General HR
HR’s Role in SMEs: Building Credibility Through Clear Positioning
Marlen Kothen
on October 9, 2026 • 5 min. reading time
Even now, HR teams are often still trapped in day-to-day operations, fighting for budget, and rarely perceived by executive leadership as a strategic partner. How can HR successfully transition toward genuine internal visibility, a strong conviction, and a future-proof role within the organization? In this episode of "By HR, For HR," Lesley speaks with Linh Grethe, founder of HR Collective, about how HR professionals can claim their seat at the decision-making table.
HR Between Operational Overload and a Lack of Recognition
In many organizations—particularly within traditional mid-sized enterprises—HR continues to struggle with the outdated image of pure HR administration. Historically, the role emerged during industrialization to manage contracts, payroll, and administrative duties. However, reality shows that HR’s necessary evolution has often stalled.
About Linh
Linh Grethe brings years of hands-on experience in recruiting and general HR management. To give the HR community a voice, promote exchange across the DACH region, and modernize the field, she founded HR Collective. What started as an initiative has grown into a continuously expanding network that connects HR professionals to shape modern, human-centric HR practices.
While other business functions have reinvented themselves over time, HR leaders often find themselves caught in a vicious cycle:
- High Operational Workload: Daily routines are dominated by urgent individual cases—such as dealing with underperforming or ill employees, contract adjustments, and payroll. No time is left for strategic initiatives.
- Lack of Executive Buy-In: C-level executives often view HR as a mere administrative function or assume that processes work seamlessly in the background, failing to recognize the urgency of strategic HR projects.
- Tech Reluctance & Outdated Structures: Driven by fear of cyberattacks or data privacy breaches, some companies still operate without modern HR software.
- Role Perception: HR professionals frequently tend to avoid conflict rather than pushing back assertively and demonstrating their contribution to business success.
Linh illustrates this opportunity through a compelling real-world example from one of her event discussions:
In a conversation, a CEO once told me that IT used to be in the exact same position that HR is in today. Nobody took IT seriously; the teams sat in the basement assembling hardware. Only when the internet emerged did companies realize how essential IT was to overall success. IT seized that opportunity and repositioned itself. HR is standing at that exact inflection point right now.
How HR Can Strengthen Its Own Role
Strengthening HR’s role within the organization on a sustainable basis doesn't require loud personal branding on social media. The decisive transformation starts internally.
The Path to Internal Visibility
- Proactively claim a seat at the table: Leadership teams often simply don't have HR topics on their radar because they are absorbed in their own projects. If HR is missing from department head meetings, this needs to be actively addressed and requested.
- Drive awareness and alignment: HR must transparently communicate why projects are being launched and how they directly impact employees and overall business success.
- Speak the language of the business: To secure budgets for software tools, training, or cultural initiatives, HR must leverage C-level data, metrics, and facts while aligning with their strategic logic.
How Can AI Provide Meaningful Support?
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, ambiguity still prevails in many HR departments. Merely drafting or rephrasing a job description in ChatGPT barely scratches the surface of AI's true potential, Linh explains. True relief in daily workloads emerges through the targeted deployment of AI agents that independently handle complex tasks.
Use Cases for AI Agents in Daily HR Operations
- News & Market Intelligence: A configured agent filters relevant industry news and DACH region trends on a weekly basis, organizing them into a concise report.
- Inbox Management: AI systems automatically filter out spam and marketing mail while prioritizing incoming emails (Prio 1 to 5), drastically reducing daily processing times.
- Presentation Building & Data Analysis: Tools like Microsoft Copilot access internal documents (e.g., OneDrive) in full compliance with data privacy regulations, analyze data, and generate presentation drafts for meeting templates.
If I delegate a task to an AI without communicating properly, it’s obvious it will come back with a thousand follow-up questions. By now, I’ve gotten to know my agent so well that I barely need any feedback loops. To me, that is the level we should be talking about when we discuss Artificial Intelligence—not just pasting in a job description.
What HR Should Avoid When Implementing AI
Deploying AI also carries risks if HR teams are not adequately prepared. The following pitfalls frequently occur in practice:
- Lack of AI Literacy: AI is mistakenly viewed merely as a chatbot, rather than teams learning how agents and prompt models actually function.
- Improper Data Privacy Practices: Employees upload confidential internal data into public tools without prior anonymization.
- Lack of Enablement and Training: Companies fail to provide mandatory AI compliance training, expecting teams to self-educate via web searches.
- Incomplete Communication: Tasks are delegated to AI imprecisely, resulting in flawed outputs and heavy rework.
Actionable Recommendations to Redefine HR’s Role
Do’s
- Build Internal Standing: Actively communicate successes and project milestones to leadership and executive management.
- Speak Executive Language: Back up HR initiatives with hard business metrics, KPIs, and clear facts.
- Invest in Training: Utilize mandatory AI compliance training to ensure complete data security.
- Leverage Peer Networks: Seek exchanges with HR peers to share best practices and proven solutions.
Don’ts
- Wait for Permission: Allow yourself to be excluded from strategic meetings instead of actively asserting your seat at the table.
- Remain a Tech Skeptic: Continue working strictly with Excel spreadsheets or paper files while resisting software adoption.
- Feed Raw Data Into AI: Upload unvetted internal data into AI tools without anonymizing it first.
- View HR as Pure Administration: Abandon the ambition to establish HR as a driving, strategic, and hybrid force within the organization.