This document is the April 2016 e-bulletin from ImaginativeHR, which explores new and innovative topics in HR and talent management. It contains three articles:
1. Clayton Glen discusses championing team engagement and the importance of ensuring ownership of post-survey actions from engagement surveys.
2. Tania Hummel discusses the challenges of leadership during times of change, and provides tips for recognizing the different stages of the grief cycle that individuals experience with organizational change.
3. Paul Diamond writes about future-proofing your career.
Insights Success is the Best Business Magazine in the world for enterprises, being a platform it focuses distinctively on emerging as well as leading fastest growing companies, their confrontational style of doing business and way of delivering effective and collaborative solutions to strengthen market share. Here, we talks about leader’s viewpoints & ideas, latest products/services, etc. Insights Success magazine reaches out to all the ‘C’ Level professional, VPs, Consultants, VCs, Managers, and HRs of various industries
Millennials are growing up...and have taken over majority status in today's workforce. As a result, if you lead a company, odds are you have a significant block of employees who fall in this category within your organization. You have probably likewise concluded that this group is a breed apart from those you’ve previously dealt with…so when it comes to constructing an effective pay plan, you’re at a loss. Among other things, you may have bought into the conventional wisdom that says millennials are not loyal to a company and therefore traditional forms of pay won’t appeal to them. If these are issues you’re facing, you will not want to miss this presentation. http://www.vladvisors.com/compensation-knowledge-center/webinars/millennial-pay-what-works-and-what-doesnt
Insights Success is the Best Business Magazine in the world for enterprises, being a platform it focuses distinctively on emerging as well as leading fastest growing companies, their confrontational style of doing business and way of delivering effective and collaborative solutions to strengthen market share. Here, we talks about leader’s viewpoints & ideas, latest products/services, etc. Insights Success magazine reaches out to all the ‘C’ Level professional, VPs, Consultants, VCs, Managers, and HRs of various industries
Millennials are growing up...and have taken over majority status in today's workforce. As a result, if you lead a company, odds are you have a significant block of employees who fall in this category within your organization. You have probably likewise concluded that this group is a breed apart from those you’ve previously dealt with…so when it comes to constructing an effective pay plan, you’re at a loss. Among other things, you may have bought into the conventional wisdom that says millennials are not loyal to a company and therefore traditional forms of pay won’t appeal to them. If these are issues you’re facing, you will not want to miss this presentation. http://www.vladvisors.com/compensation-knowledge-center/webinars/millennial-pay-what-works-and-what-doesnt
We surveyed 2,604 talent acquisition leaders who work in a small or mid-sized corporate HR department in 35 different countries. All
respondents are at the manager level or higher and have some authority in their company’s recruitment solutions budget. These survey
respondents are LinkedIn members who were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted via email.
The American Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has identified employee engagement – inspiring and motivating people to excel at work – as the biggest challenge faced by its individual and company members. The traditional response of most organization leaders has been to throw money at the problem. In this executive brief, the author draws from his own wealth of leadership experience, and from the findings of numerous specialists in the field of leadership development and employee engagement, to offer a more compelling and effective alternative.
Good examples of positive company cultures, how they can change and the challenges for change management, and where employer support of employees is paying off
We surveyed 2,604 talent acquisition leaders who work in a small or mid-sized corporate HR department in 35 different countries. All
respondents are at the manager level or higher and have some authority in their company’s recruitment solutions budget. These survey
respondents are LinkedIn members who were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted via email.
The American Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has identified employee engagement – inspiring and motivating people to excel at work – as the biggest challenge faced by its individual and company members. The traditional response of most organization leaders has been to throw money at the problem. In this executive brief, the author draws from his own wealth of leadership experience, and from the findings of numerous specialists in the field of leadership development and employee engagement, to offer a more compelling and effective alternative.
Good examples of positive company cultures, how they can change and the challenges for change management, and where employer support of employees is paying off
Jet-Magento Integration, an extension by CedCommerce, creates synchronization of inventory, price, other product details for product creation and its management between Magento store and Jet.com. The smooth harmonization is established with the help of Jet.com REST API.
Estudio de diseño y fábrica de mobiliario comercial.
Especialización en habilitación de locales comerciales, stands, islas de mall, mesones de recepción, cocinas, etc.
Libra Coffee | Get Coffee. Give Water. Libra Coffee
Libra Coffee Mission: A quest to roast the best artisan coffee in world, while providing clean water to those in need. Our Libra Ambassador in Ethiopia brought clean water filters to Dumerso- outside of Yirgacheffe.
NTHEMIND OF GREATCOMPANIESBy Scott BlanchardThe.docxhenrymartin15260
NTHE
MIND OF GREAT
COMPANIES?
By Scott Blanchard
T
he old saying, "money isn't
everything," rings hollow in
today's business world.
where rninute-by-minute
stock quotes scroll across
our computer monitors, and
careers are won or lost based
on Wall Street's analysis of a
company's perforniance. Throw in giob-
al competition, outdated products and
services, increased costs, corporate silos
and other business challenges, and it's
no wonder that tnatiy of today's compa-
nies focus solely on their bottom line,
ofteti at the expense of customer service
and employee satisfaction.
It need not be this way. Great compa
nies focus on more than one bottom
line when gauging their perforniance.
Ttiey choose to be not only the invest-
ment of choice, but also the provider of
choice for their products or services, as
well as the employer of choice for work-
ers in their industry. By looking beyond
immediate, short term results and focus-
ing on strategies to make their compa-
nies successful for the long-term, they
recognize challenges sooner, identify
solutions more quickly and deliver re-
sults ahead of their competitors. In short,
they learn to lead at a higher level.
A clear warning sign that your busi-
ness is trapped in a short-term mindset
is the presence of an "either/or" philoso-
phy. Managers either believe they can
achieve profitability or they can develop
a great workplace, but not both. These
leaders don't always take morale and job
satisfaction into consideration. Their
focus is only their financial bottom line.
From there, it's a short leap to the false
notion tlrat making money is the sole
reason to be in business.
A NEW APPROACH
Contrary to the either/or philosophy,
leading at a higher level requires man-
agers to embrace a "both/and" approach.
In great companies, the development of
people is of equal importance to finan-
cial performance. As a result, the focus
is on long-term results and human satis-
faction. Accordingly, great companies
begin by both creating and nurturing a
vision of the future, and then measuring
progress against that vision.
There are three questions to ask,
which represent the main components
of a corporate vision. By focusing on
these questions, companies are more
likely to ensure they don't lose sight of
their path to success. They are:
• What business are you in? This will
help you identify your company's signif-
icant purpose.
• What will the future look like if you
are successful?
• What guides your behavior and deci-
sions on a daily basis? This will help
you identify clear values.
Great companies keep al! three of
these ideas clearly in mind and make
necessary course corrections when they
realize they are off track.
The next step is to create a corporate
culture that both reflects and reinforces
the corporate vision. The culture con-
sists of the values, attitudes, beliefs,
behaviors and practices of the organiza-
tion's members. Culture is an organiza-
tion's personality, and it can help or hin-
.
[Whitepaper] The New Boardroom Imperative: Recruitment MarketingAppcast
Learn practical applications that can enhance your recruitment marketing strategy at the board-level, and throughout the rest of your organization.
Written by Dave Forman - Author, Fearless HR
Overcoming the Challenges of Merging Different Corporate Cultures - Laura Que...HR Network marcus evans
Presentation delivered by Laura Queen, Former Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, G&W Laboratories, Inc. at the marcus evans Employee Benefits & Compensation Summit 2016 in Braselton, GA
The Year of People: How HR is Evolving in 2020Tamar Kuyumjian
This year forced companies all over the world into a remote work pilot study. Sharing their insights from the front lines, Aptology spoke with leaders in HR like CHROs and marketers in HR tech about how HR is evolving in 2020. They covered: How do we understand and measure the employee experience? What pre employment screening data do we need to get visibility for better talent acquisition and DEI efforts? What tools and behavioral assessments do we need for internal sources of recruitment? How does our understanding of people and communication need to change? Prepare to take notes as this guide gives tactical advice for HR professionals in talent management, learning and development, succession planning, and talent acquisition.
Future of work: Self-management, business purpose and employee engagementCoincidencity
The future of work means a lot of things to a lot of people. But maybe, instead of talking about technologies or innovation, the future of work could be about establishing more engaged, humane, soulful, purposeful organisation... if so, how do you get there?
Essential Guide to Employee Onboarding SuccessAndrewCrebar
The Essential Guide to Employee Onboarding Success is for HR, People leaders and anyone looking to take their employee success to the next level.
It is a quick but detailed read on how you can use Employee Onboarding to Amplify your Employee Experience.
You'll learn:
1. What is 'EX' Management?
2. Why invest in 'EX'?
3. Why Onboarding is foundation of 'EX'?
4. What to consider in buying vs building a solution?
5. How to evaluate onboarding solutions?
Humans can often be complicated, thorny and messy - but those qualities make the magic happen.
By creating the right process and frameworks for getting your people confident, happy and productive - you can help build and support long-term employee success.
Time to Scrap Performance AppraisalsJosh BersinJosh BersinGTakishaPeck109
Time to Scrap Performance Appraisals?
Josh Bersin
Josh Bersin
Global Industry Analyst, I study all aspects of HR, business leadership, corporate L&D, recruiting, and HR technology. ✨
Published May 4, 2013
+ Follow
Something big is going on in business today. More and more companies have decided to radically change their performance appraisal process.
Last week at our research conference we spoke with Adobe, Juniper, Kelly Services, and a variety of other companies who have decided to do away with traditional performance ratings and completely change the annual appraisal process.
Our research shows that this is a strong and positive trend.
Why the process must change.
Why do companies have annual reviews in the first place? Primarily they are an artifact from traditional top-down companies where we had to "weed out" the bottom performers every year. By forcing managers to rate people once per year we can have annual talent reviews and decide who gets more money, who to promote, and who to let go.
Coupled with the performance rating is the "potential" rating, which tries to capture an individual's potential to move up two levels in the organization (the traditional definition).
This approach is based on a philosophy that "we cant totally trust managers" so we're going to force them to fit people into these rating scales. And in many companies (around 20%) there are forced distributions.
The well publicized problems with this process abound. These include:
· Employees need and want regular feedback (daily, weekly), so a once-a-year review is not only too late but it's often a surprise.
· Managers cannot typically "judge" an entire year of work from an individual, so the annual review is awkward and uncomfortable for both manager and employee.
· The manager-employee link is not 1:1 like it used to be - we usually have many peers and managers we work with during the year, so one person cannot adequately rate you without lots of peer input.
· While some employees are a poor fit and likely are poor performers, these issues should be addressed immediately, not once per year.
· People are inspired and motivated by positive, constructive feedback - and the "appraisal" process almost always works against this.
· The most important part of an appraisal is the "development planning" conversation - what can one do to improve performance and engagement - and this is often left to a small box on the review form.
Of course companies are very nervous about eliminating this process because:
· We need a fair and validated way to distribute compensation increases (don't we?)
· We need a record of low performance when we let someone go
· We need to capture performance data in an employee's profile for future promotion and other talent reviews, development plans, and career migration
· We need a way to make sure managers are doing their jobs well.
Well I've probably discussed these issues with 100+ companies over the last five years and our research shows more and ...
Best practices in recruitment that every company should followKannan G S
Finding great candidates has always been a major challenge. If you are an employer struggling to fill your open job positions with suitable candidates, you’ve come to the right place. Here we discuss about best practices in recruitment that will help you find great candidates easier and faster.
How to Build and Maintain a Premier OrganizationLucas Group
An important trend facing organizations across all industries is bridging the knowledge gap between outgoing employees and those who remain or are hired to fulfill their work. Despite a stubbornly persistent unemployment rate in the U.S., attracting and retaining people who can positively impact your company remains a considerable challenge to building and maintaining a premier organization. Triggered by Baby Boomer retirements, companies must develop systematic ways to attract the best, retain the best, and hold on to the knowledge that the best contribute to their organizations.
1. ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 1
This bulletin:
● Page 2 - Clayton Glen on Team en-
gagement championship.
● Page 5 - Tania Hummel on The chal-
lenges of leadership in times of
change.
● Page 7 - Paul Diamond on Future
proofing your career.
Welcome to our April 2016 e-bulletin.
2. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 2
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
Championing team engagement: progressing from the
question we never ask
(Clayton Glen – Co-Founder, ImaginativeHR)
Authentic culture building:
A recent National Venture Capital Association / Ernst & Young study reported in the Venture Capital Review (Issue 28, 2012)
under the title "Culture is a Business Issue…’’, concludes that culture is unique and provides arguably the most sustainable
competitive advantage an organisation can have for distinguishing itself against the competition.
The study also found that many factors help drive and define the culture, including ‘’leadership styles, policies and proce-
dures (or sometimes lack thereof), titles, hierarchy, as well as the overall demographics and workspace.’’ – a conscious
appreciation of the impact of all of these business building blocks on the emerging culture of a business being key.
Culture develops because of our conscious actions, initiatives and strategies, or in spite of these conscious efforts; impacted
by a broad mixture of situational and team realities; e.g.
● Alignment between business goals and individual objectives.
● The quality and authenticity of organisational leadership.
● The level of trust, honesty and transparency within the organisation.
● Alignment between values and behaviour.
● Focusing on learning and development across all levels of the organisation.
● The incentivisation of culture alignment efforts.
● The encouragement and celebration of ‘heroes and superstars’.
The study concludes that ‘’... culture is a business issue that has significant impact on a venture’s ability to generate a return
on investment and should be prioritized and measured just like other business objectives such as financial growth, product
development, sales, marketing and the like.’’ The key opportunity being to consciously design and champion an authentic
culture which drives and supports financial growth.
An excellent illustrative example of ‘what great culture building and authentic engagement stewardship looks like’ followed
the early-2016 staff communication by LinkedIn’s CEO, Jeff Weiner; addressing the 40% drop in share value following the
recent 2015 earnings’ announcement, who countered potential staff despondency with the following appeal:
“We are the same company we were the day before our earnings announcement, ... You’re the same team you were … and
most importantly we have the same mission, vision and sense of purpose in terms of our ability to create economic
opportunity … None of that has changed.”
Engagement diagnostics (staff surveys, focus groups and 360s) … the means, not the end:
I developed a real passion for pinpointing the touchpoints of team engagement and morale and managing team engage-
ment projects over 20+ years in HR and HR consulting; across a broad range of sectors with fantastic, diverse and very
unique organisations like Federal-Mogul, Shazam Entertainment, Universal Music, Honda, Viacom (MTV & Comedy Central),
(Continued on next page…)
3. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 3
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
(Continued from previous page…)
ITN, Roche Diagnostics, Dixons Carphone, Gluru, Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and many others – ranging from
well-established FTSE 100 or Public Sector organisations with 50,000 or more employees ranged across multiple business
units and locations, to start-up organisations with under ten employees, operating largely virtually.
Regardless of size and complexity, the touchpoints of engagement are the same.
Generally, at these organisations, we have set out to measure levels of engagement (via surveys, focus groups, 360s and /
or structured interviews), following or ahead of a major organisational event; e.g. pre and post restructuring, post re-
branding, post-merger, post major strategic or market adjustments, aligned with employer brand development efforts,
parallel with e.g. Sunday Times, Fortune, Glassdoor ‘Best Company to Work for’ efforts, or as part of a conscious culture
building programme, aligned with new balanced scorecard / rewards strategy, etc.
As someone experienced in managing many engagement diagnostics projects, my starting position at all times when setting
sponsor / stakeholder expectations is that the diagnostic (survey, focus group, etc.) is clearly only the means, not the end …
All too often however, huge effort goes into building a defensible diagnostic with multi-stakeholder input; ensuring that the
diagnostic asks the right and optimal number of questions, ensuring that norms and benchmarks are clearly established for
future comparison purposes, ensuring that distribution communication and logistics work perfectly, calibrating excellent
response rate, reporting and action planning dashboards, etc., though, all too often the post-measurement ‘what’s next and
who owns it?’ piece gets lost in the detail; neglected and unhelpful at best or destructive at worst to future efforts to build
‘winning engagement’.
Ensuring ownership of post survey efforts – saying what you can’t do up-front:
In an article I wrote ten years ago for the Industrial and Commercial Training Journal called ‘Key skills retention and
motivation: the war for talent still rages and retention is the high ground’ I concluded that engaging and retaining key
organizational talent ‘’requires joined-up thinking, a clear business-driver link, and a good deal of thought and energy’’.
I’m still amazed ten years’ later that organisations I work with still largely continue to effectively separate the diagnostic
means (surveys, focus groups, reporting and everything that revolves around these processes) from establishing clear
ownership earliest around the ‘what’s next and who’s accountable?’ – this disconnect needs to be actively challenged.
As many people who have participated in staff surveys will say; there is often a very tenuous link between the efforts and
fanfare that went into promoting, validating and rolling out these surveys vs the efforts put into assuring tangible post-
survey outcomes, actions and ownership.
For this reason, I tend to focus leadership attention on building honest FAQs and frank narratives ahead of any diagnostic;
focused on a) areas where the organisation does not have the capacity, resources or inclination to make any adjustments,
as this starts to build the narrative for what can and is unlikely to change in the future, and b) very clearly identifies who will
be held accountable for post-diagnostic next steps … be these senior leadership, line managers via the natural hierarchical
/ performance management cascade, or e.g. designated engagement champions.
By definition, this pre-diagnostic ‘commitment’ requires a multi-stakeholder orientation … staff surveys should never be the
sole domain of HR / Internal Comms; rolled-out by the people team to the organisation.
Investing in a multi-stakeholder approach aligns expectations and helps build the ‘story for the future’ in any staff
communication, prior to any diagnostic. It also ensures that staff are a step closer to answering the question we never ask:
"How confident are you that actions will be taken as result of this survey?"
Developing engagement championship – sharing the engagement challenge bottom-up:
One of the difficulties with this approach is that, even with fantastic leadership and engagement sponsorship, line managers
often have enough on their plate keeping the business going, meeting their and their team’s commercial objectives and
reacting to complex environmental challenges. It’s realistic that some business leaders will not find the time to follow up
energetically and creatively on the outcomes of the last staff survey and recommended actions generated from it.
(Continued on next page…)
4. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 4
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
(Continued from previous page…)
It’s always sensible to balance top-down engagement efforts with bottom-up efforts; engaging employee reps or, better
still, designating these as ‘engagement champions’ who can help build momentum and a great narrative around the
organisation’s staff engagement efforts; linking these to broader strategic and commercial efforts.
But where’s the DNA for ‘engagement championship’? Very often the core stakeholder DNA for an ‘Engagement Champi-
ons’ steering group, sits in obvious places within the business; e.g. staff reps, the Customer Experience team, the Resourcing
team, the Employer Branding / EVP team, the Investor Comms team, the Corporate Social Responsibility team, individual,
team and regional exemplars of great customer service, recent graduate / intern appointments, HR, L&D and OD of course
… members of the team likely to expend discretionary effort in the interests of building momentum and a brave and
authentic (evidence-based) and creative engagement ‘story-line’.
The challenge of course for any ‘engagement champion’ is; ‘What do I get out of it and how tangible is it?’ and ‘What do
colleagues get out of it and how tangible is it?’ Once these questions are part of a collective consciousness and can be
answered, it becomes simpler to craft a fantastic engagement narrative and to share great, resonating stories across the
organisation.
Optimally, these stories will assist refinements to future diagnostics – e.g. bi-annual pulse surveys, etc. and will provide a
base for reminding line managers about which internal exemplar they need to look to, to enhance engagement and build
motivation in their own teams.
Adopting an ‘engagement champions’ approach as part of your team engagement strategy also increases the likelihood that
you will broaden the base of multi-functional talent available to you who are experts in stakeholder communication, as well
as increasing the chances that you will benefit from a broader base of knowledge and experience in the power of digital
social platforms for external story-telling, best-practice learning and authentic employer branding purposes; e.g. team
members skilled in leveraging e.g. LinkedIn’s Pulse, Somewhere.com, Storify, Glassdoor.com, Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare,
Vine, Instagram, etc. towards building your organisation’s stakeholder ‘story’
Engagement champions are also very likely to find the time to explore other sources of engagement best practice; e.g. En-
gage for Success, CIPD, SHRM, a growing community of excellent engagement bloggers and commentators, etc.
Conclusion:
The objectives of engagement championship should always be to leave a lasting impression with all stakeholders; i.e.:
● prospective new hires (impacting the recruitment & selection process)
● new-starters (impacting onboarding and induction)
● partners (influencing partner relationships)
● investors (nurtured and measured with direct linkages to business value)
● customers / users (culture rubs off)
Maintaining discipline, energy and behavioural endorsement to build a winning / scalable organisational culture is what
differentiates leading businesses like Google, Facebook, Apple, Samsung, etc.
Developing a cadre of engagement champions to support your efforts may be a no-brainer for your organisation.
Clayton Glen, BA, ABP, MBA, FRSA, is co-founder of ImaginativeHR and has
worked in the HR consulting space since 2003 in senior commercial and CEO
roles.
Prior to his time in HR consultancy, Clayton held a number of senior HR roles
in the UK, Europe, the USA and Southern Africa.
Contact : ++44 (0)845 548 4321
5. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 5
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
The challenges of leadership
in times of change
(Tania Hummel, ImaginativeHR Senior Associate)
ImaginativeHR delivers leadership assessment, 360 degree feedback, coaching and mentoring across all sectors.
“Business is not physics, and people are not fundamental particles whizzing around inside the LHC, subject to largely
immutable laws. If anything, business is governed by psychology, because everything depends on the unpredictable behav-
iour of human beings.” Andrew Saunders, Management Today.
Whether or not the need for transformational change is caused by disruptive innovation, or by other political, environmen-
tal, social or economic developments, leaders won’t necessarily know the full extent of their characters – for better or worse
– until they are truly tested and transformational change is by it’s nature, Truly Testing.
A typical scenario in the preparation for change goes like this:
● A major development triggers the need for large-scale change.
● Senior management disappear to off-site meetings.
● Consultants in grey suits with brief cases may appear.
● Soon there is an announcement.
● The Communications team go into full flow to steady the troops and to create messages designed to cascade the
need for, and the benefits of, the change.
Depending on how long it’s taken to get to this point, and how ‘leaky’ the organisational culture is, people may have heard
rumours, have begun ‘catastrophising’ or seeing the opportunity for ‘land-grabbing’. Colleagues who may have worked
peacefully together for years may find themselves on different sides of the fence. Gossiping around water coolers reaches
a peak.
The original Grief Cycle model as devised by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has been adapted many times to apply to organisational
change.
While the senior team may have had the time to work through their own version of the Grief cycle, and may have had the
benefit of a coach to work with, they often don’t recognise the need for their people to have support working through the
emotions that change can trigger.
It’s not unusual to have an entire organisation at different stages of the model, with leaders looking to the future, while
their people stay stuck in anger or denial without support. (Continued on next page…)
6. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 6
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
(Continued from previous page)
So here are 5 tips for recognising the various stages of the cycle and some responses:
1. Shock - often people express feelings of being numb, they might feel unable to cope, they may have difficulty
completing routine tasks. They may recast the past as a ‘golden era’ while expressing fears that ‘life will never be the same.
Response: Allow them to ‘react’. Give them time to talk and explore what might happen, but challenge any wilful ‘misinter-
pretation’. Help them to concentrate on using their strengths to get them through the change. Be positive, but avoid
negative reassurance.
2. Denial - sometimes people decide to cut themselves off from their emotions altogether. They might say things like ‘it
won’t affect me’ or ‘it’ll be fine’. They might cling to business as usual, longing for the day that it’s all over, and may try to
minimise the situation to make it insignificant.
Response: Help them to identify any contrary information if it’s available. Challenge discrepancies in the story they create.
Discuss the change and it’s purpose. Help them to identify what is required and what is non-negotiable. Allow them to
off-load, but with a focus on finding a solution.
3. Anger - this can manifest as overt anger/aggression, but also as anxiety/depression. They may act defiantly, accuse the
company of not caring. They may stop participating, work to rule or start making excuses or blaming, shirking their
responsibilities.
Response: Listen, acknowledge their feelings. Encourage them to stay involved. Help them identify positives and/or potential
benefits. Don’t tell them to change, or pull themselves together. Use an appropriate model to discuss where they are now
and what might help them to move on.
4. Acceptance and Exploration - at this stage, there may be confusion or even some chaos. As a result there may
be some experimenting, and the start of acceptance of new working practices. People may start showing signs of enthusi-
asm, and may well be seeking reassurance, while still being easily disheartened.
Response: Help them identify priorities, and facilitate the finding of short term wins. Encourage their ideas and experimen-
tation of these. Help them not to be overcritical of themselves, and celebrate any positive developments.
5. Building Commitment - people may now want to talk more, and take ownership. They may start persuading others
and wanting to co-operate/co-ordinate activities. There may well be a visible increase in energy.
Response: Help them to create long term goals. Encourage team building activities, particularly if new teams have been
created as a result of the change. Help them to keep looking forward and encourage further progress. Identify the positive
effects of responding to the change.
Leaders often talk about Passion.
Sometimes the quality that’s needed most to navigate change successfully is Compassion.
________________________________________________________________________
Tania Hummel is an ImaginativeHR senior associate and was previously Global HR Director
at Macmillan Science and Education, responsible for UK HR operations and global strategy
for 1500 staff in the UK and 5000 staff worldwide, located in over 50 countries.
For more information and to speak to ImaginativeHR about our manager and ‘survivor’
support services during times of organisational transition, contact ImaginativeHR:
++44 (0)845 548 4321 / info@imaginativehr.com
7. Exploring what's new and innovative in the world of HR and talent management 7
ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
Future-proofing your career
(Paul Diamond - ImaginativeHR Senior Associate)
Previously released as ‘Career Transition and Toasters’
Decades of study into consumer behaviour has confirmed the fact that some of us only buy a new washing machine/vacuum
cleaner/toaster/etc, when our current device gives up the ghost.
The consumer durables sector sometimes call this 'distressed purchase', i.e. instead of taking our time browsing stores and
cosying-up to brands, our need for clean clothes/dust-free floors/a slice of toast/etc, adds the dimension of pressure.
From the first time it was explained to me, I found this insight (and its many scenarios) fascinating. The evidence was all there
in the way shoppers and consumers behaved but this framing of decision making under pressure resonated way beyond
domestic appliances.
Career management: The toaster reveals even more
Newly equipped with this insight, and perhaps without even knowing why at first, I began paying attention to career decision
making in a more ‘consumer durables’ way. It soon became apparent that similar forces/cycles of distressed purchase were
at work during periods of significant career change and transition.
Some of the people I encountered were clearly struggling with transition in their careers - and with good reason because they
were responding to big changes like the loss of a job, company buy-out, being overlooked for promotion, uncertainty around
their career direction, and so on.
At the same time, I also came into contact with people managing change/transition well - some doing very well indeed,
especially when you consider the pressure loaded on careers and career decision-making (e.g. financial income/stability,
feelings of progression, fulfilment, success and so on).
Within this 'higher proficiency' group, were people who did not show any signs of distress during career transition, nor did
they appear to be managing any kind of distressed purchase cycle at all. Looking back, these were among the most successful
people I have witnessed from a career development point of view.
At first I had no idea how their lack of distress was achieved but, after some time and further exploration, the clues started
piecing together. For example, there were people actively preparing themselves for change/transition long before it took
place. A smaller number were also managing the development of their careers continually, strategically and holistically - as
opposed to focusing on the management of individual moments/phases of change and transition.
Career Development: Minimising Distress
Instead of picking up/putting down career development (e.g. on a ‘when needed’ basis during transition) the people in this
latter group were in constant contact with this subject. Like a great business strategy, career development was something
they were continually in touch with - shaping, re-shaping, evolving and refining this over time, and with each new experience.
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ImaginativeHR April 2016 e-bulletin - more at www.imaginativehr.com
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The more time I spent working with (learning from and sharing new insight with) people of all ages and at all career levels,
the more evident it became that career management/development was a medium some were continually engaged in. The
millennial generation (and those even younger) seem to have an innate grasp of this continuity in career development, and
the value of self management/self-ownership herein.
The shift to continuity in career management/development strategy may require a little more time, and a degree of focused
thinking in advance, but the advantages (in terms of development, decision making, opportunity management, ambiguity
tolerance, self efficacy, self-leadership, etc.) are evident.
I believe we can all engage in our individual moments of unforeseen change/transition with greatly reduced stress. We too
can prepare ourselves for (and maybe even end up embracing) change and transition - which are perhaps the most critical,
opportunity-laden points of acceleration, learning and growth in any career.
Regardless of your approach to career development strategy thus far, there is good news for everyone here. What the
‘distress minimisers’ have learned, we can learn too. What they know how to do, in concept and in preparation (i.e. in thought
and deed) anyone else can do too.
________________
Paul Diamond is an international career development consultant, author of The Career Explorer’s Journal and host of the
career development & discovery website ExploreYourCareer.com.
For more information and to speak to ImaginativeHR
about our career review services, contact us at:
++44 (0)845 548 4321
info@imaginativehr.com
ImaginativeHR is a bar raising UK and international employment life-cycle / talent development consultancy which partners
HR to creatively align organisational, team & individual interests; delivering services in the following areas:
● Assessment - for selection & development
● Coaching & mentoring - executive, virtual & team
● Staff engagement - focus groups, staff surveys, post-survey change facilitation & career management
● Career transition - career reviews, redeployment & outplacement
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4321 to speak to ImaginativeHR about how we can support your
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