Tag: Management

How Career Experience Will Help Shape the Future of Work

The concept of Career Experience  has recently evolved as a key element in shaping organisational culture, helping improve employee engagement and retention. I first looked into the concept of Career Experience when I interviewed Nick Holmes for the HR Means Business podcast. Nick was Global Head of Career Experience at Avalere Health – a leading global commercialisation partner for the biopharmaceutical, medical technology, and wellness sectors – and is now their VP of Employee Experience.

As part of my research and writing into the factors that drive engagement and retention I was becoming convinced that, despite the best efforts of the Talent Acquisition and Human Resources teams, there was a need for organisations to look more holistically at how they can support and enable their people to help them achieve their best results – thereby creating a culture which supported engagement and achievement, and helped drive business success.

From my conversation with Nick it was apparent that Career Experience is more than just another HR role; it embodies a more holistic approach to nurturing talent, shaping culture, and facilitating growth throughout an employee’s journey within an organisation. It encompasses everything from the initial onboarding process to ongoing development, performance management, and eventual progression or transition within the organisation.

There were 5 ways in which having ‘Career Experience’ specialists can achieve this:

The Purpose of Career Experience

At its core, Career Experience is about creating an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. By focusing on the human aspect of work, organisations can enhance employee engagement, retention, and productivity. Rather than merely fulfilling job roles, employees become active participants in their own career development, which helps drive both personal development and therefore organisational success.

Addressing Organisational Challenges

Career Experience can be seen as a strategic response to various organisational challenges, primarily talent engagement and retention, succession planning, and adapting to rapid organisational growth. Proactive shaping of the employee experience can help reduce turnover, better identify and nurture talent, and maintain the culture of continuous learning and improvement that our digital talent needs.

Integration with HR Operations

While Career Experience can operate within the broader HR framework, it really represents a specialist function that is dedicated to optimising the employee journey. Collaborating closely with other parts of the HR and Talent ecosystem, Career Experience professionals can ensure alignment with organisational goals and values, and help foster a cohesive and supportive work environment.

Promoting Employee Wellbeing

One of there central tenets of Career Experience is the prioritisation of employee wellbeing. Initiatives such as mental health first aid training, as well as financial, physical and emotional wellness programmes, and offering a range of flexible and hybrid work arrangements that help support our people, all contribute to creating a culture of care and support. By valuing employee health and work-life balance, organisations will be able to enhance overall employee satisfaction and improved performance.

The Future of Career Experience

Looking ahead, Career Experience should evolve into a hyper-personalised and technology-enabled ecosystem. As organisations are increasingly able to leverage data and emerging technologies, they can tailor their employee and worker experiences to meet individual needs, enhance connectivity, and promote overall wellness. Career Experience can continue to evolve and play a crucial role in shaping the future of work, driving innovation, and fostering a culture of engagement and growth.

The emergence of Career Experience as a specialism could represent a much-needed shift in HR practices, placing emphasis on human-centric approaches to talent management and organisational development. By investing in Career Experience, organisations can create environments where their people not only thrive but can also contribute meaningfully to collective success.

You can check out my full podcast chat with Nick on this episode of HR Means Business

Find Out More in Amsterdam

If you want to know more about Career Experience and how it can help improve your organisation then I will be interviewing Nick on stage at the HR Technology Conference & Expo Europe on Friday 3rd May in a session entitled ‘The Hyper Human Workplace : How to Make Work Meaningful Again’. Hope you can join us at the RAI, Amsterdam!

And if you use my special code – MERVYN50 – you get 50% off your ticket!

How HR Can Help Unlock and Support Employee Productivity

The US economist Paul Krugman famously said “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything” when talking about rebuilding the US economy. Certainly in our digitally enabled, always on, modern work culture, productivity is also a priority. In the post pandemic years the focus around how, when and where people work has always had productivity at its heart and research from analysts such as Gartner show a heightened focus on businesses trying to measure employee productivity. And there’s a good reason – productive workers are usually engaged workers – and employee engagement and retention is a key business and HR driver for 2024.

But how can you support employee productivity?

I recently had an enlightening podcast conversation with Zena Everett MSc best-selling author of the book ‘The Crazy Busy Cure’ which was a Business Book of the Year winner in 2022. Zena has done a lot of research into productivity and the systemic factors that reduce productivity and therefore profitability per head within organisations and asks ‘Why is it that we hire the best talent but then waste the time and energy of our talent?’

Four key insights emerged from our conversation:

Understanding Productivity Drag

The expression ‘productivity drag’ relates to anything gets in the way of the efficient and effective completion of work tasks. There are a range of drags, from excessive meetings and digital distractions to bureaucratic processes and over-servicing clients. HR needs to identify areas of productivity drag within their organisations and understand the barriers their people face. That way they can implement targeted strategies to streamline processes, minimise distractions, thereby optimising workflow. Common examples of overcoming drag are reducing the number of unnecessary meetings, and implementing digital tools to manage tasks and communication, all of which are shown to significantly improve employee productivity.

The Role of Leadership

Leadership plays a critical role in managing productivity within organisations. Zena emphasises the importance of clarity in organisational purpose and individual roles. HR professionals can work closely with leaders to ensure clear expectations are set, tasks are prioritised effectively, and innovative thinking is encouraged among teams.

Moreover, HR can support leadership development initiatives that empower managers with the skills and tools needed to foster a culture of productivity and accountability. By nurturing strong leadership, organisations can create an environment where employees feel motivated and empowered to excel in their roles.

Practical Strategies

Leaders and managers need to take time out to focus on their priorities and challenges. Zena talked about one of her clients that establishes designated ‘jury service’ periods when they can take a period of time out to focus on something specific that can help the organisation, and their people, improve performance and results. Taking time away from daily commitments to focus on improving an area or areas of operation that could run more smoothly.

Ultimately, it’s about creating a culture that values focused work time – and efficient and effective meetings – enabling HR to help employees stay on track and accomplish their goals more effectively, leveraging technology and automation to streamline processes and eliminate unnecessary tasks, which can further enhance productivity across the organisation.

‘Jury service’ can be a period of days that leaders take away from their day-to-day responsibilities, or shutting off distractions for a period of hours, allowing them to focus on specific areas of operation and how they can become more streamlined.

Future Focused

As workplaces continue to evolve, HR professionals must anticipate future challenges and proactively address them. During the conversation Zena emphasises the importance of continuous adaptation and learning, as well as fostering a culture of innovation within businesses. HR can play a pivotal role in driving this cultural shift by promoting learning and development initiatives, encouraging knowledge sharing, and creating opportunities for employees to contribute ideas and solutions. By staying ahead of emerging trends and technologies, HR can help their organisations navigate change more effectively and position themselves for long-term success.

The roadmap for HR professionals looking to improve employee productivity within their organisations is straightforward. By understanding what productivity drag is and how it can be addressed, by supporting effective leadership and implementing targeted strategies, and by embracing a culture of innovation they can unlock their workers’ full potential and drive business success.

With the business landscape continuing to evolve quickly, HR professionals must remain proactive and adaptable to create thriving workplaces for the future.

You can listen to my full conversation with Zena Everett MSc on this episode the HR Means Business podcast.

(A version of this post originally appeared on my HR Means Business Newsletter. You can subscribe here and follow my latest conversations and insights)

Making the Business Case for Recognition

In today’s competitive talent landscape, retaining top talent and keeping employees, at all levels, engaged is more critical than ever. If 2024 is the year of retention then organisations need to build and maintain a culture of retention – and that starts with the way we recognise and support our people.

One of the memorable keynote observations for me recently came from best selling author on human relationships Esther Perel at Workhuman’s 2023 conference, when she said “We used to leave our jobs because the factory closed. Today, we leave jobs because we aren’t being recognised”. All the research I’ve been involved with in recent years on retention and engagement always comes down to how well recognised and supported our people feel.

The conversation around recognition in the workplace has now evolved from a mere nicety to a strategic imperative for organisations worldwide. However, this often requires an internal culture shift for many HR and business leaders, and it can still be a struggle to have the necessary conversations with the right people.

At Workhuman Live I had a podcast conversation Brenda Pohlman, a practice leader and senior recognition strategist at Workhuman, about how we can shift the dial on internal conversations around recognition and engagement and make the business case for the investing in recognition.

Here are the 5 key points from the conversation:

1. Seeing recognition as the cornerstone of Engagement and Retention

Brenda underscored the undeniable link between recognition and employee engagement and retention. At the time of our conversation there was still a lot of speculation around trends like “great resignation”, which underlined an opportunity for organisations to see that recognising employees for their contributions is not just a feel-good practice, but a strategic necessity. Research consistently demonstrates that employees who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to stay with an organisation and exhibit higher levels of engagement.

2. Leveraging Technology to Facilitate Recognition

While recognition may seem like a straightforward interpersonal interaction, Brenda highlighted the role of technology in driving and facilitating these practices within organisations. Contrary to any concerns that technology may erode human connections, it can be the conduit for bringing back the natural inclination to express gratitude in the workplace. We are used to thanking people digitally in our day to day lives and there’s no reason why technology-enabled recognition platforms at work can’t streamline the process, ensuring consistency and scalability across the whole organisation.

3. Training and Tools for Effective Recognition

One crucial aspect that often gets overlooked is the need to help and support employees with the necessary training and tools to express gratitude effectively. Brenda raised the point that whilst the sentiment of recognition may be natural, the skill to articulate it meaningfully requires guidance and practice. By offering training programs and intuitive tools, businesses can empower their workforce to engage in consistent and impactful recognition practices.

4. The Role of Monetary Rewards in Recognition

Non-monetary recognition is valuable as it’s usually expressed personally (whether in person or through technology) and creates a positive emotion. However there is a strong case to be made for incorporating a monetary component into the recognition experience too. This can enhance the impact and connection of recognition, especially when it’s coupled with specific feedback. Contrary to concerns, research indicates that monetary rewards, when appropriately integrated into the recognition, contributes significantly to the overall recognition experience and wider employee morale.

5. Making the Business Case for Recognition

The imperative of building a robust business case for recognition should resonate well with HR leaders and line mangers. Demonstrating the tangible benefits of recognition initiatives, such as improved employee engagement, retention, and improved organisational performance, is essential for getting support from organisational leaders. By quantifying the ROI of recognition programmes, HR professionals should be able secure the support and resources necessary to embed recognition into the organisational culture.

It’s clear that now, more than ever, recognition isn’t a formality or nicety, but a strategic lever for driving employee engagement and retention. By embracing technology, providing training and tools, integrating monetary rewards, HR leaders should be in a position to build a compelling business case, enabling their organisations to harness the transformative power of recognition to create thriving workplace cultures where employees feel valued, motivated, and inspired to contribute their best.

You can listen to my full conversation with Brenda Pohlman on HR Means Business – Helping Business Leaders to Understand the Power of Recognition

Improving Culture, Experience, Leadership, Opportunity and Flexibility in 2024

One of my favourite HR events each year is Influence Greatness. Hosted near Salt Lake City by O.C. Tanner the event brings together leaders, analysts, researchers, practitioners, tech experts and consultants for a 3 day exploration of the latest trends in Global Workplace Culture centred around the O.C. Tanner Institute’s research and latest Global Culture Report.

The report always offers insights on evolving employee priorities and preferences, as well as guidance on the key elements of a thriving corporate culture and the 2024 Global Culture Report (published in September 2023) highlighted a number of actionable insights, people-centric solutions and common sense interventions whilst also sharing insights on some of the key aspects that are impacting workplaces globally. 

I’ve recently hosted an HR Means Business podcast chat with Robert Ordever (Managing Director O.C. Tanner Europe) and Stuart Cheeseman (European Strategies O.C. Tanner) about some of the key findings and opportunities. To accompany the podcast, I’ve tried to summarise what I think are some of the key messages from the research. I’ve chosen three of the six categories – you can read about all of them by downloading the report at https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report

Practical Empathy

A major revelation from the research is the concept of practical empathy in leadership, and how it is falling short. 41% of employees feel that leaders’ expressions of empathy are basically empty gestures, lacking meaning. Yet a survey of 150 CEOs by Harvard Business Review found 80% of them saying empathy was a key to success. O.C. Tanner’s data showed that people working for empathetic leaders tend to be more fulfilled, have a sense of belonging in their workplace and feel a stronger connection to the organisation

The 6 components of practical empathy at work they identified were: 

Focus on the Person – prioritising individual’s needs, challenges and potential

Seek Understanding – getting proper input and feedback on policies and programmes, and a real understanding ding of the day-to-day employee experience. 

Listen to Learn – active listening to our people and their concerns  

Embrace Perspectives – leaders and mangers need to be open to, and accepting of, different perspectives and experiences

Take Supportive Action – showing concern is one thing, but can be an empty gesture if not backed up with real action

Respecting Boundaries – resources for support need to be in place, not reliant on leaders’ intervention

Practical Empathy is about listening, understanding, and empowering leaders to make meaningful contributions to their teams’ well-being. It can improve the sense of belonging and connection employees have, improving business outcomes too.

Skill Building vs. Skill Development

The emphasis on “skill building” instead of traditional “skill development” signifies a shift in perspective. Employees increasingly perceive learning and skill enhancement as self-driven contributions rather than imposed obligations. This shift acknowledges the evolving nature of jobs and encourages individuals to proactively enhance their skills for better contributions and adaptability within their roles.

Employees know their roles are changing and want access to the knowledge and learning necessary to help them. Research from the Global Culture Report shows that they are happier and more productive when they have skill building opportunities, in fact 83% look for these opportunities when changing jobs. For organisations, this is also a solution to addressing talent and knowledge shortages. Giving employees options and integrating some form of recognition for those who embrace can help hardwire this into culture.

Experience of the 80%

80% of the Global workforce don’t work at a desk. It’s sometimes hard for those who are white collar knowledge workers, whose daily conversations around technology and work location fill the digital narratives online, to grasp just how many of the global workforce are frontline workers, deskless and often offline, and usually removed from corporate culture. The Global Culture Report research found half of frontline employees feeling expendable at work, ignored and undervalued, lacking opportunity, technology and autonomy in the vital jobs they do.

During the Covid pandemic, this segment received unprecedented acknowledgment and support. However, research indicates a gradual fading of recognition for these workers, emphasising a need to address this disparity, underscoring the importance of acknowledging and celebrating the part of the workforce that keeps essential operations running.

The research also found the 80% less likely to think their employers care about them, and also less likely to

Trust their leaders

Have a strong sense of connection to the organisation

Feel seen and valued

Have a positive employee experience.

The saddest indictment was the finding that only 1 in 10 believe they have access to the tools, technology and opportunities necessary for advancement, or to have any kind of influence or voice over their work.

The key to improving engagement, belonging, connection and a sense of community and fulfilment is to help them feel seen. The data indicates that improving access and enablement, providing meaningful recognition, and understanding and addressing what matters to them can help the 80% have a sense of belonging, feel a connection to their leaders and the organisation, and foster a strong desire to remain with the organisation in the longer term.

Creating a Resilient Culture of Equitable Flexibility and Empathetic Leadership

To understand more about the research, and the potential opportunities for embracing a more enlightened and inclusive approach to improving our workplaces, listen my podcast conversation with Robert and Stuart……

Under New Management

This weekend sees the start of the new Premier League football season and I, for one, can’t wait. Regular readers will know that I’m an Arsenal fan, who’s been following them home and away since my early teens. But this weekend is a little more unique. For only the 4th time in all my years of watching Arsenal they will be starting the season with a brand new manager. A couple of times they have changed manager during a season, but I have to say that during my years of support they haven’t had that many managers.

I’m not usually one for waxing lyrical about what business/HR/recruitment can learn from sport, but having done some writing and research around leadership and management recently I’m interested in the rituals and actions by which new managers establish their style and vision, and differentiate themselves from their predecessors.

Most people want to work for leaders who are accountable and honest. In the UK we also like them to be decisive. Football managers will always be accountable – to the fans and the Board who hired them. Our new manager seems like an honest guy, and has a decent record of winning at other clubs, so what’s he done so far to make an impression?

He has a plan and strategy.

He knew what had been going wrong. The new managers that I’ve seen have all come in at a time of stagnation. The team hadn’t evolved or developed over the previous few seasons. Earlier glories had not been matched. Outgoing managers hadn’t refreshed the squad, or been coaching existing players to improve performance. Individuals have been allowed to make mistakes, and abandon their responsibilities to others in their team. This summer was no exception.

For the new guy though, it seems he had already done his homework. At his interview he showed a deep knowledge of not just the more senior and experienced players, but also the younger up and coming ones. He had a plan to help experienced players improve their performance and a strategy for developing the less experienced ones. He’s let the group know what he expects from them and how he wants them to achieve it.

Previous new managers haven’t always done this. Maybe this time was a more rigorous approach to interviewing – previous newcomers had their own ideas and style, and maybe there was little focus on how they were going to improve what was already there.

He believes he can coach them and make training fun. Lots of pictures have been shared by the club of training sessions. Players are laughing. The other coaches are joining in. Everyone looks like they’re enjoying themselves. Can’t say that’s been seen in pictures from training sessions over the last few years.

Expectations are raised but not heightened to something that’s unachievable. There haven’t been any ‘statement signings’. A couple of previous new managers have gone out and broken the club’s transfer record before they’ve even managed their first game. If you take over a team, and immediately make a high profile hire – a bigger name than anyone else in the team – then you are setting expectations very high.

And it might not be you that reaps the benefit. Over a ten year period one of those statement hires (Denis Bergkamp) went on to be come one of club’s greatest ever players – but the manager who signed him only lasted a year and barely gets a mention when previous managers are discussed.

In the case of this new manager, expectations are sensible and no supporters are expecting immediate miracles. They know it may well take a couple of years or more to begin to properly move forward. They would be very mistrustful if he had came in and promised immediate results and success. Few managers are able to achieve that.

He acts like he knows what he’s doing. Actions speak louder than words. As I wrote earlier, he looks like he has a plan, and he seems confident. Often with a new manager you hear a lot about what they are going to do – this time around he seems to be just getting on with it. Individuals in the team are making the right noises about how positive they feel.

Of course in the world of football, unlike business, these things can also be short lived, and fans can be fickle. A few poor results – not uncommon with a new manager who wants his team to play differently to how they have before – coupled with some underwhelming individual performances, and I might by holding up my own #EmeryOut banner!

Myths and Learnings at #HRTechEurope

Euan slide

Latest stop on my Autumn Tour of Discovery (previous stop Vegas, next stop Manchester) was Amsterdam for HRTech Europe, a two day HR Technology exhibition plus conference with content stretching from talent management, data analytics and technology to building social businesses and the future of work and learning. The event attracted upward of 1500 delegates across the two days and logistically was focused around a central exhibition hall with auditorium attached and breakout rooms upstairs. The networking sessions and coffee breaks also took place around the central hall which created a lot of buzz and energy, rippling through the whole event.

There were some top notch speakers from the US as well as a few from Europe – I have some sympathy with those who feel that we could have done with stronger representation from Europe on the main platform, but the important thing for me is that the speakers have something to say that makes me think and can back that up with research, case study or some clear rationale.

Here are four of the main talking points that got me thinking…

Organisational Nakedness

I’ve used the expression before but, just as in Don Tapscott’s opening at HRTech in Vegas, this was a noticeable thread running through many of the main sessions dealing with collaboration, sharing, connectivity and the new social openness, particularly those from Prof Costas Markides (London Business School) and Euan Semple. The talk was very much about people not processes. However much a business may try to resist the urge to embrace social collaborative platforms, their employees, customers and partners – their advocates – are almost certainly using it…and will expect to communicate openly. This exposes the organisation, its structure and values, to wider scrutiny – are they ready for it?

We’re all Technologists, Sales Professionals, Marketers and Recruiters Now!

Jason Averbook said that we’re all technologists. Daniel Pink said that we’re all sales people with everyone having persuasion somewhere in their role. And we’ve known for some time that every employee is potential marketer, recruiter and source of referrals – they represent the company, its internal culture and proposition, to everyone who knows them. In the new world of work we’re all ambassadors for our business, role, skills, products and services – having said that we probably always have been, but now we’re much more visible. There is also an expectation of multi-skills, adaptability and resourcefulness that will drive the future workforce.

The Importance of Mobile is UNDER Hyped

For possibly the first time our customers/clients and our current and future employees have better technology than the business…and this leads to greater expectations. ‘The importance of mobile is UNDER hyped‘ said Dan Pink at the start of his masterclass. Most people keep their smartphone within 3 feet all day and night and expect to communicate through variety of channels at all times. If you lose their luggage they’ll write a song and/or make a video. If you treat them badly they’ll resign in a spectacular way.

When they interact with technology they expect it to do what they want it to do in the easiest, simplest and quickest way – ‘solve my problem and make me feel good‘ as my old boss Felix Wetzel used to say – and they have little time for a process that is difficult, obtrusive or leaves them in the dark about what’s happening.

Customer and employee expectations are heightened. Whether they are using it to apply for a job, or book leave, or to buy your latest product, the technology we use in our businesses needs to deliver an experience to the end user that matches theses greater expectations.

The Manager of the Future

I had two really interesting and insightful conversations with Dr Katherine Jones from Bersin by Deloitte about management, the future of work and the future of HR. I’ll write more about them in a different post, but one thing that really intrigued me was when she talked about the opportunity for managers to take over many of HRs responsibilities.

Currently we tend to promote people who do a good job to manager level, but what if employees are empowered and responsible for their own workloads and careers? Then we would be looking for people who could develop, counsel and manage – different competencies requiring different promotion criteria. I remember Daniel Pink saying ‘human beings don’t engage by being managed or controlled but by self-direction‘ and also how ‘control leads to compliance whilst autonomy leads to engagement‘ implying that a different approach to management was required. I could also sense this need for a shift in emphasis when he spoke of how cognitive skills were becoming increasingly important – ‘Analytical skills are necessary but not sufficient. Artistry, empathy, imagination and conceptual now more important‘.

Costas Markides also spoke of the need to embed your values in the hearts of your workers, much like a family. Tomorrow’s managers will need to inspire as well as develop.

Many of the conversations that I had around the event indicated a clear shift for job seekers from looking for jobs to looking for work. People who may be joining your team or business may not be doing so for long term prospects but to help you complete a task or project. This will require a different kind of management and engagement.

So what about the HR myths?

Well, they came from Josh Bersin, during his session on the datafication of HR. During the section ‘Applying Science to People Decisions‘ he debunked 5 Workplace myths. Each one solid gold!

  1. People from top universities with good grades are high performers
  2. Training and education reduces loss and fraud
  3. Customer service will increase client retention
  4. People will leave their jobs if we don’t pay them enough
  5. Our leadership development process will work around the world

I was blogging from the event on behalf of RC Euro – check out the posts that I wrote for them…

Once again I noticed an increasingly important role at the event for bloggers – there were more than 20 – encompassing vendors and speakers in an attempt to reflect the full range of content and solutions available and give some insight behind both. With 61% of HR professionals seemingly looking to change their technology within the next 18 months practitioners, vendors and bloggers are very much part of the same conversation.

There is an appetite for a richer and more in-depth level of online event coverage – will be interesting to see how this develops at other events over the coming months, and how it translates to UK conferences. The HRTech Europe event moves on to London in March 2014 and will be back in Amsterdam for October 2014 – I’m looking forward to seeing how the conversations develop.

(Image from Euan Semple presentation)

The Wisdom of Herbert : Management Insights 80 Years On

‘The anxiety which is felt in some cases when teams are threatened with the loss of their status must be almost beyond bearing. I know of one club who in their plight insisted on their star players being in their homes every Friday night at nine o’clock, and officials visited them to see that the rule is observed. Recently I have heard of the complaints of players who declare that every Friday night they are spied on, and that they are threatened with all sorts of penalties if they do not observe the club curfew. I have no patience with such supervision. If I were unable to trust a player I would not retain him. In my experience I have found that the man who is treated fairly, and in whom confidence is placed, will not let you down.’

Wise words.

If you changed the word ‘club’ to ‘company’ and ‘players’ to ‘employees’ and said that at a conference or unconference in relation to employer brand and social media you’d be a guru. It would be tweeted and re-tweeted, blogged about and quoted.

And it’s true. If you can’t trust your employees then you shouldn’t have them working for you…likewise if you treat them fairly, and with respect, you will get the best out of them.

But this quote isn’t recent. It’s not from this week, this year or this century. It was written in 1932!

It was written by Herbert Chapman, a man who was named Greatest British Football Manager of all time in a Sunday Times poll in 2004 and is widely regarded as the father of modern football. His revolutionary and pioneering legacy is long and impressive: Continue reading “The Wisdom of Herbert : Management Insights 80 Years On” →