Securing HR’s seat at the leadership table: the ‘admin to advisor’ framework

As an HR leader, you’re not just managing people. You’re shaping the business. You see how culture, capability and performance drive growth – and you connect the dots in ways other leaders can’t. 

Yet too often, HR’s voice isn’t heard where it matters most: in the conversations that shape strategy and impact the bottom line. It’s time for that change. 

To succeed, HR leaders need a clear approach to grow their influence and demonstrate their value at the executive level. Based on conversations with industry experts, the Admin to Advisor framework provides an actionable roadmap for securing your seat at the leadership table.

From reaction to reach

Earning a seat at the leadership table doesn’t happen by waiting for an invitation. It happens by showing up early, anticipating business needs and adding strategic value proactively.

Consider a scenario where Finance is reviewing a hiring freeze. In a traditional model, HR would execute the directive. A strategic HR leader, however, would take a different approach: 

• They would analyse the potential impact on revenue, project delivery and customer experience.

• From there, they would forecast the impact that unfilled roles in critical teams could have on factors like the rate of client churn, the speed of the sales cycle or the success of product launches. 

• The HR leader would then use that strategic insight to drive the conversation forward with the leadership team. 

By moving from reactive execution to proactive reach – anticipating challenges and shaping outcomes before they arise – HR demonstrates its value as a strategic force within the business.

There are other benefits to this more strategic approach to HR, too. According to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report, organisations that empower employees to think deeply and creatively are 1.8 times more likely to report better financial results. 

By unifying HR, Payroll and IT in a single platform, Rippling makes it easy for HR leaders to connect people data with business outcomes. The software’s smart automations free them from repetitive administrative tasks, allowing them the time and insights needed to engage as advisors. 

From information to impact 

Few functions possess HR’s capability to translate people data into decisions that shape both performance and profit. When it comes to building credibility with an executive leadership team, the impact can be game-changing for HR leaders. 

Take engagement data, for example. Rather than presenting survey results in isolation, HR leaders can quantify the effect of turnover in critical roles on project timelines, customer satisfaction and profit margins. 

Now consider turnover data. A department experiencing high attrition might appear to have a “people problem,” but deeper analysis could reveal process bottlenecks, managerial gaps or unclear career paths. 

By analysing the underlying drivers behind workforce trends, HR can recommend targeted interventions that improve both employee outcomes and business results.

McKinsey's HR Monitor 2025 emphasises data-driven decision-making as a key capability for modern HR leaders. In the survey, 30% of HR professionals in Europe cited data analytics and AI as a top-five future skill. 

Rippling’s HR dashboards accelerate that capability, giving HR leaders a centralised, visual overview of key HR metrics. Having visibility of this data enables leaders to spot trends, identify issues and make data-driven talent management decisions.

Ultimately, translating data into actionable business insights allows HR to turn numbers into data-driven narratives that influence the direction of the business.

From support to strategy

To move from a transactional function to a strategic partner, HR must begin operating with a full understanding of the organisation’s ecosystem: from sales and product to operations and finance. With a 360-degree view of the business, HR is uniquely positioned to identify patterns, uncover risks and seize opportunities that might go unnoticed by other functions.

This comprehensive perspective also enables HR to optimise a key strategic lever: the employee experience. Every touchpoint in the employee lifecycle—from onboarding to career development—directly influences organisational performance.

McKinsey’s HR Monitor 2025 reports that nearly 20% of employees across Europe say they are dissatisfied with their employer, revealing a clear opportunity for HR to address pain points across the employee journey.

Treating the employee lifecycle as a product allows HR to apply a systematic approach: designing, testing, measuring and iterating programs to optimise every touchpoint, from onboarding to career development.

Under this product management mindset, employees become “users,” and their experience becomes a core business metric. When onboarding runs smoothly, for example, sales teams ramp faster. And when workflows are automated, operations execute more efficiently.

That’s where Rippling makes the difference. With all employee data – from payroll to performance – in one unified system, HR leaders can build, test and measure programs in real time, just like product teams do. 

They can identify bottlenecks in the employee journey, automate repetitive processes and continuously refine programs based on live data and feedback.

We’ve seen forward-thinking HR leaders use Rippling to:

• Automate repetitive workflows, freeing their teams to focus on strategic priorities like culture and leadership development.

• Integrate performance and engagement data to continuously refine talent programs and align them with business goals.

• Design and pilot new onboarding programs across departments, tracking their effect on ramp-up time and retention.

By connecting every stage of the employee experience through Rippling, HR teams move from reactive program owners to proactive business partners who deliver measurable impact, drive alignment across departments and build a truly data-driven people strategy.

Looking ahead: the new HR imperative 

Securing a seat at the leadership table today requires more than operational excellence. It demands that HR demonstrate its ability to shape strategy and influence outcomes across the business. 

The Admin to Advisor framework provides a clear roadmap for achieving this shift. It guides HR leaders from reactive execution to proactive reach, from presenting data to translating it into impactful decisions, and from delivering programs to shaping the employee experience as a strategic lever.  

By adopting the framework and leveraging tools that unify data and streamline administration – like Rippling – HR leaders can transform perceptions, showcase measurable impact and establish HR as both a strategic force and an indispensable presence at the leadership table.