How HR Can Play To Win
The landscape of business today is marked by volatility, uncertainty, and rapid change. In this environment, traditional leadership models are no longer enough. To truly thrive, organizations need more than incremental improvements—they need a revolution. Enter the insurgent mindset: a bold approach that challenges norms and redefines leadership. Human Resources (HR), often seen as the support function of an organization, must embrace this insurgency. By reimagining its role and adopting insurgent principles, HR can become the catalyst for meaningful, lasting transformation.
Breaking Free from the Status Quo
For far too long, HR has been tethered to outdated practices—performance reviews that don’t drive results, rigid hiring protocols, and processes that prioritize conformity over creativity. The traditional view of HR is reactive, focused on compliance and consistency. But in today’s business environment, HR cannot afford to merely maintain the status quo. It must act as the insurgent force within the organization, constantly challenging existing frameworks and pushing for change.
Think about it: How many companies still rely on performance management systems that rank employees on a bell curve? How many still hold on to traditional recruitment processes that prioritize tenure over skill or fit? These systems aren’t driving the innovative, agile workforces needed to succeed in today’s business world. HR needs to be disruptive. It must challenge conventional wisdom, rewrite the rules, and build an organizational culture that thrives on agility, innovation, and autonomy.
Rallying Employees Behind a Shared Purpose
No insurgent movement can succeed without a clear sense of purpose. HR’s role is to create and communicate this purpose across the organization, ensuring that employees at every level understand not just what the company does, but why it matters. The insurgent HR function isn’t focused on policies and procedures—it’s focused on rallying employees around a collective mission that drives both individual and organizational success.
A purpose-driven workforce isn’t just more engaged; it’s more resilient and more productive. HR can lead this cultural shift by connecting every aspect of the employee experience to the organization’s broader goals, ensuring that everyone feels like an integral part of the movement. By tapping into intrinsic motivation, HR can inspire employees to go beyond compliance and truly invest in the company’s success.
Decentralizing Leadership Development
Insurgent movements thrive on decentralized leadership—leaders emerge not from the top but from within the ranks, empowered to challenge the status quo and take bold action. In this same vein, HR should focus on empowering leadership at all levels. Leadership development cannot be a top-down exercise. Instead, it must be a dynamic, fluid process that allows employees at all levels to step into leadership roles, test their ideas, and make an impact.
HR’s role is to create environments where these leaders can emerge. This might mean offering mentorship programs, encouraging cross-functional collaboration, or allowing employees to take ownership of projects outside their formal job descriptions. Leadership isn’t just about titles—it’s about influence, and by fostering a culture that allows influence to flow freely throughout the organization, HR can help develop a more agile, responsive workforce.
Implementing Agile, Tactical Strategies
An insurgency is nimble, reactive, and always ready to adapt. HR must adopt this same flexibility. In today’s fast-paced business world, slow, bureaucratic processes no longer work. HR needs to act quickly, testing new initiatives and iterating on them in real time.
For example, rather than conducting lengthy, once-a-year surveys, HR can implement real-time feedback tools that allow employees to provide ongoing insights. When developing talent, HR should test new programs on a small scale, measuring their effectiveness before scaling them across the organization. This ability to pivot and adapt quickly is crucial in an environment that is constantly shifting. By applying these agile principles to HR, organizations can not only respond to immediate challenges but also stay ahead of future opportunities.
Forming Strategic Alliances
No insurgency is fought alone. The most successful movements build alliances with others who share their vision and goals. Similarly, HR must create strong partnerships across the organization. By aligning with key stakeholders in other departments—such as marketing, operations, and finance—HR can ensure that people strategies are directly linked to the organization’s broader objectives.
These cross-functional alliances are essential for driving change at scale. HR cannot operate in isolation; it must work hand-in-hand with other leaders to ensure that people strategies support business priorities. This collaborative approach helps HR not only amplify its impact but also position itself as a true strategic partner within the organization. For instance, a partnership between HR and marketing could help attract top talent that aligns with the company’s brand, while HR’s collaboration with finance ensures that talent investments are tied to long-term financial growth.
Creating a Culture of Continuous Rebellion Against Mediocrity
At the heart of insurgency is the refusal to accept mediocrity. HR can foster a culture that consistently challenges the status quo, encouraging employees to push the boundaries of their capabilities. This goes beyond performance reviews and compensation—it’s about creating an environment where employees feel empowered to innovate, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of failure.
HR can fuel this cultural shift by rewarding boldness and creativity, rather than merely rewarding adherence to existing norms. Employees should be encouraged to bring their best, most disruptive ideas to the table, with HR acting as both a guide and a supporter of these new ways of thinking. A culture that rebels against complacency is one that is primed for continuous improvement and growth.
Measuring ROI: Connecting Insurgent Strategies to Business Outcomes
For HR to truly "play to win," its insurgent strategies must be aligned with organizational goals—and this alignment must be measurable. One of HR’s primary roles is driving performance, and that performance needs to translate into tangible business results. How do these insurgent HR strategies impact the bottom line?
By embracing an agile approach, HR can reduce turnover rates, increase employee engagement, and ultimately improve productivity. For example, decentralizing leadership development leads to a more empowered, motivated workforce, which can result in better decision-making and innovation. Additionally, fostering a purpose-driven culture improves retention, as employees are more likely to stay at organizations that align with their values. These improvements directly affect both the employee experience and business performance.
Case Studies: Insurgent HR in Action
1. Continuous Feedback Over Traditional Performance Reviews
One global tech company, TechNova, decided to abandon its outdated annual performance review system, which had become a source of frustration for both employees and managers. The company was struggling with high turnover rates and low employee engagement scores, largely due to the rigid nature of their performance management system. HR decided to implement a continuous feedback loop—leveraging technology to provide real-time feedback and allowing employees to regularly assess their own progress.
The results were transformative. Within six months, employee engagement scores increased by 25%, while turnover decreased by 15%. More importantly, productivity across teams improved as employees felt more connected to their personal growth and the organization’s goals. By decentralizing the feedback process, HR empowered managers and team leads to give timely, specific feedback that addressed challenges as they arose, rather than waiting for annual reviews to make adjustments. This shift also created a more collaborative, open environment where employees felt their growth was being actively supported, not just assessed.
2. Empowering Mid-Level Managers through Cross-Functional Projects
InnoGroup, a global consumer goods company, was facing a leadership pipeline problem. The traditional leadership development programs were failing to produce leaders who could navigate the complexities of an evolving business environment. HR decided to adopt an insurgent strategy by providing mid-level managers with the autonomy to lead cross-functional, high-stakes projects. Instead of top-down, corporate-sponsored leadership training, InnoGroup’s HR team implemented a program where managers from various departments—marketing, operations, finance, and HR—were tasked with collaborating to solve organizational challenges.
The results were compelling. Within a year, the company saw a 30% increase in internal promotions, with several mid-level managers stepping into senior leadership roles. These individuals had demonstrated not only their ability to lead teams but also their capacity to innovate and drive cross-functional collaboration. HR’s decentralized approach to leadership development created a more diverse and agile leadership pipeline, resulting in improved organizational performance. The cross-functional projects also led to a 20% improvement in efficiency, as departments learned to collaborate more effectively and creatively.
3. Revamping Talent Acquisition with Data-Driven Insights
Skyline Health, a healthcare provider, was struggling with a high turnover rate among its nursing staff. HR traditionally relied on standard recruiting practices that focused on qualifications and years of experience. However, they noticed that many of the highest performers weren’t necessarily those with the longest resumes. HR adopted an insurgent approach by integrating data analytics into the recruitment process to assess not only technical skills but also cultural fit and emotional intelligence (EQ), which had been proven to contribute significantly to performance in high-stress healthcare environments.
Using AI and machine learning tools, HR created a data-driven recruitment model that looked for candidates who displayed key emotional competencies and resilience traits, along with the technical skills required for the job. After implementing this system, Skyline Health saw a 40% reduction in turnover among new hires, and the overall patient satisfaction score increased by 15%. More importantly, the new hires were better aligned with the organization’s mission and values, fostering a stronger sense of belonging and engagement from day one.
4. Building Strategic Alliances with IT for Workforce Optimization
A multinational finance firm, CapitalBridge, was facing challenges in managing its growing workforce across multiple global offices. HR traditionally operated in silos, focusing on administrative tasks like payroll and benefits, while the IT department was responsible for systems and technologies that affected the workforce. In an effort to create more seamless workflows and optimize talent management, HR decided to form a strategic alliance with the IT department to co-develop a new integrated workforce management system.
The new platform, which combined HR data with business intelligence tools, allowed HR leaders to gain real-time insights into workforce performance, skills gaps, and employee engagement. This collaboration led to more targeted training and development initiatives, ensuring that employees in all regions had access to the right tools and resources to perform at their best. As a result, the firm saw a 20% increase in employee productivity across all departments, along with a 10% improvement in employee retention. This alliance between HR and IT not only enhanced HR’s strategic role within the organization but also demonstrated the value of cross-functional collaboration in driving business outcomes.
Overcoming Resistance: How to Lead Change Effectively
HR will face resistance, especially in organizations where traditional structures are entrenched. Overcoming this resistance requires strategic communication and patience. Leaders should begin by securing buy-in from top executives, demonstrating how insurgent HR strategies align with the company’s long-term goals. HR should also work to create quick wins—initiatives that produce visible results and demonstrate the value of the new approach. This helps build momentum and encourages wider adoption across the organization.
Assessing Organizational Readiness for Change
Before implementing these insurgent strategies, HR must assess the organization’s readiness for transformation. Is the culture ready for agility and decentralized leadership? Are there existing silos that need to be broken down? HR leaders should start by identifying areas that are most ready for change and work to create a roadmap for gradual, sustained transformation. This approach ensures that the organization evolves at a pace that matches its capacity for change.
Conclusion
To truly "play to win," HR must embrace an insurgent mindset. It must challenge traditional practices, rally employees behind a shared mission, and create a culture of agility and innovation. By decentralizing leadership, forming strategic alliances, measuring ROI, and addressing resistance proactively, HR can lead the charge in transforming organizations into dynamic, high-performing entities.
HR is not just a support function—it is the insurgent force that can redefine the future of work. And it’s time for HR to lead that revolution.