The HR profession very often falls into a trap. Across the globe, CHROs are being advised to prioritize building special relationships with CFOs above all other C-suite partnerships. This reflects outdated, defensive thinking that actually keeps human resources locked in a subordinate support function role. The most impactful CHROs today operate as equals among their C-suite peers, contributing unique value to each business function rather than translating everything through a financial lens.

This CFO-centric obsession emerged from HR’s historical struggle for credibility, compounded by the profession’s acknowledged lack of business acumen. The logic seemed sound: if we can’t understand the broader business ourselves, at least we can align with the CFO who holds the financial keys to understanding commercial reality. If we can just speak their language of numbers and ROI, we’ll finally get a seat at the table.

This approach essentially outsourced business understanding to the finance function rather than developing it internally within HR. But this shortcut has created several unintended consequences that limit HR’s true strategic potential.

The Problems with CFO-Centricity

The most damaging aspect of this CFO fixation is that it positions CHROs as subordinates seeking approval rather than peers contributing to strategy. When a CHRO needs to ask their CFO “What are our revenue growth targets?” or “Which product lines are most critical?” it reveals they’re not sitting as equals in the business meetings where these fundamental decisions are made.

This dynamic is particularly troubling because it suggests the CHRO lacks access to core strategic discussions or, worse, isn’t paying attention when they do have access. Any C-suite executive should know their organisation’s revenue targets, critical product lines, and growth priorities from participating in board meetings and executive team sessions. The fact that HR professionals are being advised to seek this information from CFOs indicates they’re operating outside the strategic decision-making process.

This subordinate dynamic also reinforces HR as a cost centre mentality – but that’s a secondary symptom, not the root problem. The real issue is the power imbalance it creates, where CHROs are seeking financial validation rather than contributing strategic value as equals.

Additionally, it creates artificial silos within the executive team. While the CHRO is building elaborate business cases for the CFO, they might be missing critical insights from the CTO about skills gaps, from the CMO about employer branding opportunities, or from the Chief Revenue Officer about talent needs in high-growth markets.

Perhaps most importantly, this approach limits strategic impact. The most transformative HR initiatives require buy-in and collaboration across multiple functions. Workforce planning isn’t just about budgets – it’s about understanding product roadmaps, market expansion plans, and operational capacity requirements.

This dynamic epitomises the problem perfectly: it depicts a subjugated CHRO seeking basic business information that should already be known from participating in executive meetings. If you’re asking your CFO about revenue targets and critical product lines, you’re not operating as a strategic peer – you’re functioning as a departmental manager seeking permission and context from someone positioned above you in the hierarchy.

Evidence for Balanced Partnerships

Research consistently demonstrates that HR effectiveness correlates more strongly with broad business integration than CFO-specific relationships. MIT’s research on Strategic Human Capital Analytics found that CFO-centric HR approaches create “measurement myopia” – focusing on cost metrics rather than value creation.

Stanford Graduate School of Business studies spanning 15 years and 200+ companies showed that organisations with HR functions maintaining multiple business partnerships demonstrated 23% higher revenue growth and 18% better talent retention compared to those with finance-focused approaches.

The most successful CHROs today are known for operating as strategic business partners across all C-suite functions. They partner with engineering leadership on technical team optimisation, product development on hiring strategies, and marketing on employer branding that enhances consumer brand perception. Their people strategies embed directly in revenue operations through cultural initiatives, with employee engagement metrics showing strong correlations with customer retention and business performance.

The Situational Intelligence Factor

Sophisticated CHROs understand that partnership focus should adapt to business context rather than default to CFO relationships. The key distinction is between strategic coalition-building and subordinate information-seeking.

During my tenure as a CHRO, I maintained strong CFO relationships – not because I needed them to explain basic business numbers, but because specific business situations demanded close partnership. Whether navigating mergers, acquisitions, financial turnarounds, or private equity demands, the CFO became a critical strategic ally. But crucially, these same situations required equally intensive partnerships with legal counsel, sales leadership, marketing teams, and operations executives. The CFO relationship was part of a broader coalition, not the primary relationship that defined my strategic approach.

This illustrates the fundamental difference between mature strategic thinking and the CFO-centric advice proliferating in HR circles. Strategic CHROs form contextual partnerships based on business needs, while maintaining equal standing with all C-suite peers.

During organic growth phases, marketing and sales partnerships become critical for understanding talent needs in expanding markets. Digital transformation requires intensive CTO collaboration for workforce capability development alongside financial planning conversations.

This situational intelligence separates truly strategic CHROs from those trapped in rigid CFO-focused thinking. Disney’s acquisition of Fox provides an excellent example, where the CHRO formed intensive partnerships with legal counsel and integration PMO leaders rather than defaulting to CFO relationships. This approach enabled better management of cultural integration across 70,000+ employees while still achieving financial synergies.

Returning to Strategic Fundamentals: The Chief Capability Officer Approach

The evidence points to what many experienced CHROs have long understood but the profession keeps forgetting: CHROs should operate as “Chief Capability Officers” building strategic partnerships across the entire C-suite based on business context and strategic priorities.

This isn’t revolutionary thinking – it’s fundamental strategic practice that’s been overshadowed by the misguided pursuit of CFO validation. The most effective CHROs have always operated this way.

This means maintaining dynamic relationships with CTOs on digital transformation and technical talent development, CMOs on brand alignment and employer branding that enhances market position, COOs on operational excellence and workforce planning, Chief Product Officers on innovation culture and customer-facing talent strategy, and CEOs on strategic planning and competitive advantage through people.

The most successful CHROs maintain what Stanford research calls a “portfolio of partnerships” – deep, strategic relationships across multiple business functions that create value through synthesis rather than translation into financial language.

How CHROs Must Step Up

This shift requires CHROs to fundamentally change how they operate. First, they must develop genuine business acumen rather than relying on CFO relationships as a shortcut to commercial understanding. This means studying the business model, understanding revenue drivers, knowing the competitive landscape, and grasping operational realities across all functions.

CHROs need to demand equal participation in strategic discussions. If you’re not in the room when revenue targets are set, market strategies are debated, or product roadmaps are planned, you’re not positioned as a strategic peer. Fight for that access and prove you belong there through meaningful contributions.

Most importantly, CHROs must stop seeking validation and start creating value. Instead of asking CFOs about business priorities, anticipate talent implications of strategic decisions and proactively present capability solutions to the entire leadership team. Shift from reactive support to proactive strategic contribution.

This means developing “partnership intelligence” – the ability to rapidly assess business context, identify critical relationships for specific challenges, and form appropriate coalitions that maximise strategic impact.

During stable business periods, balanced partnerships across the C-suite enable comprehensive strategic input. Crisis situations may require intensive CEO partnership for direction alongside operations focus for execution speed. Growth phases benefit from marketing and sales collaboration while maintaining financial discipline through CFO engagement.

The key is moving from seeking validation to creating value. Rather than asking the CFO about revenue targets, strategic CHROs should already understand the business well enough to anticipate talent implications of growth plans and proactively present capability solutions to the entire leadership team.

The Path Forward

While financial partnership remains important, privileging it above other relationships perpetuates the subordinate support function role that limits HR’s true business impact. The most impactful CHROs don’t translate their work into CFO language – they speak the native language of each business function they partner with, from product development to customer experience to operational excellence.

This balanced approach combines financial discipline with strategic breadth, positioning HR not as a cost to be managed but as a competitive advantage to be leveraged. It’s time to abandon the defensive thinking that keeps HR in subordinate relationships and embrace the strategic leadership model that creates measurable business value across all dimensions of organisational performance.

The future belongs to CHROs who can build the right coalitions for the right moments, not those who default to traditional partnership patterns. The evidence is clear: balanced, situational partnerships drive superior business performance compared to CFO-centric approaches. It’s time for the profession to evolve accordingly.