Jeff Diana
High Growth Consultant
Advising For Impact LLC
Episode 238
Beyond HR Admin: How to Make HR a Strategic Business Growth Catalyst
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 9, 2025 · 12:25
Thesis
“HR must evolve from a reactive, administrative function to a proactive, data-driven strategic business partner that deeply understands and contributes to core business metrics, actively markets its impact, and earns its 'seat at the table' to drive organizational productivity and growth.”
Show notes
Transforming HR into a Proactive Business Driver with Jeff Diana
In this episode of the Built by People podcast presented by Previ and Transform, host Dave D'Angelo welcomes Jeff, an HR executive with extensive experience in various major corporations.
Jeff shares his unique career journey from academia to corporate HR, highlighting his work at companies like BellSouth, GE, Microsoft, Safeco Insurance, SuccessFactors, Atlassian, and Calendly. He discusses effective strategies for repositioning HR from a reactive to a proactive function, making compelling business cases for HR initiatives, and positioning HR as a strategic business partner.
Jeff emphasizes the importance of understanding business metrics, being data-driven, and strategic influencing as key differentiators for successful HR leaders.
He also offers parting advice on leveraging the current business environment to drive impactful HR initiatives.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsorship Message from Previ
00:45 Guest Introduction: Jeff's Career Journey
01:51 Transforming HR into a Business Driver
06:06 Strategies for HR in Tight Budget Markets
07:32 Positioning HR as a Strategic Business Partner
08:49 Overcoming Obstacles in HR
09:52 Shifts in Successful HR Leadership
11:05 Parting Advice for HR Leaders
12:11 Conclusion and Farewell
Previ is a private pricing network that is free for companies to launch and maintain. It saves employees $2,200/year on essential services like their cell phone and auto insurance bill. Visit here to learn more.
What you'll take away
- 1HR leaders must speak the language of business, knowing financial numbers as well as a CFO to gain immediate credibility.
- 2To secure budget and buy-in, HR initiatives must be tied to short-term business outcomes, reflecting the current lean investment cycle.
- 3Find C-level co-sponsors for HR initiatives to increase support and budget allocation.
- 4Redefine HR's role by declaring a focus on organizational productivity rather than just 'happiness,' and coach leaders on key business drivers.
- 5Proactively market HR's value and impact internally and externally to improve credibility and respect within the organization.
- 6Successful HR leaders are data-driven, customer-centric, product-aware, and strategic influencers within their organizations.
What most organizations get wrong
- •HR should declare it is 'not the happiness police' and instead focus explicitly on driving organizational productivity.
- •The concept of earning a 'seat at the table' for HR is outdated; it must be earned through proactive action and business acumen, not merely desired.
- •HR initiatives should prioritize short-term business outcomes over vague long-term benefits to align with current economic realities and secure funding.
In Jeff's words
“I've just declared it. I've told the organization, I'm not the happiness police. I'm not here to care about employee satisfaction... I'm focused on productivity.”
This quote challenges the traditional view of HR, repositioning its core purpose to business productivity.
“I hope I never hear seat at the table again in my career. We're still talking about it and every function has been in that position. No one hands it to you. You've gotta earn it.”
A direct critique of a common HR lament, emphasizing proactive ownership and earning influence.
“You've gotta tie your pitch to short-term outcomes. The days of saying we ought to do this, or it's the right thing to do, or in the long term we need to do this, is not recognizing the macro environment right now.”
Provides practical and timely advice for HR leaders seeking to gain buy-in and budget in challenging economic conditions.
“Market your work. Like, we're just not good at figuring out how we market internally and externally the value of what we're driving.”
Highlights a critical and often overlooked area for HR to improve its perceived value and impact within an organization.
“I pride myself on being able to pitch the P&L as well as the CFO can.”
Emphasizes the crucial role of financial literacy and business acumen for HR leaders to establish credibility.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR is often viewed as a reactive, support function rather than a strategic business driver, leading to a lack of influence and investment.
- •Difficulty for HR to secure budget and C-level sponsorship for initiatives due to a failure to connect them to tangible, short-term business outcomes.
- •HR leaders struggle to gain a 'seat at the table' because they often adopt a victim mentality instead of proactively demonstrating business value.
- •HR's lack of effective marketing (internal and external) for its work and impact hinders its recognition and credibility within organizations.
- •Traditional, long-tenured workforces resist necessary operational changes (e.g., to become more nimble, creative, or customer-oriented) required for innovation.
- •HR departments are not always data-driven or customer/product-focused, limiting their strategic impact and differentiation.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
I always love to ask you about your career journey
Steve Jobs on His Career Journey
You've successfully transformed HR into a business driver at organizations you've led
Have You Turned HR Into a Business Driver?
HR function can move from reactive to proactive when working with hypergrowth businesses
How to move the HR function from reactive to proactive
In today's market where HR budgets are really tight, what are some strategies
Making compelling Business Cases for HR Initiatives
Jeff: I'm not focused on employee happiness; I'm focused on productivity
Are HR Executives the Happiness Police?
What do you believe are the biggest obstacles preventing HR from reaching its full potential
Opportunities for HR Leaders
Jeff: Being data-driven is definitely one key differentiator
What Makes Successful HR Leaders So Different?
Jeff, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Jeff Wilcox on Built by People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
Expand transcript (0 words)
Transcript is not available yet.