Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership, News, News for HRDs

Key Survival Skills: CEO of the Year, Joanna Swash, shares how leaders can build and nurture resilience in their team

Joanna Swash, Group CEO of Moneypenny, explains the importance of resilience and how leaders can create it

We have learned a lot about ourselves and our organisations thanks to Covid-19. To succeed and to be successful we must hear the lessons we have learned and learn them well. One particular lesson to be learned is that of resilience and it will be an essential tool for leaders and their teams. Working to build this valuable resource equips people with the tools to cope with change or obstacles thrown their way, creatively, flexibly, and even embrace it.

A safe space. As a leader it is your role to create a safe work environment for your people. This applies practically, physically, and mentally. The first is an element that every organisation should simply do as a matter of course, Health & Safety 101. The second is about creating a physical place people want to work, optimising performance it also links intrinsically with optimising human well-being.

And human wellbeing means that your responsibility extends to creating a safe environment for your people to work and live in. Show that you value your people in their completeness, encourage them to take advantage of the wellness and social activities on offer, make sure they switch off in this constantly connected world, celebrate important occasions, foster flexibility, cultivate compassion and recreate those all-important watercooler moments wherever your teams may be based. Good mental health is essential for leaders to lead and your people to support you.

Kindness. One of the most important skills in a leader’s competency kit is the ability to understand, listen and hear. This applies to all stakeholders, customers, partners, people, and the marketplace. It provides clarity, encourages openness, and develops trust.

At its core is a universal human requirement, kindness – it is about real people and real leaders. No one is perfect and sharing a tale of a lesson learned is not about vulnerability it is about authenticity. It helps us connect, another crucial human requirement, influencing the behaviour of others and the effect continues. Kindness boosts your own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of others and more than anything, it doesn’t cost a penny.

Add this to creating a safe environment and you allow people to be more inventive, more pioneering, and more motivated. Good for them and great for business.

Embrace failure. When people have the knowledge, confidence, means and ability to make decisions and/or mistakes, the benefits are endless, even in a crisis. They will already be equipped to step-up to the mark, be more productive and have a certain degree of ownership, enabling them to be the best that they can be.

This ethos should be woven into daily life, inspiring and encouraging people to improve themselves, their work experience, and the culture. Delegate, give clear boundaries, provide opportunities for learning and growth, give them freedom to pursue projects outside of their main remit, and empower them to make mistakes (and learn from them). Powerful solutions come from the freedom to be brave.

The first rule of crisis management is to recognise that there is a crisis. Then you must resolve it and learn from it. What the pandemic has shown us, is the importance of resilience in the business landscape, not least of all by making your people more motivated, equipped to deal with change and improving their overall health and wellbeing. There are really only positives.

Fostering and facilitating resilience in your people also supports organisational resilience, promoting a growth mindset and future focus. Nurture this and you will be future-proofing your people and your business.

About the author

 Joanna is a member of Forbes Business Council and was recently awarded CEO of the Year by Management Today.  However she is best known as Group CEO of Moneypenny, an international business that has grown to employ more than 1000 people across continents and answers outsourced calls, live chat and digital comms for thousands of businesses globally.

At the heart of Moneypenny lies a unique culture based on mutual respect and trust. Joanna’s intimate understanding and nurturing of these founding principles has seen the business enjoy recognition as a Best Company to Work For for over a decade.

Above all else, when it comes to outsourced communications, Joanna believes passionately that businesses of any size should stick to what they do best: “Focus on delivering what you’re really good at – and let experts help take care of the rest.” 

Leadership, News

Nick Gold: Why isn’t your team innovating?

Written by Nick Gold, MD of Speakers Corner

A year into the pandemic we now understand teams are used to working remotely. Indeed, there is an acceptance from business leaders that the office/remote working hybrid model is here to stay.

The challenge for businesses is how to replicate the creativity that stems from in-person meetings; be that formal away days, impromptu meetings, or water-cooler moments. Not all of our staff will be in the office at the same time 5-days a week, with a rota system becoming the norm. As a result, waiting for physical meetings to occur will slow down the pace of innovation creating the need to adapt our working practices.

Innovation and creativity are fantastic, dynamic words, conjuring visions of moving forwards, pushing boundaries, new opportunities, and of course, staying relevant.  They are the lifeblood of all successful businesses, yet it is perceived that this can only happen when you have those ‘creative types’ in a room coming up with new ideas and paths forward.

For over a year now, as we have navigated through the pandemic (and continue to do so) we should take a moment to acknowledge that innovation has been the critical driver for every individual, team and company as, at the very least, they have switched to remote working, while those businesses or sectors which have had been impacted to greater extents by the pandemic have had to re-evaluate, position and change their business models and processes to deal with this new reality.  This is innovation in its rawest form and needs to be kept in mind, acknowledged, and celebrated as our focus turns to more strategic thinking beyond the pandemic.

There is no doubt we have come to appreciate the value of in person meetings, impromptu gatherings, or water cooler moments as we have all sat in our makeshift offices at home.  We have valued the time we have gathered with our peers and teams over the virtual meeting room to chew the fact and grasp hold of that social interaction we have all been missing.  However, this is balanced as it has been while struggling with the ‘zoom fatigue’ and the regimented restrictive conversation flow that occurs in a virtual meeting.

As discussions flow about what the future of work looks like, how the office, remote working or the hybrid scenario fits for each individual and each business, a part of this is around how we can recreate those moments that occur face to face when inspiration is drawn from the collective gathering of minds and the free flow and meanderings of a conversation that results in new and exciting practices and strategies.

We need to stop looking back and waiting for a ‘return to normal’, and instead celebrate how we have demonstrated innovating thoughts and practices through the pandemic and focus on what we can learn from this period to carry us forward.

This is about culture, empowerment, and trust.  Teams and businesses survived and adapted quickly with great success as leaders were forced to let go of control and trust their teams to deliver under different circumstances.  These three words are the critical words when dealing with innovation.  A company and its leaders that can demonstrate to every individual that their ideas are valued and even more so, acted on, is a company that will have an innovative culture whatever the circumstances.

Any team leader has to understand that those moments that occur in meetings or around the office aren’t something that are scripted or pre-determined and as such can’t be controlled.  As such, the confines of the virtual platform and the hybrid team dynamics should not be seen as a blocker for innovation to thrive, but rather a challenge that must be navigated through.  The leader must focus on the influence they can exert to create environments where the team are empowered to think, to be in a moment with others and to be taken away from their inbox or that pressing task that needs to be done.

The challenge for leaders is to create new environments where innovation can thrive and ensuring every single individual in our team feel empowered and energised, that they have a voice, and their ideas will have an impact on the strategy moving forwards.

Creating the meeting space as a conversation, where opinions are to be aired rather than an occasion solely for reporting would be a start.  Empowering the meeting space so it is not run or owned by the leader is the next logical step. It might even be suggested that the least important person to attend the meeting is the leader, they can disseminate the information they need to share in other ways and allow the meeting to be about the team.

The critical element to this is that ideas and thoughts needs to be acted on or delivered to, so the team understand that their creativity thinking and their time away from their ‘structured’ work is as important if not more important that the delivery of their work.

The role of an external person either speaking or facilitating the conversation then comes to the forefront.  This external person can give their thoughts or learnings which can spart debate, discussion, and ideas or else the facilitator can encourage, cajole, and empower the people at the meeting to engage and as an outsider, with no axe to grind in the game can hold the leader accountable to deliver to the outcomes of this innovative moments.

 

 

Diversity, Leadership

Experts provide 6 ways leaders can actively lift inclusion barriers

Leaders currently face 2 key barriers – prioritisation and recognising privilege

“You either care about people or you don’t but you can’t fake it, and in turn, inclusive leadership starts with recognising the value of individuals” says Gharry Eccles, Vice President of Cereal Partners at Nestle.

“If leaders don’t value individuals, become culturally aware and listen more, they won’t overcome the barriers to their inclusion efforts. Inclusion and belonging are personal feelings which means people won’t articulate their thoughts if they aren’t asked”.

Matt Stephens, founder of Inpulse, the employee wellbeing survey experts, agrees. Research from Inpulse shows that 25% of employees do not feel like they can be themselves at work and 33% don’t believe their company takes D&I seriously.

According to Stephens, an inclusive culture is one in which a mix of people can go to work, feel confident in being themselves and work in a way that suits them to effectively deliver company needs. He asserts that to make this happen, it’s essential for leaders to address their own shortcomings in supporting employees to feel comfortable at work.

In the Inpulse webinar about Inclusion, Stephens identified two particular barriers that leaders currently face in improving an inclusive culture at work:

Not prioritising inclusion above other focuses

In the period we’re in now, it’s not that people don’t want to focus on inclusion, it’s that other things get in the way. With so much change – redundancies, remote working, return to work and home schooling – inclusion can fall into the trap of becoming more to do with spreadsheets, hitting targets and meeting the numbers. Leaders need to support inclusion initiatives in a humane way that still values people.

Being unable to recognise privilege 

Sometimes in the corporate world, where leadership teams aren’t currently as diverse as they should be, they may struggle to recognise their own privilege. They may think they’re aware of the experiences others are facing but, in truth, their own understandings of the workplace don’t reflect the experiences of their employees. Becoming aware of your own privilege and recognising the real life encounters of others are essential in creating a workplace culture that nurtures the broader needs of a team.

Here are the 6 key steps that Gharry Eccles and Matt Stephens have identified, helping leaders to address the inclusion barriers in the workplace:

  1. It starts with the top

Leaders should be encouraged to walk the talk and model the behaviours they want to see in their teams Though inclusion is a step that all employees must participate in to help create the right culture, if senior leaders aren’t encouraging inclusivity in communications and actions, middle management and those beyond won’t embrace it either.

  1. Being genuine is essential

According to Gharry Eccles:

“You either care about people or you don’t but you can’t fake it”.

Organisations must show genuine concern for the welfare of their employees. Inclusion efforts can’t merely be about hitting targets. Instead, understanding the value of people should come first and then this should be championed by setting goals and standards.

  1. Connect hearts and minds: add the human element back into inclusion

Because of remote work, the pandemic has exposed the home lives of leaders, uncovering their human side which has broken down typical hierarchical barriers. Leaders have spoken about their personal experiences – their struggles, their mental health concerns – and it’s become acceptable for others to open up too. According to Eccles, when leaders show these vulnerabilities and human imperfections, it creates a wave of sharing, providing an inclusive place to talk. Adding the human back into inclusive leadership is key.

  1. Get everyone on board

When thinking about inclusion, it’s possible that not all members of the workforce will feel it’s an effort that’s connected to them. Some groups may not understand the role they can play in helping others feel included or the benefits that they themselves would feel from a more inclusive environment. It’s important that leaders make an effort to open up the conversation with these people, by linking the conversation to mental health, wellbeing or workplace safety – any inclusion topic that will resonate with them and create a lightbulb moment where someone realises ‘yes, this is about me’.

  1. Actively find new perspectives

Most people don’t know what they don’t know, so it’s vital that leaders gain outside perspective in order to overcome their privilege and be an ally to other employees. Creating opportunities such as reverse mentoring in which grad scheme members, for example, pair up with senior leadership to provide a fresh perspective and open their minds to new ideas.

  1. Go back to basics

Gharry Eccles stresses the importance of creating a ‘listening environment’. Whether it’s by opening up conversations, using employee listening surveys or holding focus groups, leaders must be prepared to find ways to regularly hear the needs and thoughts of their staff. Action has to be based on what employees are saying.

Gharry Eccles, summarises:

“When leaders are able to create a listening environment and get to a deeper level of understanding, they have the ability to ask ‘what more can be done?’. It gives them the awareness and the capacity to take inclusion efforts from acceptance to acceleration.”

COVID-19, HR News, Leadership

Sage report finds businesses response to COVID 19 a catalyst for driving increased HR value

C-suite and employees perceive that HR has become more visible as a result of the pandemic, playing a vital role in driving change, enabling remote working, and supporting well-being

Sage (FTSE: SGE), the market leader in cloud business management solutions, today released the first in a new series of reports sharing how recent events have impacted the role, expectations, and perceptions of HR and People leaders. The “HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR” report, which spoke to more than 1500 global HR leaders, business executives and employees, found that 87% of c-suite executives say the pandemic has accelerated changes in HR, with the function having greater influence. Further to that, 72% of HR leaders say the crisis has increased their value and wider understanding of their role across the business, while 59% feel they are now playing a more influential role in the company.

Recent events have placed huge pressure on companies and business leaders to pivot and adapt to rapidly changing priorities as a result of the ongoing disruption caused by the pandemic—and HR and People leaders have been at the forefront of this transformation. In this research report, Sage uncovered how HR leaders have fared—and compared these opinions with those of the c-suite and employees. Sage also examined how the role of technology, changing skillsets, and priorities have shifted for HR leaders. The result is a contemporary, 360-degree view of HR in today’s rapidly changing world of work.

 

Research findings: How has HR fared?

HR and People leaders have become more visible and influential in organisations as a result of the pandemic – but this has come at the expense of bigger workloads. 65% of HR leaders said their teams have had a leading role to play in organisations’ response to the pandemic, driving change, enabling remote working, and supporting wellbeing. However, 60% also experienced an increase in both admin and strategic tasks, as a consequence of the new HR agenda.

73% of HR leaders say the crisis has helped them demonstrate their value and increased understanding of HR’s role, as HR and People teams around the globe stepped up, leaned in, and seized the opportunity to be more flexible, responsive, and build more resilient and agile organisations as a result.

 

The view from the c-suite

The hard work and greater influence of HR teams have clearly been recognised by the c-suite. 58% of c-suite executives believe they have developed more appreciation for HR during the pandemic. This is vital, considering 84% of HR leaders feel that others in the organisation were previously unclear on the value HR teams brought.

Furthermore, 87% of the c-suite say the pandemic has accelerated changes in HR, although 88% of the c-suite do recognise that this is a longer-term change that started up to five years ago. There are disconnects however, with the c-suite underestimating HR leaders’ workload, and still seeing HR as too admin-focused. Despite HR leaders stating overwhelmingly that the pandemic has increased workloads, over three quarters (76%) of the c-suite don’t think HR’s workload is unmanageable.

 

Award winning CEO and Leadership Coach Peter Ryding, whose HRD Pathfinder Club has worked with HR Directors throughout the pandemic, believes the pandemic has highlighted the value HR brings to the boardroom.  Peter says:

“HR has always brought great value to a business, but a lot of the traditional perceptions of HR were outdated.  HR was wrongly perceived by the C-Suite as an admin function that hired and fired and kept the company compliant on holiday and sickness issues. HR is so much more, it is a critical part of any business, steering leadership from the boardroom to the shop floor and at every level in between.  The COVID-19 crisis has simply raised the profile of HR, smashing outdated stereotypes and elevating the profession.  HR Directors don’t just make great board members, they also make great CEOs – and my goal is to help increase the number of HRDs who achieve that, from the current 2% to 20%.   If anything, this recognition is overdue.”

 

The view from employees

Just like the c-suite, 60% of employees have noticed a change in HR’s role, such as being more involved in driving change and people-related decisions. 57% of employees also recognise the pandemic as a catalyst for these changes.

Even more importantly, more than a third of employees—even more so than the c-suite—have recognised the ability of HR teams to adapt and become more responsive as a result of the pandemic, as HR and People teams responded to constant change. Whether it’s enacting workplace safety procedures, introducing new flexible and remote working policies, placing employee wellbeing at the top of the workplace agenda, or recognising the crucial importance of managing employee experiences for a remote workforce during a time of heightened stress, HR has responded and flexed like never before. As a result of all of this, 54% of employees also say they now have improved knowledge and understanding of HR’s role and value.

 

HR’s accelerated digital transformation – and the skills gap

The pandemic placed a heightened focus on technology and digital transformation – but there is a lack of confidence amongst HR leaders about skills, the research also revealed.

59% of c-suite leaders said HR is even more focused on digital transformation, and 67% of HR leaders said they wanted to invest more in HR tech in the future. However, a third of HR leaders said a lack of tech (31%) and investment (36%) is holding them back from bringing their organisation into the new world of work. Worryingly, only half (53%) of HR leaders believe they have the right skills and tools for what lies ahead, demonstrating the paramount importance in investing in HR digital skills today and in the future.

 

Looking to the future

“HR has taken on more responsibilities and helped guide the business through ongoing disruption and accelerated digital transformation,” said Paul Burrin, Vice President of Product, Sage People. “However, this has often created additional workloads which automation can help manage, increasing HR productivity, while enabling organisations to become more agile and resilient.”

He continued: “2020 marked a year where HR’s leaders became champions of change and both executives and employees alike have realised the greater role that HR has taken on. HR and People leaders can capitalize on this and use this opportunity to cast aside older, more cumbersome ways of working to focus instead on quicker, iterative cycles of work. In this way—with the help of automation, cloud technology, and self-service—HR can focus on maintaining influence and building a more resilient workforce that is more prepared for future challenges ahead.”

To view Sage’s full report, “HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR,” please go here.

Leadership, News, Research

Research finds more women on board leads to better company performance – but only if the socio-cultural context allows

Firms with higher female board representation exhibit higher overall performance according to new research from Professors Samia Belaounia, Ran Tao, and Hong Zhao from NEOMA Business School.

The researchers found that this is even stronger in countries with greater gender equality, such as those in Scandinavia, where female directors’ presence significantly improves board efficiency. In contrast, they found that in countries with lower gender equality such as China, India, and Japan, female directors do not appear to have any real impact on firm performance.

Furthermore, a higher female representation goes with less earnings management and less excessive risk taking, only in the most egalitarian societies.

“Female directors in more gender equal societies possess greater skills and exert more influence due to better access to educational and professional opportunities and more amicable boardroom dynamics,” argue Professors Belaounia, Tao and Tao.

As a result, women in countries with lower gender equality may lack the educational and professional background and the social capital necessary for being effective on-board positions. As well as this, for female directors to exert influence in a male-dominated boardroom, their voices must be heard and considered seriously.

“If a society in general holds a biased attitude toward women, it is difficult to believe that female directors will have a voice among their male counterparts,” express Professors Belaounia, Tao and Zhao.

In recent years, there have been growing legislative efforts from countries to encourage female board representation through quota laws or recommendations in the codes of governance. These laws have provided women with more opportunities to participate in top-tier business activities, which can have a positive long-run effect on both gender equality and firm outcomes.

However, it is just as important that these laws should be accompanied by substantive measures aiming to provide women with an equal access to education and socio-economic opportunities, the researchers argue. Benefits of female directors in the boardroom may only be fully realized in a socio-cultural context with a high level of gender equality and a supporting institutional system.

This study used a multi-national panel comprising of 1986 public firms from 24 countries or areas spanning from 2007 to 2016, and is published in International Business Review as part of the research paper ‘Gender equality’s impact on female directors’ efficacy: A multi-country study’.

Leadership, News

Caryn Skinner Talks Business Intuition and ‘Leading From Your Gut’

Caryn Skinner, Co-Director of Sharpstone Skinner

“Several times lately, I have finished my work, closed the laptop and sat staring out of the window of my spare room office worrying that I don’t have the answers. That my team are looking to me for guidance about the future…and I simply don’t know.” Paul Jackson-Cole, Executive Director of Engagement, Parkinson’s UK.

A genuine, honest reflection from one of our clients. He is an impressive and successful leader. He has gravitas, is trusted and a great coach to his senior reports. He is also highly intuitive, with an innate ability to be a pioneering visionary who can then work with others to ground that vision into reality. And yet, he is stuck. He still has his instincts, yet with the world, in flux, he is finding it hard to convince his team to go with him because they need more tangible evidence to ground his ideas.

We all have that inner voice, the one that taps us on the shoulder and whispers in our ear and yet at work we seem to have been conditioned not to listen to it because it isn’t ‘scientific’ enough. Paying attention to it could be just what we need to do in these ambiguous times where certainly is hard to come by and the old rules have been ripped up.

Here are some ways to tap into and use your gut-feel judgement:

1. Know that your instincts are not woolly ideas but based on your years of experience. The thought has come from somewhere, an experience you have had, something you have read a conversation you had with a colleague.

2. Feed and grow your instincts. The more exposure you have to your business the harder your instincts will work. Keep getting out and about, visit your people, talk to them, learn from them about the front-line challenges and successes.

3. See your business through the eyes of your customer. Why do they like doing business with you, what would they like you to do better and does your business align with their needs.
Make your own observations about what’s next for your business rather than staring at spreadsheets of cold data. I heard about a stock exchange trader who regularly walks the shops to see what’s selling and what isn’t, it informed her instinct about where the next investments might be.

4. Keep in touch with the world around you, tune into what’s coming over the horizon. A client of ours was in marketing for a bank, he regularly spoke to his teenage nieces and nephews about how they communicated, how many digital “languages” they spoke and which social platform they used for what. They were his future customers and the conversations fuelled his instincts when the bank resisted going online and changing the way they communicated with customers.

5. Trust your gut then test it against other types of thinking to ground it and help you sell it in. Others may not get your vision so painting the picture for them with more solid evidence will make your job easier. Then be prepared to put the hard work in to make it happen.

It is an exciting area of leadership and one that, perhaps, has been overlooked in a world that can access evidence, stats and data at the swipe of a screen. Making decisions on gut instinct might be making a comeback, it could come back into fashion and for many leaders, it never went away.

Richard Branson says, “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics”, and he’s not done too badly.

Next time you find yourself staring out of your home office window, let your thoughts wander, don’t evaluate them or crush any ideas that come to you, it might be that your gut is trying to tell you something.

COVID-19, Leadership, News, News for HRDs, Software News

New report finds 82% of UK workers confident in the leadership of their company to bounce back from a crisis

Advanced’s Annual Trends Survey shows leaders are stepping up in a crisis – but they are playing catch up in supporting workers’ wellbeing

A new report from Advanced has revealed that 82% of workers in the UK are confident in the leadership of their company to bounce back from a crisis.

This is according to the software and services provider’s fifth Annual Trends Survey for 2020-21, with over 1,000 senior business decision makers having their say on the technology trends and their impact on UK organisations, now and in the future.

“Our research shows a shift in leadership style emerging as a direct result of Covid-19 which, overall, has been positive for organisations and their workforces,” comments Gordon Wilson, CEO at Advanced. “Leaders are now perceived as more human than ever before by employees. As role models, it’s critical for CEOs and managing directors to set the right tone and apply high levels of emotional intelligence within their workforce. What’s more, collaborative technology tools have enabled leaders to become more accessible and, as a result, staff have seen a more communicative and more empathetic approach which, as workers continue to work remotely and in isolation, is critical.”

The survey also shows 43% of respondents believe the most important attribute of a business leader today is to show strong leadership in a crisis, while 41% say it’s to have a clear vision and strategy amid economic uncertainty – both a reflection of Covid-19’s impact. Business leaders are now prioritising recovery to stay afloat and minimise redundancies, with the rest of the workforce looking up to leaders for direction and reassurance.

However, the focus on business survival could be to the detriment of employee wellbeing. Only 25% say the most important attribute for a business leader is to support the wellbeing of their people. It’s a sobering statistic given the pandemic’s effects on people’s mental health and the significant rise in levels of loneliness and isolation, stress and depression.

The charity Mind has revealed the scale of the impact of the pandemic on people with mental health problems, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged that substantial investment is needed to avert a mental health crisis. Advanced’s report suggests that, while business leaders have done well to instil greater levels of confidence across the workforce during this turbulent time, they clearly must do more to prioritise the wellbeing of their workforce and demonstrate they have a duty of care to all staff.

Gordon adds: “It’s not surprising, given the scale of the pandemic, that many business leaders are now playing catch up in introducing wellbeing initiatives to support their employees who, quite simply, have seen their lives change dramatically. It’s therefore encouraging to see that 38% of business decision makers will prioritise staff wellbeing over the next 12 months. While this figure is still low – arguably because organisations are focused on survival right now – leaders are now recognising the need to ensure employees have emotional support and a healthy work-life balance.

“Leadership teams can better support their workforce’s wellbeing through a mental health and wellbeing programme, which is fundamental to any responsible employer. As a standard benefit of employment, organisations should provide advice and support around mental health as well as financial matters and personal matters. What’s more, organisations should have engagement champions to ensure people stay engaged. Technology can help here, as it can be used to establish effective communications, enable colleagues to easily keep in touch, and ensure there are processes in place to support wellbeing.”

Matthew Fell, CBI Chief UK Policy Director, says: “With trust in business now more crucial than ever, it’s great to see most employees saying they feel confident their company’s leadership can bounce back from a crisis. The spirit of support, empathy and collaboration which have emerged during this period are invaluable to firms and individuals alike.

“The isolation, anxiety and financial hardship caused by Covid-19 have been a blow for so many. Employee wellbeing has long been a top priority for business, so workplace leaders will do everything they can to continue showing up for their staff. Providing mental health services and encouraging a healthy work-life balance are just a couple of ways every firm can step up to the plate.”

To read the Annual Trends Survey for 2020-21, visit https://www.oneadvanced.com/trends/.

COVID-19, Leadership, Remote Working, Tech

Business as Unusual – How to Lead Differently in the Workplace of the Future By Sampath Sowmyanarayan, President, Global Enterprise at Verizon Business

Is the future of work a bionic organisation? This seems increasingly likely in a post-COVID ‘business as unusual’ environment, where organisations will need to intertwine the possibilities offered by technology with human capabilities to be successful.

The starting point is for organisations to think about remote working in the context of broader business trends. The paper I recently wrote with Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business and Boston Consulting Group shows that pre-COVID, there were already two key trends changing the workplace: pervasive technology and data, deeply embedded in the business; and a dramatic shift in the talent pool, in terms of both candidate expectations, and required skillsets. Business leaders therefore need to be considering how they can leverage technology as an enabler to support remote working, but also acknowledge that their future organisational state will need to be more organic and flexible than in recent years.

 

The How, Who and Where

To achieve this, organisations firstly need to focus on what technology they need, and specifically their data and digital platforms. More importantly, they also should  look at how humans and machines, as well as humans and humans, interact across their business. A useful approach to consider is to examine the how, who and where.

  • “How” is about organising for change by deploying an agile way of working, focused on collaboration and rapid decision making, at scale. In a decentralised workplace, allowing employees to thrive in tech-enabled and interconnected teams, rather than being reliant on formal reporting hierarchies, rigid job descriptions, and processes, will be key to success.
  • “Who” is about organising change for and through new talent and skills. With organisations looking to use technology in new and different ways, they will also need to look differently at the talent pool – new, emerging skillsets will be at a premium. The challenge will be where to find this talent – and how to balance the acquisition of new skills against upskilling and retraining existing employees. One thing is clear – the gig economy is likely to have an important role to play, causing a dramatic change to existing corporate structures.
  • “Where” is about organising location changes – whether flexible and tailored remote or onsite working models. The first consideration is the inevitability of physical work locations ceding into hybrid virtual and physical models, especially as flexible working models start to gain prominence. The challenge here is that many business leaders have grown up in office-based work models, and the concept of flexibility demands a big shift in thinking. However, we already know that the opportunity for flexible work is prized by many employees.

 

Lead with the Head, Heart, and Hands

The most important consideration in the workplace of the future is how to keep people, and the human touch, at the core of business. Organisations need to ensure that human decisions determine how the workplace will operate, rather than getting sucked into a world governed by algorithms. Technology is important – but people must come first, and people need to be able to control variables and thresholds, overrule any automated interventions, and most importantly, preside over ethical and moral quandaries based on human experiences and logical thinking.

Employees are looking to their leadership  for empathy, assurance, and meaningful action, so leaders need to be fully engaged in what’s going on in real-time, and be seen and heard.

There are three key human-centric, and interlocking pillars for leadership: “The Head, Heart and Hands”. These pillars must work well together – each supports the others in a cohesive organisation:

  1. The Head is about envisioning the future and focusing on the big rocks. What is the  organisation’s strategy and vision?
  2. The Heart is about inspiring and empowering people. What is the  organisation’s purpose, values and culture?
  3. The Hands is about executing and innovating with agility. What set of actions is needed to make that happen?

It goes without saying that many organisations have already experienced a big shift in how they work. As we move forward, this shift will continue. As the COVID-19 pandemic gives leaders the opportunity to deliberately reflect on, and if necessary, reset, their organisation’s pillars –  the time to act is now. Leaders need to think about where the business has been strong, and where it has missed the mark. Which new practices might they want to keep, and which initiatives or capabilities do they want to continue, stop or start. Are decisions and actions aligning with the  company’s purpose?  Finally, and more importantly, they need to translate theory into actions – how can these pillars be communicated, (re)articulated, activated and embedded into the post-crisis organisation in order to fuel recovery – this will establish the path forward.

Those who make this transformation with consideration, keeping their people front and centre, will be best placed for future success.

 

 

Awards, HR Software, Leadership, News

Glassdoor Names Sage’s Steve Hare as Highest Rated CEO in the UK During COVID-19 crisis

Sage, the market leader in cloud business management solutions, announced today that Steve Hare, CEO, has been recognised by Glassdoor for having the highest rated leadership score in the UK (95%), during the COVID-19 crisis.

The data published by Glassdoor today, uses primary analysis of voluntary, anonymous company reviews and ratings from UK-based current and former employees between 1st March, 2020 and 31st July, 2020.

Steve Hare, CEO of Sage, commented: “These are truly unprecedented times for our colleagues and customers, and this recognition is a direct reflection of their individual commitments and hard work. During this outbreak, Sage’s priority was to create a safe and effective working environment at a time when the stakes were high, and our customers’ need for support was greater than ever.

“I am a passionate advocate of listening to all colleagues and adapting to change as quickly and efficiently as possible. The next stage of this pandemic is an unknown to us all, and we must continue to listen and adapt to support those who need it most – including our small and medium sized businesses, up and down the country.”

Award-Winning CEO Coach Peter Ryding, who has led free workshops for HR Directors and CEOs on leadership strategies throughout the COVID-19 crisis, said Steve Hare’s understanding that the company needed to balance the needs of both employees and customers, and responding quickly, was likely to be the secret of his success.  Peter says:

“While COVID-19 is a new and unexpected crisis for UK CEOs, unexpected events will always arise.  A good CEO will have quickly put a plan in place that factors in the needs of employees, customers and stakeholders, and planned their short, medium and long term responses to it.  Clearly, Steve has done this, acquiring and building the trust of the whole organisation in the process.  It’s a good example of a strong response that will give Sage the best chance of long term stability, despite the current pandemic.”

The Top 10 highest rated CEOs During the COVID-19 Crisis in the UK are:

  1. Steve Hare, CEO of Sage: 95% Leadership Score
  2. Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam: 94% Leadership Score
  3. Duncan Rendall, CEO of Rendall and Rittner: 94% Leadership Score
  4. Greg Reed, CEO of HomeServeUK: 93% Leadership Score
  5. Dava Thayan, CEO of Kingsley Healthcare: 91% Leadership Score
  6. Pete Redfern, CEO of Taylor Wimpey: 91% Leadership Score
  7. Tracey Storey, CEO of ICP Nurseries: 88% Leadership Score
  8. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook: 88% Leadership Score
  9. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce: 87% Leadership Score
  10. Rob Browett, CEO of TeacherActive: 85% Leadership Score

HR News, L & D, Leadership

Why Leadership Coaching Benefits everyone, not just leaders

Award-winning CEO Coach, and the creator of e-coaching software, Vic Your Coach, Peter Ryding, explains why leadership coaching can deliver benefits for every member of the workforce.

There is little doubt that coaching benefits leaders and their businesses.  The Institute of Coaching cites that over 70% of individuals who receive coaching benefited from improved work performance, relationships and more effective communication skills – and 86% of companies feel that they recouped the investment they made into coaching plus more on top. However, what would happen if businesses took the same steps to coach EVERY member of staff?
Traditionally, that hasn’t been an option for most organisations.  While training programmes can easily be rolled out to all members of staff, coaching requires an intensive one on one approach because the goals are individual.  Training merely seeks to increase knowledge, which is of course effective, but coaching actively develops the prized soft skills that are harder to train and guides the beneficiary how to put their skills into practice in a more effective way, with clarity of thinking, management behaviours and improved consciousness.
More conscious behaviour drives teams to work more harmoniously, encourages sales people to close more deals and of course, will help everyone within the business to better understand the needs of the customer – there is a huge potential for delivering improvements across the board, but of course, the approach means engaging in extensive one on one advice – and hiring a skilled CEO coach doesn’t come cheap.
With top coaches charging an average of $500 per hour, deploying their skills for every member of staff would not be cost effective for most companies – so could the advances of modern technology fill the gap?
Peter Ryding, who has worked with some of the UK’s leading companies both as an award-winning coach and turnaround CEO, believes that modern technology like AI and apps are set to make the coaching method more accessible to everyone.  He says:
“I have worked with two main groups of people in my coaching career, helping both CEOs and HR Directors, and having seen the success from this method, both groups have expressed a desire to share the benefits of coaching with their teams – along with the sadness that their organisation could only afford it for senior leaders.”  
“Individuals like me are a finite resource, so I decided to make it my life’s goal to create an affordable e-coaching system that could be accessed by entire organisations, not just leaders.  I began investigating the possibilities of using AI and app technology to create a ‘coach in your pocket’ – dispensing individually tailored coaching advice in the same way I do with CEOs and HR Directors.  My goal was to create a single system that worked for a wide range of skill sets and would adapt to the needs of the individual – and after many years of development, I believe our team has succeeded.
“Vic Your Coach uses a combination of e-coaching tools and methods based on the skills of an award-winning coach, and a powerful AI system allows the app to adapt to the needs of the user.  It also incorporates an effective assessment system, helping leaders understand their teams motivations, skills and behaviours to create an effective management tool for getting the best from your team.”
HomeServe plc have adopted the system, and so far, reports have been glowing across the board.  Global Talent & Development Director, Chris Fenton, says:
“Our Global CEO Richard Harpin is a fan with his own section called CEO Spotlight. I love using VIC and every time I go in, not only do I quickly find what I want, I always end up discovering more fascinating things that I can apply at work and life outside.”
Global Talent and Engagement Director Kate Keyworth adds:
“Thanks to its uniquely integrated E-Learning and E-Coaching approach, VIC was a natural partner to provide HomeServe with a unified solution to our core challenges of constant up-skilling, increasing productivity, and a cultural roll out.”
Users at all levels report improvements, as well as their delight in using the system – so will Peter be hanging up his coaching hat and sending Vic instead?
Peter Ryding concludes:
“There will always be a place for one on one coaching to develop senior leaders, and at the moment I’m working with HR and CEO groups as well as offering individual coaching, to develop them into the best leaders they can be.  However, one of my core teachings is to guide leaders towards creating a succession plan – and finding skilled people is always the hardest challenge.  By cultivating soft skills in everyone, companies like Homeserve will create a generation of future leaders to pick from, with a multi-skilled, effective talent pool across their organisation.
“Leadership, teamwork and harmony are the foundation of any successful organisation – I’m just delighted to be able to help more leaders create this for their teams.”
HR Leaders & L&D Professionals can currently undertake a trial of the VIC Your Coach system free of charge – to learn more click here