Learn how to step into the boardroom with greater influence and shape strategic conversations that drive meaningful impact across the business, from an expert who has advised organisations including Apple, the UN and BHP.

Engaging with the board is a critical skill for HR leaders — but navigating board dynamics isn’t always straightforward.

With only one per cent of Australian board directors coming from an HR background according to new research, it’s crucial for HR leaders to deepen their understanding of the board’s perspective to elevate their strategic influence.

In this episode of AHRI’s podcast Let’s Take This Offline, host Tani Jacobi CPHR speaks with Dr Juliet Bourke, a global authority on human capital, inclusive leadership and governance. With experience advising hundreds of organisations — including Apple, the UN and BHP — and a decade as a Human Capital Deloitte Partner, Dr Bourke brings unique insight into what boards expect from HR. 

In the full podcast episode, Dr Bourke shares her perspective on how HR leaders can be more successful in boardroom conversations, sharpen their value and drive impactful strategy that moves the business forward.

Below, HRM has outlined an excerpt from the conversation.

Reframing HR insights for the board

Tani Jacobi CPHR: How can HR shift from being seen as enablers of change to co-authors of business strategy? Are there any insights that elevate the perceived value of HR in a board conversation?

Dr Juliet Bourke: You’ve got to bring home your bread and butter; you’ve got to be able to do workforce. That is just a given. But it’s about showing how the conversation around workforce intersects with whatever piece of strategy is current for the board. 

So if the board’s thinking about digital, how is the workforce strategy enabling or intersecting with that digital conversation? If there’s a growth strategy, how is the workforce enabled? Does it have the capability? Are the right people in the right places? 

Fundamentally, it’s always a conversation for the board about value creation and value destruction. By value creation, that’s a strategy of growth, innovation or transformation, and how human capability fits within that broader conversation. 

Value destruction is all about the risks. So how can HR be part of that conversation as well?

Boardroom dynamics

Tani Jacobi CPHR: Understanding boardroom dynamics not only shapes how we show up in the room, but also how we communicate our messages and ensure we communicate with influence. How would you advise HR leaders to assess those dynamics to make sure their message is landing?

Dr Juliet Bourke: You do need to get to know the individuals on the board. 

But, let’s assume you can’t. Then you might try and take an approach to cover the field with whatever perspective you put forward. Instead of playing to the individual, you’re trying to show diversity of thinking in your approach. 

The model I’ve developed captures how people dominantly think about things in six different ways. Some people are very outcome-focused. Just show me what this is going to achieve. That would be a person who asks, ‘Where’s that strategy going to go in five years’? 

Someone else on the board might be very risk-oriented. Someone else might be more process-focused. How is this going to happen? Someone else might be a bit more evidence-based, or they might be more options-based, or they might be more people-based. 

If you have something that touches on each of those perspectives – outcomes, options, risk, evidence, people and process – in your board report, then you can be sure each board member is engaged in what you’re saying, even if you don’t know them personally.

Being able to present the hard truths

Tani Jacobi CPHR: Are there particular things you think HR leaders should be focusing on to build credibility with their board members?

Dr Juliet Bourke: They want to be able to trust you will tell them the difficult messages. That obviously creates risk for you. 

But you actually build trust when you say to the board, ‘This is not great, but this is how we’re going to deal with it’. If you always present a positive story to the board – ‘We’re having our best-ever engagement scores again’ – then the board is going to ask more and more questions.

You have to go honestly to the board and give them the light and shade in the way the business is traveling. When I have found out about challenging things out later down the track, I’ve been much more disappointed than if I was told upfront. 

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

Listen to the full episode here