Leadership Development | Vital skills today's HR leaders must develop for a new era of CHRO

The CHRO role is changing.

As the HR function continues its shift away from administrative execution of basic service delivery toward operating models better placed to meet the challenges facing today’s workforce, the CHRO mantle grows in scope, value, and impact.

CHROs must now become the strategic partners that their organizations need: able to marry complex external conditions, critical business and financial objectives, and the core needs of their people. Business acumen, data literacy, relationship building, resilience, and confidence become crucial capabilities that will set elite CHROs apart.

Today’s CHROs are still adjusting to these new responsibilities. Mercer’s 2023 ‘Voice of the CHRO’ study found that current CHROs cite greater depth in HR data analytics and insights (41%), non-HR topics e.g., finance or operations (40%), and how to work with the board (39%) as the top three areas they wish they had more knowledge of.