Diversity Podcast

Follow the link to a recent podcast entitled: Strategies to Deliver and Maintain Diversity and Equality in the Workplace. The podcast was for Human Resources IQ (a Division of IQPC).

The podcast was timed to coincide with the IQPC National Recruitment and Retention forum in Sydney where I was a panel member on the issue of diversity.

http://www.humanresourcesiq.com/sponsor_podcast.cfm?externalID=758

Change

When we think of rolling out change in the workplace we tend to think facts not feelings. When we think of supporting our staff through a period of change it’s important to engage their feelings and fears. All of us have experienced enormous and fundamental change in our lives.

Some of our experiences in childhood are good and some terrible. Learning to walk or losing a tooth were changes to celebrate: there was excitement – we were part of something big! As a result, we felt like the centre of the universe.

By contrast, hitting puberty was generally considered a nightmare. We were usually kept in the dark and our bodies were out of control. Usually there was no photo opportunity. How many of us want to relive puberty?

Turn change into celebration; to excitement; and make it a “wow” moment. Think of the childhood pleasure around change and what made that different to the not-so-great moments of change: translate this to your workplace as part of your strategy to engage staff and support them through change.

Staff Welfare

Follow this link to my presentation on Staff Welfare delivered 26 April 2010 to the Indian National Police Academy, mid-career training program.

click here

Engage Now

Research from Tower Perrin flagged employee disengagement as a global epidemic. Various studies support this with findings with results such as: only 34% of Indian workers being fully engaged (Akhilesh & Das 2008); or 21% of Australian workers being actively disengaged (Gallup 2008).

The tools of engagement are not complex. The rules of engagement do not require an exercise in intellectual agility.

• listen: genuinely
  
• give direction: show the way and the link between individual and organisational objectives
  
• give recognition: survey after survey show that more than anything else, people want to be valued
  
• give feedback: good and bad; but give it often and be timely
  
• nurture your staff: they are a big investment and ongoing investment will return dividends


• show respect: respect will be reciprocated; so will lack of respect


• support your staff: encourage them to succeed; support them to learn from failure

Concepts in HR

I have been inspired in the past week to rethink and rejuvenate. Whilst there is a wealth of Human Resources discussion on the net, I see little which focuses on simple, straight forward and practical ideas.

Last week I chaired a meeting of the heads of HR from counterpart agencies from across the States and Territories (of Australia). It was largely free flowing with a very loose agenda. Yet it was a very profound sharing of ideas and experience; and of pitfalls and successes.

I left the discussion energised.

If I look at the series of successful conference presentations I have given over the past few years (at least I hope they were successful) - I realise that the success is down to the context of stories I'm telling. Real stories of success and failure: of practical down-to-earth HR solutions to down-to-earth HR problems.

This blog series will focus on just that: simple tools - simple stories.