HR as a Business Partner: Stakeholder Relationships and Driving Business Impact

In today’s fast-evolving business landscape, HR's role as a strategic business partner is more important than ever. Today, HR is expected to align people strategy with business goals, proactively support leadership, and drive organizational growth through effective stakeholder management and value-driven communication.

Before diving into the new challenges HR faces, it's essential to focus on what truly defines HR as a strategic function — cultivating strong, purposeful relationships with key stakeholders and ensuring that HR strategy supports business transformation.

This article explores:

• Key stakeholder relationships and strategic focus areas relevant for each

• How HR can communicate effectively across different audiences

• Practical examples of HR delivering impact through collaboration

Senior Leadership – This would be our CEOs, Executives and Directors

Focus areas:

• Aligning our HR strategy with business objectives

• Organizational growth and workforce planning

• Advisory role when it comes to people-related opportunities and risks

Relationship building and communication: At this level, we should always tailor our communication to focus on strategic and data-driven discussions. Updates on any HR initiatives that we have on the agenda should be clear and concise. Being a strategic partner, means that we have a long-term perspective and that we address leadership concerns with proactive problem-solving.

Example: You have an executive concerned about rising wages and talent shortages in the labor market, so company needs to revisit its budget. You will present market salary benchmarks, analyze competitor trends and show internal attrition data to help leaders make an informed decision. You can propose a budget allocation – such as investing into internal upskilling program and adjusts compensation bands (to help you stay competitive without overspending). Make sure you have done a good analysis and built a strong case for any proposal.

People Managers

Focus areas:

• Ongoing management of team performance and engagement - performance conversations, feedback, hiring and forming the team, onboarding, employee relations, questions about compensation, motivation, rewards, promotions etc.

• Development of capabilities both for team members as well as for the manager him/herself

• Supporting change management initiatives – and saying this it is important to note that change is anything from using new communication tool to ownership structure changes. People might struggle in different ways - fear, blockers, bias etc., including managers themselves

Relationship building and communication: We are often quite closely involved in diverse topics and people managers would look for practical, solution-oriented guidance, and here we would look to balance business needs and employee well-being.

Another big point is that I believe the coaching conversations we have at this level (those that go beyond sole policy reinforcement) have an enormous impact – on leadership development, culture reinforcement, and are always a good opportunity for partnership building. I can’t remember how many times these talks have helped me as well to better understand the business specifics, and the operational challenges certain team has. And this is invaluable for being able to support with good, tailored solutions.

Example: If you have a Head of department struggling with low level of motivation within the team – you would explore the root cause and depending on the finding, propose solutions such as workshops on effective feedback (this would open a door for people to tell you more on how you can help), introduce a recognition program (I would always look for something tailored, and avoid getting „something from the shelf“) or provide coaching on fostering open culture.

Employees

Focus areas:

• Addressing concerns and providing career support

• Enhancing employee experience and engagement – here you have a direct insight into whether your initiatives hit the nail or not

• In general activities and initiatives where we invite people to shape them together and participate

Relationship building and communication. Besides empathy, I always try to be transparent and approachable in these interactions, so we encourage a culture of trust and psychological safety through our own actions. Another powerful tool where you can tap in for the feedback is when running an engagement survey or a townhall.

Example: If we talk about challenge with individual career prospects, we sometimes face the situation where an employee raises a concern on lacking the perspective of future opportunities. I would often first look into internal mobility opportunities, and if this is limited in the current setup, another option to explore might be a mentoring program, while working with the manager to map career pathways.

Finance & Legal Teams

Focus areas:

• Budgeting process – for compensation planning, training or benefits

• Compliance with labor laws, audits or to ensure risk mitigation

• Aligning HR policies with business regulations

Relationship building and communication. You want your discussions with finance and legal teams very precise, detail-oriented in order to ensure understanding, buy-in and that plans are developed with having compliance in focus. You want finance and legal to back up HR initiatives, which means preparing for a discussion on compliance, ROIs (value and impact, not only a KPI figure) and proposing mitigation strategies for potential risks is something you can surely expect.

Example: When you are working on proposal for a leadership program, finance would insist on knowing the ROI, so advice is to present all the relevant data on retention and productivity improvement, succession readiness to ensure you have a continued investment approved.

Internal Stakeholders – HR Team Members

Before I write about this segment, I would say that using an example of HR Business Partners work with TA and L&D was and easy pick for me, but this applies also on other relationships within the team, such as your HR Operations team or HR Data & Systems Unit.

So, with our TA and L&D teams we would cover key focus areas:

• Workforce planning and talent pipeline development

• Upskilling and reskilling employees

• Supporting employer branding and employee value proposition

Relationship building and communication. This collaboration should be as close as possible, as you would like to leverage the expertise of colleagues to jointly deliver impactful and relevant solutions, and therefore I would always look to get them on board with a broader look at the strategy and any context that would be relevant. If we are looking into hiring plans, I would onboard a TA team very early to ensure good planning and timely delivery. Also, data-driven approach to workforce trends and skill gaps and sharing real-time business insights will ensure you have together well refined recruitment and training strategies.

Example: By applying this approach, if for a certain business unit, you would need to ensure niche tech skills that are hard to hire, you will partner with L&D for an internal training program and reskill current employees, instead of looking externally.

External Partners (Consultants, Government Bodies, Vendors etc.)

This is a broad group, so example of some focus areas might be:

• Ensuring compliance with labor law and industry best practices

• Managing contracts and service agreements

• Leveraging external expertise for HR initiatives

Relationship building and communication. On this one I have to say that other business teams are leveraging external expertise usually much more than us in people functions and know when to get an external advisor for help. Nevertheless, communication with these external parties is professional, with clear expectations and outcomes. These partnerships are always better when positioned as strategic, compared to only transactional, and help you stay up to date with external trends to enhance your HR strategy.

Example: When your company is in need for a new HR system, you would look for a cost-effective contract, but at the same time you want to collaborate with vendors to ensure your system meets all the functional and legal requirements.

Your Boss

Instead of going with the description of the topics you would have with your superior, I would encourage you to:

• Use your boss as a sounding board if possible - we are holding quite complex roles, so keep in mind that by sharing your updates, alongside the context or even challenges you’re facing, you may get valuable feedback or direction to help you.

• Look for opportunities for mentoring in areas that may not be your strong side or to master your influence strategies.

Final remarks

Strategic HR is rooted in meaningful stakeholder engagement, business alignment, and adaptable communication. As HR professionals, when we understand stakeholder needs, tailor our communication style, and focus on delivering value, we not only elevate our function but contribute significantly to business success.

At Elevate People Solutions, we partner with business leaders and HR professionals to build people solutions and strategies that drive growth.

Whether you're leading a company without an internal HR team or you're an HR professional looking for fresh perspective and expert support, we're here to help. No matter if you’re building HR from scratch or looking to enhance what you already have, we deliver practical, strategic, and hands-on support tailored to your goals.

Reach out to us if you would like to know more.

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This text is a personal view, that evolved through past experiences and shaped some of the insights I’ve provided. It is not intended to provide an extensive evaluation or cover all the aspects on the topic, but to share ideas and thoughts with the community.