CSR And Human Capital Management

A newly appointed CHRO recently asked us a question that many HR leaders face: "Where should I begin transforming my HR function, with vision or action?" It's a deceptively simple question with real consequences. Vision without action creates cynicism. Action without vision creates random, unguided work. In our latest article, my colleague Norm Smallwood and I make the case that the answer is both, and we offer a practical roadmap for getting there. We outline seven steps that move HR beyond the familiar goal of "strategic HR" to what we call "stakeholder HR," where the function anticipates and creates the future by engaging directly with customers, investors, and communities, not just employees and executives. What struck us most in developing this framework is how often HR transformation stalls at strategy. Many HR functions do excellent work aligning with business priorities, but fewer take the next step of asking external stakeholders what they actually want and need from the organization's human capability. When HR leaders make that shift from looking in a mirror to looking through a window, the impact on stakeholder commitment is remarkable. We share a human capability taxonomy, practical templates for stakeholder interviews, and a prioritization framework that helps teams focus on the initiatives that deliver the most value. This isn't a future prediction. It's a present practice that we've seen work with clients navigating real transformation. How are you approaching the transformation of your HR function? Are you leading with vision, action, or finding ways to do both? I'd love to hear what's working and what challenges you're facing.

There’s no such thing as an equitable equity structure in Professional Services. In every Partnership or management equity plan, there are winners and losers. More often than not, it’s the next generation of leaders, Principals, Senior Managers, high-performing non-equity Partners, who end up subsidizing the upside of those who came before them. They’re driving growth, taking on commercial risk, managing key client relationships… all while waiting for a seat at the table that keeps getting further out of reach, or never arrives at all. Meanwhile, legacy Partners continue to benefit from discretionary bonus schemes, outdated profit shares, and retirement-triggered liquidity events, none of which reflect current contribution or value creation. And this isn’t just an issue of fairness. These legacy structures are actively holding firms back, creating misalignment, eroding retention, and exposing serious risk around succession and leadership continuity. But the model is changing, and fast. Drawing on data from over 200 firms that have moved beyond traditional Partnerships, we’ve found that more than 60% of non-equity leaders in PE-backed firms now participate in structured value sharing programs. In many cases, we’ve seen payouts of 3x or more base salary at exit, without a single share being issued. Tools like phantom equity, B-units, and deferred bonuses with uplift multipliers have become standard in high growth platforms. These models reward real performance, strengthen retention across the investment cycle, and scale with the business, without the complexity or dilution of conventional equity. So, what’s driving the shift? A sharper alignment between compensation and business performance. A stronger emphasis on succession planning and leadership development. And, perhaps most importantly, a growing recognition that “wait your turn” is not a viable talent strategy. Firms that fail to evolve are losing their best people to platforms that offer clarity, upside, and a genuine pathway to long-term reward. At a time when leadership talent is harder to retain than ever, compensation needs to reflect future value creation, not just past loyalty. The firms that get this right aren’t just staying competitive, they’re building cultures that scale.

Many changes fail, even though brilliantly orchestrated, because people fail to be committed to the change or to take ownership of it. In chapter 6 "Fostering Commitment and Ownership" of the new edition of my book "Managing and Leading People through Organizational Change" Nicole Gahagan, EdD shares her experience of how a failing change can be turned around when effort is focused on gaining commitment and understanding from employees. While Hayden Swerling outlines the importance of understanding stakeholders and their perspectices in a family owned business in Singapore. To foster commitment and ownership here are some of the practical approaches outlined in the chapter which you may want to explore further: ✅ Encourage a diversity of voices and perspectives by asking questions such as: o  Who else do we need to involve o  What other parts of organization could help with this? o  Who has a view on this issue/opportunity that we don’t? How should we connect with them? o  What can we do to foster collaboration and connection across the organization? ✅ Actively seek to gain commitment to change The management of change is an activity that involves engaging and gaining commitment from individuals. Managers will need to identify in advance those individuals who are likely to react positively to change and ask their advice and assistance in planning and implementing change. ✅ Identify and manage stakeholders A stakeholder analysis should be conducted to identify key influencers of the change as well ask individuals and teams who will be impacted by it, as early as possible, and then draw up an action plan for engaging stakeholders. This plan should include how stakeholders will be communicated with in order to ensure that they fully understand what is happening and to understand the benefits of the change, so that they can actively support it . ✅ Build a network of committed advocates The following three critical steps can be taken to get more employees involved and committed to a transformation. First, elevate a core segment of employees to take responsibility for designing and implementing change. Next, build on this strong foundation by empowering a broader group of influencers and managers to amplify transformation-related activities. Finally, make sure transformation sponsors play a critical role in energizing all employees about the change. Kogan Page Publishing Ann-Marie Blake Jessica Crow Emma Earl Camilla Hemström Jennifer Hoe David Howell Nick Kemp Kimberly Shaw Richard Tomkinson Joe Ferner-Reeves

Most HR teams focus on tasks. Few focus on strategy. Here’s a classic framework that puts people first: The Harvard Model of HRM One of the most influential ‘soft HR’ models ever built. Here’s what it’s all about — and how to use it: The Core Idea: HR isn’t just admin. It’s about aligning people, strategy, and stakeholders for long-term impact. This model breaks it down into 5 key components: 1. Stakeholder Interests Think beyond management and owners. Employees, unions, the community: They all shape HR decisions. 2. Situational Factors HR doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Market conditions, tech, law, and company culture all influence HR policy. 3. HRM Policy Choices Decide how people are hired, rewarded, and managed. The model says: Balance work systems and reward systems to get it right. 4. HR Outcomes – the 4 Cs The goal is more than payroll. You want: i) Commitment ii) Competence iii) Congruence iv) Cost-effectiveness 5. Long-Term Consequences Great HR builds: Competitive advantage, employee wellbeing, and societal impact. Poor HR? You lose all three. Strengths of the Model A) Considers all key stakeholders B) Encourages long-term thinking C) Empowers line managers D) Balances internal + external context It’s not a plug-and-play solution. But it’s a powerful lens to design HR strategy with clarity and purpose. P.S. Which of the HR aspects do you think is key? ♻️ Repost to make HR not about admin but people.

If you’re in HR, you know what it’s like to: - Have legitimate business concerns dismissed as “fluffy” nice-to-haves - Sit in a room full of senior executives who think your only job is to plan fun parties and (ironically) act as the fun police - Partner with a stakeholder who constantly goes around you, only to call you in when it’s time for damage control If you’re tired of being perceived as “out of touch” with business needs, you’re not alone. The sad reality is: Most business leaders dismiss their HR counterparts before they’ve even entered the room. Maybe they’ve had bad experiences partnering with HRBPs in the past, maybe they’re convinced you don’t understand their team’s needs (after all: what could an HR professional possibly know about what it takes to run an efficient Sales team?), or maybe they believe the People function is strictly responsible for payroll and benefits (nothing else!), and therefore wish you would kindly take a step back and stop infringing on their territory. Whatever the reason, most HR professionals face an uphill battle when partnering with stakeholders. And difficult though it is to accept, just yelling at people to drop their preconceived notions and take you seriously usually doesn’t work. Which means that HR professionals looking to make an impact need to approach stakeholder buy-in more thoughtfully. My favorite approach? Start by learning everything there is to know about your audience, and then leverage that knowledge to demonstrate exactly the kind of expertise and value you bring to the table. Not sure where to start? Here are 4 questions to bring to your next stakeholder check-in: 1. What are the most significant risks on your team right now, and what are you doing about it? 2. Who are your strongest players, and what are you doing to retain them? 3. What are your top 3 priorities this quarter, and what’s going to make or break your chances of success? 4. And if you’re feeling extra bold: What’s the best and worst relationship you ever had with an HRBP, and what role did you play in its success or failure? Not only do these questions show you mean business, they’ll also get you a whole lot of valuable information you can then lean on to demonstrate your expertise as you help them tackle challenges, achieve goals, and avoid critical risks. Want to learn more about how to effectively partner with leadership stakeholders? Sign up for my webinar, happening tomorrow at 2pm EST / 11am PST. Register here: https://hubs.la/Q03NtkgP0

Same business model. Very different outcomes. When leadership compensation is low and employee wages are high — turnover drops. When executive pay soars and worker wages stagnate — instability follows. This isn’t just about retail. It’s about philosophy. At Un/Do Mindset, we talk about this often: What does equitable and ethical pay actually look like? Not performative equity. Not inspirational quotes. Actual numbers. Years ago, I worked on a business plan for a high school with a brilliant single mom. When we talked teacher salaries, we didn’t ask, “What’s market rate?” We asked: “What would you need to earn to be sustainably independent?” That was our floor. Six years ago, we landed at $100k. Because survival shouldn’t be the bar. Stability should. Poverty isn’t healthy for anyone. It dysregulates nervous systems. It impacts cognition. It shrinks capacity. It limits long-term thinking. You cannot build psychologically safe systems on financial instability. Whatever profits my LLC generates one day won’t pool at the top. They’ll be divided equally among everyone sitting at the table building it. Because if we believe in shared mission, we believe in shared reward. Compensation is culture. Pay structures are values in numeric form. If we want healthy organizations, we have to build healthy economic models. Not just inspiring ones.

“Irina, how do I STOP our employees from posting on social?” “Why would you want to?” Truth is, less than 7% of people click on ads but nearly 70% act when a peer recommends something. People trust people more than brands. Advocacy scales your reach through authentic, human voices in ways your corporate account never will. Johnson Financial Group leaned into this. Their advisors wanted to post but were stuck with compliance concerns, time constraints, fear of saying the wrong thing. So instead of locking it down, they removed friction with Hootsuite: → Pre-approved, compliance-vetted content → Sharing that takes seconds, not hours → Mobile access (even unlocking Instagram, previously blocked on corporate laptops). They generated 314% higher engagement than the financial services average and 1.6M impressions on a key campaign (4x benchmark). Your employees want to advocate for your brand but most just don’t know what’s safe to say… especially in highly regulated industries. Give them the tools, create the guardrails, and stop treating employee voices as a risk to contain. In moments of opportunity or crisis, an engaged network of advocates amplifies your message faster than any comms team could alone. -- What's your take? Are employees a risk to manage or a distribution channel? 👇

Recent market fluctuations based on underlying issues of AI adoption, along with the impact of displacement in the labor market, provide a leadership opportunity for every CHRO and CEO. AI hyperscales human thought. It also creates a massive velocity gap. It accelerates the leaders and teams who are prepared, while quietly sidelining those who haven't been given a path to participate. AI investments must prioritize individual empowerment, ensuring technology acts as an extension of the person rather than a replacement. If your organization lacks a clear, written, and shared Human Plan of Record for AI, you aren't just behind - you’re missing the opportunity. A Human Plan of Record for AI must operationalize three critical pillars: 1️⃣ The Narrative Path: Every employee needs to understand how they continue to build a livelihood, even as roles evolve. Without a clear vision, AI adoption will face a wall of resistance, or simple confusion at scale. 2️⃣ The Practical Path: How AI augments work today - not in a vague future. We must define the new interface between human intuition and machine speed, beyond workflows. 3️⃣ The Economic Path: We must ensure human contribution remains at the center of value creation in an AI-accelerated economy; a notion that boards need to see and so do shareholders. This isn’t just a workforce initiative. It’s an economic initiative. It’s a trust initiative. It’s a leadership initiative. HR must be the centerpiece of these efforts - the intersection where behavioral science and economic models meet. The organizations that succeed in the next decade won’t be the ones with a focus exclusively on AI efficiency gains. They’ll be the ones with the clearest human plan. CHROs and CEOs: Write. Share. Operationalize your Human Plan of Record for AI. Your people - and our broader economy - are counting on such complete thoughts by leaders. #AI #Leadership #HumanCapital #NACD

A reflection of my journey in DBA. Measure Twice, Cut Once: The Precision Principle in Talent Development “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.” – Wyatt Earp In carpentry, “Measure twice, cut once” is more than pragmatic—it’s philosophical. Yet in Talent Development, where speed often masquerades as agility, this principle is frequently overlooked. Those of us seasoned in this field know: Every learning experience can either catalyze careers—or compromise confidence. And we don’t get do-overs when trust is broken or relevance is missed. Capability Building Demands Intentionality Unlike products, people don’t tolerate endless beta testing. One careless rollout can erode learning culture, dilute impact, and disengage talent. As learning architects, our actions ripple across teams, functions, and culture. That’s why context, alignment, and precision are non-negotiable. Before we “cut”—before launching programs—we must “measure”: - Real business need, not assumptions - Organizational readiness, not leadership pressure - Learning maturity, not LMS data - Learner sentiment, not just surveys “When you build without listening, you design for irrelevance.” Misalignment Is a Talent Risk We’ve all seen it: - Leadership journeys built globally but detached locally - HiPo frameworks tied only to performance - Content-rich sessions with zero workplace resonance Result? Participation without progression. Learning without loyalty. These aren’t tactical missteps—they’re strategic risks. They teach people that development is decorative, not transformative. Talent Developers as Growth Architects To measure twice and cut once is not perfectionism—it’s human-centric design. We must see ourselves as: - Workforce ethnographers - Capability economists - Culture translators Our credibility lies in thoughtful precision—not frantic execution. Design with Empathy. Deliver with Evidence. As skills expire faster than job titles, we must ask: - Are we solving a problem—or filling a calendar? - Are we activating potential—or delivering content? - Are we co-creating—or repackaging templates? Every module, coaching moment, or learning journey is a declaration: “You matter—and we intend to get this right.” A Call to Purposeful Action In our quest for agility, let’s not amputate accuracy. In our push for innovation, let’s preserve intention. “The best L&D professionals don’t do the most—they do the right things, with precision, purpose, and respect for people.” Let’s measure twice. Cut once. And in doing so, craft futures—not just frameworks. #TalentDevelopment #L&DStrategy #MeasureTwiceCutOnce #OrganizationalDevelopment #PeopleDevelopment #LearningCulture #LeadershipDevelopment