“Conference” sounded too grand, “Symposium” was just plain pretentious, so “Do” it was… And plenty of IHRF members were not that put off by the lack of any attendance fee and absence of any suppliers to meet up J
And what a cracking start it was – bacon butty with brown sauce! Bring it on...
First up was Ashley Ward, serial CEO and executive coach extraordinaire, to provide some insights around the board room perceptions of HR. There was also time to split up in to teams to report back on what we can do to improve our presence at the top table. Key takeaways:
· Be conscious of the “energy efficiency ratio”. Reflect on how much of what you do actually hits the spot. The “what don’t I need to do” is as important as the “what do I need to do”. Otherwise known as the “No Bollocks” rule J
· Embed yourself within the business. Know the numbers that matter. Speak the language of the business.
· Maximize the performance of the company’s greatest asset by modifying behaviours. The impact on the business of even a 10-15% uplift in people performance is significant.
· Ensure that HR is a function that adds value rather than one that hides behind process.
· Be careful if Ashley ever invites you to the car park… It’s time for a change of scene! His message here though was toxic employees are incredibly damaging, and taking them out may be expensive in the short term, but the right thing to do in the long term.
After a quick break, David Apicella was up next. There were a few hisses in the room when I let slip that he had actually started off life as a Pensions Administrator, but things calmed down a bit when it became clear that he had very quickly moved over from the dark side, developed a strong pedigree in international HR management, and was now European HR Director for Organisation Effectiveness and Development at MWV. David shared his experiences around a project he is leading to raise the HR bar, the key learnings were:
· Being clear of the end-game.
· Ensuring a structured approach to this. One of assessment, gap analysis, and then development planning was recommended.
· Making sure that “development” was used in it’s broadest sense. David implemented the 70/20/10 approach i.e. 70% work experiences, 20% networks and relationships with others, and 10% training.
· Having a flexible approach to training. MWV use SkillsSoft so that people can learn at their own pace and in their own time.
So far so good… The presenters had kept the audience engaged, and there had been no technical hitches. Who needs these professional events organisations to run these things anyway??
Just to mix things up a bit, the next session was a panel discussion. Up on stage (well, at the table at the front of the room) came the “lovely threesome” of Jane Hounsome, Rod Ireland and Jacqui Summons to reflect on coaching – both from a personal journey perspective, and also with regards to “lessons learnt” whilst looking to embed a culture of coaching within the organisations that they worked for. What were the main takeaways?
· Is your organisation ready for coaching?
· Are you able to introduce coaching on the back of a clear organisation need?
· Are you clear on what you want coaching to do for the business?
· Can the program be linked in to other processes e.g. talent management program.
· Is there executive support?
· In what ways will the program be sustained?
After lunch, Rob Cook and Sue Stoneman from NKD led an interactive session on engagement, looking at both the theory and the practice, the latter based on Rob’s experiences when he worked at AstraZeneca. The main learning points were:
· Design with the end in mind.
· Obtain senior management buy-in and sponsorship.
· Build engagement in to the DNA of the organisation.
· Co-create… Involve the business with the development and integration of any engagement strategy.
· Integrate with other systems.
· Follow up.
If ever there is a case study deserving an HR award for “Bravery in the Face of Complexity and Adversity” then this is it… Joe Ales and Nigel Baldwin from Thales explained how they led a project that has seen the alignment of 92 different overtime policies, 74 variations of on call/call-out policies, 36 different shift premium systems, 22 payroll runs on 10 different days, 20 different redundancy policies…etc…across 7,500 employees in a unionised environment at a time-sensitive time (lead up to London 2012). All based on competitive, consistent and aligned employment terms with a new flex scheme. The end result? 100% sign-up… Wow. The factors that drove success? Strong project management, up-front and comprehensive due-diligence, transparent communications and processes, and maintaining a strong position without wavering. Good stuff, chaps…
After a quick break, Adam Hartley from DLA led an employment law update, mainly focused on the latest trends and developments in the UK.
After this, there was a unanimous show of hands to forgo the "professional" approach of doing a 10-minute recap on Day One in favour of hitting the beer J
Day Two kicked off with Carl Schreiter, transformational business communications guru, leading a superb workshop on developing impactful influencing and communication. What were the key elements?
· The “Canons of Rhetoric” – Intellectio, Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory and Delivery.
· Focus on the “Why”. Many people forget this and default to the “How” and “What”.
· Remember the parameters of your voice. Pitch, Modulation, Volume, Speed and Fluency.
· Structure your communications. Set the context (“here are the issues”). Outline the proposals (“we need to do X, Y and Z”). Acknowledge the counter-arguments (“it won’t be easy”). Conclude (“but we can do it because…”).
I knew I shouldn’t have opened my big trap… I had been talking to one of the delegates just before the start of the second day saying how pleased I was with how things had been going, and that even the technology hadn’t let us down… Unfortunately Danny Kalman and Elsie Akisanya’s session on high potential programs was disrupted by the Samsung monitor going kaput, and with techies ferreting around trying to fix it. Ironically, given Danny’s background, the Panasonic replacement monitor worked a treat J
Despite the technical issues, Danny and Elsie facilitated an interesting dialog based on their experiences within Panasonic and Citi respectively. The key areas covered include the aspirational nature of such programs, the need to make them continuous and sustainable, and having the end goal in mind (generally the need to build a talent pipeline for future leadership). Also covered was the structure of both the Panasonic and Citi schemes, which included rotations, overseas placements, assessment centres, and mentoring.
After lunch, Martin Percival gave a warts-and-all overview of mergers and acquisitions, partly based on the work he is currently doing at Fab, and also based on experiences with prior employers. Key takeaways:
· Do your due diligence thoroughly.
· In particular, pay attention to the contracts of employment.
· Pay attention to the people dimension (history, culture, heritage, practices, etc) as well as the numbers and product side of things.
· Manage the expectations of the founders of the companies being acquired.
· Local knowledge is key…
Finally, Adam Hartley from DLA led an employment law update, this time looking at restrictive covenants in the key territories across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. They generally fell in to three categories:
· Countries where you don’t have to pay for any period of restraint. Such as the UK, US, commonwealth states, etc.
· Countries where you have to pay for periods of restraint, like Germany, France, etc.
· Placces where these are not enforceable, such as CA (US) and NSW (AUS).
And so the curtain fell on a good two days… The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, the ask was “let’s do it again in 2014”.
A big shout-out for Adam and the team at DLA for hosting the event. Apart from the slight technical wobble on Day Two, everything was perfect. And they have already volunteered (without too much pressure from me!) to host next year’s event.
If it’s OK with you all, I’ll just leave it a few months before I start planning that one J
Cheers
Marc
