With your extensive experience in HR across diverse markets and industries, can you share a pivotal moment or experience that shaped your approach to creating an engaging work environment?
In one of my roles, I was part of a business that was going through a disposition. Employees were worried about the future. Every week we were rolling out a new communication toolkit to engage employees. After a few of these communication rollouts, I realized that employees were not connecting with the key messages and they were more disgruntled. So I thought of reaching out to our employees to listen and understand the situation better. In this session, I realized the importance of taking a pause to listen to our people. We so often love to share our beautifully crafted key messages vs. taking a pause to listen to our teams, not appreciating that listening can help appreciate and understand real concerns which can help in creating a much more engaging workplace.
Could you provide some practical advice on how HR professionals can effectively uncover and nurture this potential within their organizations?
Real conversations happen in the pantry, in the cafeteria, and in the hallway…walk the floor, smile more often to engage and listen more, advise less. Leverage new technology and digital platforms to share thoughts, but also welcome differing opinions…people will respect and trust more.
Could you share some key elements that you believe contribute to fostering a positive workplace culture?
There are many differentiators, but the significant ones include:
– A learning environment where failures are seen as opportunities to get better,
– Leaders who engage, listen, and collaborate are the way people solve tough problems.
Handling tough organizational challenges can be demanding. How do you personally approach these challenges, and what advice would you offer to HR professionals facing similar hurdles?
Create a space for reflection….it helps to synthesize, learn and adapt. Never compromise on this space and time. This is a significant differentiator between people who handle tough situations effectively vs. the ones who crumble under pressure.
Many HR professionals struggle with work-related stress. Can you share some of your personal strategies for maintaining mental and emotional well-being in your role?
Career is important, Life is critical. Most of the time we try to disconnect the two and navigate two parallel paths, not realising that “career” is just one aspect of life….there is so much more to living than just work!
Have a passion…it will get you going!
Stay connected with friends…they will make you laugh!
Carve out time for family…they will care for you!
Give back to the needy…it will fill your heart!
It is important to identify the unique potential of every employee. Please provide some practical advice on how HR professionals can effectively tap into this potential within their organizations.
One has to change the lens we use to identify potential. Our default approach is to look at performance, outcomes, and results. As the world around us evolves faster than ever before, experience is a new liability. Past successes are not reflective of future results. We need to go a layer deep and get to know our talent holistically. What drives them? How do they learn? How do they tap into resources?
‘How people operate’ is a stronger indicator of future potential
What emerging HR trends or technologies do you believe will have the most significant impact on the future of HR management?
It’s neither a technology nor an emerging new possibility. It is the fabric of the organization – culture, which will be the most significant competitive advantage in the future. Technologies will evolve, and trends will be replaced. How organizations learn and evolve with changing times will hold them afloat? It is important to understand that culture is not a model. It is not a formula. It is not an initiative. Culture is a conversation. Culture is the way we engage and behave. It seems amorphous, but it is real in its impact.
Finally, what advice would you offer to aspiring HR leaders looking to make a positive impact in their organizations and the HR field as a whole?
Leaders are not fundamentally different from those they lead, as their capabilities and strength of mind are built through self-reflection, unique experiences, guidance, and support. Someone once took a chance on a rookie, enabling them to grow into a position of authority. Learning comes from a combination of successes and failures, and accomplished leaders often credit their most significant insights to their failures. Failures are tough and can have a profound impact, especially if someone else’s failure affects our outcomes. However, these moments also provide an opportunity to filter out the noise, reflect, and grow. As leaders, we should grant our teams these moments and repay the debt by supporting their learning and growth.
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