Phil Monaghan
Chief of Human Resources
Skyland Trail
Episode 378
HR isn't policing: Stand Your Ground to Become a Strategic Business Partner
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleDecember 16, 2024 · 19:39
Thesis
“HR professionals, especially HR Business Partners, must deeply understand their organization's business goals, build trusting relationships, and proactively customize HR services to drive business outcomes. They should confidently offer expert recommendations and 'stand their ground' to earn respect and maximize their impact.”
Show notes
The HR professional who says "no" outright to an internal client has already failed the assignment. Phil Monaghan, Chief of Human Resources at Skyland Trail (a behavioral health treatment facility in Atlanta), spent 30 years learning a different model—one where HR's job is to present options, explain the tradeoffs, make a recommendation, and then hold that recommendation even when challenged. He calls it standing your ground. It's also how you earn respect.
Monaghan's career—from financial services to NTT Data to the American Cancer Society to Skyland Trail—gave him an unusually broad view of how HR Business Partnering works across sectors. His HRBP philosophy centers on genuine business fluency: knowing your internal clients' goals not just well enough to repeat them, but well enough to diagnose what's getting in their way and customize HR services accordingly. The HRBP who attends client leadership meetings, stays ahead of HR trends, and brings that market intelligence back to the business becomes indispensable. The one who shows up primarily as the compliance officer becomes invisible.
On compensation and performance management, Monaghan is direct: pay your best performers the most, and don't hide the philosophy behind it. Transparency about how pay decisions are made builds trust even when individual employees aren't thrilled with the outcome. For performance management, he's a minimalist: a few meaningful goals, a few core competencies, and managers who are actually willing to deliver honest feedback consistently—not just at annual review time.
- Standing your ground as HR: why presenting recommendations and holding to them—even against senior leaders—earns more respect than accommodation
- The HRBP model done right: knowing your internal clients' business goals intimately enough to customize HR services around actual needs
- Partnership over policing: the mindset shift that transforms HR from compliance enforcer to strategic ally
- Compensation transparency and differentiation: why the best performers should know they're being paid accordingly
- Performance management fundamentals: a few real goals, honest feedback from managers who actually deliver it
- Continuous learning as a career strategy: staying ahead of HR trends to serve as a proactive market intelligence resource for the business
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What you'll take away
- 1HR professionals should confidently present their expert recommendations and rationale, even when disagreeing with superiors, to earn respect and achieve optimal outcomes.
- 2HR Business Partners must deeply understand their internal clients' business goals and customize HR services to enable business outcomes, acting as an 'enabling organization' rather than a policing one.
- 3Continuously invest in building strong, trusting relationships with internal clients to be seen as a strategic partner, not just a compliance enforcer.
- 4Implement transparent compensation philosophies and structures, and differentiate rewards for top performers in key positions to motivate and retain talent.
- 5Focus performance management on a few meaningful goals and competencies, supported by regular check-ins and managers who are comfortable delivering honest feedback.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Constructively disagreeing with higher-ranking executives in a respectful, positive manner can actually strengthen relationships and earn respect, rather than harming them.
- •HR should rarely say 'no' outright to business clients, instead focusing on presenting options, their pros and cons, and offering recommendations to find solutions together.
In Phil's words
“So I would say that one of the most important things that, that you can do as an HR professional is to— I call it standing your ground.”
This highlights the importance of HR professionals having conviction and advocating for their recommendations to gain respect.
“HR business partners need to know the goals and the business of the clients that they serve. And not just to be able to repeat them, but to know those goals intimately...”
This emphasizes the deep business acumen required for HRBPs to be strategic partners, not just administrative support.
“You never want to go to a client and say no, right? Sometimes you have to, but it's rare. You have to be strong in your skill sets and influence and negotiation...”
This illustrates a partnership-focused approach where HR offers options and recommendations instead of outright rejections.
“And if you can stay on top of the HR trends themselves and that way you can be— you have a sense of what's going on in the marketplace, either in general or specific to an industry or geography. You can really help make sure that your clients are aware of some of those trends.”
This underscores the HRBP's role in proactive market awareness and guiding clients through evolving HR landscapes.
“So I'm going to argue all day long that you want to pay your best performers the most.”
This advocates for intentional compensation differentiation to reward and retain top talent.
“So if you are working with a business and they're doing something wrong, help them grow. Don't look at it through the lens of punishment or correction. Help them learn to look at it through the lens of growth and development.”
This promotes a developmental and supportive approach from HR rather than a punitive one.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR often being perceived as 'the police' rather than a strategic business partner, leading to a lack of trust and influence.
- •People managers typically struggle with delivering honest and difficult feedback, hindering employee development and effective performance management.
- •Nonprofit organizations sometimes lag behind the for-profit sector in adopting modern compensation and performance management strategies.
- •Employees frequently lack understanding and confidence in their organization's compensation philosophy and how pay decisions are made.
- •Companies with staff across different geographies face complex issues like overtime calculation for international employees.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Your career as an HR professional began in the mid-'90s
Describing Your Career Journey
One of the most important things that an HR professional can do is stand your ground
What's one unique or valuable story that you'd like to share
An HR business partner role is unique in that it is dedicated to internal clients
The Role of an HR Business Partner
What does it take to become an effective HR business partner
What It Takes to Become an Effective HR Business Partner
What are the opportunities for HR business partners? So I would say
What are the opportunities for HR Business Partners?
What are some of the key trends in compensation and performance management
Compensation and Performance Management: Trends
Phil, any parting advice you'd like to share with our community
Philip Flynn on Built By People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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