You have just joined an organization as Head of HR, which has a global presence, with the Head Office based in London. Your role is purely for the Australian operations and you report into the General Manager of the Australian operations with a functional reporting line to the Divisional HR Head based in Singapore. This is your second role as Head of HR, having left the previous organization after 5 years. You were looking forward to this new role, as you were told at the interview that this is a more strategic role and required you to work with the Australian GM in defining the HR strategy for the Australian operations. You were also told, quite emphatically, by the Divisional Head of HR in Singapore during the interview with him, that while you have to define the HR strategy for the Australian operations, the direction have to be in line with the divisional and global HR principles and strategy.
It is now 6 months into your new role in this organization and you have not been able to get into any strategy, as the administrative responsibilities, like discipline, unfair dismissal issues, performance management matters in some departments, roll out of corporate policies, have been taking up too much of your time and energy. In short, all these administrative functions has been overwhelming and you have not had time to devote any time to developing the HR strategy. In addition, two of your Managers have also resigned. At your regular fortnightly one-on-one with your GM, you discuss your frustrations and lack of time to devote to strategy. However, he says that you are doing a great job and he is happy with your progress and he says, strategy will all happen in due course.
You know that the while you can tackle the job well, you are not happy with the direction the role is taking and you feel that you are doing exactly what you have been doing for the last 5 years but in a different company.
What do you do? How can you change the focus and be more strategic in your role?