What HR can learn from CIOs?

Does your company spend more money on its servers than on its people? Bet it does. Does the Chief Information Officer (CIO) have more power, clout and, let's face it, more money to spend? Something has happened to the role of a CIO. Mix that with a reality on IT infrastructure spending and you find two things HR can truly learn from:

• CIOs have just got better. They are no longer technical geeks punching cards in the basement. They are professionals, typically non-technical, very commercial people who understand how to create an ROI story. This is because as the role became more commercial and the budgets got larger, the job became more attractive to people who didn't grow up building computers in their mum’s front room. It’s now deemed ‘cool’ to be a CIO; it attracts people who want to make a commercial difference. CIOs are now some of the most talented leaders in the boardroom, have the largest departments, biggest spend and strategically are very important - nothing more strategically important than the CEOs Blackberry, right? Now, when was the last time your HR Director, Head of People, Head of Talent, Head of Human Capital et al came from somewhere else in the business? So when did the Head of Sales say, ‘D'you know what? I like the look of that HR Director’s role. Can I have a crack at that?’ Hasn’t happened? Mark my words the day it does, is the day HR becomes important.

• HR's budget sits in the Operating Expense (OPEX) as an overhead and the CIO’s in the, you guessed it, Capital Expense (CAPEX) and is seen as a future benefit. PLC companies are rewarded and praised for spending huge CAPEX numbers, even when they can’t afford it. They are booed at and frowned upon for blowing their OPEX number. Therein lies HR’s problem, people aren't sitting on the balance sheet - they are currently in the P&L as a great big expenditure. The CIO however doesn’t have that problem as his or her multi-million pound spend sits in the balance sheet as something the company owns - and probably as a depreciable asset.

So here’s what to do, well two things actually:

1. HR Directors need to ‘man or lady-up’ and start hiring some non-HR types in to HR. I mean it. Fill your next HR BP roles with people from the line. I have done it for clients and they find it an enabling experience.

2. Make the CFO your best friend; see if there is any way in every CAPEX spend you can ‘tag along’. That new server farm can easily accommodate an extra £1 million for leadership development.

And finally the jewel in the crown, the key to the chamber, the Holy Grail for HR - there is a way you can absolutely convince the CEO that your department holds the key to his or her company’s share price. What you do is you explain that … sorry that's for another day, but it exists and when you see it you'll be amazed.