Somewhere along the way, the HR Business Partner role got typecast. People tossed around phrases like “strategic advisor,” but the daily reality for many HRBPs looks more like firefighter, therapist, paperwork courier, and accidental middleman.
When you show up like a background character, the business treats you like one.
But here’s the truth: while HRBPs often play supporting parts, the role itself is not supporting. A great HRBP is essential: a stabilizer, an influencer, and a force that quietly (and sometimes loudly) moves the business forward.
When HRBPs get it right, operations run smoother, leaders get better, talent grows stronger, culture thrives, disruption declines, and results follow. You become the person leaders trust, the steady voice in the chaos, and the strategic conscience of the organization. When done poorly, the HRBP becomes reduced to an administrative courtesy: the scheduler, the explainer, the person leaders “loop in” after the fallout.
And regardless of where you sit—whether in the boardroom with executives or on the shop floor with union leadership—the expectations are the same. Great HRBPs refuse to be irrelevant. They show up as leaders: relatable, practical, and deeply connected to the realities of the business.
This blueprint is about how to do exactly that.
Strip away the buzzwords and the HRBP job is simple: Drive the business forward by reducing disruption, elevating leaders, and enabling people to perform at their best.
Disruption is anything that drags attention away from safe, reliable, compliant work:
Every disruption costs time, focus, and safety. Great HRBPs eliminate noise so the business can operate with confidence.
Great HRBPs operate from three pillars:
Know the business at its core—from financial drivers to operational rhythms to personalities. Speak the language. Translate needs in both directions: HR → business and business → HR. This includes supporting executives, frontline supervisors, direct labor, operators, staff employees, and union leadership.
Example: Leading a goal-setting and team-building session with your senior leader to reset expectations for the year.
Your impact is not measured by how much you personally fix; it’s measured by how capable your leaders become. If you coach them, they grow, and you scale your impact.
Example: Leaving your door open for a new leader who needs real-time guidance on how to have a difficult performance conversation.
Data accuracy, pay accuracy, hiring flow, onboarding, attendance, scheduling—these basics are the bedrock of trust. If the foundation cracks, everything above it wobbles.
Example: Running a communication and listening campaign across all employees during a major benefit change to prevent confusion, panic, or misinformation.
When these pillars hold, people can engage, because the work environment is stable and leadership is strong.
Every HRBP faces two paths.
You know the business model, connect people strategy to business strategy, translate business goals into talent priorities, and craft solutions.
Example: Helping a leader build a compelling business case for an organizational change—complete with talent implications, risks, and a future-state structure.
You know the operational rhythm, tighten processes, remove noise, clean up data, and ensure things run with discipline and structure.
Example: Joining frontline safety meetings to understand real-time risks and build trust with hourly employees.
You know the pain points, speak the language the business uses, and solve issues with fairness, clarity, and long-term outcomes in mind.
Example: Hosting a new leader assimilation session to help a newly hired or promoted leader understand their team’s expectations, communication preferences, history, and concerns—accelerating trust and connection with the group.
You know the reality of the work, and you move quickly, decisively, and calmly when the unexpected happens.
Example: When an emergency situation unfolds—an employee crisis, a safety event, or an urgent ER issue—you take the reins immediately, know exactly who to call inside HR (legal, benefits, safety, TA, comms), and follow the right playbook without hesitation.
You choose daily which version of yourself to bring. Do you see yourself as part of the leadership system—a main cast member—or as background support?
Being indispensable doesn’t require grand strategy. Strategy is often over-glorified. In fast-moving operations and union environments, the most “strategic” HRBPs are the ones who prevent chaos, spot risks early, keep leaders informed, remove friction, stabilize processes, and maintain trust across all levels. That is strategy.
Indispensable HRBPs also never surprise their leaders, blindside them with avoidable bad news, “go native” against HR for popularity, or act like the caricature versions of HR seen on TV. They take pride in their craft and represent HR with clarity and backbone.
All HRBP effectiveness boils down to one thing: influence, not authority. People follow HRBPs they trust—those who make sound decisions, show up consistently, and remain steady in chaos.
Influence comes from authenticity, consistency, relationships, listening, and humanity.
When you have influence, leaders tell you the truth, bring you in early, follow your guidance, trust your read on people, and rely on you during tough decisions. Great HRBPs play people chess, not checkers.
If you want to be indispensable, your habits must look like it:
Structure → Consistency → Credibility → Trust → Influence → Results
Be visible (for example, stopping by the shop floor to speak with union reps and frontline workers before concerns become grievances).
The People Plan is your blueprint. It’s the strategic, operational, leadership, and engagement roadmap that shows leaders: This is how we grow our people.
HR is emotionally and mentally demanding. Treat your craft like a profession requiring stamina.
When you stop investing in your craft, your influence fades.
Great HRBPs don’t fake expertise—they find answers. They leverage COEs, HR peers, operations experts, legal, finance, safety/EHS, and market insights.
“I don’t know, but I will find out” builds trust. Pretending destroys it. A great HRBP isn’t the smartest in the room, just the most connected.
You didn’t choose HR to be “the compliance people” or the punchline of a sitcom. You chose it because leadership matters, people matter, and culture matters.
The business needs HRBPs who step forward, lead boldly, prevent disruption, build leaders, reduce noise, provide clarity, strengthen culture, diagnose root causes, and influence consistently at every level.
Whether partnering with an executive, a new supervisor, or a seasoned union rep, your role is the same: be the stabilizer, the advisor, and the truth-teller.
You see the business clearly. You see the people honestly. You see the patterns early. You connect dots others don’t even notice. You’re not background cast. You’re the linchpin. Time to deliver like the lead character.
Delek is proud to be certified by HRCI. To learn more about HRCI organizational certifications based on ISO standards and to certify your company too, visit business.hrci.org.
Michael “Keith” Cutter is the Vice President of Talent Strategy at Delek US Holdings Inc., a downstream energy company. A licensed attorney in Texas, Keith has over 15 years of experience in human resources and labor relations. Passionate about culture and leadership, Keith has led strategic initiatives in talent management, diversity, and organizational development, primarily in the oil and gas industry.