Here are the top 15 most popular HR Leads Business blogs of early 2017, published by HR Certification Institute (HRCI). The rankings are based on blogs receiving the most page views during the first five months of 2017:

1. Nine Competencies for HR Excellence Emerge — Which HR competencies are considered most important to organizations? A comprehensive study led by HR guru Dave Ulrich provides answers, including the views of organization-wide stakeholders about HR’s most important contributions.

    

2. HR Roles Continue to Become More Complex, Study Finds — More on the Ulrich study and how HR competencies have evolved over the last 30 years.

    

3. C-Suite Leaders Challenge HR to Step Out of Comfort Zone — Empathy, creativity and human skills are more important than ever, making HR the difference between business success and failure, says Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte. C-suite leaders agree and add that HR professionals must embrace new technologies, lead with proactive HR innovations and improve analytical skills.

    

4. Diversity’s New Frontier: Different Ways of Thinking — HR managers understand the value of diversity, especially around gender, race and ethnicity. Diversity’s next frontier ― and perhaps where HR can make even greater impact on organizational performance― is uniting people to appreciate and accept diversity of thought.

    

5. HR, Big Data and the Human Factor — HR has joined the "big data party," making use of new information sources to make more precise talent management decisions. But what many have missed is perhaps HR’s biggest opportunity: to impart the human factor into big data and information technology management.

    

6. How to Become a CHRO — A look at what it takes to join the ranks as a senior HR officer or Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO).

    

7. It’s Time for HR to Learn from Marketing’s Journey — HR challenges are not unlike the challenges recently faced in marketing. There is much HR can learn from marketing’s recent journey to the proverbial "seat at the table."

    

8. HR in a Digital Frontier — It’s clear that human resource management, in the digital age, requires a whole new set of strategies. Advancing technology and the growing need for workforce intelligence is transforming HR.

    

9. Employee Experience: A High-Performance Advantage — New insights from the IBM Smarter Workforce Institute and Globoforce’s WorkHuman Research Institute find that employees are most productive when they experience belonging, purpose, achievement, happiness and vigor.

    

10. HR Job Outlook Remains Robust — The HR profession continues to grow in importance to oversee the talent management and productivity strategies that ultimately impact every organization’s bottom line.

     

11. HRCI: Still the HR Profession’s Only Accredited HR Certification Programs — HRCI answers frequently asked questions about its NCCA accreditation and the benefits that third-party validation provides to the HRCI community.

     

12. The Evolution of Performance Management — A Deloitte survey with HR leaders found that 58 percent describe their performance management process as an ineffective use of time. Leading companies are experimenting with new performance management initiatives.

     

13. The Future of HR Competencies — The bar has been raised for HR to deliver business outcomes, not just HR results. This means new roles and competencies for today’s HR leaders.

     

14. Design Thinking: New Applications for HR — Design thinking, also known as human-centered design, is a creative approach to problem solving. Design thinking is a new HR tool for adding business value.

     

15. Josh Bersin: HR Must Embrace Less Hierarchy, More Agility — It’s time to shed old hierarchical models of HR management and embrace more agile approaches, Bersin says in an exclusive HRCI podcast.

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