Every organisation wants HR to be more strategic.
They want HR Business Partners who influence decisions, challenge thinking and help leaders navigate complexity. They want trusted advisors who understand the business, align people strategies with commercial priorities and contribute to organisational performance.
But there is one capability that rarely features in competency frameworks, leadership programs or business partnering discussions.
Perspective.
Not having one.
Having the discipline to seek many.
At Reimagine HR, we believe this may be one of the most underutilised capabilities in the HR profession.
The Difference Between Perspective Taking and Perspective Getting
A fascinating piece of behavioural science recently challenged one of leadership’s most accepted ideas. Researchers distinguished between perspective taking, which involves imagining what another person is thinking or feeling, and perspective getting, which involves asking them directly. Perhaps surprisingly, the research found that trying harder to imagine another person’s perspective did not necessarily improve accuracy. In many situations, it actually reduced it.
The findings challenge a long-held assumption that empathy alone leads to understanding.
When we attempt to step into someone else’s shoes, we rarely experience their reality. More often, we interpret it through the lens of our own experiences, values, biases and assumptions. We unintentionally fill in the gaps with our own story.
That distinction has profound implications for HR professionals working in advisory and business partnering roles.
Strategic Advice Requires More Than Empathy
Empathy remains one of the most important leadership capabilities.
It helps us build trust, strengthen relationships and respond to people with compassion. Organisations need empathetic leaders, and HR has an important role in developing them.
However, empathy answers a different question from perspective.
Empathy asks, “How can I respond with care?”
Perspective asks, “What is actually happening here?”
The two work best together.
Without empathy, HR risks becoming transactional.
Without perspective, HR risks becoming assumptive.
Great business partnering requires both.
The Business Partner’s Real Role
One of the most common misconceptions about HR Business Partners is that their role is to provide answers.
In reality, their greatest value often lies in improving the quality of the questions being asked.
Consider a significant organisational change.
The executive team is focused on strategic outcomes.
Finance is measuring cost and return on investment.
Operations is concerned about productivity and service delivery.
People leaders are trying to maintain team performance.
Employees are wondering what the change means for their future.
Customers simply expect the organisation to continue delivering.
Every stakeholder is looking at the same decision through a different lens.
The role of an effective HR Business Partner is not to decide whose perspective is correct. It is to understand why those perspectives differ, identify where assumptions are influencing decisions and help leaders make choices with a broader understanding of their likely impact.
That is advisory work.
Perspective Is a Commercial Capability
The strongest HR advisors are not those who simply understand people.
They understand organisations.
That means recognising that every business decision exists at the intersection of commercial priorities, operational realities and human experience.
Business partnering is often described as “aligning HR with the business.”
We believe that definition doesn’t go far enough.
Alignment suggests HR follows the business.
Exceptional HR advisors help amplify business priorities by ensuring leaders make better-informed decisions. They help organisations see unintended consequences before they become organisational problems. They surface perspectives that might otherwise remain unheard. They challenge assumptions respectfully while maintaining a clear focus on business outcomes.
In other words, they improve the quality of organisational decision-making.
That is where strategic value is created.
From Assumption to Understanding
One example from the research illustrates this beautifully.
When senior military leaders in the United States were considering the impact of repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, many confidently predicted how serving personnel would respond. Rather than relying solely on those assumptions, the Pentagon surveyed more than 100,000 military personnel directly.
The findings told a very different story.
The people living the experience viewed the proposed change quite differently from those imagining how they might feel.
The lesson extends well beyond military policy.
How often do organisations confidently explain why engagement has declined, why turnover is increasing or why employees are resisting change before they have genuinely sought to understand those experiencing it?
Experience creates expertise.
It should never replace curiosity.
Developing Perspective Superpowers
Perspective is not something we possess naturally.
It is something we deliberately build.
At Reimagine HR, we encourage HR professionals to think about four disciplines that strengthen their advisory capability.
Seek
Deliberately gather perspectives rather than relying on assumptions or past experience.
Synthesise
Look for patterns across multiple stakeholder groups rather than becoming anchored to a single viewpoint.
Translate
Help leaders understand how decisions will be experienced by different parts of the organisation and explain those differing perspectives in commercially meaningful ways.
Advise
Provide recommendations that integrate commercial priorities with human insight, rather than privileging one at the expense of the other.
These disciplines transform HR from a function that responds to organisational issues into one that helps shape better organisational decisions.
Three Questions Every Business Partner Should Ask
Before offering advice, pause and ask:
- Whose perspective haven’t we heard yet?
- What assumptions are we making about this situation?
- What evidence do we have that our understanding reflects people’s lived experience, rather than our interpretation of it?
These questions are deceptively simple.
Yet they often uncover the perspectives that make the difference between a good decision and a great one.
Perspective Is HR’s Hidden Advantage
The future of HR will not be defined by our ability to memorise legislation, recite leadership frameworks or produce increasingly sophisticated dashboards.
Those capabilities matter, but they are becoming increasingly accessible through technology and automation.
Our enduring value lies elsewhere.
It lies in our ability to help organisations navigate complexity by bringing together perspectives that rarely occupy the same room. We help leaders move beyond assumptions, challenge incomplete narratives and make decisions that are commercially sound because they are grounded in a richer understanding of organisational reality.
Perhaps that is HR’s greatest strategic advantage.
Not simply empathy.
Not simply commercial acumen.
But the ability to deliberately seek, synthesise and translate perspective before offering advice.
In a business environment where decisions are becoming more complex and stakeholder expectations continue to grow, that may prove to be one of the most valuable capabilities any HR professional can develop.
Trina Sunday
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Curious What People Are Really Thinking?
The most effective organisations don’t rely on assumptions. They deliberately seek out the perspectives that help leaders make better decisions.
Whether you’re navigating organisational change, reviewing your operating model, strengthening your leadership team or simply wanting to understand what your people are really experiencing, independent perspective can be one of your greatest strategic advantages.
At Reimagine HR, we help organisations uncover the insights that don’t always appear in engagement surveys or executive meetings. Through stakeholder interviews, organisational reviews, leadership listening, employee insight projects and strategic facilitation, we help leaders move beyond assumption to genuine understanding.
Because the best decisions aren’t built on guesswork.
They’re built on perspective.
If you’d like to explore how we can help your organisation better understand the perspectives that matter most, we’d love to hear from you.
Connect with us on social media or get in touch via our contact page at Reimagine HR.
