This may be a no-brainer but it takes people to run a business. For small businesses and large corporations alike, the human resources (HR) department is important to business success.

HR professionals perform more duties than just handling the open enrolment season once a year or processing payroll on a bi-weekly basis. Effective HR in a business can help develop a company’s strategy, the organisation’s employee engagement activities and the overall company culture which, in turn, could translate into business success.

“Often, when people see HR people, they think of the HR initiatives — how you hire people, how you train people, how you build well-being, how you manage mental health — and I think those initiatives are terrific. But what I am most interested in is doing those initiatives so that we succeed with the customer, we succeed with the investors and we succeed in the community,” says Dave Ulrich, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, who is often touted as the father of modern HR.

“HR is not just about HR. It’s about HR so that we are successful on the business agenda,” he continues, on the sidelines of the National Human Capital Conference & Exhibition (NHCCE) 2023 organised by the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp).

For some reason, companies do not usually consider the HR department as the most important department in a company. It is such a shame because this department is critical to the success of every organisation.

In fact, the HR department, which spearheads the development of human capital in a company, is the key to business success. Human capital development refers to the process of enhancing and improving the skills, knowledge, abilities and overall potential of individuals within an organisation. It recognises that individuals are valuable assets and focuses on investing in their development to maximise their contributions and productivity.

“There are a lot of companies in America that have been very good at managing people. But they didn’t build people to succeed in the marketplace. So, companies like Toys “R” Us, Sears or Eastman Kodak have all gone broke because they had great people practices but the people practices were not connected to the customer experience,” says Ulrich.

He believes that companies lack focus in developing HR as a means to be successful with customers. “The headline that I would like to use is, if we don’t succeed in the marketplace, there is no workplace. So, if you aren’t successful with the customer, there’s not going to be a job for the employee. And the challenge is to make sure that we make that bridge in an effective way.”

In other words, Ulrich is advocating for HR professionals to devise a strategic human capital development plan that creates business value for the company. For example, he points out that a lot of the HR efforts in companies globally are increasingly targeted at customer-facing employees.

“My hope is that we continue to see business impact. Human capital development is not [just] about human capital … it’s so that we can build more customer confidence, so that we build investors’ success and so that we build community reputation. When you link what we do with human capital, with those outcomes, I think we’re going to see some very good things happening.

“We’re not there yet, but I think we’re getting closer and I think we’re making progress. And a conference like this one is a great, great case for that progress,” says Ulrich.

Held on Oct 30 and 31 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre, the NHCCE 2023 featured a robust line-up of speakers. More than 30 world-renowned human capital thought leaders, forward-thinking HR practitioners and subject matter experts were in attendance, including Ghanim Al-Muftah, a Qatari entrepreneur, online streamer and philanthropist; and Dr Justin Cohen, a renowned international keynote speaker.

Other speakers included Maybank Group chief human capital officer Datuk Nora Abd Manaf, LinkedIn head of Asia for talent and learning solutions Frank Koo and CIMB Group chief sustainability officer Luanne Sieh.

The speakers revealed insights on five key topics: technology and innovation, leadership and growth, motivation and well-being, learning and development, as well as dynamic workforce and future workplace.