When sports psychologist, culture coach and author Dr Pippa Grange was recently tasked with helping a tense team navigate a high-stress acquisition discussion, she intervened with a surprising activity.

“I took them trampolining. Everybody said it was ridiculous, but within 10 minutes they were all laughing. It broke the tension and helped them regain perspective,” says Grange, who is a keynote speaker at AHRI’s upcoming National Convention and Exhibition in Melbourne, and is also conducting a masterclass on identifying and leveraging deep wins at work.

“Fun is a form of release. It’s a neurological, chemical and hormonal reset, and an opportunity to rebalance from over-performance and stress.”

Grange has worked as a psychologist with high-level soccer, AFL, rugby league and Olympic teams, with extreme endurance athletes, and with businesses all over the globe. 

One of her career highlights was working with the England soccer team at the 2018 World Cup. 

“They got to the semis after a long period of underperforming and the nation celebrated with them,” says Grange.

No matter her client, she has one core aim: boosting performance while also fostering a healthy, supportive culture.

“HR and sports psychology complement each other. Both are about helping people find their best and perform well. In this way, leaders are like coaches, and vice versa – always seeking the balance between output and wellbeing,” she says.

She believes the key to high-performance cultures is building strong relationships through honest connection, storytelling and genuine feedback, whether on the sports field or in the office. 

“The quality and character of relationships that we have with each other will determine the level of performance that we’re able to output,” says Grange, who, after working in Australia for 20 years and Los Angeles for two, now lives in England’s Peak District.

She was originally attracted to sports psychology because she liked the idea of working with motivated people.

“I thought this would provide opportunities for both one-on-one and systems work. It felt like an opportunity to create real change.”

As she got into the field, she realised that motivated humans are complex. 

“Most of the work I’ve done is about the human being, not their performance. [I’ve helped] people understand who they are, how they operate best, what they want and how they can get there.”

It’s not about her coming in and being a performance “guru”, she adds.

“If you’re not focused on both the person themselves and the system they’re operating in, you won’t find high performance.”

Team bonding for improved performance

On the sports field and in the workplace, performance starts with teamwork, says Grange. But this can’t be imposed from the top; it needs to come from the ground up through mutual understanding and clear communication around goals.

“Start with understanding what actually motivates your teams. It might not be what you think. Motivation builders are communication, purpose and feedback. Discipline builders are clarity, feedback, clear methods and skill building.

“In sport, it’s not all about the end goal, it’s also about what we’re working on this week. And that’s a nice translation into some workplaces too. It’s about a group’s clarity of purpose over a block of time.”

Keeping a team on track requires regular debriefs, she says.

“The ‘hot debrief’ after weekly or daily performance and ‘emotional hangover work’ after big events both speak to strong, cyclical feedback cultures that normalise continuous conversations about performing and succeeding while being human.”

“We used to see resilience in terms of bouncebackability and grit. For me, it’s a lot more to do with adaptability and being allowed to be a whole human.” – Dr Pippa Grange, sports psychologist and author

Busting misconceptions about high-performing teams 

Over her career, Grange has sought to unpack, break down and replace some of the destructive narratives that shape our lives.

Part of that work has manifested in her book Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself, which is about living with less fear and more freedom.

“Fear is amplified or lessened in cultures and environments as much as in individuals’ minds. There’s a lot you can do in systems and processes, and with symbols, language and power dynamics, to lessen it and build confidence,” she says.

Just as fear can hold us back, so too can a constant pursuit of productivity.

Grange maintains that high-performing teams shouldn’t come at the cost of wellbeing, and having good, caring cultures shouldn’t come at the cost of winning. High-performance and good culture aren’t mutually exclusive. 

“Workplaces are under so much pressure for profit or shareholder values, and this creates a downward flow where people can [feel like] never-ending productivity machines. The level of burnout we’re seeing is not random.”

To rejuvenate their minds and spirits, people need space to both rest and recover, which are two different things, says Grange. 

“Recovery is about finding the space to regenerate our creativity and curiosity, our humour and our energy.

“Creating ‘psychological space’ for people means they don’t have to perform constantly and can regenerate. Compromising on wellbeing is only a short-term gain for a person and an organisation.”

So how can companies help employees find psychological space to recover? It can be as simple as giving permission, setting good boundaries around working hours and allowing the sharing of stories and experiences, she says. 

“When companies start talking about what high-performance looks like, they need to recognise that it’s a triangle of work, rest and recovery. It’s not just a line between work and rest.”

What generates motivation, she says, is people’s ability to be authentic and share their stories with each other.

“Everybody who walks through the door of a workplace is asked to buy into a story, a vision and a purpose. Stories shouldn’t just come from the top, but also from the shop floor and the home offices. They should be an exchange. It’s making everyone feel like they genuinely belong and are part of something.

“You need practices that genuinely build on belonging, not just inclusion.”

Building more resilient teams

While some people may feel that ‘resilience’ has become somewhat of a buzzword that’s tightly linked to output, Grange says its meaning has evolved.

“We used to see resilience in terms of bouncebackability and grit. For me, it’s a lot more to do with adaptability and being allowed to be whole and human while performing, versus living in roles, categories and boxes. It’s about minimising drama [while] being real and honest, allowing emotions to arise, but still processing them.”

How do you help employees and teams foster resilience? 

“It’s principally about quality relationships that provide a social web for all challenges. Cultures that embrace courage, vulnerability, challenge, care and the will to change are resilient,” she says. 

Anticipatory guidance and foresight helps boost resilience, she adds. If something tough has happened, such as a round of redundancies, giving people space to ask questions, air concerns and share perspectives is important. 

“People find it much tougher to maintain resilience when they get ambushed by circumstances, or if they’re kept in the dark. Telling the truth about where things are at and allowing people to participate in being resilient makes a big difference.” 

Culture work is unlike other kind of organisational work, says Grange, and culture leaders often need different timescales, methods and measures to drive real change. 

“Culture, like ethics, should be a verb – a doing word. It’s daily work that lives in interactions and exchanges, as well as in big initiatives,” she says.

“It’s an ongoing effort to create an environment that supports psychological safety, trust and compassion, and it’s also building systems that actually reward and resist what you do and don’t want to see in the culture. Great culture is signified by an organisation that is present, observing, focused and active in considering ‘what ought we to do’ – and then actually doing it.”

A longer version of this article first appeared in the June/July 2024 edition of HRM Magazine.

Dr Pippa Grange will be speaking on  cultivating authenticity and vulnerability in the workplace at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Don’t miss the chance to hear from inspiring thought leaders and master practical strategies for now and the future. Secure your spot today.

The post Lessons on building high-performing teams from a sports psychologist appeared first on HRM online.

Working in HR has always demanded adept multitasking, but the disruptions of the pandemic and the numerous changes to our work dynamics have necessitated expanding HR skill sets even further.

“During COVID, HR got called into really high-level, strategic conversations that they didn’t always get brought into previously,” says Tani Jacobi, HR Standards & Capability Development Manager at AHRI.

“No one else had the skills; no one else had the reach and the capability to be able to navigate these situations because it was so heavily focused on the impact on people. It accelerated the path that HR was already on – that we’re not just focused on policy and compliance, or the ‘fluffy’ stuff. We are business contributors and leaders that enable business performance and growth.”

Since then, HR has become increasingly integral to decision-making conversations, which Jacobi asserts is “exactly what businesses need”. However, this shift has revealed that some HR practitioners were not fully prepared to assume these new responsibilities.

A byproduct of the rapid business changes from the past five years is that the HR practice has changed, says Beth Hall CPHR, General Manager of HR, Standards and Capability at AHRI.

“To stay commercially viable and support business growth goals, there is an increased expectation for sophistication in HR capabilities.” – Beth Hall CPHR,  General Manager of HR, Standards and Capability, AHRI

“HR has had to think differently about how to attract, engage and retain people, and how to navigate employee relations in a landscape that’s become even more complex. 

“When you think about the increase in criminalisation and individual decision-makers being held personally liable for some of the decisions they’re making at work, that’s a lot for HR to manage.”

As the professional body for HR in Australia, AHRI was determined to support its members and the broader HR profession to manage these challenges head-on and to grow their capability and influence.

“To stay commercially viable and support business growth goals, there is an increased expectation for sophistication in HR capabilities,” says Hall. 

The Australian HR Capability Framework

AHRI’s refreshed Australian HR Capability Framework (AHRCF) has been created with this increased sophistication in mind.

Designed to promote universal standards of HR best practice, the AHRCF defines the essential capabilities, skills, knowledge and behaviours required of HR practitioners, enabling career progression and empowering organisations to achieve their goals by nurturing the capabilities of their HR teams. 

It also acts as a clear roadmap for becoming a well-rounded HR practitioner, which requires a big-picture mindset, says Hall.

“For example, if you’re an IR/ER specialist, you can’t think about the legislation criminalising underpayments or the right to disconnect without considering your wellbeing skills, payroll, or your HR generalist skills. Nothing should happen in isolation.”

The new design of the AHRCF (see below) purposefully focuses on capabilities rather than specific roles, says Jacobi.

“We’ve been clear in saying, ‘This isn’t a job description.’ It’s about encompassing the broad practice of HR. 

“We’ve also quite deliberately designed the capabilities to flow from the big-picture, strategic level, then work around in a logical sequence of capabilities,” says Jacobi.

The framework begins at business strategy, says Hall.

“That’s about considering, ‘What’s happening from a business perspective, and what impact does it have on the HR strategy?’ 

“Then you go on to organisational enablement. Consider: how am I enabling the organisation to look after themselves and not be constantly relying on HR – because we’re a cost centre; we don’t generate income. We enable the organisation through data, insights and technology.”

Next, you layer in the foundational elements, such as the wellbeing perspective, to make sure you’re looking after the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of your people.

“Then it’s about getting us to a culture that we can be proud of. We can look at ethical practices and DEI to make sure it’s aligned with the business strategy,” says Hall.

Workforce effectiveness speaks to the critical industrial relations skills required of the modern HR practitioner, as well as ensuring that you’re “being strategic in the chess moves of your people, structures and your succession planning to enable a future effective workforce”.

Talent management and trusted partnership runs across all elements of the framework.

“Your talent management and trusted partnership is keeping the lights on,” says Hall. “But if you don’t couple them with organisational enablement and workforce effectiveness, you’re going to come unstuck.

“If you think about old HR versus new HR, old HR was all about trusted partnership and talent management – we found people, we hired them, we gave them the skills and knowledge they needed, we managed their performance and then we moved them into their new role. We did that through employee relations, influence and impact.”

That work is still incredibly important, of course, but there is now so much more nuance and complexity to add on top of this foundational HR work.

“The employee experience is now uber-personalised. It’s not one-size-fits-all; sheep-dipping won’t work. Therefore, how do you use your organisational enablement and workforce effectiveness to start building the personalised, curated employee experience of the future?”

Using the AHRCF and Capability Analysis tool

AHRI’s HR Capability Framework is designed to uplift both individual capabilities and that of your entire HR team.

“We are, by nature, a giving group of practitioners, but we sometimes do that at the expense of ourselves,” says Jacobi. “Our performance as HR practitioners is measured on how we can impact business outcomes, not by our own growth. So we tend to neglect investing in our own capability because we’re so busy doing it for everyone else.”

The intent of the AHRCF and the capability assessment tool (exclusive to AHRI members), is that you can build it into your already established talent management cycles (see below).

“We’re also giving you access to development opportunities so you don’t have to go and create your own HR Bootcamp for your HR team. We have a range of options available that are specifically linked back to this framework,” says Jacobi.

The AHRCF is freely available for any HR practitioner to view. However, AHRI members can also access a career-stage breakdown of each capability, as well as the accompanying Capability Analysis Tool, which helps map and benchmark their skills over time.

Here’s how it works:

1. Assess your skills: AHRI members can log in to their membership dashboard and click on ‘Australian HR Capability Framework self-assessment tool’. Next, answer a few short questions to help AHRI benchmark your skills against the AHRCF. This should only take up to 30 minutes to complete.

2. Design your learning journey: You will receive a personalised PDF report of your results in your inbox. This will include specific recommendations for your learning and development from AHRI’s range of capability development programs.

3. Track your progress over time: Your personalised report will include a set of graphics to help you benchmark your results over time, should you choose to use the Capability Assessment Tool again in the future.

“Being able to benchmark capabilities allows us to see where our capabilities are compared to our peers,” says Jacobi. “Tracking growth over time helps to demonstrate return on investment and celebrate the progress we’ve made.”

Sign up for a webinar on 18 July, 12-1pm, to learn more about the revamped AHRCF and how it will benefit you. AHRI members can register for free.

The post Setting the standard for HR capabilities now and into the future appeared first on HRM online.

Fifty-four years ago, best-selling American futurist Alvin Toffler wrote: “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

Today, his prediction seems remarkably prophetic. The skills landscape employers are facing in Australia and globally is dynamic, unpredictable and rife with opportunity.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the average half-life of a skill is currently about five years. Skills that would have carried previous generations through a career of 40 years now require endless updates and expansions to keep pace with technological advancement. 

As a result, the importance of technical skills has been eclipsed by the importance of skills adaptability, says Ravin Jesuthasan, author, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer.

“The only thing that will keep us relevant is the ability to keep reinventing ourselves,” he says. 

“The skills where the premium is going to go up exponentially will be things like learning agility, curiosity, the willingness to look around corners and anticipate, the ability to see connections across two or more disparate domains – those are the skills that are really going to stand us in good stead.”

Building skills security

While much has been made of the potential negative impact of new technologies on job security, the WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 found the majority of technologies being implemented across organisations are anticipated to create more jobs than they will displace over the next three years.

Artificial intelligence, arguably the defining aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is expected to generate a net increase in jobs of 26 per cent by 2027. Meanwhile, big data analytics is set to create a net 58 per cent increase.

The only technologies forecast in the WEF’s data to have a net negative overall impact on employment data were robots; both humanoid (designed to mimic human behaviour) and non-humanoid (machines devised for specific tasks, such as drones and industrial automation).

In light of this, future-proofing the workforce will mean focusing less on job security and more on skills security.

“It’s much easier and more important to understand how work is changing, rather than looking at what new jobs are being created,” says Jesuthasan, who will be a keynote speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition⁠ in August. 

“A job is a blunt instrument. It contains so many different things. But if you can understand how the work is changing, that gives you a precise view into the types of skills that are going to be in demand because it’s much easier to map skills to tasks than to understand the myriad of different skills that might underpin a job.”

“The only thing that will keep us relevant is the ability to keep reinventing ourselves.” – Ravin Jesuthasan, Author, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer

Shifting towards skills-based hiring and mobility

When organisations are facing skills challenges, employers often assume that targeting candidates with qualifications from familiar institutions will be their safest bet, says Jesuthasan.

“In my industry, there’s an old adage, ‘No one ever got fired for hiring McKinsey,’” he says. “If you think about how talent is resourced today, it’s largely based on credentials and what you’ve done previously. Those two things reduce the risk to an employer that a person can’t do the job. 

“But if we move to a skills-based approach, it takes us from competing for the five per cent of people we might have traditionally looked at to looking at the 20, 30, 40 per cent of the population who could actually do the work.”

Rather than adhering to rigid roles, a skills-based approach breaks down the individual capabilities required to perform a given task and assigns them to employees with the appropriate skills and capacity, regardless of whether it’s part of their job description.

With skills shortages increasing in severity and complexity, this approach is likely to grow in popularity over the coming decade. We’re already seeing companies becoming more flexible in the qualifications they consider, says Jesuthasan. For example, in 2021, IBM announced it had stripped bachelor’s degree requirements for more than half of its US openings. At Google, job postings requiring a bachelor’s degree fell from 93 to 77 per cent between 2017-2021. 

At banking and financial services company ANZ, the benefits of a shift towards skills-focused hiring and mobility are already beginning to shine through. 

“I think that job roles will persist as a means to organise work, but now we’re getting a deeper skills-based view of what’s behind each role,” says Arun Pradhan, General Manager of Learning at ANZ, who will also be speaking at AHRI’s Convention.

“We’re developing the frameworks and investigating the technology that will allow us to look at a role and see that it’s 40 per cent adjacent to that role over there, even though it doesn’t look like it. And we’re trying to provide a faster way for people to match up those skills.”

Ravin Jesuthasen and Arun Pradhan will both be sharing their insights on future-ready HR practice at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Don’t miss the chance to hear from inspiring thought leaders and master practical strategies for now and the future. Secure your spot today.

Planning for the skills needs of the future

During the past decade, we have witnessed immense shifts in our ways of working, from mass digitisation to the proliferation of hybrid working. With the pace of change accelerating, it’s safe to assume future decades will bring even more transformative developments. 

For many employers, this begs the question: If we don’t know what tomorrow will look like, how can we equip our people to succeed when it arrives?

According to Adina Leu FCPHR, Director of Workforce Strategy and Planning at the Australian Public Service Commission (APS), the difficulty of answering this question deters many employers from investing enough strategic thinking into their skills development. 

“Across the economy, there is little incentive for employers and managers to look at longer-term skills planning and invest in their current workforce to build the skills they’ll need, or that the sector or Australia will need, in five to 10 years’ time. Because of the high levels of turnover, they think, ‘Why should I? They’re not going to be here anyway.’”

As a result, future-focused employers must find ways to convince leaders to plant trees under whose shade they might never sit.

“It’s about moving away from [the mindset of], ‘I’m going to look after my own interests,’ and towards being part of a bigger ecosystem – whether it’s at an industry level or in the Australian economy,” says Leu.

As a government organisation with a workforce of over 170,000, the APS recognises the strategic imperative of mapping future skills needs by conducting in-depth scenario planning based on a variety of potential workforce futures.

“Of course, there’s a need to prioritise, because you’ll be generating 10s of scenarios, but you can’t plan for all of them,” says Leu.

In order to identify and plan for the most likely outcomes, the APS refers to the ‘megatrends’ published by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the long-term insights briefs developed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.  

From digitisation to the global push to reach net zero, these trends are predicted to be the main drivers of evolving labour markets and skills demand over the coming decades.

“We are building out the workforce implications of some of those scenarios,” says Leu. “For example, we’re looking at the green transition, and the skill sets we’ll need in government to progress that transition and the green economy agenda for the country and globally.”

The APS is also actively engaging with educational institutions and early career programs to address skills shortages from the ground up. 

Exposing young people to career pathways available to them is particularly important to ensure skills pipelines are as diverse as possible, says Leu. “For example, we know there are shortages in some occupations and roles which are highly male-dominated – [things like] construction, engineering, cybersecurity and so on,” she says. 

“We also know that the seed for some of those career decisions is planted with kids as early as five. So, we need to have more interventions to get girls passionate about occupations like these ones in early childhood.”

“Learning is most effective at the point of need. The opportunity to immediately and constantly apply learning provides a reality check, learning reinforcement and a feedback loop.” – Arun Pradhan, General Manager of Learning, ANZ

An upskilling strategy fit for the future of work

One challenge that often arises with big-picture upskilling and reskilling strategies is push-back from employees asked to take part in them. 

In recent years, the speed of transformation has left some employees experiencing varying levels of ‘change fatigue’. According to Gartner, employees’ willingness to embrace change has dipped sharply, from 74 per cent in 2016 to 38 per cent in 2022.

To avoid employees feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of upskilling and reskilling required, getting the timing right is crucial, says Pradhan.

“Strategic workforce planning can mean developing three-year modeling, but we need to consider an overlay of how early we can initiate upskilling before those skills become relevant,” he says. 

“Learning is most effective at the point of need. The opportunity to immediately and constantly apply learning provides a reality check, learning reinforcement and a feedback loop to accelerate learning.”

To provide this opportunity, ANZ will be rolling out a new Academy for foundational skills around data, digital and human skills.

“The ANZ Academy has team-based learning at its core, so people can apply what they learn immediately in their work with their peers,” he says. “It’s getting away from having a learning bubble over here and a work bubble over there, which forces busy people to make their own connections.

“Instead, we’re using blended experiences, team activities and contextualised stories to reduce the friction of on-the-job learning.”

In order for HR to formulate and deliver upskilling and reskilling strategies effectively, it’s imperative that they lead by example. 

“Use every opportunity to build a new skill,” says Pradhan. “Be that curious person who collects skills from work, parenting, hobbies or anywhere else, and is creatively combining those skills to deliver your unique value proposition and greater adaptability.”

A longer version of this article first appeared in the June/July 2024 edition of HRM magazine. Sign up to become an AHRI member to receive a bi-monthly copy.

Hear more from Ravin Jesuthasan on the shift towards skills-based hiring in the latest episode of AHRI’s podcast, Let’s Take This Offline. Listen to the episode below.

The post Cultivating the skills Australia needs to become future-ready appeared first on HRM online.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has made its first ruling under the new Same Job, Same Pay framework, after finding that the labour hire workers employed by a Queensland coal mine performed essentially the same work under the same conditions as the mine’s permanent employees.

As a result, more than 300 labour hire workers servicing the mine are set to receive pay increases of up to $20,000 per year as of November this year, when Same Job, Same Pay orders will come into effect.

Particularly for organisations in heavily unionised sectors, this decision serves as a reminder to evaluate employment practices to ensure compliance with the new legislation.

Labour hire workers perform the same work, argues union

The employer in this case, a Queensland-based open-cut coal mine, currently employs approximately 350 permanent employees who are covered by an enterprise agreement, and supplements its workforce with approximately 320 labour hire workers. 

Earlier this year, the Mining and Energy Union (MEU) put forward an application under the Same Job, Same Pay framework arguing that the labour hire workers’ roles were indistinguishable from those of the permanent employees, and they were thus entitled to the pay rates set out in the host employer’s enterprise agreement.

In its ruling, the FWC noted that the labour hire workers and permanent employees attended the same pre-start meetings each day, performed the same production work using the same equipment, wore the same uniforms and followed the same procedure for requesting annual and personal leave, among other similarities.

“If they’re being treated the same as employees on the site in terms of the nature of the work itself and the operational aspects, that’s where it becomes very compelling,” says Aaron Goonrey, Partner at Pinsent Masons.

The FWC was ultimately satisfied that the labour hire employees were entitled to the same rate of pay as their permanent counterparts.

Significantly, neither the labour hire company nor the host employer opposed the application, acknowledging these similarities and accepting the order to bring the labour hire workers’ pay rates in line with the host employer’s enterprise agreement.

“The decision is not contentious in the facts – these people did the same role,” says Goonrey.

“But there will likely be some upcoming applications which will be more complicated because they will be defended by labour hire companies or by the host company.”

The MEU has expressed its intent to assess the circumstances for labour hire workers at each work site and make further applications under the Same Job, Same Pay framework.

“This decision is going to be part of the case law that helps guide employers who use labour hire companies in terms of how they can avoid an order like this being made,” he says.

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Understanding the Same Job, Same Pay framework

The Same Job, Same Pay legislation was passed by the Albanese government in December last year as part of the Closing Loopholes Bill. The laws are designed to prevent employers from using labour hire to undercut the wages and/or conditions afforded to permanent employees via their enterprise agreements.

The legislation applies to businesses which have 15 or more employees, are covered by an enterprise agreement, and whose workforce is supplemented with labour hire workers. Sectors like construction, manufacturing, transport and healthcare in particular are likely to be impacted.

Under the new laws, the FWC can order labour hire companies to pay workers the same amount that would be paid to them under the host employer’s enterprise agreement, if they have been working for the host employer for more than three months and perform the same work as permanent employees.  

While Same Job, Same Pay orders will not kick in until November this year, applications can still be submitted beforehand, as occurred in this case. Any pay increases ordered by the FWC will become effective in November.

Anti-avoidance provisions have also been put in place to prohibit schemes that prevent the FWC from making a Same Job, Same Pay order or avoid the application of an order. 

A possible example would be trying to engage labour hire workers as contractors to deprive them of the new protections, or intentionally turning over the workers to stay under the three-month placement period. Deliberate attempts like this to skirt the new laws or game the system could attract significant civil penalties. 

“If they’re being treated the same as employees on the site in terms of the nature of the work itself and the operational aspects, that’s where it becomes very compelling.” – Aaron Goonrey, Partner at Pinset Masons

Is this the end of labour hire? 

This ruling signals the first of many decisions with significant financial impact on employers who use labour hire, particularly in heavily unionised industries like mining. Goonrey says this may prompt some employers to reevaluate their use of labour hire and its benefits.

“A lot of companies that use labour hire may be resigned to the fact that they will now have to pay a premium for that labour hire. Or, they’ll go to market and employ employees directly, which is part of the reason [why this policy was introduced] – to try and give more permanency.”

With that said, he disagrees with the notion that this policy will signal a “death knell” for labour hire. 

“There will still be a place for labour hire. I think a lot of companies will simply say, ‘We’re willing to pay the premium just for that flexibility.’ And there are a number of companies that are already paying their labour hire providers the same as what they’re paying their employees.”

For employers who engage labour hire workers and have an enterprise agreement in place, Goonrey suggests conducting a thorough analysis of the makeup of the labour hire workforce and the potential ramifications of a Same Job, Same Pay order to determine whether it would be beneficial to adapt or reduce the use of labour hire.

“It will become a finance issue, an operational issue and ultimately a business issue… [So], realistically, what you should be doing is bringing all the relevant business stakeholders together – finance, HR, operational – and working out, if an application was made, how much would this cost you?

“You’re better off being armed with the information about what the ultimate cost could be, as opposed to saying, ‘Let’s wait and see what happens.’”

Take your employment law expertise to the next level with AHRI’s new Advanced HR Law short course.

The post FWC hands down first Same Job, Same Pay ruling appeared first on HRM online.

To excel as the architects of workplace culture and the designers of the employee experience, HR practitioners need to design HR strategies that resonate with their workforce. This often requires a creative approach, such as applying design thinking to their initiatives, says Lisa Burquest, Chief People Officer at Virgin Australia.

“In a world where you’ve got finite resources, you’ve got to be able to work yourself through a process of prioritising your focus areas very quickly,” she says. 

“The design thinking model approach allows you to get quick cut-through. It creates relevance because it’s built in the context of who you are, what you’re doing and where you need to go.”

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is a creative approach to problem-solving which originated in product development as a way to understand and meet the needs of consumers. IDEO, a global design and consulting firm, is credited with popularising the application of design thinking to a broad range of industries. 

“Design thinking has its origins in the training and the professional practice of designers, but these are principles that can be practiced by everyone and extended to every field of activity,” said IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown in 2009. 

Employers are increasingly recognising the value of human-centred design thinking to inform the development of HR initiatives. Global leaders such as AirBnB, Apple, Bank of America, Google, IBM, Nike, and Uber have all adopted design thinking to address a range of workforce challenges, including workplace culture change, skills building and organisational transformation.

At Virgin Australia, following the disruptions to the airline industry brought by the pandemic, the HR team used a design thinking mindset to help navigate a period of significant transformation. 

“Our strategy post-administration was repositioning Virgin Australia as a value carrier in the market. Our strategy specifically puts our people at the centre. We call it Virgin Flair,” says Burquest, who is speaking at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August.

“It’s all about how we work with our people to rebuild the business in a way that delivers for our customer, [leads to] financial and operational outcomes and makes us a better, more focused business as we move forward.

“Some people thought, ‘How can you possibly get that business back on track?’, but we had a methodical and aspirational strategy that we were chasing [to rebuild the business].”

“Human-centred design thinking forces you to think back on what the business is here to do. It’s not creating a plan that’s HR for HR’s sake.” – Lisa Burquest, Chief People Officer at Virgin Australia

The five stages of design thinking

There are a number of frameworks employers can use to guide them in the design thinking process, including the British Design Council’s Double Diamond framework and American Institution of Graphic Arts’s Head, Heart and Hand model. 

Among the most popular frameworks is the five-step design thinking model developed by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, which offers a formula for effective human-centred design thinking.

“Human-centred design thinking forces you to think back on what the business is here to do. It’s not creating a plan that’s HR for HR’s sake, it’s creating focus areas and priorities that are directly linked to what the business needs to achieve,” says Burquest.

The Hasso-Plattner Institute’s framework breaks down human-centred design into five distinct stages: 

1. Empathise

Human-centred design must begin with empathy in order to ensure solutions align with the needs of people who will be impacted by them, which are employees in this instance.

By forefronting the voices of employees, employers can get their buy-in and ensure they feel like the changes are happening for them, rather than to them.

In recognition of the diverse needs of different cohorts of employees, Virgin Australia first broke down its workforce into employee personas, from new starters through to long-standing employees close to retirement. Segmenting the workforce in this way helped the team empathise with each group and ensure everyone felt heard and understood.

“During this early stage of transformation, we thought about the moments that matter for our people,” says Burquest. “As we designed our programs, we were taking into account all of these groups and how they might play into the initiative, and making sure it was something that would be engaging for them.”

Download a template to create employee personas here.

2. Define

During the define stage, HR practitioners will converge to determine specific workforce challenges to address, and/or gaps in current HR practices. Framing the challenge in this way can provide structure to the next phase, ideation, and ensure objectives remain consistent, even when methodology changes.

For Virgin Australia, a data-driven approach was key to defining the specific challenges faced by the different employee personas they had formulated. 

“[Data] allows you to dissect your workforce and look at it from different angles, whether its turnover or diversity, [et cetera],” says Burquest. “It’s really important because it helps you build a real case for change. I can’t encourage people enough to look at the data and use the insights to drive how you build out your strategies.” 

3. Ideate

The ideation stage of the design thinking process tends to involve brainstorming sessions and collaborative workshops to generate practical solutions to the defined issues, with input from both employees and leaders.

“[At Virgin Australia], we went through a collaborative process with all of our people around resetting our values, resetting our identity and resetting our expected levels of behaviour,” says Burquest. 

Guided by the objectives set in the Define stage, brainstorm participants should be encouraged to pitch out-of-the-box strategies and build on one another’s ideas. Creativity is a cornerstone of design thinking, and it should be made clear from the outset that innovation and lateral thinking are welcome in these sessions.

4. Prototype

Creating and piloting prototypes of HR programs on smaller employee groups is crucial, since it allows adjustments to be made before the full-scale rollout.

Virgin Australia uses its employee personas to guide the prototype stage of design thinking, which helps them tailor equitable and effective strategies for each cohort, says Burquest.

“We have half a dozen different personas that make up our workforce. We test each of the initiatives against those personas to see if this is going to drive the right outcomes for those team members,” she says.

5. Test

By gathering data and continuous feedback to refine initiatives, HR will continually adjust and test to ensure strategies evolve based on real-world, real-time experiences.

While HR should not be afraid to make changes to their strategies when tests demonstrate deficiencies, Burquest says practitioners should ensure the defined challenges and objectives should always be kept consistent and front-of-mind to ensure the process does not become erratic.

“Sometimes, you might have to make a radical adjustment in some part of your strategy. But you don’t want to be doing that around all of your strategy. You don’t want to be chopping and changing, you want to be evolving,” she says.

“It’s about creating processes that allow you to focus on the business context that matters. In a finite world of resources, what are the priorities that matter most? That helps you control your environment in a sensible way as you move through the process.”

Lisa Burquest will be speaking on navigating todayʼs capability challenges while building for tomorrow at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Sign up today to hear from Lisa and other experts, including Seth Godin, Ravin Jesuthasen and more.

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With productivity pressures growing, many global leaders are investing huge amounts of time and resources on cutting-edge tools to enhance their efficiency, from generative AI to virtual and augmented reality. 

With that said, for leaders to make the most of the opportunities presented by these new tools, they first need to turn their attention to the wellbeing and efficacy of the employees using them, said Dr John Chan, Managing Director at Infinite Potential, during an address at AHRI’s recent NSW State Conference.

“[As leaders], we can’t do all the great things that we want to do and help people unleash their potential if the environment they’re working in is not healthy or sustainable,” he says.

“Look within – look at the policies, the processes, what you’re doing. If you can improve that, you’ll instantly improve [employees’]  activity and quality of life.”

Chan recently co-authored a global report on the state of workplace burnout, which found that almost two in five employees (38 per cent) currently report experiencing burnout – a similar level to last year, and a 27 per cent increase since 2020.

Significantly, the report also uncovered a gap between how managers perceive their people’s wellbeing and how employees themselves reported on their wellbeing.

The report, which surveyed over 2000 participants across 43 countries, found that almost seven in 10 managers (68 per cent) say employees’ wellbeing is the same or better compared to 12 months ago. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of employees said their wellbeing is worse in the same period. 

“There are two reasons that we’re seeing this,” says Chan. “One is that managers are much more likely to be burned out themselves, so they don’t have time to actually [address it]. The other one is about education and training. 

“[Many] managers weren’t trained to look for burnout or stress. They weren’t trained to know how to mitigate these kinds of things. They were promoted because they’re really good at what they do… but they don’t have these abilities.

“If we’re going to put the onus of taking care of people’s wellbeing on managers, we need to make sure they know what to do and have the tools to do that.”

“Look at the way a job is structured or designed, and [ask yourself], ‘Can one person actually do that job within the time allocated? Are they getting paid enough that they can live and not [worry about] the rent?’”  – Dr John Chan, Managing Director at Infinite Potential

Three dimensions of burnout

Part of supporting managers to address burnout is helping them understand what it looks like, says Chan. Many see burnout as simply a synonym of ‘feeling tired’, but the condition is a multifaceted one that must be understood in its entirety in order to be managed effectively, he says. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), burnout is “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” and is characterised by three dimensions: 

1. Exhaustion

Exhaustion can take a number of forms, including physical, mental and emotional depletion. 

Levels of exhaustion often correlate to the volume of an employee’s workload, but can also be exacerbated by factors such as low job control, which can drain employees’ sense of involvement and engagement with their work.

“Exhaustion is the one we all know, and a lot of the time people think burnout stops here,” says Chan. “But if you’re exhausted but love what you’re doing and you’re [achieving] goals, you’re not [necessarily] burned out.”

Rather, burnout is the combination of exhaustion with the other two dimensions, he explains.

2. Cynicism

Employees experiencing burnout often develop a cynical outlook, mentally distancing themselves from their work and their colleagues and approaching tasks with negativity or even callousness.

“When you see people starting to hate their job, hate the people that work with and hate everything about their role…that’s a lot more problematic than the exhaustion piece when we’re trying to fix the situation,” says Chan. 

“Once someone grows that cynicism, it’s a really difficult road [to come back from].”

3. Reduced professional efficacy

This dimension of burnout could involve increases in mistakes and feelings of incompetence, which are often not grounded in truth, says Chan. 

“You might be very capable, but because of burnout, and because of the pressures that you’ve been put under or the culture you’re under, you’re starting to make mistakes and you’re starting to doubt your capabilities,” he says. 

Given that employees experiencing this symptom tend to take longer to complete tasks, it can create a vicious cycle of playing catch-up and lead to a “burnout spiral”, he adds.

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Combating burnout through sustainable work practices

Managing the dimensions of burnout explained above requires transparency and open communication from leaders to ensure employees don’t begin to self-blame, which only exacerbates the issue, says Chan.

“Burnout is not the fault of the individual. It’s not something that they have or haven’t done that has called them to burnout. It’s not that they aren’t good at prioritising. It is chronic workplace stress, and so it’s the structure and culture within the organisation that’s creating this environment.”

Based on Infinite Potential’s research, Chan’s team has devised a five-part framework for creating a sustainable workplace – i.e., a workplace where burnout is less likely to occur. 

The five foundations of a sustainable workplace include personal growth through training and career development, protection from harm and strong connections among teams. 

See the full framework below:

One of the most important aspects of this sustainable workplace model is people-centred structures, says Chan. 

“This has so much to do with an employee’s wellbeing. Look at the way a job is structured or designed, and [ask yourself], ‘Can one person actually do that job within the time allocated? Are they getting paid enough that they can live and not [worry about] the rent?’ [Thinking about] all of these structural things will do much more for wellbeing than other initiatives,” he says. 

While providing career development opportunities to employees whose workloads we are trying to reduce might seem counterintuitive, Chan stresses that these opportunities are essential to give employees a sense of purpose and thus mitigate burnout. 

“They still want to grow. They want to do less work, but to keep growing professionally and as a person. So don’t think that if we want to improve people’s wellbeing, it’s all about just taking stuff away from them,” he says. 

Instead, it’s about providing opportunities for meaningful work and reducing the volume of stress-inducing tasks.

To effectively apply this structure, Chan says employers need to be willing to trial and test sustainable work strategies that work for them. 

“No one knows the right answer. There is not going to be one right way [to approach] the future of work. It’s going to be different within organisations and within teams, and it’s going to change. So be open to experimentation.

“If you’re engaging with people on how you should try something, and [telling them], ‘This is an experiment and it might not go well,’ people really buy into that. So don’t be afraid to try it.”

Learn to design a wellbeing strategy tailored to your organisation’s unique needs with AHRI’s Implementing Wellbeing Initiatives short course.

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With our ways of working changing rapidly, relying on traditional leadership approaches could put organisations at risk of falling behind in the future of work.

Some aspects of the traditional leadership model, such as command-and-control structures and rigid roles, are slowly losing relevance as organisations traverse the rapidly evolving technological and economic landscape, says Ravin Jesuthasan, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer and upcoming speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August.

Below, Jesuthasan unpacks four key capabilities leaders of the future will need in order to navigate emerging disruptions and harness the opportunities presented by technological advancement.

1. Shift from hierarchical authority to empowerment and alignment 

There are several forces at play in the current business environment which make the traditional hierarchical model of leadership difficult to sustain, according to Jesuthasan.

One example is the shift towards hybrid and remote work models, which challenges traditional dynamics of control and requires a more trust-based approach to management.

Another is the emerging shift towards more agile ways of working. 

With skills shortages continuing to impact employers, many are recognising the value of a skills-based approach to work, where work is allocated to employees and non-employees based on their capabilities rather than whether it’s part of their job description. The rapid shifts in the skills landscape mean this strategy is likely to become more prevalent in the coming years.

While this approach allows employers to allocate resources more efficiently, effectively and with greater impact, the move away from rigid roles requires a significant mindset shift on the part of leaders.

“As we move towards these more agile, skills-based ways of working, leaders’ ability to empower teams and align them to a mission becomes increasingly important,” says Jesuthasan.

“And leading through empowerment and alignment has one prerequisite, which the hierarchical model doesn’t. And that’s trust – trust in your people that they are motivated to accomplish the same things you are and their trust that you have their best interests at heart.”

HR should keep in mind that this transition might be uncomfortable for leaders who might be used to functioning under a command-and-control model, he says.

“All of this is a reversal of about 140 years of learned behaviour on the part of leaders. So it’s really important that they have the space to experiment, practice and fail.”

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2. The ability to redesign work

With the shift away from rigid roles and towards skills-based ways of working, leaders will need to hone their ability to redesign work so talent (and AI and automation) can flow to it, says Jesuthasan.

“[Leaders need] that skill of being able to take an emerging body of work, deconstruct it into its elemental tasks, understand the skills required and the work options available, and figure out how to deploy that work,” he says. 

“For example, where should I use automation versus using the skills of an employee? Where should I use a gig worker or shared services? And then continuously reconstructing new ways of working that optimise speed, profitability and the workforce skills.” 

With work being resourced based on skills and capability rather than roles, leaders will need to adapt to having fewer dedicated teams, he adds.

“[There needs to be] a pivot from leaders who are really good at process execution to leaders who are increasingly exceptional at project guidance.”

3. Humanistic automation

With technological advancement moving at an unprecedented rate, it’s no surprise that digital literacy is projected to be a critical leadership skill of the future. To remain competitive, leaders need to constantly ask themselves if they are going far enough in understanding and leveraging emerging technologies, says Jesuthasan.

“What the past two years have taught us is that just being digitally savvy is too low a bar. We need business leaders who really understand AI in all its forms, understand the tools available and understand how it’s going to reshape their operating models.”

In the future, it will become increasingly important for leaders to strike the right balance between harnessing the capabilities of AI alongside the capabilities of their workforces.

“[Ask yourself], ‘How do I automate in a way that ensures that I’m not compromising ingenuity and innovation in my business? How do I automate in a way that makes the most of the human skills I’ve invested in for decades?’,” says Jesuthasan.

As AI takes on more and more of our repetitive, rules-based work, leaders should be placing more focus on cultivating human skills such as communication, problem-solving and critical thinking in both themselves and their people.

According to research from the World Economic Forum, the half-life of a technical skill is currently about five years. While it remains crucial to develop technical skills to navigate emerging technologies, employers should remember that the so-called ‘soft’ skills will always be necessary for success.

“What the past two years have taught us is that just being digitally savvy is such a low bar. We need business leaders who really understand generative AI.” – Ravin Jesuthasan, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services, Mercer

4. Cultivating diversity of thought, experience and perspective

The most effective leaders in the future of work will be those who can leverage the benefits of diverse workforces, says Jesuthasan.

“A key skill is managing diversity, equity and inclusion – not episodically like we typically do when we hire someone or promote them, but continuously by opening the aperture to having different skills, different perspectives and different experiences being deployed to work,” he says. 

“Because that’s the only way any business stays ahead of the competition – that diversity of thought, experience and perspective.”

Inclusive hiring practices are essential not only to innovation, but also to business stability, he says. He offers the example of a US airline that set up its own flight school as its traditional talent pool of ex-military pilots began to dry up. 

“Because of who was accepted to fly in the military [in the past], most of their pilots, unsurprisingly, were older white men. But with their own flight school, their first class was 80 per cent female and minorities. 

“By opening the aperture and creating their own school, they know that in less than two years, they’ll have a flight crew that is exponentially more diverse than the talent that they’re going to be replacing. It’s a win-win – we secure our supply, and we ensure that the supply is more diverse than the legacy supply chain.”

This strategic approach to diversity ensures that organisations are not just keeping pace with change, but are actively shaping the future of work.

As we move into the next iteration of work, HR plays a critical role in cultivating this next phase of leadership. As the champions of human-centred ways of working, HR practitioners are in a unique position to support leaders as they develop the skills to lead through empowerment, implement humanistic automation and enhance their approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Ravin Jesuthasan will be speaking on the deconstruction of jobs and the reconstruction of work at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Sign up today to hear from Ravin and other experts, including Seth Godin, Dr Pippa Grange and more.

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Calling the wrong candidate for an interview. Missing a decimal point in the budget. Accidentally hitting ‘reply-all’ on an email. Small actions can have big consequences.

In the same way, subtle behaviours can significantly impact the culture in your team or organisation. According to a culture study I conducted in partnership with McCrindle Research, which surveyed over 1000 frontline managers, 95 per cent agreed that culture is the outcome of lots of little decisions made over time.

While small decisions can help build great culture, it’s important to also recognise how small, negative behaviours that are left unchecked could potentially undermine it.

Here are ten micro-behaviours that can quietly kill a great culture and some practical strategies you can use to address them early.

1. Evidence-gathering or score-keeping behaviours

When employees feel the need to gather evidence of how they have been wronged or keep score against fellow team members, this is an indicator that trust is fractured.

This behaviour is more focused on defence than support. In these low-trust environments, people are less likely to assume positive intent in the actions of their teammates, and mistakes can quickly become weaponised.

In our research, a lack of trust was identified as the number-one culture killer by managers. When trust is present, team members feel comfortable to admit mistakes, ask for help or acknowledge their weaknesses without fear.

HR action point: Ensure that leaders model and promote timely feedback through ongoing conversations rather than waiting until annual reviews. Encouraging people to give in-the-moment feedback helps prevent people from accumulating their grievances for later.

2. Increasing ‘us and them’ language

In our research, fifty-three per cent of managers said that collaboration and teamwork are the most important ingredients for building a healthy culture at work.

However, when team members start to use divisive rather than inclusive language, it can be an early indicator that lines are being drawn between people and/or departments.

For example, changes initiated by leadership might be communicated as, ‘They told us we have to,’ rather than, ‘We agreed this was the best decision moving forward.’ Or, it could be subtle comments from team members such as, ‘That’s their project,’ rather than, ‘That’s our project.’

When team members begin to place themselves on either side of a line, instead of the same side, it won’t be long before silos and disconnected teams emerge.

Left unchecked, these silos can lead to breakdowns in communication, information sharing and collaboration, and can erode trust in your culture.

HR action point: Emphasise the use of ‘us’ and ‘we’ instead of ‘they’ and ‘them’ language when discussing work, challenges or desired outcomes.

3. The absence of ‘bad ideas’ in team meetings

The strength of a team lies in its diverse views, ideas and opinions. The freedom to share ideas that could be considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by the group is an important part of fostering a creative and innovative culture.

Healthy dissent or feeling comfortable to share a potentially ‘bad’ idea in team discussions are indicators that team members feel safe to challenge the norms without fear of punishment.

The absence of these ideas in team meetings can be an indicator that the team is drifting towards conformity/groupthink, or lacks the psychological safety necessary for people to contribute to the discussion or challenge a viewpoint.

HR action point: When brainstorming, introduce the idea of ‘plussing’ – that is, when an idea is shared, find ways to have others in the room build on the idea rather than immediately shooting it down or dismissing it.

4. Teams becoming less likely to push back on leaders’ Ideas

Tim Duggan’s book ‘Killer Thinking: How to turn good ideas into brilliant ones’ warns of the potential for the ‘Highest-Paid Person’s Opinion’ (HIPPO) to kill an idea before it has the chance to evolve into a killer idea.

If team members rarely challenge the leader’s ideas, it might be an indicator that there is an unspoken power imbalance affecting how team members contribute, which could be stifling creativity and critical thinking. This is also known as ‘authority bias’.

This could show up as a lack of feedback on a leader’s ideas (even when it’s invited), silence in meetings or passive agreement.

HR action point: Take time to call out the power imbalance that exists when a leader is in the room and help your team by inviting them to share their ideas first. When the leader’s ideas are shared, intentionally invite team members to challenge them and ensure that different opinions are both acknowledged and appreciated.

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5. Less direct feedback and more ‘second-hand’ feedback

In our research, over half the managers agreed open communication and feedback is important for creating a healthy culture at work.

Direct feedback, when delivered appropriately, deepens trust and strengthens working relationships. But, when people receive feedback through a third party rather than directly, it can be an early warning sign that there’s a breakdown in communication channels, safety and trust. It’s also possible that these behaviours indicate a lack of necessary skills to deliver tough feedback.

HR action point: Train team members in a clear and common feedback model. This could be something like Anna Carroll’s COIN (Context, Observation, Impact, Next Steps) model. Look for ways to enhance skills through a shared framework and then encourage people to put this into practice by addressing challenges directly.

“When team members begin to place themselves on either side of a line, instead of the same side, it won’t be long before silos and disconnected teams emerge.” – Shane Hatton, author, speaker and culture expert.

6. Closed cliques

It’s virtually impossible to have an organisation where cliques don’t exist. Whether by personality or proximity, certain relationships will be stronger than others.

One in two managers believe that trusting relationships at work are important for building a healthy culture. However, as these relationships form and deepen, they can become closed or exclusive, meaning they refuse to welcome outsiders, external input or challenge. This could lead to potential alienation of other team members, lack of collaboration and even favouritism. 

HR action point: Look for opportunities to introduce ‘outsiders’ into established groups when delegating work. This could be cross-departmental team projects or one-to-one peer mentoring.

Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect, suggests an exercise he calls ‘The Usual Suspects’. When a challenge arises, a team member is encouraged to write a list of the top five people they would typically go to for an answer, and then to intentionally seek out people who are not on that list to encourage outside intervention. 

7. Overemphasis on title and territory

More than a third of the managers in our study believe that territorial attitudes contribute to an unhealthy culture in an organisation.

When titles and territory are over-emphasised, organisations are more likely to see power struggles and conflict arise among teams. ‘Information hoarding’ can be a way that departments or leaders maintain power through withholding critical information that may benefit other employees.

There’s also a risk of people becoming ‘gatekeepers’ and preventing access to platforms or resources that enable people to do their job independently as a way of exerting power. Where this emphasis on territory and title exists, it’s also likely that external feedback will be met with hostility as people seek to defend their patch.

Over time, these behaviours can lead to a more hostile and much less collaborative culture.

HR action point: Introduce recognition programs that reward group effort and individual achievement, ensuring that all team members know that both types of contribution are equally valued.

8. Inability to make decisions without meetings

Our research showed 45 per cent of managers believe a lack of accountability is a culture killer. This can often show up in the form of ‘blame diffusion’.

‘Blame diffusion’ is a term used to describe a culture where teams struggle to make important decisions outside of a group meeting, the rationale being that if a group made the decision, no one individual could be blamed if things went wrong.

This behaviour protects individuals at the expense of accountability and slows down the decision-making process.

HR action point: Examine your leadership responses to failure. Are the mistakes of leaders hidden from the broader organisation or talked about openly? Is failure or learning emphasised in the language when mistakes are made? What processes are in place to dissect mistakes that are made and share the learning?

Encourage people to be transparent in their communication about failures and adopt a “fail fast, learn faster” mindset.

“When a challenge arises, a team member is encouraged to write a list of the top five people they would typically go to for an answer, and then to intentionally seek out people who are not on that list to encourage outside intervention.” – Shane Hatton, author, speaker and culture expert.

9. Only celebrating the big wins

A focus only on major achievements can not only demotivate a team, but it also overlooks the importance of daily efforts that contribute to the long-term success of a business.

In our research, nearly half of leaders told us they believe a lack of reward and recognition contributes to an unhealthy culture in an organisation. By taking time to stop and celebrate the small wins along the way, team members are much less likely to feel as though their consistent hard work is going unnoticed.

HR action point: Ensure your reward and recognition programs and team feedback sessions celebrate progress as well as significant outcomes.

10. A constant state of urgency

The pressure to be in a constant state of heightened alertness to respond to immediate needs can lead to more mistakes, lower quality of work and chronic stress, which, in turn, adversely impacts both physical and mental health.

Unclear or unrealistic workload expectations were listed as one of the top-five culture killers by managers in our research. Clear and achievable workload expectations, along with realistic deadlines, are crucial aspects of a healthy work culture.

HR action point: When delegating work, ensure expectations and priorities are communicated clearly upfront and set realistic deadlines which take into account availability of resources.

Long before you find yourself broken down on the side of the road, your car’s ‘check engine’ light warns of potential trouble ahead. In the same way, subtle unproductive workplace behaviours can be a signal of much deeper cultural issues.

By paying close attention to these subtle signals, you can address these issues before they escalate, ensuring you create an environment for your team to truly thrive.

Shane Hatton will be speaking about how to become a trusted leadership voice at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Sign up today to hear from Shane and other experts, including Seth Godin, Dr Pippa Grange and more.

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