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Talent & Organization

The CHRO as a growth executive

Focusing the power of data, tech and people to accelerate reinvention—and a new vision for growth.

January 17, 2023 5-minut czytania

RESEARCH REPORT

In brief

  • Activating the power of data, tech and people can boost profitability and revenue—but only 5% of companies are making it happen.
  • Because of their skills and impact across an enterprise, CHROs can unlock this growth combination and accelerate change.
  • With the right conditions, CHROs can fuel tech-driven insights and boundaryless collaboration to view business strategy in high resolution.
  • Here is a look at what companies can do to empower these “High-Res” CHROs—and the benefits they can bring to your organization.

Setting sights on new growth

Faced with global disruption, CEOs are stepping up. To speed transformation and growth, they are focused on leveraging the full potential of data, technology and people.

It’s the right priority. Accenture research has found that by unlocking this growth combination, companies stand to gain a premium of up to 11% on top-line productivity—the ultimate driver of profitability and revenue growth. Yet our findings also show that just 5% of large, global organizations are effectively following through. Those that do are operating in the top quartile of their respective industries, placing parallel emphasis on the digital core and talent creation.

+11%

top-line productivity premium when unlocking the growth combination of data, tech and people.

+4%

top-line productivity premium when unlocking data and tech alone.

What makes these companies so effective? The answer lies in the new skills, redefined roles and boundaryless connections taking shape in the C-suite. With unprecedented access to data, enabled by cloud solutions, executives are discovering powerful ways to lead change within the organization and beyond.

The nexus: Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs). With their skills and enterprise-wide impact, a new type of CHRO is stepping up to lead their C-suite peers in connecting data, technology and people and cultivating collaboration.

View Transcript

Indeed, Accenture has identified how these CHROs, who are central to creating the digital enterprise, are bringing business growth and exceptional human experiences into higher resolution. These "High-Res" CHROs are accelerating continuous reinvention by finding new streams of value in every corner of the organization.

Other top leaders see the CHRO’s importance: 89% of the 570 CEOs we recently surveyed say that the CHRO should have a central role in ensuring long-term profitable growth. But only 45% of those CEOs, by their own admission, are creating the conditions that allow CHROs to lead business growth. In fact, just 29% of CHROs have both the profile and the conditions they need to act as a High-Res CHRO.

Here, we offer a closer look at these High-Res CHROs, the strengths they bring to the table and the breakthrough ways they can lead and innovate across an organization.

89%

Of CEOs say their CHRO should have a central role in ensuring long-term profitable growth.

29%

Of CHROs have both the profile and the conditions they need to act as High-Res CHROs.

How to spot a High-Res CHRO

Two primary characteristics set these high achievers apart: their skillset and their connections.

The skills to lead

Compared to other CHROs, High-Res CHROs are more likely to be at the top level of proficiency across six critical skills measured in our research: systems thinking, financial acumen, leadership, technology and data, strategic talent development and business acumen.

The connections that put those skills to work

Our High-Res CHROs are 4x more likely to have strong relationships of mutual influence across the entire C-suite, starting with the CEO and particularly with the CFO, CTO and COO. They also build networks externally across organizations and industries to influence broader change beyond their companies. The resulting collaborations enable innovation to build competitive advantage.

How to support a High-Res CHRO

Even if CHROs have the right skills and connections, we’ve found that 55% lack the conditions to impact business growth. How can companies create the optimal environment for High-Res CHROs?

1. Prioritize people

Talent is a key force for change and competitive differentiation. All C-suite leaders (not just the CHRO) must ask a simple question—Are people Net Better Off working here?—and take personal accountability for the answer.

2. Enable boundaryless collaboration, powered by data

Reinvention can only happen when leaders break free of their silos. CEOs must position CHROs as central to the decisions that impact P&L and shape long-term profitable growth. This means involving them in areas outside of the typical HR purview, such as capital allocation and product innovation, alongside their core remit to access and create talent and unlock people’s potential.

Putting the forces of change to work

Having the right profile and conditions activates these CHROs’ ability to accelerate change and drive growth. Our research reveals three key things these leaders do differently:

High-Res CHROs use data-led, AI-powered insights to understand which capabilities their organizations need most—and how to find and attract the people that have them. To achieve this, they:

  • Enable next-generation skills development: High-Res CHROs are over 2x as likely to invest significantly in their people’s skills development—and they recognize that technology is an integral part of that process. With this approach, they expand access to new, diverse sources of talent and create pathways for people, such as hiring for skills instead of degrees and offering apprenticeship programs.
  • Use technology to unearth hidden talent: These CHROs are revamping hiring and recruitment practices in a tech-driven way. They’re utilizing AI to better understand how bias enters the screening process and looking to data to transform candidate experiences. 
  • Embrace strategic managed services: Using strategic managed services partners for HR delivery provides access to talent at speed and scale and the ability to harness intelligent, cloud-based platforms that enable data-driven decision-making. Our research shows that leading organizations (the top 5% who best tap the power of data, technology and people) are utilizing managed services at higher rates than their peers.

High-Res CHROs are nearly 2x more likely than their peers to effectively connect data, technology and people. Leveraging this growth combination is the primary accelerator for improved financial and non-financial outcomes. To achieve this, these CHROs:

  • Maximize people-related data: High-Res CHROs bring insights that connect talent more directly to business outcomes and ultimately unlock people’s potential. They also connect external signals with enterprise data to allow faster decision-making and action.
  • Innovate through technology and ecosystem: Our research shows that companies adopting next-generation AI and digital tools, in combination with enabling partnerships and ecosystems, are 2.6x more likely to increase revenue by 10% or more than peers who are not.
  • Automate strategically: High-Res CHROs don’t just see automation as a path to minimizing tasks and boosting productivity—they use it as a springboard for effective workforce planning and meaningful work. Through data, they are making smart buy-build-bot decisions with future growth in mind.

While credibility starts with functional excellence, High-Res CHROs’ impact extends across the entire enterprise and beyond the organization. That means they:

  • Catalyze change: All reinvention must be people-led; as a result, leading CHROs adapt talent strategy at speed and scale to align with business needs. They impact many areas that benefit from the people/culture lens, including acquisitions, investments, new products and services, branding and social activism. In fact, 88% of CEOs say their CHRO should be responsible for infusing a culture of innovation across the enterprise.
  • Solve systemic challenges: These CHROs recognize that their organizations are deeply intertwined with the communities in which they function. As a result, they work beyond the boundaries of the company—across organizations, industries and geographies— to contribute to action for change. They leverage best practices (such as the use of PPE during the height of the pandemic) to help with broader social goals while expanding external partnerships and investments that help the company make an impact in the world. And CEOs with a High-Res CHRO are 1.5x as likely to say their CHRO is directly improving the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

Are you ready to join the 5%?

Every C-suite leader should be talking about how to tap into and empower the CHRO as a growth executive. Consider these four questions:

  1. Does our culture enable, recognize and reward leaders to think and act beyond their title to drive growth in new ways?
  2. Do our leaders possess the right data and technology skills (supported by the right processes and tools) to accelerate change together, in a boundaryless and frictionless way?
  3. Do we have differentiated strategies to access talent, create talent and unlock people’s potential?
  4. Are people Net Better Off working at our company, where all leaders take accountability for this commitment?

“You need to look at your CHRO as being a business leader who’s driving your growth and reinvention. And you need to empower them to follow through on that mandate.”

— JULIE SWEET, Accenture CEO

Future success requires reinvention today. It all starts with connecting data, technology and people; but it takes the right skills and environment for those connections to truly matter, both within the company and beyond. Reaching the top 5% requires bold leadership—not only from a High-Res CHRO, but from each member of the C-suite. Every executive must be a growth executive.

About the Research

Accenture Research applied text analytics to earnings call transcripts for 3,800 large, global organizations to determine leading companies with regard to unlocking the growth combination of data, technology, and people, and utilized financial data for these companies between 2012-2022 to estimate productivity and revenue growth gains associated with becoming a leading company. A survey was conducted with 570 CEOs and 570 CHROs in November 2022, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, across the following industries: Banking, Communications and Media, Consumer Goods and Services, Energy, Healthcare, High Tech, Insurance, Life Sciences, Public Sector, Retail, Software and Platforms, and Utilities. Survey responses were used to determine proportion of CHROs that can be described as High-Res, as well as their profile, environment, connections across the C-suite, and unique approaches to putting change to work (validated using financial and non-financial data obtained for companies that participated in the survey). In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 CEOs and CHROs between October and December, 2022 in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Luxembourg, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, across the following industries: Banking, Consumer Goods and Services, Energy, High Tech, Life Sciences, Retail, Professional Services, Oil and Gas, Utilities, and Travel. Interview insights were used to further explore personal and organizational factors enabling High-Res CHROs and to illustrate these leaders in action in their organizations.

Ellyn Shook

Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer

Yusuf Tayob

Group Chief Executive – Operations

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