Why one HR consultant puts HR strategy through a ‘PESTLE’

A pestle isn’t just for grinding up herbs.

It’s also an acronym encompassing a business analysis framework that helps businesses devise strategies that account for various macroenvironmental challenges. Many business leaders and experts, including Sandra Reed, an HR consultant of more than 25 years who also authors HR certification prep books, support the framework.

The different factors that PESTLE stands for are:

• Political
• Economic
• Social
• Technology
• Legal
• Environmental

“Those are the forces that drive business strategy or competitiveness,” Reed said. “So my services take HR within the framework of PESTLE.”

HR has already had to address crises that fall into this framework. A few examples from the many challenges HR had to tackle in recent years include: accommodating entire workforces to remote work or social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent RTO mandates (which encompass social, legal, and economic factors), the racial injustice protests in 2020 and recent DEI rollbacks (social and political), and the emergence of AI and its adoption within organizations (technology).

While not specific to HR, the framework helps practitioners approach their work more strategically, and positions them as vital partners for their colleagues to address these challenges.

“It’s aligning competitiveness with what HR brings to the table, and if we can speak that language as HR professionals…I think we add a ton more value,” Reed said.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

Creating a culture program called "How to Be Successful @ ____(company name),” and a leadership training program titled "How to be a Successful Leader @ _____ (company name)."

Those programs cascade out of my definition of culture, [which] is what gets rewarded and what gets disciplined. We are really clear, as organizations, telling people what they’re doing wrong. We have the handbook, we have the behavior guides, we have the code of conduct…But we don’t really tell them how to be successful there. Those programs ask the senior leadership team, and in some cases employee focus groups, to get together and say: What are the behaviors that cascade out of company values? [Which defines] this is how we behave, and how we behave is what gets rewarded or what gets disciplined.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

My number one priority as a consultant is to work myself out of a job, which means I have to teach. I’m an educator at heart, so when I go in and I’m working with an organization who is somewhat resourced, my job is to teach somebody to do what I do. That requires a different orientation to the work because I’m not thinking about next month’s or next year’s billing and how I can create problems so that I’m the solution.

A lot of consultants get a bad reputation, because [of the belief that] I’m going to pay a consultant to come in to tell me, basically, all the things that I'm doing wrong. Yes, that can be an element, because we’re problem solving, but ultimately, what we’re really going in to do is seeing…the gap between where you want to be and where you are, and how can my services fill in that gap?

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Seeing someone grow into their potential because of something I supported or unlocked for them—helping them connect the dots that if I can do it, then they absolutely can!

Going back to the exam prep, I’m amazed at how many people have imposter syndrome…particularly with people who maybe failed the exam the first time, or the test anxiety gets the best of them, or they don’t feel like they’re capable enough, or they don’t deserve it. I can get into one conversation with them and be like: “If I can do it, you can do it. You just have to put yourself out there,” and nine times out of 10, they nail it…That’s just the best part.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

I’m optimistic about the shift from performance management to performance enablement—helping people thrive vs. just tracking output. It also creates space to build leadership pipelines that truly support the growth and values of early-career talent. Organizations are finally seeing this as an investment for future results.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

The obsession with hitting unrealistic productivity metrics often backfires—undermining trust, fueling burnout, and ignoring more realistic benchmarks. Without data fluency, HR and leaders risk metric blindness at the expense of a more holistic view.