What is business partnering?

Before choosing the right model for your organisation, it can help to understand what business partnering actually involves and why it has become such a central part of modern HR. The heart of business partnering is about embedding HR expertise directly into business decision-making to help leaders drive performance and shape long-term organisational success.

Strategic alliance within your organisation

The business partner role is a strategic HR function. It focuses on aligning people practices with business objectives, providing insight-led advice to leaders and ensuring your organisation can meet its goals through effective workforce planning, development and engagement.

A strong partnership benefits both parties while prioritising the needs and obligations of your employees.

BP involves sharing the responsibility of running your business. In an HR business partnership, a seasoned HR professional works closely with you and key senior staff to shape an HR strategy that directly supports your business goals. This modern approach goes well beyond contractual obligations.

It functions as an active alliance between two leaders, often at the board level, who work together to drive organisational performance.

How the HR business partner model evolved

HR business partnering was a key interest of University of Michigan professor and business leader David Ulrich in 1999. He helped to revolutionise HR by proposing that HR partnering should be a main part of a business strategy.

The HR business partner model has had a significant impact on aligning HR with the broader business strategy. It also supports the evolution of the business model through effective human capital management.

HR business partnering is just one key component of the Ulrich model, also known as the ‘three-legged-stool’ model, that he inspired. There are many different business partnership models, some of which are modernised versions of the original three-legged-stool model, with a study showing that there are potential conflicts as to whether all ‘legs’ of the stool work together in harmony.

Types of business partnering models

The HR operating model supports the integration of HR and business strategy by structuring HR functions, such as shared services, centres of excellence and HR business partners, to ensure HR initiatives are aligned with overall business goals.

The type of business partnership model that is right for you will depend on what works best for your business. Many businesses are introducing an individual HR business partner and the three-legged-stool model, which includes the following areas:

Shared services

This is an administrative group that handles transactions within the organisation. These do not have to be HR-related processes. They can be other functional transactions. Examples include staff payroll, monitoring holiday and sick leave, recruitment administration, some basic employee relations and HR services as a key component of shared services.

Your shared services team doesn’t need to be on-site, it can even be outsourced. Many providers support multiple businesses locally or globally, and while large organisations often outsource shared services, some small businesses find it cost-effective too. Shared services can also include staff intranets and helpdesk support.

The benefits of having a shared services team include lower costs through cutting down on staff numbers, using cheaper accommodation for off-site shared services and greater efficiency through the streamlining of services.

Shared services teams are also responsible for efficiently answering employee queries, which improves organisational communication and overall HR effectiveness.

Centres of excellence

The centre of excellence is a team of senior, experienced HR staff. HR specialists within this team provide advanced technical expertise in areas such as staffing, rewards, organisation development and leadership development.

This team works on your business strategy to create staff initiatives, developments and interventions. Their key areas of focus include talent management, leadership development, organisation development and strategic workforce planning, alongside the long-term maintenance of learning strategies, training, establishing an employee recognition programme, talent analysis and engagement.

HR specialists work within centres of excellence to drive these initiatives, aligning HR practices with business strategies, building organisational capabilities and supporting business performance. They work alongside you in building employee relations and ensure that the outcomes of their strategies and initiatives are aligned with your overall strategies.

Strategic business partners

Individual strategic business partners work with you, your business units and business leaders to ensure that HR strategies are aligned with your business and people strategies, addressing specific business needs and driving business outcomes. By collaborating closely with business units and business leaders, they help ensure that HR initiatives and HR activities occur in direct response to organisational requirements.

They contribute to business relevance, business value and business performance by aligning HR with competitive advantage and focusing on achieving business objectives. As strategic partners, HR business partners are responsible for delivering strategic value through the design and implementation of HR initiatives, HR activities, HR processes and HR functions that support the overall HR function and the work of HR teams.

Strategic business partners also collaborate with HR leaders, senior leaders and effective HR professionals to maximise HR impact across the organisation. They deliver HR practices and lead the process of implementing business partnering to support employee engagement and employee satisfaction.

Their influence extends to business operations, business success and the achievement of strategic objectives, ensuring that HR is integrated into the core of organisational strategy. Corporate HR professionals and embedded HR professionals work within business units, with embedded HR professionals working directly alongside line managers to integrate HR practices into daily business operations.

Additionally, strategic business partners play a key role in human and organisational optimisation, reflecting the evolving responsibilities of HR practitioners and the strategic contribution of HR departments to overall business strategy.

Recognising the HR business partner role and the key milestones in the evolution of HR business partnering is important for understanding the strategic impact of HR in modern organisations.

Individual business partner

Instead of using the three-legged model, you may choose to have an individual human resources business partner, who is usually a senior member of your board.

Like strategic business partners, they liaise between you and your HR team, making sure that all team developments, initiatives and other functions are supported and aligned in accordance with the overall business strategy.

In many organisations, embedded HR professionals work directly within specific business units or functions, collaborating closely with line managers to integrate HR practices into daily operations and drive strategic organisational capabilities.

These embedded HR professionals serve as generalists or strategists on the ground, shaping business strategies and delivering value at the unit level as part of a broader business partner model.

The evolution of the HR profession has seen a shift from traditional administrative roles to more strategic, embedded roles, with HR professionals now expected to integrate with business processes and contribute to organisational performance and decision-making.

The individual business partner ensures that your HR team is working in the most cost-effective way and achieves results that benefit your business in the long term.

What decisions does an HR business partner make?

An HR business partner is not simply a part of the HR team; they are a senior employee who is perhaps a member of your board, helping you to make key decisions about:

• People functions
• Demographics
• Business culture
• Employee wellbeing
• Productivity
• Training and learning opportunities

HR practitioners and HR professionals in these roles are responsible for making decisions that impact HR processes and organisational outcomes, ensuring that HR activities are aligned with business objectives.

These business partners also ensure that the goals of HR are effectively integrated with your overall business goals. However, they are rarely involved in policy-making; rather, they help with the implementation of effective and relevant HR strategies.

Why is a human resources business partner model useful?

The HR BP model is an effective way to make sure that your business is not overstretched in terms of finance and productivity. It means that you are aware, every step of the way, of how your HR goals are aligned with those of your overall productivity and financial goals.

By integrating HR activities and HR initiatives with your main business objectives, the HR business partner model delivers business value, improves business performance and drives business success.

Aligning HR initiatives and HR activities with business goals is important to maximise the impact of HR on organisational achievements.

The model is also useful in:

• Saving you money in the long term: when your HR team is properly connected to the wider organisation and aligned with both short- and long-term business goals, they can identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce waste and lower costs.
• Combining people solutions with business objectives: aligning HR initiatives with organisational priorities ensures your people strategy actively supports performance, growth and the delivery of clear, measurable outcomes.
• Delivering aligned people solutions: from training needs analysis to practical implementation, HR can design and roll out initiatives that directly support your goals and drive meaningful results.
• Strengthening communication between leadership and HR: clearer, faster and more accurate communication between the board and the HR team leads to better decision-making and a more joined-up approach to strategy.

A human resources business partner has a multi-faceted role on your board and can give you keen insights into how your HR team creates people solutions.

They will also streamline communications for you, ensuring that new HR strategies are created and embedded in the HR team efficiently.

Business partnering as a mindset

A business partnership mindset is required in order to develop successful relationships with current and future business partners. The main attributes of this may include:

• Flexibility and openness: demonstrating adaptability, humility and a willingness to consider new ideas, while confidently and diplomatically standing behind your own well-reasoned views.
• Shared focus on outcomes: ensuring both parties are clear on what they want to achieve from the partnership, with aligned expectations from the outset.
• Solutions-based thinking: working collaboratively to tackle challenges and develop practical solutions that would be difficult to achieve independently.
• Aligned values and ethics: making sure your core principles are compatible, creating a strong foundation that supports shared goals and long-term success.

Being a strategic partner means working closely with business leaders to align HR initiatives with organisational goals and foster employee engagement, which is essential for driving business success.

These mindset attributes are valuable to you as a business leader, but also to whoever you have integrated into your team as either a strategic business partner or individual human resources business partner.

What does a successful HR business partnership look like?

In his more recent 2012 book ‘HR from the Outside In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources’, David Ulrich states that there are six competencies of HR that both you and your HR business partner should work together to implement.

Effective HR professionals and HR practitioners are essential for implementing these competencies and delivering HR practices that align with business goals. These six competencies are:

Strategic positioner

This involves identifying any outside influences on your organisation, including the external market and the field that your business is in. Check for any governmental changes, new labour trends and sociological changes, and integrate them with your HR strategies.

Strategic HR plays an important role in aligning HR and business strategy, ensuring that HR initiatives directly support organisational objectives.

This alignment also enables effective strategic workforce planning, helping the organisation anticipate and meet future talent needs in line with business goals.

Credible activist

Being a credible activist involves being reliable and showing your organisation that you can complete what you set out to do. Your aim here is to gain the trust of your stakeholders, inspiring your team and boosting morale.

Capability builder

Being a capability builder involves going back to the core foundations of your business, discussing your image with teams and coming back to why your business is important in the field.

Learn new ways of communicating your business’s image and core principles to make sure that all of your employees understand key branding points and ethics.

Organisation development, leadership development and talent management are essential components in strengthening business capabilities.

These initiatives help drive change, foster innovation and ensure that the organisation has the right talent and leadership to support strategic growth and performance.

Change champion

As a change champion, your goal is to drive meaningful transformation across your organisation. While your HR team can support improvements to structures and processes, you’ll need experienced business partners to help you execute internal changes with confidence.

This includes assessing your company values and mission and determining whether your current organisational setup truly supports them.

Recognising key milestones in the evolution of your organisation’s business model is important, as these pivotal moments can guide strategic HR initiatives and support ongoing growth and competitiveness.

Human resource innovator and integrator

Consider your overall business objectives alongside the training, learning and development requirements of your whole team. Learn how to improve employee performance by making sure that their skill set matches what’s required of them to meet your targets.

Make sure that when new skills are required or need to be updated, this information is adequately communicated through the HR team.

Optimising HR processes, adopting innovative HR practices and focusing on human and organisation optimisation are important to ensure that training and development initiatives are aligned with strategic business goals and drive continuous improvement.

Technology proponent

Make sure that your HR team is up to date with the latest performance management tools, but also social media and social learning tools. Leverage technology to support efficient HR services, enabling centralised management of routine HR functions and freeing up resources for strategic initiatives.

Use technology to track where HR activities occur within the organisation, helping to identify opportunities to shift focus from administrative tasks to more value-adding, strategic contributions.

Consider creating a team that can help assess data to show which training and knowledge-based initiatives are most effective, and predict what your next steps are.

What key aspects do I check for in an HR business partnership?

When selecting an HR busniness partner, consider searching for partners who are diplomatic leaders themselves and will help you to transform your business in a positive way.

The HR business partner role is a strategic, high-level position that works closely with business units to align HR practices with organisational goals. It is important to select someone who understands this evolving responsibility.

Corporate HR professionals play an important part in ensuring business relevance by shaping HR strategies that directly contribute to organisational performance and align with overall business objectives.

These are just a few of the key attributes to seek in a business partner:

• Credible
• Capable
• Community minded
• Charismatic
• Able to understand the bigger picture rather than always focusing on details
• Natural strategist
• Strong sense of responsibility

Choose a business partner with as many of these traits as possible. Combined, they will make for a more efficient partnership, as you will be able to rely on them for integral support during difficult decisions and during important strategy decisions.

You can build a strong HR business partnership by working with an individual business partner who supports you and your senior board in aligning your business strategy. They’ll advise on people development, recruitment, learning initiatives and communicating brand values across your organisation.

A capable, credible and charismatic business partner can help streamline hiring processes, reduce costs and strengthen communication across the business.

However, you can also use the ‘three-legged model’, which incorporates HR business partnering into the bigger picture of HR transformations such as shared services and a centre of excellence.

There are many HR business partnering models to choose from, and what suits your business will depend very much on the size of your business and its organisational structure.