The Strategic HR Business Partner

HR Business Partners are at the frontline of today’s talent strategy. They represent the fastest growing role in the profession and, in many organizations, the most pivotal. A great HR Business Partner must balance strategy and execution. They must have an intimate understanding of the business challenges their team is working to solve and be able to re-frame those challenges through the lens of talent and employee experience. They must ask great questions and design creative solutions. This Program is for HR Business Partners committed to taking their own work and their team to the next level.

The Program looks at the evolving job of the HR Business Partner through the lens of five different “roles” HR Business Partners have to master in order to excel in their evolving position. Each “role” corresponds to a module in the program:

The Strategic Advisor

The Data-Driven Problem Solver

The Influential Storyteller

The Trusted Coach

The Independent Voice

  • ApproachOnline social learning, teams of 30-50

  • Learning Time5-8 hours

  • Duration5 weeks. Next starting: December 6, 2023
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Key Questions You’ll Explore in this Program

How has the role of the HRBP evolved in the last twenty years?

Why does the business need HRBPs to be more strategic?

What does business acumen mean in an HR context?

How do we make sense of the data we have and use it to solve our most pressing challenges?

How are HRBPs in a position to be uniquely influential?

How do influence and storytelling come together to help us solve problems?

What does it mean to have an independent voice and how do we cultivate one?

Field Manuals

The Strategic HR Business Partner Program is made up of Five Field Manuals (our version of an online module). Each one contains a variety of types of content and social exercises culminating in a mini-project, reflection, or debate. Each Field Manual will take you between 30-45 minutes to complete but you can jump on and off at your own pace, as often as you’d like. The deeper learning happens in the discussions with your fellow learners so be sure to check in on the conversations regularly.

The Strategic Advisor

As businesses adjust to the monumental shifts brought on by technology, the role of the HR Business Partner is becoming more strategic. What does that mean for today’s HRBPs? How can we grow into these new opportunities?

The Data-Driven Problem Solver

As more and more data about our people becomes available to HRBPs, we face a complex and delicate question: How can we leverage that data to help solve talent-related problems in the business? And how can we develop our skills to not only find the data, but to draw critical insights from it?

The Influential Storyteller

When we have important information to share, we have to know how to do it. “Just the facts” won’t cut it: we have to use our influence and tell good stories to address real problems.

The Trusted Coach

HRBPs unique position at the intersection of strategy, organization, and talent makes us especially likely to be called on to give advice, coaching, and mentorship to an array of colleagues both up and down the org chart. How do we build the trust needed to successfully fill that role? What other tools do we need to develop?

The Independent Voice

As HRBPs, we often find ourselves straddling the needs of our business unit and the needs of the overall organization. Sometimes, that balancing act is quite tricky. But it also offers us a unique perspective to have an independent voice, offering strategic support and feedback to shape our teams in a way no one else can.

Featured Voices

Case Studies

Building Business Acumen at UnitedHealth Group

How Stories Changed the Culture at Deutsche Telecom

Engineering a Solution at Amazon

A Strategy Without a Plan

Coaching a Charismatic Leader

This Program was created by:

  • Founder & Dean of the JBA
    Josh Bersin

  • Co-founder & CEO, Nomadic Learning
    Matt Burr

  • Learning Design
    Debra Newcomer

  • Lead Writer
    Amanda Burr

  • Video & Animation
    Tatiana McCabe

  • Production Coordinator & Media Management
    Mike Estler

  • Resource Management & Production
    Carolyn Ruocco

  • Video Editor
    Brad Hinkle