© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.21623 37 Competencies for HR Professionals Who Deliver Outcomes Dave Ulrich, David Kryscynski, Michael Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank F or almost 30 years, the HR Competency Study (HRCS) sponsored by the Ross School at the University of Michigan and the RBL Group, along with 22 regional partners around the world, has empirically defined the competencies of HR professionals and shown how those competencies affect personal effectiveness and business performance. In this seventh (2016) round, we collected over 30,000 worldwide surveys rating the competencies and performance of more than 4,000 HR professionals from more than 1,500 organizational units. The results 1 simultaneously build on insights from prior rounds and generate new insights for the HR. The findings are centered on five questions, each with an action item for an HR professional who wants to create more value: 1. What are the competencies of HR professionals? 2. What competencies do HR professionals require to be personally effective (i.e., to be invited “to the table”)? 3. When engaged “at the table” (in business discussions), who should HR professionals represent and what competencies are required? 4. What competencies do HR professionals require to drive business results? 5. What is the relative importance of the competencies of HR professionals versus the activities of the HR department in driving business results? COMPETENCIES FOR HR PROFESSIONALS In collaboration with our regional HR partners, we examined 123 specific items of what HR professionals should be, know, or do. We performed scores of factor analyses on these items to determine consistent domains of HR competence. Exhibit 1 portrays the nine competencies we identified for HR professionals. Three of these competencies were core drivers (explained more below): ❏ Strategic Positioner —able to position a business to win in its market. ❏ Credible Activist —able to build relationships of trust by having a proactive point of view. ❏ Paradox Navigator —able to manage tensions inherent to businesses (e.g., be both long and short term, be both top down and bottom up). We also found three domains of HR competence that are organization enablers, helping position HR to deliver strategic value: ❏ Culture and Change Champion — able to make change happen and manage organizational culture. In collaboration with our regional HR partners, we examined 123 specific items of what HR professionals should be, know, or do. We performed scores of factor analyses on these items to determine consistent domains of HR competence.