- How do you cultivate a strong organizational culture in a complex business environment like Canal & River Trust?
Consistency first of all in messaging and how we act. Having a clear and transparent listening strategy that allows for different needs and styles. As a People Director, understanding the complexity of the roles and environments our colleagues and volunteers operate in is important. Adhering to and living our values and leadership behaviours is vital. Visibility and availability are key—we are one team and can only achieve this together.”
- What advice can you offer HR professionals facing tough negotiation situations or disputes?
Plan plan and plan – strategies options tactics are key. Use the expertise available to you and test out the ideas, plans, etc. Using ACAS to support this is what they do and are amazing at. Know your agreements and build your relationships all year round not just when needed – this is how successful negotiations and disputes are resolved
- What’s your approach to ensuring smooth leadership transitions, given your expertise in succession planning?
Helping and supporting people to be their best selves, being honest about career paths and potential, having regular conversations and feedback, developing talent pools, and cheering them on both in preparation for appointments and ongoing.
- How do you effectively mediate conflicts within diverse teams, drawing from your mediation skills?
Seek to understand the full picture, including the views, the environment, and the issue at hand. Speak individually with each party, allowing them to share. Listen, listen, and listen. Then, plan, plan, and plan—seek to reach a compromise by understanding all available options.
- What qualities do you prioritize when recruiting for roles at Canal & River Trust?
An individual who connects with our values: collaboration, good communication, a passion for our cause, a desire to add value, knowledge and skill, creativity, tenacity, and resilience.
- How do you proactively maintain a positive workplace culture and prevent issues like bullying or harassment?
By ensuring colleagues have a voice through an effective listening strategy and independent ways to report concerns. Inclusion circles, roadshows, and transparency are also important.
- How can HR leverage technology to streamline recruitment while ensuring diversity in candidate selection?
An effective applicant tracking system, a maintained database, SJTs that test for value fit, a great onboarding system, and access that provides insight into the true organization.
- What key factors contribute to high employee engagement and retention in today’s competitive job market?
Purpose and values that align, integrity, the opportunity to add value in a role, and the opportunity to grow and develop.
- Recently, Great Britain has introduced a pilot project of a 4-day working week. What’s your opinion about it?
In the service sector industry, it is challenging and needs to be flexible to ensure we provide the level of service our users expect. In some environments, it can work, but it can also cause burnout or a reduction in productivity. What advantages and disadvantages do you see for both employers and employees? We need to cover 7 days a week in some of our roles, so it would have to be carefully planned to ensure service coverage—everyone cannot be off on a Friday; otherwise, service offerings would be weak. Would you take part in the experiment, and why? At present, no, as we are still maturing our charity, having been a public sector organization.
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