What’s behind the changing priorities for an HR department of one in 2025? Jennifer Currence, senior partner at HR Soul Consulting, joins host Monique Akanbi, SHRM-CP, to break down the results of her annual survey of small business HR professionals. She reveals why organizational effectiveness surged to the top of the list, how business acumen is becoming essential for HR pros, and what’s driving shifts in engagement and leadership priorities. Tune in for actionable advice on strengthening relationships across the business, starting change initiatives, and making an immediate impact with limited resources. This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires September 1, 2026. Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz --- Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
What’s behind the changing priorities for an HR department of one in 2025? Jennifer Currence, senior partner at HR Soul Consulting, joins host Monique Akanbi, SHRM-CP, to break down the results of her annual survey of small business HR professionals. She reveals why organizational effectiveness surged to the top of the list, how business acumen is becoming essential for HR pros, and what’s driving shifts in engagement and leadership priorities. Tune in for actionable advice on strengthening relationships across the business, starting change initiatives, and making an immediate impact with limited resources.
This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires September 1, 2026.
Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz
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Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
[00:00:00] Monique Akanbi: Welcome to Honest HR. I'm your host, Monique Akanbi, and we're joining you from SHRM 25, our annual conference here in sunny San Diego, California. Joining us today is Jennifer Currence. Whose wildly popular presentation, the top five priorities for HR departments of one is in, its now ninth year at SHRM's Annual Conference as senior partner at HR Soul Consulting.
Jennifer's annual presentation is based on a survey she conducts each spring. Welcome to Honest HR Jennifer. Thank you. We're so happy to have you. So let's get started. the biggest question we have, or that I have actually, is what did your survey reveal as the top five priorities for HR departments of one?
[00:01:00] Jennifer Currence: Okay, so I'm a David Letterman fan, so I'm gonna go backwards. Okay. True. David Letterman fashion, if anybody remembers. David Letterman. so number five this year was. Leadership and navigation for HR professionals. Number four is relationship management. Number three is business acumen, which is one that's near and dear to my heart that I'm sure we'll get into.
Number two this year was employee engagement and retention, and number one for the first, it wasn't even on the top five. Last year honestly, is organizational effectiveness and development, so I'm super excited about this year's results.
[00:01:44] Monique Akanbi: So these all sound like, SHRM's Bask, which is the body of applied skills and knowledge.
Is that correct?
[00:01:51] Jennifer Currence: Yes, ma'am. Oh, I went through and I offered all 23 option competencies for people to vote on. Okay. As to what they were, what was keeping them up at night, what are the things that they're really focused on for 2025. Got it.
[00:02:06] Monique Akanbi: So what stood, out the most about this year's survey to you?
[00:02:11] Jennifer Currence: Two things stood out. the most, one that I've already mentioned is, you know, coming from behind is organizational effectiveness and development. So reaching all the way to the, the front spot. I'm picturing a horse race in my mind for some reason. I don't know. And so there, that surprised me. It surprised me because it wasn't even on the list last year, but when I really started digging into it, it didn't surprise me as much.
But the other thing that surprised me was that talent acquisition has been on the list for several years, and it's not even making the top five this year. That one has me scratching my head a little bit.
[00:02:49] Monique Akanbi: Honestly, I was surprised that you didn't say talent acquisition as well, because when I talk to other HR professionals, usually in any conversation, talent acquisition comes up, right?
Recruiting and retaining employees. Yeah. But more on the recruiting side. Right? So getting those, you know, top talent and qualified talent within the organization. how do you hope HR professionals will use this insight?
[00:03:13] Jennifer Currence: My, my grand goal anytime I present, but especially for this one, is that they're able to take at least one thing out of the presentation or out of this podcast and be able to really apply it.
So one little tool that they can use to start moving the needle. you know, 1% growth.
[00:03:32] Monique Akanbi: So you said organizational effectiveness and development, which wasn't even on the list last year, took number one, right? why do you think this is now a priority for, HR professionals, especially of small businesses or departments of one?
[00:03:49] Jennifer Currence: So I don't really know. I'm excited to take, now that the survey is closed, I'm start, I'm excited to start really digging in even more, digging into more research about the why behind it. But what's popping up for me is in our consulting practice, we get a lot of, calls from small business HR leaders who are recognizing that their managers need some.
Development opportunities. Because what happens is in those small to mid-size businesses, a lot of times, you know, somebody, a department head leaves, they resign, they retire, they, leave the organization. And so then it's like, oh no, what do we do, Joey? You've been here the longest. You're up next. Go, go, go.
And so they don't give Joey the appropriate amount of. Tools to be an effective leader. Joey might be technically sound, but there's so many other leadership and management skills. So I feel like that is just based on my experience and what I'm hearing from people out there in the field. I feel like that might be one reason why it's kind of popping up into the limelight right now.
[00:05:00] Monique Akanbi: Interesting. how would you say this impacts. HR professionals from a measure and grow standpoint. so in that same aspect where you say, especially for smaller organizations, someone retires or leaves the organization, and then there's this urgency of who's next who can fill this role. How can HR professionals now kind of be a little proactive in that standpoint?
Any thoughts around that?
[00:05:28] Jennifer Currence: Yes. So I'm a huge fan of career pathing and succession planning and providing a training track for, for people who wanna increase and grow within their organizations. If we look at. Surveys and studies by other people other than just my own survey. You see that people want to stay in a place that will offer them growth.
So we don't wanna come into an organization and just stay stagnant. We wanna grow, we wanna learn. I was having dinner last night with an HR professional who said that she was, she. Just started a new job a year ago and she was kind of questioning whether she made the right choice. But at the end of the day, she really sits down and says, you know what?
I have a lot to learn here. I have a lot to grow from this. It might not be perfect, but this is a really big growth opportunity for me professionally. And I feel like everybody thinks that way. Not everybody, but I feel like a lot of people, yes. Really feel that way.
[00:06:26] Monique Akanbi: So for, HR professionals of small businesses, what's a manageable starting point for implementing change initiatives?
[00:06:36] Jennifer Currence: Ah, so, one of the other, thank you for bringing that up because that's one of the points that I wanted to make sure that we talked about because organizational effectiveness and development as defined by the SHRM bas, includes managing change initiatives. And so when we f. And maybe that's another reason this is popping up this year is 'cause there's so much change going on Yes.
In the workplace landscape. And so what do we do with that and how do we manage that? honestly, I think growing, so for HR professionals being able to attend conferences like the annual SHRM conference and other. Other opportunities to learn about what's going on. I know SHRM and a lot of other organizations have some amazing webinars that help us keep up to date with some of the compliance issues or the changing, pieces of landscape.
And then also just to be able to, put into practice some, I'm big on, on. Formulas or formats or processes. So one of the processes that I really appreciate and I think works really well for change is the add car framework. Which stands for, awareness, having the desire of change, having the knowledge of why the change is happening, having the ability to make the change, and then re reinforcing the change.
So for individuals and within the organization, if we can work through that process as HR professionals, we can really get to some of the, whys that people are struggling with change.
[00:08:09] Monique Akanbi: So employee engagement held actually the top spot for like the last six years, right? Yeah. Consecutively. But this year, organizational development and effectiveness bumped it down.
Right? why do you think that is?
[00:08:26] Jennifer Currence: I don't know. I, here's what's coming to mind for me. I don't think that it's because. HR professionals or business leaders are less interested in engaging employees? I think it's that they're more interested in organizational effectiveness and development. So, and I think that's because of the reasons we talked about, you know, having those growth opportunities, teaching people the, so they have the same, understanding the same language to work from, managing people and then managing that change or leading that change in their organization.
So. That's, the best answer that I have for you because employee engagement is still very important.
[00:09:08] Monique Akanbi: I mean, number two is still important, so you're absolutely right. Right. So, I love the way you put that, once one approach, HR professionals of small businesses can take to boost engagement, without adding more work to their already full plates
[00:09:26] Jennifer Currence: without adding more work.
There's, the trick, right? So I believe that. One of the keys that we don't use as effectively as we can, and when I say we, I mean leaders everywhere. HR professionals included obviously. Is recognition and really being able to recognize and appreciate the people in our organizations. So it's more than just, Hey, good job today, Monique.
It's, more like, Monique, I so appreciate you being here, showing up on time and putting your most into this podcast. It really means a lot to me, and it tells me that you're valuing my time here as well. So it's more specific than that. and I think that that's something that's super easy. Takes what?
Three extra seconds and means so much more.
Okay. Good.
[00:10:17] Monique Akanbi: So business acumen was number three. and this is another priority that has appeared on your list a couple of times over the last nine years. What's making this important to HR professionals of small businesses this year?
[00:10:33] Jennifer Currence: Well, it's because we are still trying to fight for that and I, really dislike this terminology, but it's one that we all use, getting that seat at the table.
The table, right, right. It's like, don't ask for the seat, just. Take the seat already. Right, right. but or make the table good seat. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Or think as if there is no table. How about that? Yes. Right. thinking outside the box. Think as if there is no box. So there's, we are still. Clawing and fighting our way into a that leadership role.
And I'm speaking generically, right? So more for the smaller. I see it more in the small to mid-size businesses than in the larger organizations. And how we do that is through gaining our business acumen and learning the language of the business. So this is near and dear to my heart because this was the title of my first book.
Just developing business acumen, published by SHRM so that it's one of those things that when I published it in 2016, it was hot then and it's still a, still something that we're working towards. And I think it's something that we're. Chipping away at, but always opportunities.
[00:11:47] Monique Akanbi: So you said something that, stood out just a moment ago,
and that is teaching business as acumen, right? So we talk about it often, right? We always. Tell HR professionals, tell others you need to build your business acumen, right? but we don't necessarily give the strategies or teach how HR professionals of any size organization can really build their business acumen.
but specifically with small businesses or HR professionals and small businesses, how can they sharpen, their understanding of the organization's? Operations, and the competitive landscape, or even profit strategies, what are some ways that they can strengthen those skills?
[00:12:36] Jennifer Currence: So a lot of times HR falls into the people pleasing paper pushing.
Party planners and, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but don't let that be our only thing. We have to really work from being transactional to being transformational. And how we do that is, Well, let me tell you a story. I once had an opportunity to meet with a executive team of a very small business, and it was a room full of men, and I'm the only woman in the room.
And I got up and I did my PowerPoint presentation in my business suit in this tiny little, office space. And they, you know, I walked in and they were o. HR, they didn't even have an HR department at that time, and they're, what is she gonna tell us that we don't already know? But I came prepared in my power print presentation with numbers and graphs and talked to their business.
so I did my external environmental scan and their internal environmental scan and laid out. Three opportunities for them to improve. And when I left, I heard through the grapevine that one of the people that had been there for 25 years walked away and said, wow, she really knows her stuff. He didn't use the word stuff but it So that to me, if we can.
Understand the language of the business through doing internal and external environmental scans through a pestle analysis, a gap analysis, a SWOT analysis, and then, understanding where they are and the how they operate with numbers and data that can be really beneficial.
[00:14:22] Monique Akanbi: So gaining a deep understanding of the entire organization.
I think oftentimes HR professionals, we think just HR not, and that's again, in general speaking, I'm, HR, that's the only thing I'm responsible for. And so often when I'm asked. What advice would you give to someone in HR and I, speak to students often and I tell them, learn every part of the business, not just your function.
Learn about, you don't have to be an expert in every function of the organization, but if you learn. All of the functions of the organization that makes you that much more stronger of an HR professional. But to your point, building that business acumen and speaking that language that's needed when you are at the table, right?
Yes. Or you're presenting.
[00:15:08] Jennifer Currence: So it's not just knowing HR, it's knowing how HR affects the business. Yes. And so how I've done that is. I've requested meetings with the CFO. Hey, walk me through our profit and loss statement. Help me understand the difference between a p and l and a balance sheet. Like what are the, how do we make money and how do we spend money?
I have gone on, requested myself. This was not offered to me. I requested to go on a ride along with the salesperson so that I could understand. I went to a, meeting with him. I sat down with him. It was a, CPG company, consumer packaged goods. So we, he took me to the grocery store and showed me where we were on the shelf and why that was important.
So those are some things that I've done and I had to request those. It's not at waiting for the seat at the table, it's taking the seat at the table, to make sure that I understood the business. And as a result later when I was interviewing for a VP of sales role. I interviewed people and more than once I had them tell me, wow, I've never talked to an HR professional who knows so much about sales.
So it pays off.
[00:16:16] Monique Akanbi: So relationship management came in forth on your list and, I see that over the last nine years, it's held its spot, right? It's been on your list, whether it's third, fourth, or fifth place, but it's always been on the list for the last nine years. what does this priority say about, the importance?
HR skills in 2025 related to conflict, growing one's, influence and also building trust,
[00:16:45] Jennifer Currence: relationship management. Well, the, low hanging fruit there is conflict, right? So whenever anybody has an issue with the workplace, they go and knock on h doors and HR hrs door and HR is expected. D. Fix it with our magic wand hidden under our desk.
And so there's, that element I think. and that actually showed up in my survey notes 'cause there's a spot for people to leave comments. And one of the comments was, there seems to be a never ending conflict in our organization. So how do we do that? the other thing that I think is important aside from managing conflict is that.
It relates back to Gallup's Poll and Gallup does their, 12 question poll, and they say that one of the number one things that makes an employee happy in the workspace is having a quote unquote best friend at work. Best friend. Yes. Right. So there's, relationship management and we spend so much time at work that it's important for us to be, Like the people that we're working with, which is why it's important to manage conflicts. And so when we can use our as HR professionals, how does this affect us? When we can use those coaching skills and give the managers and the employees the tools to use to be able to manage their own conflicts, then that helps them build better relationships at work and helps them.
Actually retain the, employees as well.
[00:18:13] Monique Akanbi: Right. So what's one practice you would recommend, for HR professionals or small businesses to build stronger, more productive relationships across their organization?
[00:18:26] Jennifer Currence: I'm not gonna say have an open door policy, because I think that gets us in trouble sometimes.
And then we become at everybody's beck and call. So, hey, y'all take some time for yourselves to get your strategic work done. That's how we become transformational leaders. But there is a tool that I use a lot on one-on-one. So this is a tool you can use with individuals. I've used it in meetings, I've used it one-on-one.
And you can teach other people as well. And that's what's called the contrasting technique. I learned this from the book, crucial Conversations. Yes. And what it sounds like. Have you read that book? Yes. Oh, so good. I love it. So one of the, one of the tools they use there is the contrasting technique.
And it sounds like this, what I don't mean, what I don't want you to feel is that I'm. Picking on you. What I do want you to know is that I value you and I really want you to succeed here. So I have some feedback for you that might be beneficial to you. Are you willing to receiving it? Are you open to receiving it?
So, that is one tool that I like to use, and I've used it again. I you can use that tool in a meeting too.
[00:19:31] Monique Akanbi: Yeah. So priority five for, for HR professionals and small businesses, was leadership and navigation. so what's your take on why this priority is where it is this year in terms of making the top five?
[00:19:49] Jennifer Currence: I think it's, Hand in hand with what I talked about with business acumen, how we're still, clawing our way into becoming a transformational leader and to be seen as the leader, a leader in our organization that's just as important as, you know, finance or operations. So when we're talking about leadership and navigation for small businesses, what I see is that HR professionals.
Don't know how to climb the ladder, don't know how to get recognized. one of the comments from the survey said, well, we've done fine without you so far, so why do we need, why do we need you? to which I will say, remember that story I was just telling you about how I went, and she really knows her stuff.
They ended up hiring me. They did not have HR, but I became their first HR manager because I did know my stuff and I did show that I was a. Leader in the space and I could help them navigate the people issues that they had. So. That's where I, think that's kind of where it's, stemming from, yeah.
[00:20:52] Monique Akanbi: So being able to lead organizations, especially in today's time where there's so much uncertainty.
Right. So I can definitely see that. how can HR professionals or small businesses develop and communicate a vision that resonates with both? Employees and their executive team.
[00:21:14] Jennifer Currence: Oh my gosh, I love this question. So this is one of my favorite things to do with teams of anywhere, but I did it when I was leading an HR team.
So what we did is we, asked ourselves, w. What words do we want the managers and the employees use to describe us? And then we, the second question we asked is, what words do we want to use to describe working with each other? You come up with this list. And when we did it, we actually asked managers, Hey, what do, what words do you wanna use to describe your perfect HR department?
And they would, they gave us some information as well. So we had these two lists, and then we went and we voted on what were our top priorities. We came up with a. An acronym, 'cause now I like frameworks. So we came up with an acronym, which was coach, and it stands for we want, as an HR department, we hold ourselves to these values of being confidential, open-minded, approachable, connected, and helpful.
So. What we did with that is we operationalized each one of those words. We said, okay, this is what it looks like. And then I put it out to the entire organization and I said, this is what you can expect from your HR department. This is what we vow to give to you. And if you see any member of the HR department, including me, not following by these values.
You come talk to me about it because this is how firmly we believe in it and it, really made a game changer. 'cause I had people coming into me, employees and managers are saying, you know what, Sally was really helpful today. Thank you for, I just wanted to let you know that. So it was an opportunity for employees and managers to recognize the HR department.
It was also an opportunity for me to use as an interview tool when I was hiring new HR professionals from my department to say, Hey. what do these words mean to you? And it's also a tool for me to use to manage them. Hey, I just walked into your desk and I saw that there was this, so somebody's social security number was laying on your desk.
Help me understand how that aligns with our value of confidentiality. So it's a great, it's a great tool for any manager, to use and I highly recommend it.
[00:23:30] Monique Akanbi: Oh, I love that because you communicated the vision, right? And you also built accountability within your team and throughout the organization.
So I love that.
[00:23:39] Jennifer Currence: And I got buy-in from the managers, the employees at the same time, right? Yeah. Yeah. You gotta buy in to weigh in. You gotta weigh in to buy-in. Weigh into, buy-in. Yep.
[00:23:46] Monique Akanbi: Got it. So Jennifer, if you had to choose one action, as the best starting point for an HR professional within a small business or and within a department of one, to make immediate impact, what would that be and why?
[00:24:05] Jennifer Currence: Interview every single one of your department heads. So spend some one-on-one time with each person and say, Hey, what's keeping you up at night? How can I help? So it can be really simple questions, but just you wanna understand what their business is and what they are dealing with, and how HR can help.
So it's really, it's more about the department head. but we can then use HR and how HR affects the business, not just HR for hrs sake. And what we're trying to get to is to be a partner, not police. So we don't want to be the, policing of, you know, compliance and, you know, oh, you're not gonna let me fire this person, but they, I need to fire 'em, you know?
So we wanna partner with them and build that relationship. Management, right. Management, relationship and trust. and then they can come to us for more than just conflict issues.
[00:25:01] Monique Akanbi: Yes. So looking ahead, how do you see these priorities evolving and what should a HR professionals do in preparing for beyond 2025?
Because believe it or not, we're halfway through the year.
[00:25:16] Jennifer Currence: Oh, I know. Isn't that crazy? I might be biased, I realize that, but I think one of the top things that an HR professional can do is to help the leadership understand the importance about training their managers. it can help them, avoid any compliance issues which people usually ignore until they have one, unfortunately.
And, it can really help build that trust in that like moving forward. So when we take the time to train our managers up the way that we want them to be, it help alleviates the administrivia that HR has to deal with, leaving us more time for that transformational or strategic growth. And it gives the managers the tools that they need to be able to be successful in the workplace.
And I think that is. Really so important. So I worked with SHRM to, help write the pm q the people manager qualification. So I know this is, something that SHRM truly believes in as well.
[00:26:21] Monique Akanbi: So the evolution of training people managers, right? Yeah. And being, and kind of looking beyond, 2025.
[00:26:32] Jennifer Currence: And there are so many ways to do that. I mean, the, opportunities are just endless. you don't, you can hire a consultant like me to come in and provide it for you, but there's a lot of different ways that you can do it yourself. It could be as simple as, picking out a TED talk and showing it at your, next group meeting and then talking through what that means for the, your department or your group.
[00:26:53] Monique Akanbi: Right. Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your deep insights. Hello friends. We hope this week's episode gave you the candid tips and insights you need to keep growing and thriving in your career. Honest. HR is part of HR Daily, the content series from SHRM that delivers a daily newsletter directly to your inbox filled with all the latest HR news and research.
Sign up at SHRM dot org slash HR daily. Plus follow SHRM on social media for even more clips and stories like share and add to the comments because real change starts with real talk.
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