“Have you got five minutes? Can you pop in for a moment? There’s something wrong in the marketing team.”
The request comes just as you were about to finalise a salary proposal. No context, no briefing. Just that. And so, once again, you step into a vague situation where - without formal authority - you’re expected to defuse the tension.

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You’re not the manager, not the team coach, not the confidential counsellor. But the expectation is clear: you must bring clarity. In a context of clashing values, generational differences, unspoken tensions or even inappropriate behaviour.

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Sound familiar?
Then you intuitively know what more and more HR professionals are experiencing: your role is under pressure. And if you don’t evolve, you risk getting caught up in execution without influence.

Maximising the Audience

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In effective HR, as in Wim Mertens’ minimalist composition Maximising the Audience, it’s not about doing more and louder, but about well-timed accents. Small, deliberate interventions that, like recurring motifs in music, gradually create movement.

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In today’s reality, as an HR professional, you achieve the greatest impact not by doing more, but by positioning yourself more strategically, communicating more consciously and taking a systemic view. The power of repetition is not a weakness here. It’s a strategy.

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HR that works from insight and repetition, instead of impulse and action, can make an entire organisation resonate, and claim that proverbial seat at the table.

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What if HR is not a department, but a guiding principle?

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HR today is no longer a helpdesk. You’re a bridge-builder, a custodian of culture, a process guardian, a mediator. It’s not an easy role.
Especially not when you find yourself stuck in an endless to-do list, working in HR but rarely on HR.

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What you need is a different position. One that allows you to see systems, patterns and points of tension, and to spark change with a few well-aimed interventions. Maximising the impact with minimal movement.

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That requires calm, perspective and self-awareness.

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Analysis is the new doing

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To make an impact, you don’t need to do more. You need to see differently.

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In an increasingly complex context, simply taking on more work is futile. The future of HR lies with those who can analyse instead of react. Those who recognise patterns in conflicts, in communication, in team dynamics. Those who resist the urge to act automatically and dare to reflect before they intervene.

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HR becomes the organisation’s radar. Not loud, but precise.

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This also means stopping the urge to solve everything yourself, and instead developing the skills to exert sustainable influence: conversation skills, negotiation strength, clarity in positioning, strategic thinking, and above all, a strong grounding in your own role and values.

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‍From automatic to authentic reflexes

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It takes courage to resist every trigger, every problem, every request that comes your way. But it’s in that pause - that breathing space - that HR finds its true strength.

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What’s needed today are HR professionals who choose depth, strategic rhythm and deliberate repetition instead of constant novelty.
Those who understand that influence is no accident, but the result of clear positioning, considered action and the ability to do the right thing at the right time.

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Or, in the words of composer Mertens: “Minimal movement, maximal effect.”

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Ready to truly own your HR role?

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Better Minds, together with lecturers Annick Alders, Bernadette Claes and Erik Franck, has developed the programme ‘HR: from Execution to Influence’. A hands-on training course of five intensive days spread over five months, exclusively for practising HR professionals.

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Sign up today and start your transition from executor to strategic pivot (programme in Dutch only).

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Author: Annick Alders

Source: This article is an English translation of the original Dutch publication by ZigZagHR on 27 june 2025, 'Hoe je als HR met ‘minimal movement, maximal impact’ creëert'.