Chief HR Officer Priorities – With A Design Thinking Lens

Earlier this month, Gartner published a report titled “Leadership Vision for 2024: Chief HR Officer ”.

As I was reading through the report, I couldn’t help but notice how many opportunities it offers to apply design thinking. [See a previous post on when and when not to use design thinking in HR].

The three strategic priorities the report teases out fall exactly into the realm of complexity, often outside the traditional HR realm, that might warrant a human-centered design exploration. They are driven by factors such as pressure for operational efficiency, “unsettled” relationships between employers and employees, persistent skills shortages, and transformative technology innovations.

For each priority outlined in the report, here are my thoughts, tips, and curiosities:

Priority #1: Leader and Manager Development

Gartner bases this priority on research they conducted in 2022 with HR leaders that indicate they are skeptical about rising leaders’ ability to respond to unexpected economic changes, ensure uninterrupted performance, and adjust to changing demands of their role.

This leads Gartner to propose a new approach to leader responsibilities: enabling safe self-expression at work, addressing teams’ life needs, and managing tailored/flexible workflows.

Gartner therefore concludes that it’s time for a ‘human-centric leadership’ approach.

I agree with Gartner. I have written before about why I think it’s time for human-centered leadership , outlined three traits of a human-centered leader , and provided tangible steps for designing development for tomorrow’s leaders .

Looking for more inspiration?

I always enjoy revisiting my Talent Tales interviews with Lynn DiBonaventura about leading with care and with Stella Ioannidou about enabling managers .

And here is a video interview with the three fabulous leadership authors LaTonya Wilkins, Celine Schillinger, and Julian Stodd:

Priority #2: Organizational Culture

In response to their 2023 ‘Drivers of Global Belonging and Inclusive Culture Survey’, Gartner learned that only 50% of employees believe their organization has an inclusive culture. “An inclusive culture is a culture where employees feel respected, accepted, supported and valued, and where they feel able to express their true selves,” defines Gartner.

Gartner then goes on saying that culture requires two components: alignment and connectedness. And they then show the evolution of culture from a pre-pandemic “by osmosis” approach to a hybrid shift, and now a need for “connectedness by intention” which they say is achieved by “diffusing culture through work” and “optimizing a micro-based experience”.

If you’ve followed me long enough you know I’m a sucker for Gartner research, but I must admit I am not quite following their line of sight here. Yes, we know that co-creating culture in a hybrid or remote workplace requires more intention than when everybody sits together in an office, but will that alone address the lack of inclusivity that employees experience? Hmmm….

Here are some additional perspectives on the topic that I have previously written about:

• Trauma-Informed Design in the Workplace
• Designing Inclusive People Programs
• Design Thinking and DEIB
• The Hybrid Work Transformation – Part II: Tips for Leaders

Looking for more inspiration?

I always enjoy revisiting my Talent Tales interviews with Dr. Valerie Toney Parker and Steve Bynum on inviting inclusion , with Halima McWilliams on building belonging , and with Steph Ryter on building a culture of empathy .

Priority #3: Change Management

Gartner found that the percentage of employees willing to support enterprise change dropped from 74% in 2016 to 43% in 2022.

They go on to identify two pillars of transformation success: open-source change management and addressing change fatigue.

Of the two pillars, Gartner recommends focusing on addressing change fatigue by “normalizing proactive rest”, “building psychological safety into teams”, and engaging employees in “co-creating change strategy”.

I would argue you’d also want to address the other pillar lest you have a lopsided house.

I have outlined before why I believe design thinking is change management 2.0 .

Looking for more inspiration?

I always enjoy revisiting my Talent Tales interviews with Dr. Bruce Perreira on narrating change and with Tyler Carroll on navigating crisis .

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I am curious: How do these three priorities resonate for you? How have you seen design thinking applied to tackling them? What are barriers you might encounter?

Join me the week of August 12 for Design Thinking for HR Summer Sessions :

• August 12: Introduction to Design Thinking for HR [Register here ]
• August 13: Employee Experience Journey Mapping Primer [Register here ]
• August 14: How to HR.Hackathon [Register here ]
• August 15: Co-Creating Change [Register here ]

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Design Thinking for HR is a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter that aims to inspire HR professionals to experiment with the human-centered design framework. The newsletter is curated by Nicole Dessain who is a talent management and employee experience leader, founder of the HR.Hackathon Alliance , and a Northwestern University instructor. She is currently writing her first book about Design Thinking for HR. Join the Early Readers’ Community here . If you’re facing a challenge building design thinking into your people strategy, Nicole is here to help. You can add a comment or question to this newsletter post, and she will address it in an upcoming article. Or, if you need more hands-on support, you can contact her here .