Over 520 HR professionals converged on Melbourne to celebrate and share ideas on talent, technology and innovation that is transforming the future of work.
After two days of presentations, views, commentary and discussions, a definite theme emerged:
“To become more relevant to the C-Suite
HR professionals must embrace disruption and innovation
and solve business problems, not HR problems”
We hope you enjoy and benefit from our summary of the event below.
Key MESSAGES:
“Solve BUSINESS problems, not HR problems”
“HR professionals need to be more courageous and open to running pilots on new solutions”
“86% of CEOs say that creating/improving people analytics is a strategic priority for the next three years”
“Outside your comfort zone is where the magic happens”
“You need to tap into the Pulse of your people”
“The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers”
“Let workplace analytics drive your strategy”
What is DISRUPTION?:
This was best explained by Jennifer McClure with the infographic below:
What is INNOVATION?
In the rawest form “innovation” is taking an idea or invention and translating it into a service or product that creates value for which customers will pay. In the HR space, innovation could be defined as the implementation of new people capital processes, products and science that will assist management teams to deliver business outcomes better than they have ever delivered them in the past.
One of the presentation slides clearly identified the concerns of CEOs and innovation has been one for many years:
|
TOP CEO CONCERNS |
||||
|
2016 |
2015 |
2014 |
2013 |
2012 |
|
Human Capital |
Human Capital |
Human Capital |
Human Capital |
Innovation |
|
Customer Relationships |
Innovation |
Customer Relationships |
Operational Excellence |
Human Capital |
|
Operational Excellence |
Customer Relationships |
Innovation |
Innovation |
Regulation & Risk |
|
Regulation & Risk |
Operational Excellence |
Operational Excellence |
Customer Relationships |
Government Regulation |
|
Innovation |
Sustainability |
Corporate Reputation |
Regulation & Risk |
Global Expansion |
SOURCE: The Conference Board – CEO Challenge Surveys
Increase CREDIBILITY:
A recent survey measured the performance of HR departments and it was clear that many HR professionals need to increase their credibility within the C-Suite.
Need PEOPLE ANALYTICS
The message was clear throughout the conference, people analytics are going to be one of the most important tools for HR professionals and management teams in the future. The statistics quoted by “PwC’s Trends in People Analytics 2015” were definitive about the importance of people analytics:
- 86% of CEOs say that creating or improving “people analytics” is a strategic priority for the next 1-3 years
- 46% of CEOs say they have already implemented dedicated “people analytics”
There is no doubt that HR in the past has been reluctant to pilot people analytics for the fear of it not delivering to expectations. While there was much talk at the conference about HR being more courageous and talking more risks, the reality is that in many organisations there is a penalty for failing. The issue with this situation is that you cannot innovate by always being “safe”, to innovate you must be prepared to not always get it right, to innovate you must celebrate things that don’t work and learn from them. This is where HR professionals need to concentrate more on solving business problems as this playfield is far more tolerant of the inevitable mistakes when pushing the boundaries of innovation.
For more information on people analytics, please contact us on 02 9936 9000 or info@peoplogica.com