Why Boards and HR Must Stop Talking Past Each Other

The Problem, Stated Plainly

• Boards think they know HR. Yet for two years running, Human Capital has been the lowest-scoring competency in the Singapore Institute of Directors’ (SID) assessments. That signals a capability gap that undercuts effective oversight on the very levers that determine execution and value.

• HR thinks it knows what Boards want. Too many Board packs centre on retention, engagement, and culture without linking them to strategy, risks, and ROI. Without evidence and a line of sight to business results, the conversation never rises to the level Boards need or want.

This dynamic keeps both sides busy while weakening the one thing that matters: implementation of business strategy through people.

Why This Matters

• Strategy ≠ Slides. Strategy succeeds or fails in the operating model: roles, skills, leadership depth, incentives, and culture. That is HR’s terrain, and it is a Board accountability.

• Technology and AI change the work. Boards must understand how work is redesigned, which skills are scarce, where automation pays off, and where trust may erode.

• Risk shifts to talent. The biggest execution risks now sit in capacity, capability, and continuity—especially in critical roles and in M&A integrations.

What Boards Should Do Differently

1) Raise the standard: make specific requests of HR

Ask for these, on a cadence:

• Strategy-to-Workforce Map. For each strategic pillar: required roles, skills, locations, and timelines. Show hiring lead times, ramp-to-productivity, and cost.

• Four-Lens Readiness. Capacity, capability, criticality, and continuity, by business unit and critical role. Define thresholds that trigger action.

• Skills Balance Sheet. Today vs. required; a Skills Coverage Index = skills covered / skills required for strategy-critical roles.

• Bench Strength & Succession Risk. Pipeline quality for critical roles; vacancy days; regretted loss rate in those roles.

• People ROI Cases. Retention, upskilling, and potential for workforce automation, each with breakeven, payback, and sensitivity.

• Culture & Trust Indicators. Include early-warning signals (e.g., safety, ethics, exit interview themes, manager load).

2) Add human capital to Board performance and risk

• Include Human Capital KPIs and potential Risks in the Board dashboard with explicit thresholds and owner accountabilities.

• Require scenario analyses (e.g., demand spike, hiring freeze, location shift, automation pilot) with workforce and P&L impacts.

• Put people and culture integration on the critical path for any M&A, with pre-close diligence and post-close metrics.

3) Secure genuine strategic HR expertise

• Appoint at least one director with deep, strategic HR capability, not just “managed large teams.”

• When needed, bring in independent HR experts to help with the implementation of their business strategies through people—the precise expertise too many Boards assume they already have in-house.

What HR Should Do Differently

1) Speak finance and strategy—first

• Lead with business outcomes: revenue growth, margin, risk, productivity. Then show how people levers drive those outcomes.

• Always present options with trade-offs: e.g., “Retain 20 engineers (Net Benefit $X) vs. recruit 20 (Net Benefit $Y) vs. automate 2 workflows (Net Benefit $Z).”

2) Bring evidence, not slogans

Use a small set of decision-grade analytics:

• Labor Productivity impact of HR policies and programs

• What-if tables showing cost-benefit alternatives, base-case, and sensitivities.

• Cost of Attrition (CoA) = replacement cost + vacancy cost + ramp loss.

• Retention ROI: bonus or program cost vs. avoided CoA × probability of success.

• Training ROI: uplift in output × gross margin − program cost, with time-to-productivity and decay.

• Skills Coverage Index and Bench Strength for critical roles.

3) Package for the Board

• One-page Executive Summary: the business problem, the options, the recommendation.

• Annex the methods, data, and sensitivity checks.

• Avoid HR jargon. Tie every chart to a decision or a risk.

4) Build Board-readiness

• Learn the mechanics of governance, risk, audit, and capital allocation.

• Practice Board communication: concise, option-oriented, evidence-backed.

• Curate 2–3 pilot cases (e.g., retention program, upskilling, automation) that prove value creation in financial terms.

A Shared Question Set to Reset the Conversation

For Boards to ask HR

1. Which (few) roles are most critical to strategy this year, and how ready are we on capacity, capability, criticality, and continuity?

2. What are the top three people risks to execution, their leading indicators, and the mitigations?

3. Show me the ROI and payback for the top people investments vs. credible alternatives.

4. How will AI and automation reshape our work and skills in the next 12–24 months, and where is the first value?

5. What are the thresholds that trigger action, and who owns them?

For HR to ask the Business/Board

1. Which business outcomes matter most this year—growth, margin, risk—and in what order?

2. Which choices are truly strategic vs. operational?

3. What constraints (budget, time, compliance) define the solution space?

4. What evidence would make you change your mind?

5. What strategic business decision must this pack enable today?

Red Flags That Waste Everyone’s Time

• Dashboards with activity or descriptive statistics but no outcome metrics.

• “Initiatives” with no counterfactual or sensitivity analysis.

• People narratives without a line to the P&L.

• One-size-fits-all playbooks that ignore role criticality and market realities.

• Long decks that bury the lead and never ask for a decision.

The Pivot We Need

This is solvable. 

Boards can raise the bar by asking for the right evidence, setting thresholds, and bringing in genuine strategic HR expertise to help with the implementation of their business strategies through people. 

HR can raise its game by speaking the language of strategy and finance, proving ROI, and presenting genuine options. When both sides shift, conversations become decisive and execution improves.

That is what would drive people-driven success.