By cracky, has another year really flown by?
Well, yes, it has actually.
And what a year it has been!
Brexit. Trump. Elections elsewhere across Europe too. And not forgetting the global impact of Brangelina, of course. And so it was against a backdrop of political, economic, social and celeb uncertainty that the IHRF gathered for it's 5th annual get-together.
What follows is a short summary of the two days. However, for the first time ever, whilst reading all about it you can also access the presentations by clicking on the following link. Cool, eh?
Hopefully it works - I have a patchy record when it comes to technology :)
So without further ado, let's go!
Day One kicked off with our traditional "big cheese" slot, which was capably filled by Andy Smith, from Severn Trent. In taking us through his career journey and thoughts on HR, the key takeaways were:
- Get involved in the "muck and bullets". Understand the front line, experience the operations of the business. "The business" is not separate from HR!
- Make allowances for different ways of doing things in different countries.
- Always anticipate the human impact of what you are trying to do.
- Encourage diversity and business benefits will follow.
- The three ingredients for effective leadership - think, pace, team.
- Come armed with solutions, not just advice.
- Despite the proliferation of technology and advance of automation, "the human touch" is still vital.
Tiffany Gaskell from Performance Consultants International was up next. It's always good to get a true pioneer up on stage - PCI was founded by the late Sir John Whitmore, who did much to introduce coaching to the workplace and was the inventor of the GROW model. Tiffany led a practical and interactive session that encompassed the following:
- Performance equals Potential minus Interference (P = p - i).
- Coaching is a safe place to improve performance and unlock potential.
- There is a "performance curve" that interacts with culture to enable a move from "things happen", to "I follow the rules", to "I am a high performer", to "we are truly successful together".
Jasmine Gartner led a session on engagement. The main points were:
- Hardly any change in the % of employees who are disengaged, as per Gallup's research it has been at around 33% for the past 30 years. This costs the UK economy between £52bn and £70bn per year.
- The key drivers of engagement are the provision of a strategic narrative, and the feeling on the part of employees that they are being listened to.
- Surveys only work if they are regular, and something happens.
Jon Ingham (Strategic Dynamics) threw caution to the wind and relied on flipcharts rather than powerpoint. Brave man, but it worked well! Jon was all over the use and impact of social media before social media had really taken off, and took us through the key messages arising from his forthcoming book "The Social Organisation".
- Social capital (people's connections, relationships and conversations) are as important as organisation capital (structures, systems, processes etc) and human capital (employees, and their skills and capabilities).
- Manage the paradox between HR's focus on the individual and the business being built around teams.
- OD drivers include people (communities, inward focus), infrastructure (functions, divisions), work (project teams) and relationships (networks with an outward focus). There are "melds" between these drivers.
- These drivers should be underpinned by social technologies e.g. WorkPlace by Facebook, Sharepoint, Slack, Jive.
John Bell from A Different View took us through the steps to take to develop an effective EVP. Key themes:
- Base it on "what is your why".
- Recognize different needs - one size doesn't fit all.
- The EVP needs actively managing across the entire HR lifecycle.
- There should be a clear connection with the values of the org, and how it also shows externally.
- Test with your customers, shareholders and other stakeholders before going live.
- Don't be tempted to try and explain everything in your EVP.
- Measure it...
Technology and mobility are driving a sea-change in how recognition in the workplace can be mobilized. Chase Dolomont from Achievers explored the 7 key principles for a successful recognition strategy:
- Make it inclusive.
- Make it pervasive.
- Make sure leaders are involved in building a culture of recognition.
- Recognize frequently.
- Recognize with and without reward.
- Tie recognition to business values and goals.
- Leverage technology.
Day Two kicked off in sombre mood, at least on my part, given Fulham were knocked out of the playoffs the night before. Fortunately Nicola Josephs from the CEB was on hand to lift spirits with valuable insights on change management.
- Change is the new constant, on average organisations have experienced 5 enterprise changes in the last 3 years.
- Traditional models of top-down change need to shift to open source change, where change strategies are co-created with employees, there is employee ownership of change implementation plans, and communications focus on two-way dialog rather than one-way telling.
- Seven key "lessons": permanence isn't a requirement for success, repetition doesn't make change easier, employees have to get it rather than like it, change is key person rather than key leader dependent, employee readiness rather than willingness is key to success, a clear goal matters more than a perfect plan, and change implementation should be adaptable rather than consistent.
Mike Haffenden, he of CRF/PARC/Strategic Dimensions fame, was up next. In a week of manifestos, I suggested that he had done well in releasing the "HR Manifesto" before Jeremy Corbyn had launched the Labour Party's communist manifesto, and Theresa May had launched the Conservative Party's UKIP manifesto. He was clearly put our by being mentioned in the same breath as Jeremy Corbyn, but rallied well to challenge the "industry" that has built up around HR and propose through the HR Manifesto that the role of HR is to focus on where the true value is by delivering core operational services, creating a high performance work environment, managing talent, and improving performance. This is difficult work, and will require:
- Analysis before action.
- A theoretical underpin.
- A clear business case.
- Effective project planning and management.
- Involvement and communication.
- Delivery.
How exactly do you rev up team performance at a time when the pace of change means the average longevity of a team has been steadily decreasing? Stand up Alyse Ashton and Richard Spence from Team Healthcheck to lead a practical session to explore this with us.
- Drive improvements in positivity and productivity.
- Be aware of what makes for an effective team e.g. psychological safety, shared airtime, empathy, leadership, stimulate social connections, etc.
- Encourage diversity in teams.
- Constantly review which teams are important, what is working well, what can be improved.
- Use tools (e.g. Team Healtcheck!) to drive effectiveness.
John Stuart, founder and CEO of Active Inspiration, bounded up to the stage next. Funded by the European Space Agency and Oxford University, he outlined:
- The latest research that demonstrates a clear link between exercise, happiness, productivity and retention.
- How the Active Inspiration platform shows that through enabling measurement, setting challenges, and providing rewards incentivizes people to exercise more.
- A major research project just launched in conjunction with Leeds University to set challenges across a number of employers to determine effectiveness and outcomes.
Diversity and inclusion has been an increasingly prominent part of our annual events, and Kalwant Gil (PatchWork Quilt) explored with us how to take diversity beyond the usual compliance route by looking at:
- How traditional approaches have not had the desired impact.
- Overcoming resistance to change.
- Ownership of initiatives.
- Changing mindsets and perceptions.
- Incorporating diversity in to organisational culture and structures.
- Masculine and feminine traits and how they show up in leadership situations.
- The need to base any programs on sound situational analysis, leadership education and change management.
Drawing two days of fun and frolics to a close fell to Alan Crozier from q4. How do organisations become more resilient in a world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity? By moving from fragile to agile... The key differentiators are:
- Role clarity.
- A culture that supports experimentation and innovation.
- Capturing external ideas.
- Having process-based capabilities.
- Strong operational discipline.
- Internal competitiveness.
- Meaningful values.
- Knowledge sharing.
- Inspirational leaders.
- Ongoing performance reviews.
- Deploying an Agility Index to measure engagement (commitment and alignment). This can be accessed via www.q4metrics.com/agility/le
And with that, the 5th Annual Do was over, and the merry band of delegates decamped for a beer or two before heading off in to the driving rain.
As ever, a huge thanks to Adam Hartley and the team at DLA Piper for hosting the event, and also for providing the two employment law updates during the two days.
Many thanks too for all the delegates who invested £0 in money but plenty in terms of their own time to come along and take part in this. The power of this event lies not just in what is heard up on stage, but also in what gets shared during the breaks.
And finally, a standing ovation accompanied by some whooping and hollering to all the contributors who gave up their valuable time to share their thoughts, perspectives and expertise. Hugely invaluable.
Will there be a 6th Annual Do? Of course... The planning for that will start in a few months time, and hopefully not coincide with GCSEs, Fulham in the play-offs, and assorted other distractions! Any volunteers for content, ideas, etc. gratefully received!
Until then, toodlepip amigos :)
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