‘Soft skills’ – a misnomer?
‘Soft skills’ is a strange term. I asked my engineer husband what it meant to him, and he said ‘anything to do with human interaction.’ Pretty crucial then, wouldn’t you say? And we all know that working with people who don’t have these ‘soft’ skills is demotivating, frustrating, and also means that we’re less productive. […]
CEOs feared slowdown even before Covid-19
This research by PwC revealed fears of a 2020 slowdown even before Covid-19. It paints a rather gloomy picture of CEOs’ confidence in their businesses to respond creatively. What would they say now? If ever we were forced – shocked, even – into some reinvention, now is the time. Could a new energy for really […]
Making Virtual Learning effective
How do we provide impactful learning experiences in the new world, and what will happen if we don’t? NovoEd (link below) reports that learning isn’t just falling down the priority list, it’s also becoming more limited: ‘Learning gets reduced to information-sharing, leaving out the social and emotional aspects of authentic learning experiences. This can be […]
Does it help if you care?
Does it help, in HR, if you care? I’m hearing great stories about HR going the extra mile for people right now. You can be effective and businesslike as well as caring, and it won’t help you manage those tricky situations if you lack empathy. But business leaders want HR to be business-savvy, credible, tough. […]
Using ‘air time’ to manage uncertainty
We’re coming to realise just how long this uncertainty is going to last. How do we help our people live with uncertainty for the long term? How do we create an area of safety for the people we support and care about? Some are predicting how the future is going to pan out – but […]
Will working patterns change forever?
How much value still exists in working 9 to 5(ish)? We could be in the midst of a perfect storm that challenges traditional working patterns forever. I see three trends that are building towards a real change in how we work: First, we’re learning so much about trust right now – that we really can […]
‘Still buzzing from our day together’
‘My team of HR managers are still buzzing from our day together!’ Happy memories – I’m really missing getting together with HR leaders and teams. It was great to hear this from a client a few weeks after a really rewarding day with the Ministry of Justice. It wasn’t long ago, but feels much longer. […]
Our CIPD event – transforming stakeholder relationships
Some HR stakeholder relationships can drain your energy – why not transform them? What a pleasure to tackle this with a roomful of HR professionals, 2 actors, and our own enable-hr facilitators. Thank you so much for the heartwarming feedback. Our specially scripted HR scenario was brought to life before our eyes by actor-facilitators Kim […]
Can this crisis open up more learning?
I’m sure we all agree that the world will never be the same again. This kind of dramatic change inevitably leads to learning and growth – the kind where you look back in years to come and realise just how powerful it was, however painful at the time. ‘Inability to learn and grow’ is the […]
The challenge of doing good work that you can’t shout about
If you’re fed up of HR being criticised by people who clearly have never been in the role, don’t read this article. Jeffrey Pfeffer measures HR by its failure to eliminate harassment. Pfeffer identifies the conundrum correctly – whether to protect the company or let them, and the perpetrator, hang – but not the ultimate […]