The other day I was attending a business event on a beautiful summer day.  The speaker was a lovely, earnest, young HR Professional who was frightening the group with stories of employee relations issues gone badly.  There were stories of large settlements and the involvement of attorneys, a group most of us never want to deal with, as well as discussion on the risks of not having an employee handbook.I looked across the room and watched the faces of the audience as they listened to each story and its ensuing threat of catastrophe.  As their brains assimilated the information, they began to fidget in their chairs, beginning to show signs of worry and panic.  Could that happen to my business?  Could I lose everything over one crazy employee who did not sign an employee handbook?  Yes, No, Maybe…probably noHR continues to position itself as the protectorate of the employee and the watch dog of the business.  Most business owners I speak with simply see HR as a necessary part of the business, somewhat like your mother-in-law in your personal life.  You must listen to her from time to time but her true impact on your day to day lives is negligible.  HR is a necessary evil, a person to be on board so you don’t have to listen to employee complaints and handle paperwork.HR professionals have shouted at the rain for years about having a “seat at the table”, meaning they want to be seen as a strategic partner.  They blame business leadership for not letting them in or listening to their ideas.  Quite frankly, why would you listen to them when the only reason you hired them was to keep your employees happy and to make sure you don’t break any laws.  And the reason you hired them to do that, is you attended some type of seminar or presentation like the one I attended which told you their value proposition was compliance.So, who is to blame for HR’s lack of business impact?  Both of you, it is a two way street.HR cannot add value to business discussions or decisions from the far end of the building.  I do expect that if HR actually leaves their office, they can uncover business issues on their own but go ahead and invite them in.  Include your HR professional in discussions around business strategy, implementation and finance.  If over time, your HR professional is not able to add value to the discussion – get a new HR professional.  There are HR professionals who can add that value.HR professionals need to stop leading with compliance.  The answer to any question should be “what is the business reason for wanting to do that?”  I will give you an example.  I had a client who needed to add younger employees to their organization.  The age of the employees for that organization all fell between 53 & 55.   This meant the employees would all be retiring about the same time.  The typical HR compliance answer to this question is no, we cannot hire only younger employees.  We cannot discriminate.  Is there a legitimate business reason for their request? Yes. The value of HR should be helping you solve the business problem while staying within the law.  So, what did we do?  We advertised for and hired less experienced staff knowing we had a few years to get them up to speed.It is important that HR learn to ask probing questions prior to issuing a compliance edict on any question.  Rigidity has been the persona of HR professionals for years.  That is not the problem of the business leader. Only HR can fix that perception.It is up to the business leader to expect more from the profession and not settle for a simple compliance officer.  As business leaders you only perpetuate the stereotype by expecting and tolerating a compliance mindset.  By leading with compliance, both the business leader and the HR professional are negating the true value of the profession to the organization.  Compliance based HR treats staff as an asset to be managed.  An HR professional focused on business outcomes helps the business leader leverage staff as a competitive asset.Which type of professional do you want to hire or be?