HR’s responsibilities have expanded well beyond hiring, payroll, and compliance. Today’s HR leaders are expected to drive digital transformation, implement AI, lead organizational redesign, improve employee experience, and support business strategy—all while keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly.
But according to new research from McLean & Company, many HR departments are struggling with one fundamental capability needed to make those initiatives successful: project management.
The firm’s newly released Get Started with HR Project Management blueprint reveals that only 19% of HR professionals believe their department is highly effective at managing projects, highlighting a significant execution gap as HR continues to take on increasingly strategic responsibilities.
The findings are based on McLean & Company’s 2023–2025 HR Management and Governance Survey, which gathered responses from 1,681 HR professionals.
HR’s Expanding Role Is Creating New Operational Challenges
Over the past several years, HR has evolved into one of the most transformation-focused functions within the enterprise.
Whether deploying AI-powered HR tools, modernizing talent management, redesigning organizational structures, implementing skills-based workforce strategies, or launching employee listening programs, HR is now responsible for initiatives that often span multiple departments and executive stakeholders.
That growing influence also raises expectations around execution.
Unlike routine HR operations, strategic initiatives require structured planning, stakeholder alignment, milestone tracking, budget management, communication strategies, and measurable outcomes. Without formal project management practices, even well-funded HR initiatives can lose momentum before they deliver business value.
McLean & Company’s research suggests this is exactly where many organizations are falling short.
Only One in Five HR Teams Excel at Project Management
Despite managing an expanding portfolio of enterprise initiatives, only 19% of surveyed HR departments rated themselves as highly effective at project management.
That figure points to a broader challenge facing modern HR organizations.
Many teams continue to rely on informal coordination, spreadsheets, or ad hoc processes rather than standardized project management frameworks. While those approaches may work for smaller initiatives, they become increasingly difficult to scale as project complexity grows.
The result is familiar to many HR leaders:
- Missed deadlines
- Scope creep
- Duplicate work
- Poor stakeholder alignment
- Budget overruns
- Inconsistent communication
- Limited visibility into project progress
Collectively, these issues reduce HR’s ability to deliver strategic initiatives on time while also affecting credibility with executive leadership.
Missing Fundamentals, Not Motivation
McLean & Company argues that poor project outcomes are rarely caused by a lack of commitment from HR teams.
Instead, the research identifies several foundational capabilities that are frequently underdeveloped.
Among the most common gaps are:
- Clearly defined project scope
- Structured planning processes
- Proactive risk identification
- Consistent stakeholder engagement
- Ongoing communication throughout project execution
- Formal project closure and lessons learned
Without these building blocks, projects become increasingly reactive, making it difficult to control timelines, allocate resources effectively, or demonstrate measurable business impact.
In many organizations, HR professionals are expected to function as project managers without formal project management training—a gap that becomes more apparent as initiatives grow larger and involve multiple business units.
A Blueprint for More Predictable HR Execution
To address these challenges, McLean & Company has introduced its Get Started with HR Project Management blueprint.
Rather than positioning project management as a rigid methodology, the framework focuses on practical execution fundamentals that HR teams can adopt regardless of project size.
The blueprint guides HR leaders through each phase of project delivery, including:
- Defining project objectives and scope
- Identifying stakeholders and governance structures
- Building execution plans and timelines
- Assessing and mitigating project risks
- Maintaining consistent communication
- Closing projects while documenting outcomes and lessons learned
The emphasis is on creating repeatable processes that improve consistency while allowing HR teams to demonstrate measurable value to business leaders.
Why Project Management Is Becoming an HR Competency
The report reflects a broader shift taking place across the HR technology and workforce management landscape.
As organizations invest heavily in AI, workforce planning platforms, employee experience technologies, and skills transformation initiatives, HR increasingly finds itself leading enterprise-wide change rather than simply supporting it.
That evolution requires new operational capabilities.
Project management has become as essential to modern HR as workforce analytics, change management, or employee engagement. Organizations increasingly expect HR leaders to oversee cross-functional implementations, manage vendor relationships, coordinate executive stakeholders, and deliver measurable return on investment.
At the same time, HR departments continue to face resource constraints, making disciplined planning even more important.
Structured project management enables teams to prioritize competing initiatives, allocate limited resources more effectively, identify risks before they escalate, and improve communication across stakeholders.
For organizations investing in digital HR transformation, execution may ultimately determine whether ambitious strategies translate into measurable business outcomes.
The Bottom Line
McLean & Company’s latest research reinforces a growing reality across the HR profession: strategic ambition alone isn’t enough.
As HR becomes responsible for increasingly complex transformation initiatives, effective project management is shifting from a desirable skill to a core organizational capability.
For HR leaders navigating AI adoption, workforce transformation, and evolving employee expectations, stronger project management practices could become the difference between initiatives that generate lasting business value and those that never move beyond implementation.
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