Another
year, another Annual Do! Golly…where does the time go?
This Do was
a bit special, as some of the older hands amongst us worked out at last year’s
event that this one would coincide with the 10th anniversary of the
IHRF being founded!
I mentioned
this in my opening preamble, which prompted an interruption from Andy Gillham
to present me with a gift to mark the event. So it’s a large thanks from me for
all who had a hand in this lovely surprise, to Andy for his kind words, and of
course to all the members who over the years have made the IHRF what it is.
First up for
our now-traditional guest CEO slot was David Shaw, he of Energis and Cable
& Wireless fame. He took us through a few “life stories” to highlight the
following top tips:
- Make sure
people are front and centre of the narrative.
- Know your
business. Intimately. From top to bottom.
- The least
accurate predictor of future performance is prior experience.
- Don’t let
systems and processes get in the way of doing the right thing with people.
- HR should
be a business enabler, not a policeman. Make people, and businesses, brilliant.
- HR need
to lead business transformations which impact people.
- The
business case for HR-led transformation is stratospheric returns.
- One third
are already there. One third will never get there, so move on. Focus on the “swing
third”.
- Be the
best that you can be. Make the world a better place than it was yesterday.
Engagement
surveys are a “hot topic”, and Andy Brown, CEO of the appropriately named
Engage, took us through the latest trends and developments:
- A shift
from “off-the-shelf” to tailored/bespoke approaches.
- A move
from annual surveys to “continuous listening”.
- Looking
at integrated analytics rather than isolated data to deliver richer insights.
- More care
around benchmarking, given it doesn’t make you any better, it just tells you where
you are…
- Key
drivers for engagement are connection with strategy (future growth), connection
with customers, and connection with the employer.
- It’s all
about how we manage people, empower people, deliver outstanding customer
experience, communicate, develop and recognise performance, and lead the
business.
- The use
of technology (apps) to obtain and deliver feedback is proliferating.
Taking time
out to look at our own skills-set has always been one of the aims of these
events, and looking at how we develop impactful comms that resonate and grab
people’s attention was the theme of our next guest, Ann Booth-Clibborn. Her
seven top tips were:
- Be aware
of the main character or group. Just who is the audience.
- Create a different
world that people will be inspired to enter.
- Keep
things personal and personable.
- “Jeopardy”…
What’s at risk? Why is it important? Why should we care?
- What’s
the inciting incident? What kicked the story off? Where’s it heading?
- The
structure… Start, meat ‘n’ potatoes, conclude.
- The story
question. What will keep the audience engaged?
After lunch
and Adam Hartley’s first irreverent legal update, Danny Kalman took time to
outline the business case for diversity. Based on a new book he has co-authored
with Steve Frost (please contact Danny for an exclusive IHRF discount!!),
diversity done well enables businesses to:
- Attract
the best.
- Drive
engagement through building cultures in which employees feel valued.
- Increase
creativity, openness to change, and understanding of new markets.
Succession
planning was up next, and Chris Seabourne from the Succession Planning Company (we
seemed to have attracted companies with “does what it says on the tin” names
this year!) joined us to outline how to create an integrated approach in this
critical area.
- Recognize
that times have changed… Command and Control has moved through several
iterations to the Dawn of the Millenials.
-
Succession planning is more vital than ever given globalisation, competition,
etc – only employees can deliver competitive advantage.
- There are
a range of considerations at play e.g. role requirements, role criticality,
employee experiences and capabilities, employee ability and capability to
progress, cultural issues, etc.
- Typically
the process is inward-looking and a snapshot in time.
- Need to
move to “active succession planning” that considers external as well as
internal factors and is based on an ongoing conversation.
Day One was
rounded off in energetic style by Roger Philby, founder and CEO of the
Chemistry Group. Using the pioneering work they have been doing with Reading
FC, Roger made the following points:
- Companies
may have the right talent, but not harnessed in the right way then there will
be a lack of achievement.
- There is
no “silver bullet” that can predict the future success of talent.
- Talent is
traditionally looked at through the wrong lens – degree, work experience, etc –
that have little correlation with future performance and potential.
We then
adjourned to the 11th floor, to partake in some beverages whilst
taking in some pretty stunning views of good ol’ London Town.
Mark Bowden
from Deloittes kicked off Day Two with a summary of the findings from their
annual report on trends in global human capital management. Key findings:
- HR
transitioning from a “service provider” to valued talent, design and employee
experience consultants. Mark outlined Deloitte’s new “High Impact Operating
Model”.
- There is
a “perfect storm” of changing workforce demograghics, the proliferation of digitial
technology, the increased pace of change, and a new “social contract” between
employers and employees that organisations need to respond to.
- New
models of talent management, performance reviews, 360 feedback and succession
are emerging.
- The
design of HR policies, processes and systems need to have employee experience
at the heart of them.
“Coopervision
– The Sequel”. Sounds like a dodgy movie but was in fact Martin Percival
feeding back how the integration of Sauflon had progressed since the acquisition
last year.
- Key
challenges included the pause whilst the competition authorities reviewed the
deal, the duplication of skills in the same countries, proliferation of job
titles, different cultures and communication styles, etc.
- The
approach was to retain the best, to take a pan-European approach, to
consolidate job titles, to have clear plans for each country, and to consult
and engage.
- Some
things went well e.g. people changes, the performance of the HR team, the OD
work, collaboration between the various G&A functions, outplacement, manager
support, individual and collective consultations, etc.
- There
were learnings e.g. get a grip on multiple sources of data sooner, being
clearer to managers on ARD issues, clarity of senior leadership communications,
more effective onboarding of transferees, stronger engagement and retention
planning, and issues within the supply chain.
Gillian
Murray then joined us to highlight the work Pilotlight do in harnessing the
skills of business leaders giving voluntary time to help coach key people in a
variety of charitable organisations. Anyone interested in promoting this
service should contact Gillian directly, as per the mail I sent out to the IHRF
on 19 May.
Confused by
all this talk about Baby Boomers, Gen Y, Gen X, Gen Z, and (most recently) Gen
K? Yep, me too. Fortunately we had Stehanie Lunn and Chris Wood on hand to navigate
the choppy waters. They:
- Outlined
the various generations that constitute the current workforce.
- Provided
some stats and stories around millennials.
- Outlined
strategies that businesses could adopt to engage and motivate millennials in
the workforce.
- Key
themes were the blurring of work/life, loyalty to self development rather than
their employer, hunger for information, continuous connectivity, respect for
knowledge rather than hierarchy, a desire for flexing working arrangements, a
preference to specialize in what they are good at rather than go in to
management, etc.
Adam
Hartley brought the lunch break to an end with an overview of developments in
European employment law, and managed to do this without being too disparaging
about France!
Annemie
Ress (Purple Beach) then took us through the concept of exponential
organisations – companies which enjoy disproportionate success relative to
their peers. Check out what work Singularity University is doing in this area.
Exponential organisations are characterised by:
- Autonomy and
technology, “Massive Transformational Purpose”, experimentation, innovation and
open leadership.
- The “6 Ds”
– digitisation, deception, disruption, de-monetisation, de-materialisation.
Up next was
the Alice Breedon (Google) / Jeff Wellstead (Digital Works Consulting) double-act
to take us through the increasing use of data and analytics in the world of HR.
Key themes:
- It is
possible to have predictive algorithms for certain walks of HR life but people
should still make people decisions.
- Google’s “8
Qualities of a Great Manager”: good coach, empower rather than micro-manage,
take a personal interest in team members, results orientation, good
communicator, facilitate development, clarity of vision and strategy,
appropriate technical skills.
- Research
trumps best practice…
- There are
plenty of neat tools out there that can quickly link HR metrics to business
strategy and help inform programs, complex decisions, etc.
- Explore
data to predict outcomes and inform decisions, then share results in
easy-to-consume ways.
And it had
all been going so well… Our first major technical hitches of the Annual Do
saved themselves up for the last session, but a lack of video didn’t stop
Gordon Barker from Great{With}Talent leading an interactive session on how to
lead transformational change. Built on the themes from the book/film “Into the
Void”, we explored the following:
-
Performance is not a predictor of how people will cope with future change.
- People
tend to focus on the negatives associated with change, whereas the reality is
change generates energy which is easier to move than inertia.
- There
needs to be a compelling reason behind any change.
- Change is
a constant. It is about transformation, a journey.
- Leaders
need to work with ambiguity, ensure that the DNA of performance is in place,
and involve all people in any change.
- Stages of
change: denial, resistance, acceptance, exploration, commitment.
And that
brought down the heavy but impressively swish velvet curtain on our fourth Annual
Do. As ever, a big shout-out for Adam and his team at DLA Piper for providing
the venue, food, beers and nibbles. Likewise, thanks to all the contributors
for volunteering their time to share knowledge and inspire others. And finally,
a big thanks to all the members who took time out of their busy lives to come
along, learn, network, contribute and have a spot of fun along the way.
Our next
Annual Do will be our 5th. Little did I know when we first kicked
this off that what was an experiment would turn out to be such a tour de force
in the IHRF calendar. Planning will start in a few months but if anyone out
there would like to take part then just let me know…
And so it’s
goodbye from me, and it’s goodbye from me.
