“I Just Want to Do Strategic Work”: The HR Dream That Misses the Point

Throughout my career in Human Resources, I’ve heard this statement more times than I can count:

“I just want to do strategic work.”

It’s often whispered in moments of burnout, muttered during back-to-back operational meetings, or confidently declared during visioning workshops. And let’s be honest – at some point, most of us in HR have said it ourselves.

And why not?

Strategic work is what we aspire to. It’s where we’re supposed to have the greatest impact. Building future-ready workforces, crafting succession pipelines, embedding culture, shaping leadership capability – this is the meaningful, high-value work that transforms businesses.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth.

You can’t do truly strategic HR without deeply understanding – and engaging with – the operational realities.

Strategy in HR doesn’t live on a whiteboard. It lives in the messiness of people.

The Myth of “Pure Strategy” in HR

Somewhere along the way, “strategic HR” became synonymous with detachment from the daily grind. There’s a belief – sometimes explicit, sometimes subtle – that real HR leaders don’t get bogged down in onboarding glitches, payroll errors, or system inefficiencies.

But the truth is, the most successful HR strategies are built on the foundation of operational empathy. They emerge not from abstract brainstorming, but from understanding where the friction lives, what keeps employees from doing their best work, and where systems fail them.

Because people don’t experience “HR strategy.”

They experience HR through the lens of:

• Whether their onboarding was smooth
• Whether they got paid on time
• Whether their manager was trained well
• Whether their promotion was fair and transparent
• Whether someone listened when they raised a concern

If these everyday moments don’t work, your strategy won’t matter. Culture slides in your PowerPoint deck won’t fix broken processes on the ground.

HR Strategy Lives in the Details

Let’s look at a few real-world scenarios.

• The new joiner whose laptop didn’t arrive on Day One? That’s not just a logistics issue. It signals how much the organization values preparation and respect.
• The line manager struggling to have tough conversations because they never received training? That’s not just a skills gap. It’s a risk to your leadership culture.
• The employee whose payroll was wrong three months in a row? That’s not just an administrative error. It breaks trust in the entire employee experience.

These aren’t tactical distractions – they’re the building blocks of credibility. And credibility is the currency that fuels every strategic HR initiative.

If we want a seat at the table, we must earn it by understanding the table – how it’s built, who’s sitting at it, and what conversations are happening when we’re not in the room.

Operational Excellence Is Strategic

Let’s redefine what “strategic” actually means in HR.

Strategy is not about staying above the fray. It’s about identifying patterns in the fray, recognizing what’s not working, and shaping scalable solutions that improve the business.

If your performance management system isn’t working for employees, your leadership pipeline won’t be filled with capable successors.

If your onboarding experience is fragmented, your employer brand – no matter how slick – will feel hollow to new hires.

If your payroll system is inconsistent, your engagement survey data will always be skewed by dissatisfaction and mistrust.

You can’t separate HR strategy from HR execution. They’re not opposite ends of a spectrum. They’re partners in building a resilient, high-performing organization.

Bridging the Gap: From Ground-Level Insights to Strategic Impact

So, how do we, as HR leaders, move toward the strategic space without disconnecting from the heartbeat of the organization?

Here’s what it really takes:

1. Walk the Floor – Physically or Virtually

Spend time with employees at every level. Understand what they struggle with. Listen to their stories. Strategy starts with empathy.

2. Partner, Don’t Police

Work with line managers, not against them. Understand their realities. Create tools they’ll actually use, not policies they’ll ignore.

3. Fix What’s Broken

Pay attention to the “little things.” Broken processes, late systems, unclear policies – they’re not small. They shape how people see your culture.

4. Use Data That Tells a Story

Go beyond dashboards. What is your attrition data really telling you? What’s behind that dip in engagement? Pair metrics with meaning.

5. Connect Strategy to the Employee Experience

Every high-level initiative should answer: How will this improve the day-to-day experience of our people? If you can’t answer that, it’s not a people strategy – it’s just an idea.

Let’s Stop Apologizing for Doing the Work

Here’s a shift in mindset we need across the profession:

Strategic HR isn’t above the operational. It is embedded within it.

Every time you chase down a system glitch, fix a payroll hiccup, or improve a policy, you are creating the conditions for a stronger culture and a better employee experience.

The real strategy? It’s in showing up for the moments that matter.

It’s in solving the issues that your people face today so that they’ll still be here to grow with you tomorrow.

Final Thoughts: Strategy Rooted in Reality

As HR leaders, our greatest strength is our human insight. But insight doesn’t come from distance. It comes from immersion.

It comes from knowing that someone left not because of compensation, but because their manager never had a meaningful one-on-one with them.

It comes from understanding that a slow onboarding process isn’t just an inconvenience – it’s the first impression that defines whether a new hire feels like they belong.

It comes from the quiet stories behind the metrics, the real struggles behind the turnover, and the messy, beautiful, human reality of work.

So, the next time you hear someone say, “I just want to do strategic work,” don’t roll your eyes – and don’t retreat into operational chaos, either.

Instead, connect the two.

Because strategy that lives in the clouds never changes anything.

But strategy rooted in reality? That’s what transforms organizations from the inside out.

Looking to Elevate Your HR Strategy with Real-World Impact?

At Novark Services, we help HR leaders and organizations bridge the gap between vision and execution. Whether you’re reimagining your employee experience, building future-ready leadership, or redesigning your people strategy – we’ll help you make it real, relevant, and rooted in what your people actually need.

Let’s build an HR function that’s not just strategic – but deeply human.
Visit novarkservices.com to get started.