Why HR Professionals Must Master Influence – Not Just Process
Influencing Skills for HR Teams
HR is tasked with driving high-impact change – from inclusion and leadership development to performance and culture. But even with sound thinking and strong mandates, many HR professionals find their efforts resisted, ignored, or half-heartedly adopted.
Research in organisational psychology consistently shows that professional expertise alone rarely creates meaningful behaviour change. Influencing, as opposed to telling, is what drives traction.
At Threshold, we help HR teams to influence their organizations more effectively —using practical tools drawn from behavioural science and real-world practice.
Power skills for internal professional functions
Today’s organizations are decentralized, fast-paced, and often sceptical of anything that looks like top-down direction. Even the best-designed process will fail to land if the relationship between HR and the business is not strong enough. ‘Relational’ skills are increasingly emerging as the power skills for internal professional functions, such as HR.
Let’s take this real-world example from one of our clients, with whom we worked recently. The HR business partner introduces a new methodology for interviewing candidates into the business. The methodology was supported by solid research showing that it reduced bias and led to better decision-making. But managers in the business unit pushed back – they argued that their judgement and experience were what matters.
The partner tried harder: more emails, more logic, more pressure. It backfired. The idea spread that HR were bureaucrats, looking to impose their theories without connecting to the reality of the business.
This dynamic is known in behavioural science as the backfire effect: when people feel pushed, they dig in deeper – even against their own interests.
And when HR fails to influence effectively, it gets excluded from early conversations. Its reputation suffers as it’s seen as disconnected from the business. Adoption becomes superficial. HR is seen as a blocker, not a partner. Credibility erodes.
Why HR Professionals Must Master Influence – Not Just Process
At Threshold, we work with HR teams to overcome this pattern. by helping them deliver messages in ways that are more likely to land.
In Threshold’s simulations, HR professionals practise turning resistance into engagement – by stepping into the stakeholder’s world, reframing the ask, and adjusting the delivery.
These simulated scenarios are designed to reflect their real-world experiences. HR professionals learn to establish rapport and overcome resistance, even when the stakes are high, and colleagues don’t want to play nicely.
They learn how to acknowledge the business pressures first, then introduce the change in a way that feels collaborative, not imposed.
The result? HR professionals who are invited in earlier, trusted more deeply, and able to make a bigger impact.
Practical Tips for Influential HR Conversations
- Acknowledge before you advise – show you understand their reality first.
- Frame your initiatives around what the business values.
- Use behavioural cues, not just procedural steps.
- Treat resistance as information
- Keep the relationship central, not just the process
At Threshold, we help HR teams lead change by working with, not against, human behaviour. Because great ideas only matter if they take hold
At Threshold, we are helping our clients to ensure that their human workforce is committed, engaged and ready for the technology revolution. We do this by bringing about small shifts in line manager behaviour that make a big difference. To find out more visit www.threshold.co.uk
