CHROs and People leaders occupy an unusual position inside organizations. They are responsible for developing leaders, strengthening teams, shaping culture, navigating difficult organizational dynamics, and increasingly helping the business prepare for enormous changes in technology, talent and the future of work.
Yet they are often among the last leaders to receive that same level of investment themselves.
I see this frequently in my work with senior HR leaders.
Recently, I was coaching a seasoned CHRO - let’s call her Mary - who is deeply respected across her organization. She develops talent exceptionally well, helps leaders navigate difficult conversations, and has become someone others rely on when situations become complex.
Her Lumina Spark® leadership assessment reinforced what we already knew: Mary has a strong people orientation. She genuinely cares about the success of others and derives tremendous satisfaction from helping people grow, succeed and advance.
As we reviewed her assessment, she paused. “I spend so much time championing everyone else,” she said. “I don't know how to champion myself.”
That insight became an important turning point.
Mary was creating significant value across the organization, but she wasn't consistently translating that value into the language of the CEO and executive team. She wanted a stronger strategic partnership with the CEO, but she wasn't always initiating the conversations, bringing forward the insights, or connecting her work directly enough to the company's most important business priorities.
And Mary is far from alone.
The CHRO Influence Gap
Recent SHRM research highlights an important disconnect: only 32% of CEOs say they view their CHRO as a strategic business partner in the C-suite.
The same research found that 61% of CEOs identify financial acumen as an important area for CHROs to develop to better support their organizations.
This doesn't mean CHROs aren't creating strategic value. Quite often, they are. The opportunity is to make that value more visible, more measurable and more directly connected to the priorities that matter most to the business.
And that requires CHROs to think about their role differently.
The Modern HR Mandate Is Much Bigger Than HR
One of the first exercises Mary and I worked through was mapping the true scope of her role.
Rather than viewing HR primarily through the traditional lens of talent processes, benefits, employee relations, compliance and functional HR, we organized her work into three strategic areas:
1. Workforce Strategy - Do we have the people, capabilities, structure, succession plans and workforce model required to execute the company's strategy—not just today, but over the next several years?
2. Leadership, Team & Culture Development - Are our leaders and teams capable of operating at the level the business now requires? Where are leadership behaviors, organizational dynamics or culture accelerating—or constraining—performance?
3. Functional HR - Are the foundational systems of HR—talent acquisition, compensation, benefits, performance management, employee relations, compliance and HR operations—working effectively and supporting the business?
Seeing her work this way changed Mary's perspective. She wasn't simply leading HR. She was influencing the organization's ability to execute its strategy through its people.
This distinction matters.
A Practical Exercise for CHROs
Take your current priorities and put each one into one of those three categories. Then ask yourself: What business outcome does this work enable?
Instead of: “We're redesigning our leadership development program.”
Translate it into: “We're building the leadership capability required to scale the organization without increasing execution risk.”
Instead of: “We're working on succession planning.”
Translate it into: “We're reducing business continuity risk in our most critical leadership positions.”
Instead of: “We're addressing engagement.”
Ask: “Where is disengagement affecting retention, productivity, customer experience or our ability to execute?”
This isn't simply a communication exercise. It changes how HR thinks about its own work, and this what a critical shift the enabled Mary to see her own work in a different way, making is possible to communicate her value in more powerful terms.
Move From Reporting HR Activity to Interpreting Business Risk and Opportunity
The most influential CHROs don't only report what is happening with people. They help the executive team understand what it means for the business.
That requires fluency in the organization's strategy, financial model and operating priorities.
SHRM's research reinforces this point: CHROs can strengthen their C-suite influence by connecting workforce strategy directly to business goals, increasing financial and technology fluency, and using data to communicate organizational impact.
That means bringing questions like these into executive conversations:
- Where will our current leadership capability constrain growth?
- What workforce assumptions are embedded in our strategic plan?
- Where is organizational friction slowing execution?
- What will our growth strategy require from our leaders that isn't required today?
- Where are turnover, capacity, culture or capability creating measurable financial risk?
- What people investments will create the greatest return against our business priorities?
When HR begins framing issues this way, the conversation changes.
You're no longer advocating for an HR initiative. You're bringing workforce intelligence to a business decision.
But There Is Another Side to CHRO Development
Business acumen alone isn't enough. The work we did with Mary also became deeply personal.
Because knowing what you should say in the executive room and having the confidence to actually say it are two different things.
Many senior People leaders have spent years becoming exceptional listeners, advisors, facilitators and advocates for others. Those capabilities are enormous strengths. But at the executive level, there are moments when the CHRO must also challenge, interrupt, advocate, disagree, make an uncomfortable request or hold a position that others may not initially want to hear.
That requires a different dimension of leadership development. It requires knowing what you believe and feeling the confidence to stand behind it.
Developing the Leader Behind the CHRO
This is where we brought our Integrated Intelligence™ work into Mary's coaching. We worked not only on executive presence, strategic communication and financial fluency, but also on the internal patterns influencing how she showed up.
We explored where she was holding back, where she was seeking permission, where old beliefs were affecting her confidence, and how she could regulate her own energy and nervous system before important conversations.
We practiced meditation and energy-management techniques, voice and presentation skills, and new ways of preparing for high-stakes conversations.
The goal wasn't to turn Mary into a louder leader.
It was to help her become a more grounded, intentional and courageous version of the leader she already was.
That distinction is important.
Who Develops the People Developing Everyone Else?
There is an irony in HR leadership.
CHROs are often responsible for coaching programs, leadership development, succession planning, culture, organizational effectiveness and the growth of hundreds—or thousands—of people.
Yet their own development can easily move to the bottom of the list.
SHRM's research reflects some of that pressure: 34% of CHROs identified workload management or work/life integration as their biggest ongoing personal challenge.
The people responsible for organizational capacity need capacity themselves. The people coaching everyone else need places where they can be coached.
And the people helping other leaders navigate complexity need somewhere they can put down the role of advisor and focus entirely on their own leadership.
Three Questions Worth Asking Yourself
If you're a CHRO or senior People leader, consider:
1. Can I clearly articulate how my work contributes to our company's strategic and financial priorities?
2. Where am I still operating primarily as the person who supports the executive team rather than fully owning my position as a member of it?
3. What conversation, challenge or act of self-advocacy am I avoiding that could materially change my influence or impact?
Sometimes the next level of leadership isn't about learning something new.
It's about seeing your value clearly, developing the capacity to communicate it, and having the courage to use your voice when it matters.
At Cofinity, we work with CHROs and senior People leaders on both sides of this equation: strengthening strategic leadership and C-suite influence while developing the human being carrying the responsibility.
If you're spending most of your time developing everyone else and recognize that it's time to invest some of that attention in yourself, I'd be happy to have a conversation.
Sometimes the person responsible for putting the oxygen mask on the organization needs one too.
I'd love to hear from you.
What conversation, request, or act of self-advocacy have you been avoiding that could change the trajectory of your impact and leadership?
What situation might you need the support and courage to face?
How might you shift managing your own HR department in line with the above Modern 3 HR roles, and tie them more deeply to your organization's strategic and financial goals?
I invite you to a complimentary 30-minute CHRO Strategic Influence Session where we can identify one place you could increase their influence with the CEO/C-suite. https://calendly.com/christinehildebrand/christine-conversation-cofinity
