Translating HR Impact to Business Impact, by Jonathan H. Westover PhD

Abstract: Translating HR Impact to Business Impact: A Practitioner's Guide focuses on providing human resources (HR) professionals with practical strategies and recommendations for demonstrating how HR activities and initiatives translate into meaningful business outcomes and value. Through drawing on years of consulting experience, academic literature, and real-world organizational examples, the article outlines a step-by-step framework for aligning HR priorities with strategic business goals, establishing causal links between people investments and performance through research, defining HR and business-level key performance indicators, partnering with finance on return-on-investment measurement, and effectively communicating impact through compelling case studies and storytelling. The goal is to help HR professionals earn a greater strategic role by rigorously measuring and clearly illustrating how people-focused strategies and interventions meaningfully contribute to organizational metrics valued by senior leaders.