As organisations navigate increasingly complex market dynamics, stakeholders have highlighted the demands of the modern workplace. They stated that the future of work and business success would be shaped not by isolated leadership but by collaborative and strategic partnerships among leaders to achieve organisational goals.
At this year’s CEO/CHRO/HRD forum by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), they argued that the modern workplace demands a new kind of leadership alliance between the chief executive officer (CEO) and the human resource director (HRD) for organisational growth.
Guest speaker and Managing Director of Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Oyeyimika Adeboye, who spoke on ‘Building Strategic Partnerships: The Roles of CEOs and HR in Organisations’, emphasised the transformative power of synergy between CEOs and HRDs.
According to her: “When the CEO and the HR Director act as trusted partners, they send a powerful message to the business: performance and growth are everyone’s responsibility.
“The CEO provides strategic direction and authority, while the HR director orchestrates the people and change management dimensions, ensuring buy-in at all levels. Your competitive advantage lies in the success of that partnership. To CEOs, I say, your vision is the compass. Your leadership in fostering partnership determines the journey.”
While she urged HR leaders to rise beyond traditional tasks like payroll and compliance to crafting clear career pathways, the Cadbury boss described HR as the indispensable strategic partner translating vision into people-centric execution and value creation.
President and Chairman of the Governing Council, CIPM, Ahmed Gobir, noted that CEOs and HR collaboration was no longer optional but fundamental, as the partnership determines whether an organisation makes the charts or fades into background noise.
Highlighting a recent Deloitte finding that 70 per cent of CEOs link business success to effective talent management, yet only 30 per cent actively engage HR as strategic partners, the CIPM chief challenged both camps to close the gap.
