuman) resources to create positive change, greater flexibility and optimal performance.