Here is an excerpt from an article written by Deanna Hartley for Talent Management magazine. In it, she explains how and why CHRO Kimberly Hauer and her associates help Caterpillar employees to maximize their contributions through leadership development and diversity initiatives — all while maintaining a strategic alignment with the business.

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A caterpillar transforming into a butterfly is somewhat analogous to the career development for a Caterpillar Inc. employee. Except, instead of complex biological factors, it is Caterpillar’s HR function that serves as a catalyst to advance employees’ careers.

For instance, take Kimberly Hauer, who began her career at the manufacturing company as a college intern in 1995 and moved up the ranks to vice president and chief human resources officer. “When I joined as an intern … I had no intention of staying at Caterpillar, but I can’t imagine what life would look like if I hadn’t,” she said.

At the time of her internship, Hauer was studying business at Purdue University. She was taking an interviewing course, and for an assignment she interviewed the HR manager at Caterpillar Inc.’s Lafayette, Ind., facility.

The HR manager offered Hauer an internship in the HR department, and she spent the following year interviewing production workers — technical, experienced machinists and assemblers — for positions at the company.

“The experience of changing people’s lives and offering them an opportunity of employment probably got me most excited about the function, and [made me] decide that was the career path for me as I completed my college career,” she said.

Following her internship, Hauer joined Caterpillar full time in May 1997. She progressed through various HR roles before landing in her current role as chief human resources officer in January 2011.

HR’s Evolution: Moving Beyond the Tactical

Caterpillar is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. It has about 120,000 employees around the world — more than half of whom reside outside of the United States.

When Hauer first joined the company, HR focused on tactical elements such as getting paperwork processed and ensuring employees were paid on time. Since then, she said she has watched the function evolve into more of a business partnership role.

“We started to put HR practitioners and HR reps in place — the idea was that they would partner with the business leaders, understand what needed to be done and get a little more specific on how we help in driving better business value,” she said.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Deanna Hartley is a former senior editor at Talent Management magazine. She can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com.