Dee Brown
CHRO
West Bend Insurance Company
Episode 211
Transform HR: From Policy Enforcer to Business Strategy Driver
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 30, 2025 · 6:00
Thesis
“HR leaders gain credibility and influence by deeply understanding and aligning with overall business strategy, leveraging data to demonstrate value, and fostering inclusive buy-in across all organizational levels, rather than operating solely as policy enforcers.”
Show notes
Building HR Credibility and Influence with Dee Brown
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, the host welcomes Dee, an experienced HR leader, to share her career journey and valuable insights.
With over 20 years in the industry, Dee discusses her diverse experiences from insurance to senior living, and her current role at West Bend Insurance.
They explore how HR can build credibility and influence by understanding business strategies and effectively communicating. Dee emphasizes the importance of executive buy-in, using data, and gaining consensus from all organizational levels.
She offers actionable strategies to enhance company culture and shares advice for HR professionals to step beyond traditional roles.
Sponsored by Previ, the podcast concludes with a focus on transforming organizational strategies and improving employee financial wellbeing.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:14 Sponsor Message: Previ Network
00:39 Guest Introduction: Dee's Career Journey
01:49 Building HR Credibility and Influence
02:34 Effective Strategies for Strong Company Culture
03:27 Gaining Executive Buy-In for HR Initiatives
04:20 Overcoming Challenges in HR Influence
05:28 Parting Advice and Conclusion
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What you'll take away
- 1HR builds credibility and influence by mastering business strategy, enabling them to connect talent initiatives directly to organizational goals, moving beyond being perceived as 'policy police'.
- 2For effective culture building, involve leadership teams and employees at all levels in the creation process to ensure buy-in and greater impact.
- 3Secure executive buy-in for HR initiatives by presenting data, considering business implications, anticipating risks, and applying emotional intelligence to tailor communication.
- 4To establish HR influence, focus on delivering clear, small short-term and long-term wins, and proactively communicate HR's strategic contributions across the organization.
- 5HR leaders should step outside traditional boundaries, viewing their role as a powerful influence on business strategies, with data as a crucial tool for decision-making and advocacy.
What most organizations get wrong
- •If HR solely creates initiatives without input, 'we're just creating HR stuff.' True impact comes when people feel they have 'buy-in and they can have helped create it'.
In Dee's words
“HR builds credibility and influence in knowing the business. If you just know HR stuff, people are less likely to listen. But when you can know and talk the business strategy, and you can connect the talent and the people strategy people listen because they're like, okay, you know your stuff.”
This quote highlights the core of HR's strategic value, emphasizing business acumen over administrative focus.
“I think the strategies that are most effective is when you bring everyone along with you and have input from your leadership teams into your strategies... letting them have buy-in and input into whatever you're creating.”
This emphasizes collaborative and inclusive approaches to culture development for greater impact and ownership.
“I have found that using data and knowing who to use data with and knowing who to use my gut with, is very key. So I say emotional intelligence and understanding who your business leaders are, your executive leaders, is extremely important.”
This quote stresses the importance of combining analytical insights with interpersonal skills for effective executive engagement.
“The other piece that I would say is extremely important that I think sometimes we forget about in HR is communication, telling our story. And, you know, that people sometimes don't even know what we're doing, and we're doing some great stuff in HR.”
This highlights the often-overlooked necessity of HR effectively communicating its value and contributions to the organization.
“Organizations are transforming. And my parting advice is HR, step outside the box of HR and see yourselves having that influence into your business strategies in a powerful way. But understanding what the business strategies are is absolutely key and use data to do it.”
This serves as a strong concluding call to action for HR to be more strategically integrated and data-driven.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR often struggles with being perceived as the 'policy police' rather than a strategic business partner, hindering their influence.
- •Gaining genuine executive buy-in for culture and people initiatives can be challenging without proper data and tailored communication strategies.
- •Organizations face difficulties in elevating HR's role beyond operational tasks to a strategic partnership, especially if historically viewed narrowly.
- •A common challenge for HR is the lack of effective communication, leading to stakeholders being unaware of the significant contributions HR makes.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Your career journey started in the insurance industry in HR
What's Your Career Journey?
HR builds credibility and influence in knowing the business, Dee says
How HR Leaders Gain Executive Buy-in for Culture and People Initi
Dee, what are some common challenges HR faces in establishing influence
Establishing Influence in HR
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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