Tag: Carnival of HR

5 Challenges Organisations Have to Face Before they Evolve

Much is written and debated about the future of organisations. Many approach this by talking about organisational structures, internal communications and how we get the best out of people, but what most of the discussions about flatter, collaborative organisations tend to ignore are the many basic challenges that businesses increasingly face now, and will over the next few years, and which will either have to be dealt with before evolving or else will have to be part of the evolution, probably driving it.

The way we get business, transact and fulfil that business is changing, and no debate about the future of organisations can overlook these changes.

So here are my five challenges that will need to be solved by any future organisation that wants to embrace a vision of more open, flatter hierarchy, collaborative and self-directed strategies. It’s really a question of skills, training, space, engagement and communication.

Knowledge Drain

The recent McKinsey Global Institute Report on Work predicts that by 2020 the global economy will be short of 38-40,000,000 degree educated workers. Primarily as they leave the workforce, taking their skills and knowledge with them, this shortfall accounts for 13% of workers needed at this level. How will companies replace this knowledge and capability?

Skill Shortages – Are we Training the Next Generation Properly?

It seems not. Alarmingly the recent UK Commission for Employment & Skills report on youth employment found that in the UK 32.7% of degree educated 25-29 year olds were working in jobs below their skill levels. The US figure was 25.8% and the OECD average 22.8% (chart below). When we talk about underemployment we usually mean people not working enough hours… the concept of under-utilisation of abilities, knowledge and education is rarely discussed. Continue reading “5 Challenges Organisations Have to Face Before they Evolve” →

reasons to be cHeeRful

It’s time for another Carnival of HR. If you’ve not dipped in before then you should…it’s a fortnightly collection of blogs from some of the top HR and Recruitment bloggers in the US, UK and farther afield – sometimes around a theme and other times simply a collection of the best writing of the last two weeks.

I’ve been a little remiss with my submissions lately but have been sparked into action by 6th June edition. It’s curated by a really great guy in Steve Browne – a good, and giving, friend of the UK HR community and someone whose weekly HR Net newsletters provide a regular highlight in my otherwise burgeoning e-mail inbox of money saving vouchers, LinkedIn spam messages and offers of financial gifts from East Africa.

Steve wants us to look at what’s good about HR. Most bloggers are able to pinpoint what’s wrong and what needs to change but maybe can be slower to champion what works and what makes us proud to work in the sector.

As a non-practitioner (more of a vicarious practitioner) it’s sometimes easier to take a more holistic view – which I know may infuriate those at the coalface – but things do look in fairly good shape. Sure there are those who would prefer to get back to basics, others who use strategy as a reason for overlooking the basics and many who participate in a regular kvetch fest about seats at the table and how to get taken seriously, but overall everyone I meet is passionate, committed and determined to do the best they can. In tough economic times, and with traditional employment patterns undergoing significant shifts, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of HR in keeping employers and businesses productive, harmonious and engaged.

And there are two things about the future that really excite me the most – Social Connectivity and Sharing. Continue reading “reasons to be cHeeRful” →

The Carnival of HR – Digging the New Breed and Learning from Old Friends

It’s time for the Carnival of HR and I’m really honoured to have my first go at hosting!

The Carnival doesn’t often pitch its big top on this side of the pond, so I’ve taken to opportunity to introduce you to a whole host of UK HR Bloggers who may or may not be known to you. There’s some really great talent developing here  a real New Breed.

But I’m not biased! My buddies and old friends from the US and Australia have also come up trumps with some really strong and varied posts too. So read on…

Digging the New Breed….

Leading off  is Michael Carty (XpertHR) not least because he is also known as the politest man on Twitter so it would be rude not to! His economic commentaries are a must read for many of us and this March 2011 Edition is no exception

Emma P aka @onatrainagain has only been blogging a short while and has already built a big following with her very personal and honest style. This post is called What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Alison Chisnell is our very own HR Juggler! How she also finds time to blog is beyond me, but she does! Always interesting, here she talks about New Experiences, Pyjama Parties and Comfort Zones

Katie Davis is the HR Hopeful and writes a newer blog called They’re Only Humans. ..here she’s musing on the Pull of Community

Doug Shaw is the Johnny Cash of the #ConnectingHR community, with a guitar and a song at every tweetup and unconference! And he writes a blog called Stop Doing Dumb Things To Customers – how cool is that? In this post he even gives us a poem! Phantom HR

What can I tell you about Flip Chart Fairy Tales? Well, its written by an affable and knowledgeable beer expert called Rick and he writes an informative, well researched and extremely readable blog about politics and business. This post is about Confident Leadership in an Uncertain World

Ailsa Suttie is an HR Director who I’m sure only embraced Twitter and blogging to stop me nagging her to do so! She is about to move in to a CEO role in a new business venture, which may be why she’s called her blog HR Metamorphosis. She raises an interesting point in A Monopoly Does Not an Expert Make…

Some of you may already know Felix Wetzel. He’s charming, intelligent, insightful…OK, he hired me recently…what else am I going to say?! He does write a really interesting and thoughtful blog about people, brands, creativity and growth. In this post he writes about The Future of Work

Janet Parkinson has a background in social media, recruitment and personal branding. She brings a really fresh approach to her technology oriented blog Technotropolis, as you can read here in her post on Digital Nomads – The Rise of the Independent Worker Continue reading “The Carnival of HR – Digging the New Breed and Learning from Old Friends” →

I’m a Dude, Yeah!

Now I do like a challenge. There I was trying to pen a belated birthday post – the blog’s birthday, not mine – when I read Kevin Grossman’s Rocking Carnival of HR challenge!

How to combine the two? Easy!

Bloggers rock! Oh, they so do! Bloggers are rockstars, and we need more. All companies should have bloggers too.

Blogging is a way to share and learn, inform and inspire.

Let’s face it, more and more of us are now getting our fix of news and views from blogs…and more and more of us are putting our thoughts and ideas into blogs. Very few of us are trained writers or journalists, but we have a passion and interest that we want to share. A great blog really can inspire debate and get you thinking.

And where’s the music angle? Well regular followers of T Recs will know that David Bowie is one of my all time favourite rock stars…and there’s a clue in one of his songs…

“All The Young Dudes/Carry The News/Boogaloo Dudes/Carry The News”

Oh yes! Bowie’s apocalyptic song envisaged a dying world, with only five years left. (The track was originally written for the Ziggy Stardust album). No need for entertainment hence no need for musicians…they were left to ‘carry the news’ not unlike the wandering minstrels of medieval England, moving from town to town telling people what was happening.

How does this relate to blogging, I hear you ask??

I see bloggers, be they concerned with politics or economics, entertainment or culture, daily routines or grand schemes…or HR and Recruiting…to be the Young Dudes! The world (thankfully) really has a bit longer than 5 years to go…but I’m not sure print media has. Its online bloggers who will increasingly help spread the news, insight and new thinking.

So plug in that guitar…get ready for that opening riff…I’m a Dude, Yeah!