When organisations are faced with crippling, complex and seemingly unsolvable culture challenges, they often put sole responsibility on the HR team to ‘fix’ the problem. But this rarely works because you can’t outsource culture to a single function in the business – it needs to be deeply embedded into all of your business practices.HR practitioners aren’t the keepers of culture – they are the culture leaders and enablers. They set the scene and provide leaders and managers with the tools they’ll need to help their teams live out the organisational values in an authentic and impactful way.

In this episode of Let’s Take This Offline, Siobhan McHale, Executive General Manager of People, Culture and Change at Dulux and speaker at this year’s AHRI National Convention and Exhibition, offers a range of practical frameworks to help HR practitioners reframe their role from ‘business partner’ to ‘business leader’ and offers advice to help HR have a greater impact at an executive level when it comes to driving culture transformation projects.

Skip to the section that interests you most:

• 5:37 minutes: How to get buy-in for culture change without having to take ownership of it
• 8:00 minutes: McHale explains the difference between a culture disruptor and a culture leader.
• 15:15 minutes: Tips to help identify patterns in your culture.
• 20:17 minutes: Advice on how to look at culture from a commercial perspective.
• 30:00 minutes: The difference between emotional intelligence and group intelligence.
• 35:33 minutes: How to get change resistant people over the line.
• 40:55 minutes: McHale responds to a made-up scenario about a CEO whose too focussed on short-term results to focus on long-term culture impacts.

Check out the episode transcript here.

Extra resources:

For more conversations to inspire HR, listen to season one of Let’s Take This Offline here.

If you’d like further information and resources to help put McHale’s insights into action, check out the links below:

Learning opportunities

• Sign up to AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition⁠ in Melbourne on 20-22 August to hear more from Siobhan McHale.

Further reading

• Learn more about Siobhan’s books here.
• Read this article where Siobhan shares more details about how to become a culture transformer.

Member-exclusive content

• AHRI members can Join the ⁠AHRI LinkedIn Lounge⁠ to connect with your peers and for access to a member-exclusive bonus episode.

Connect with us

• ⁠Connect with AHRI on LinkedIn⁠.
• ⁠Connect with Beth Hall CPHR on LinkedIn⁠
• Connect with Siobhan McHale on LinkedIn.
• Visit Siobhan’s website.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can follow the podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud or Apple Podcasts. AHRI members receive exclusive bonus content via the LinkedIn AHRI Lounge.

The post Podcast: How HR practitioners can become cultural leaders appeared first on HRM online.

Most people have heard a version of the saying ‘good leaders ask good questions’. It’s less common, however, to think about asking a good mix of different types of questions.

“When you read about this in management literature, you get insights like, ‘Good questions are follow-up questions or open-questions, but [leaders need] a little more guidance than that,”  says Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor at IMD Business School in Switzerland.

Particularly for first-time leaders, the tendency to jump into solution mode before letting curiosity play out can put many organisational elements at risk, such as innovation (if we don’t ask questions to surface everyone’s ideas), psychological safety (if people don’t feel they can push back on an idea) and wasting time or resources (if we put all our energy into solving the wrong challenge).

That’s why Chevallier has spent years determining five types of questions that he and his co-researchers believe will help leaders and organisations to operate on a deeper, more strategic level.

“I think all executives and professionals should develop a mindful set of questions that they’re constantly updating to serve them better in the decisions they’re making,” says Chevallier.

5 types of questions

Over three years, Chevallier and his co-authors Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux, also professors at IMD, conducted interviews with hundreds of top-performing executives to learn about their favourite types of questions.

“Then we refined them using the Delphi method and organised the questions into general buckets.”

They also conducted a robust literature review.

“Management executives aren’t trained to ask questions, but other professions are – physicians, psychologists, journalists, lawyers. We wanted to learn as much as we could from those other fields [whose workforces] have thought long and hard about the meaning of questions.”

From this research, they first determined four types of question, which are as follows:

1. Investigative questions

These types of questions follow a similar line of thinking to Toyota’s ‘five whys’, says Chevallier.

“This is epitomised by the ‘what’s known?’ type of question. Investigative questions help you probe the root causes of the problem, and help you to go deeper into the decision you need to make.”

Examples:

• What is and isn’t working?
• What are the causes of the problem?
• How feasible and desirable is each option?
• What evidence supports our proposed plan?

2. Speculative questions

Going deep with investigative questions is important, but not sufficient, says Chevallier. 

It’s also useful to go broader with your line of questioning. This is where speculative questioning comes into play.

“We epitomised speculative questions within ‘what if?’ For example, ‘What if we didn’t care about costs?’ or ‘What if we could relax these other constraints?’

“[These questions] foster innovation by challenging the implicit or the explicit assumptions we come to in our decisions.

“For HR professionals, who are addressing the human component of [work], you really need to develop your subjective question mix so you’re always asking yourself ‘what’s the actual meaning that’s going on behind the words?’”

Examples:

• What other scenarios might exist?
• Could we approach this differently?
• What else might we propose?
• What can we simplify, modify, combine or eliminate?
• What potential solutions have we not considered?

“All executives and professionals should develop a mindful set of questions that they’re constantly updating to serve them better in the decisions they’re making.” – Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor, IMD Business School

3. Productive questions

It’s also important to have a set of questions that are designed to move processes along, says Chevallier. He refers to these as the ‘Now what?’ questions.

“They’re here to help us adjust the pace of the decision making – sometimes accelerating it because the deadline is coming, or sometimes slowing down because we’ve come to a decision with a preconceived mindset or there might be cognitive biases that are crowding our judgement.”

Examples:

• What do we need to achieve before we advance to the next stage?
• Do we know enough to move forward?
• Do we have the resources to move forward?
• Are we ready to make a decision?
  

4. Interpretative questions

Interpretative, or sense-making, questions help us take what we’ve learned from our investigative, speculative and productive questions and turn them into insights.

“[These questions] are epitomised by the ‘So what?’ Okay, we’ve figured out this one thing, what is that telling us about our overarching goal?'”

Examples:

• What did we learn from this new information?
• What could this mean for our present and future actions?
• How does this fit in with our overarching goal?
• What are we trying to achieve?

Chevallier and his colleagues were originally happy with these four types of questions, but after analysing the insights gleaned from their discovery sessions with the executives, they realised something was missing. 

They needed a question type that surfaced the many things that are often left unsaid, which led to the addition of a fifth type of question.

5. Subjective questions

“We’re not dealing with robots. We’re dealing with people. In every conversation, there are hidden emotional or possibly political sets of insights. [In these cases], it’s [important] to figure out the meaning behind the words,” says Chevallier.

For people managers, this is where you might uncover people’s frustrations, tensions or hidden agendas. People’s answers to these types of questions can often lead you down a completely unexpected (and often critical) pathway.

From an organisational perspective, subjective questions can protect a business from risks such as wasted budgets, reputational damage and causing dissent or disengagement to brew in teams.

Examples:

• How do you feel about this decision?
• What aspect of this most concerns you?
• Are there any differences between what was said, what was heard and what was meant?
• Are all stakeholders genuinely aligned?
• Have we consulted all the right people?

Learn how to hone your leadership and management skills with this short course from AHRI.

Curious cultures

While Chevallier and his colleague’s research didn’t go into detail about the cultural environments that are required to allow for these types of questions, his opinion is that trust and psychological safety are key to making these types of questions effective.

In an article for Harvard Business Review, they wrote: “Team members may be reluctant to explore emotional issues unless the leader provides encouragement and a safe space for discussion. 

“They may fail to share misgivings simply because no one else is doing so – a social dynamic known as pluralistic ignorance. Leaders must invite dissenting views and encourage doubters to share their concerns.”

You also need to choose your timing wisely when asking certain questions, says Chevallier.

“If you come into a new position and start asking a bunch of speculative questions, it might be too early. You might first need to establish those relationships with people.”

Read HRM’s article about how to build social capital in the workplace.

Auditing your question default

Chevallier and his colleagues have created an interactive tool – which will launch later this year – to help leaders assess which type of questions they default to. For example, you might complete the assessment and discover you have very few points allocated to speculative questions.

“[In that case], you could make a list of 10 speculative questions and, ahead of a meeting, highlight a couple that you’d like to ask,” he says.

There’s no specific mix of questions to ask, he adds. The research isn’t suggesting every situation calls for one of each type of question.

“You might ask five different investigative questions. It depends on the specific situation. 

“The five types of questions, hopefully, help people realise that there are various ways to look at a problem or a decision. Before we follow our muscle memory into one direction or another, we should periodically step back and ask, ‘Are we still going in a productive direction?’

“The world of today is not like the world of yesterday. We absolutely need to update the way we make sense of it or we’re at risk of not being able to decipher it.”

Example questions listed in this article sourced from Dalsace, Barsoux and Chevallier’s article on their research in Harvard Business Review print edition (May-June 2024). You can read the online version here.

The post 5 types of questions strategic leaders should be asking 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.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, with the demand for certain skills rising and others becoming obsolete, preparing for the future of work requires foresight and adaptability. 

In this episode, Ravin Jesuthasan, global thought leader and Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer, talks about how HR practitioners can navigate the evolving skills landscape and prepare their organisations and employees for these changes. 

You’ll learn how to take advantage of the shift towards skills-based hiring, how artificial intelligence might reinvent the graduate-level position, and discover models and frameworks to think about skills and job design as a small, medium or large-sized business.

Skip to the section that interests you most:

• 3:40 minutes: Three things HR can do to prepare for the evolving skills landscape
• 6:09 minutes: How to effectively map skills
• 12:51 minutes: The most crucial skills for businesses to focus on
• 16:03 minutes: How AI might change (or remove) graduate level positions
• 22:24 minutes: How to get started as a skills-based organisation
• 29:24 minutes: How to apply these skills as a small to medium-sized business
• 40:44 minutes: Jesuthasan responds to a scenario about a company that is moving towards a skills-based approach and has created agile teams working on project-based assignments.

View the podcast transcript here.

Extra resources:

For more conversations to inspire HR, listen to season one of Let’s Take This Offline here.

If you’d like further information and resources to help put Jesuthasan’s insights into action, check out the links below:

Learning opportunities

• Sign up to AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition⁠ in Melbourne on 20-22 August to hear more from Ravin Jesuthasan.

• Sign up for AHRI’s new short course, GenAI Integration Essentials.

Further reading

• Learn more about Jesuthasan’s books.

• Read HRM’s article where Jesuthasan talks about the future of leadership skills.

Member-exclusive content

• Join the AHRI LinkedIn Lounge to connect with your peers and for access to a bonus episode later this week.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can follow the podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud or Apple Podcasts. AHRI members receive exclusive bonus content via the LinkedIn AHRI Lounge.

The post Podcast: practical tips to prepare your organisation for the evolution of skills 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.

The post How to use design thinking to enhance your HR strategies appeared first on HRM online.

Australia’s ongoing skills gaps are hampering productivity for over half of employers (57 per cent), according to a recent report from AHRI.

The report, based on insights from 607 senior business decision-makers across a range of sectors, also found that almost one in five workers (19 per cent) are considered “not proficient” in their role by their employer, a statistic which is consistent with AHRI’s most recent Quarterly Work Outlook report. 

This problem is more significant in the public sector, where 24 per cent of employees aren’t fully proficient, compared to 18 per cent in the private sector.

With the integration of AI and other complex technologies moving at a rapid pace, it’s unsurprising that employers are lacking essential capabilities within their workforces. 

Skills and qualifications that previously sustained a career spanning 40 years or more now demand continuous updates and to remain relevant, posing significant challenges for learning and development teams to keep up with the speed of change. According to the World Economic Forum, the half-life of a skill is currently about five years. 

With that said, AHRI’s findings demonstrate that employers are not resting on their laurels. More than three quarters (77 per cent) are taking active steps to strengthen their talent pipelines. 

Below, HRM unpacks AHRI’s key findings on the driving forces behind Australia’s capability gaps, and how employers are responding.

Common causes of skills gaps

Employers identified a range of driving forces behind current skills gaps, mostly related to the rapid evolution of skill and business needs.

Figure 1 shows that evolving business or strategic needs are cited by 44 per cent of employers, while 42 per cent point to the constantly evolving skills landscape as a significant factor.

The post 57 per cent of employers say skills gaps are impacting productivity, finds AHRI research appeared first on HRM online.

Getting a new business initiative approved can feel like pulling teeth. HR practitioners often hit a wall in the form of budget restraints, unrelenting leadership or a workplace culture averse to change.

In the current economic environment, this can turn into a Catch-22. In times of skills shortages, technological disruption and shifting regulatory landscapes, large-scale people initiatives are often necessary for survival, but these same issues are driving many executives to tighten their purse strings.

As a result, HR practitioners without the necessary influencing skills risk letting their best strategies remain forever as ideas on a page.

To avoid this, HR practitioners can develop the skills to speak executives’ language, cultivate advocates and develop a deep understanding of a business’s needs and pain points.

A research-backed approach to executive buy-in

When pitching for executive buy-in, an approach that combines human skills with business acumen is key. 

In an article for Harvard Business Review, professors Susan J. Ashford and James R. Detert provide a detailed breakdown of how to gain executive buy-in based on their research. 

In their research, Ashford and Detert identified the tactics of a successful “issue seller” (their name for a person seeking buy-in).

“Issue sellers who accomplish their goals, we found, look for the best ways, venues, and times to voice their ideas and concerns – using rhetorical skill, political sensitivity, and interpersonal connections to move the right leaders to action,” they write.

They break this down into seven key tactics:

1. Tailoring your pitch – this was the key success factor. They say it’s critical to become familiar with your executive’s “unique blend of goals, values and knowledge” and use these insights to customise your pitch according to who you’re speaking with.

2. Strategically frame the issue – this is the stage most HR professionals would be familiar with: building a business case. Not surprisingly, the researchers found this was more effective than moral framing (e.g. trying to convince people to ‘do the right thing’).

3. Manage your emotions – passion, they said, was proven to help in achieving buy-in, but passion can easily spill into anger and this inevitably works against issue sellers. Emotional regulation is key.

4. Choose your timing wisely – pitch ideas when there’s a groundswell from employees, when a business’ priorities are shifting (we’re in such a time right now) or when a new leader is at the helm.

5. Don’t do it alone – the researchers found having a group of people involved in seeking buy-in made it happen a lot faster, as each individual brought their own experience, relationships and social pull.

6. Tailor your approach– understand how various executives like to receive information. Do they prefer formal presentations to a casual coffee catch-up, for example? Or, does anecdotal data sourced from employees have more impact than referring to external statistics?

7. Have a solution – it seems obvious, but don’t suggest changing a process without providing what the researchers call “thoughtful fixes”. Come prepared with a well-researched solution, but be willing to make changes and seek feedback from others to ensure diversity of thought.

Read the full HBR article for further explanation, advice and examples backing up the tactics.

HR influence in action

Gaining executive buy-in requires HR to strike the right balance between human skills such as emotional intelligence with technical skills such as business acumen, says Shirley Vella CPHR, Executive Director of HR at SPV Consulting.

Based on her experiences getting HR strategies over the line, Vella offers three key tips for HR practitioners hoping to boost their influence among the executive team.

1. Speak executives’ language

For HR practitioners, the engagement, wellbeing and/or capabilities of the workforce tend to be the number-one goals of any new initiative. So, when pitching to executives, it’s often HR’s first instinct to lead with workforce benefits. 

However, it’s important for HR to put themselves in executives’ shoes and demonstrate that costs and business context have been prioritised in the strategy, says Vella.

“In my experience, executives really want to do good things for the employees, but, at the end of the day, the business needs to be sustained,” she says. 

“You need to understand your audience. If they’re looking at the bottom line, then you talk about the bottom line. Look at the ROI and what’s in it for the business.”

To get this right, it’s essential for HR to upskill themselves in the fundamentals of finance, she says, such as the right way to do a cost-benefit analysis or return on investment forecast.

“HR is fundamentally about people, but it also requires a strong focus on the profitability of the business. So you need to have that business acumen.”

“In my experience, executives really want to do good things for the staff, but, at the end of the day, the business needs to be sustained.” – Shirley Vella, Executive Director of Human Resources, SPV Consulting

Vella recalls an instance where she put these skills into practice to get executives at a previous organisation on board with a new HR information system (HRIS). 

“The company had never done it before. And they [looked at] the subscription fees and implementation fees first and asked, ‘What’s good about it?’

“The first thing I did was [demonstrate] the ROI of having the system – for example, [pointing out that] leave management and performance management could all be done through the system, so it’s saving a lot of HR time [to be reinvested into more high-value work]. Also, regulatory compliance is all set up in the system, so, for example, if an employee had an expired or invalid license, the system comes up with an alert, which reduces the risk to them. So we’re using those points and converting them into dollar signs.”

2. Divide and conquer

When cultivating the ability to influence executives, it’s important for HR to remember that each executive will have their own unique language and priorities.

“When you’re trying to get executive buy-in, use a divide and conquer [model],” says Vella. “Try to map your stakeholders first.”

For example, when she pitched the HRIS mentioned above to her company’s executive team, she first made a list of the leadership team members and determined who was the most computer-savvy and systems-focused, and approached them first to demonstrate the benefits.

“If you get their buy-in first, then they will become your advocates, and they will spread the word.”

Once initial advocates are onboard, leverage their support to influence other executives, she says. Many executives will be more convinced of an initiative’s benefits if they hear about them from more than one source, and this can create a positive knock-on effect that lends momentum to your proposal.

3. Start small

As well as building advocates within the executive team, Vella says that the greatest advocates for launching or sustaining HR initiatives are often the employees participating in them. 

Similarly to executives, employees are often more swayed by word of mouth than by formal presentations from the HR team.

For this reason, Vella suggests launching every important initiative through a pilot program in an area of the organisation where it’s likely to have the most impact.

“Whoever you pilot with will become your advocates too,” she says.

She offers the example of a lunch and learn initiative she recently launched in her current role.

“Everyone was fairly sceptical at first,” she says. “First of all, I [convinced] the executives to buy in, but they couldn’t force staff to go. So the next step was [convincing] the frontline managers, who are always busy. I personally went to them and said, ‘Come for five minutes, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.’

“Some of them who never wanted to join [in the first place] just came in to have a look, and  ended up  staying for the entire hour. The positive feedback was enormous and, slowly, they started to talk about [rolling] this out to other teams as well.”

By using these strategies to cultivate advocates among both the executive team and the broader workforce, HR can ensure their ideas translate into meaningful change.

A version of this article was originally published in June 2020, and has been updated with fresh insights from Shirley Vella CPHR.

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HR leaders are often burdened with the everyday. Fresh organisational demands and global crises mean they’re often forced into reactive mode. Rather than being able to focus on leading people through change, their attention is too often pulled into the here and now. 

This is especially the case following an ongoing four-year marathon that’s included the pandemic, talent shortages, rising cost-of-living challenges and widespread burnout. 

While it will always be part and parcel of HR’s job to be responsive to a business’s needs, it’s also possible for HR practitioners to pull themselves out of the detail and be enabled to focus on the future, when given the right tools and resources, says Amantha Imber, organisational psychologist and founder of behaviour change consultancy Inventium.

“It can often feel like a game of whack-a-mole and always being on the defence across schedules, workloads, emails, calendars and team chats,” says Imber, who is speaking at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. 

“But we need to learn to play offence with our workdays, at both the individual and organisational level – and change behaviours and mindsets en masse.”

“It’s a hard process,” says Imber. “You need to be clear on where you’re going, where you hope to be, then figure out how to close that capability gap and what long-term success looks like to your organisation.”

Here, Imber and two HR leaders share their best tips to move HR professionals into forward-planning mode.

1. Set realistic benchmarks to map progress

Imber says introducing metrics enables HR professionals to establish their organisational strengths and weaknesses and track changes. 

“If you want to drive change, you first need a baseline: what’s going on right now in the organisation? A starting point allows you to measure progress.”

Key, though, is using metrics that are actionable.

“Many organisations come up with so many initiatives, yet struggle to put in place reliable metrics that measure impact,” says Imber. “For example, a client of ours established a goal around disability representation in the workforce. That’s great, but also almost impossible to track in that it’s not mandatory for employees to [disclose] a disability.”

Instead, metrics should be “diagnostic”, she says. They should flag areas for improvement, leading to a clear pathway in which people leaders have actionable recommendations based on results.

This is the approach Christina King FCPHR, Chief People Officer at Cornerstone Medical Recruitment, has adopted.

“We’ve created metrics that flow down and connect with teams, so we know what we need to focus on, while connecting back to the ultimate organisational goals,” she says. “Metrics are crucial – the data doesn’t lie. For people leaders, that means being able to demonstrate in a quantitative and qualitative sense, the bottom-line impact on the organisation.” 

“We need to learn to play offence with our workdays, at both the individual and organisational level – and change behaviours and mindsets en masse.” – Amantha Imber, organisational psychologist and founder, Inventium

2. Eliminate administrative burdens with AI to create more time for proactive HR

The advent of generative AI, and automation more broadly, may free up schedules so teams have more opportunities to look beyond tomorrow.

“We’re already seeing some organisations delegate some repetitive tasks to generative AI, automating the mundane tasks to free up time for more creative thinking,” says Imber. 

However, organisational pressures mean HR is sometimes left out when it comes to experimenting with new technology.

“HR teams often spend time trying to build capability across their organisation, but forget about themselves. The top people teams are able to invest in their own development, and improve their own productivity, so they can free up time for more strategic problem-solving. That’s where AI comes in: creating huge productivity gains for the repetitive, less valued work often given to HR.”

Some tech-savvy people leaders are using AI today – and already reaping the rewards. For example, Justine Cooper FCPHR, Vice President Human Resources, Pacific Zone at Schneider Electric, uses her company chatbot for content creation.

“Alongside automating processes, AI can be used to draft items such as strategy days and HR policies,” says Cooper. 

“It’s an exciting tool that frees up so much time. I’ve used chatbot suggestions as first drafts, then written prompts that incorporate organisational values and fine-tuned the language.” 

3. Segment your time by importance rather than urgency 

Cooper read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, early in her career and still draws on its insights today.

“I apply the ‘Important vs Urgent’ time matrix in planning my daily list of activities. This tool helps you move from urgency to where the real importance lies, meaning you can become more intentional with your time,” she says.  

“Being proactive, and beginning with the end in mind, helps anchor me in terms of the impact I can make, which I think through on an annual and quarterly basis and sense-check on a weekly basis. Time isn’t just given to you – you have to find a way to free it up.”

Imber’s toolkit includes meeting clean-up templates (in which leaders sift through their calendars and identify which calls don’t meet short and long-term goals) and ‘recurring irritant lists’ for regular, tedious and often self-inflicted tasks.

There can also be ‘zombie hunts’, she says, where half-dead products, services and processes that drain time and resources are eliminated. This can enable leaders to work smarter, rather than harder.

4. Move with a rational, systems-driven approach 

Some of the best people leaders adopt a scientific attitude, says Imber.  They come up with a hypothesis, measure data against it, then iterate insights within frameworks supported by systems and processes. This helps HR teams become more strategic and forward-focused, rather than just tackling issues as they arrive in the in-tray.

“From my organisational psychologist background, I see everything through the lens of scientific method, such as using data to measure progress,” she says. “When HR professionals do that, they can measure behaviour – rather than just intentions – and take actions based on metrics.”

King’s team extract data from their HRIS and payroll, which automatically generates month-end reports. They also use a company calendar integrating upcoming events, such as budget planning and quarterly reviews, and established an innovation committee that focuses on finding marginal gains.

5. Get comfortable saying ‘no’

Imber says many of her clients include people leaders who are natural strategists, innovators and holistic thinkers. Where they often come unstuck, though, is taking on too much work.

“Before the pandemic, there were clearer boundaries around which sort of problems fell inside the organisation’s remit, and therefore HR. Today, many people leaders are unclear of their roles. Some are almost acting like therapists for direct reports when that’s not their job.”

If HR leaders want to focus on the future of work, they sometimes have to politely decline present-day challenges. King says this can be done in a way that protects workloads and time, without harming relationships. 

“It’s a learned skill. Many of us in HR feel guilty: carving out two hours for strategic planning while an employee has an issue can feel hard. I’ve learned to go with ‘yes, if’. That means you can say yes to a piece of work, but it will come at a cost to something else. That way, you won’t feel as conflicted and can still manage to demonstrate flexibility.”

Proactive HR leaders also find time in their schedules for deep thinking. 

Every Monday, Cooper blocks out the first hour of her morning to reflect on her organisation’s big-picture IMPACT values: inclusion, mastery, purpose, action, curiosity and teamwork.

“As people leaders building a directional vision, anchoring plans and goals to help inspire our teams and build momentum, making interventions that create time for us to reflect is critical,” she says. 

“Being proactive, and beginning with the end in mind, helps anchor me in terms of the impact I can make. Time isn’t just given to you – you have to find a way to free it up.” – Justine Cooper FCPHR, Vice President Human Resources, Pacific Zone at Schneider Electric

6. Think outside the box when planning for the future

The hope is that by slowly shifting towards a longer-term strategy, people leaders will be better equipped to deal with the challenges of tomorrow, today. 

“In the best organisations, HR teams are able to push boundaries and challenge norms and lean into innovation,” says Imber. 

“They’re able to look at the bigger picture, question what the future of work looks like and prepare for the trends shaping their industry, then build the workplace culture and skills for the next five years.”

The potential benefits stretch far beyond HR teams, though. They extend to the people they lead.

“The workplaces I’ve seen with forward-looking people leaders are often more exciting, inspirational and motivating places to work,” says Imber. 

“There’s just an energy about the place. People are excited to come to work, they’re engaged. They have a deeper sense of meaning in what they’re doing.” 

Hear more from Amantha Imber and Justine Cooper FCPHR at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in Melbourne from 20-22 August. Secure your ticket today.

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Executives in Australia are increasingly turning to talent analytics to derive insights on outcomes such as employee attrition, performance and sentiment to influence talent and business decisions. While many leaders value the availability of this data, few feel confident their organisation is maximising its potential.

According to Gartner research, 78 per cent of HR leaders say their organisation relies more heavily on talent data to make decisions compared to four years ago. However, 71 per cent agree that current team structures and capabilities limit their ability to use these insights effectively.

To be successful, HR leaders need to focus on developing the skills of their HR team members to help them become:

1. Analytics experts who manage and prepare the data to produce insights 
2. Decision enablers who interpret the information and apply learnings
3. Strategic consultants who influence broader business priorities as tactical communicators.

Doing so will enable talent analytics to influence HR’s biggest functional decisions and act as a central driver of innovation throughout the organisation by providing objective and timely advice.

Building a culture of analytical learning

Skilled talent analytics experts play a crucial role within any organisation. They are responsible for maintaining data, effectively analysing it and supporting an integrated approach to workforce planning and risk management, among other strategic activities. 

To develop analytics experts, HR leaders must build a culture of technical learning within their team. This can be achieved by fostering collaboration between those responsible for talent analytics and the learning and development (L&D) team. 

This will help HR leaders identify technical skills gaps within the team and create learning pathways that ensure employees stay ahead of new methods and technologies. 

Rotational programs with IT or data and analytics functions can also be introduced to bolster technical skills and knowledge. 

“Traditional earning mechanisms won’t be enough. A core competency that drives effective decision enablement is the business acumen that can only be gained through experience.”

Using data-driven HR to develop strong decision makers

Gartner research reveals only nine per cent of HR leaders feel their department has been truly successful at arming their team with data to enable them to support workforce-related business decisions. 

Given that talent processes can be disrupted by external changes and technology, HR decision-makers need uninterrupted access to relevant data to gain a deep understanding of HR’s priorities and activities. 

The L&D function can also be an invaluable partner here by facilitating regular knowledge exchanges on priorities, emerging trends and insights between talent analytics experts and HR leaders. 

However, traditional learning mechanisms won’t be enough. A core competency that drives effective decision enablement is the business acumen that can only be gained through experience.

Developing true business acumen and the underlying competencies of industry, organisational and financial knowledge is best achieved through a combination of classic development activities combined with high-impact, hands-on learning moments.

For example, providing HR team members with the opportunity to work in cross-functional teams to lead change initiatives, build and execute business cases or play a significant role in delivering a solution can transform by-the-book thinkers into strategic problem solvers and innovators.

From tactical directives that respond to changing business conditions to supporting the entire employee life cycle, this approach ensures leaders can make data-driven talent decisions with confidence.  

Becoming a strategic partner

Executives and business leaders often face many competing priorities, particularly when managing the interests of shareholders, internal stakeholders and customers. As a result, HR leaders can struggle to effectively influence their decision making, even when equipped with data or insights.

According to a Gartner survey, 81 per cent of talent analytics leaders state that it’s important for their team to be proficient in strategic consulting. However, less than half (47 per cent) are currently satisfied with their team’s proficiency.

Rather than focusing on relationship management approaches designed to drive stakeholder satisfaction, strategic consultants should build and hone skills such as persuasion and storytelling with data, which can empower HR to be more effective in their dealings with stakeholders. 

To do this, consultants need to develop a deeper understanding of their business stakeholders’ needs and drivers, along with demonstrating the impact of their interactions. 

Feedback from business stakeholders and measures of consultants’ performance should go beyond the basics of capturing face-to-face time to collect real evidence of when HR insights have resulted in action.

Similarly to decision enablers, strategic consultants benefit from connecting with other department leads or C-suite members, fostering partnerships between talent analytics and other functions. Creating these relationships allows for the sharing of best practices and can help inform talent analytics teams about which HR technologies (e.g., data visualisation tools) are the most effective for sharing insights with stakeholders.

HR leaders who can implement these steps will be well-placed to grow their talent analytics function, increase their credibility, influence innovation and drive critical business decisions. 

Robin Boomer is a Senior Director, Advisory in Gartner’s HR Practice. He provides strategic advice and insights to support HR leaders and strategic workforce planning teams.

Understand the principles of data-driven decision making and learn to apply a data-driven mindset to HR strategies and challenges with AHRI’s foundational short course in People Analytics. Take the advanced course to elevate your workforce data management and analytical skills in a business context.

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Many of the issues faced by today’s HR practitioners in Australia are being dealt with by HR teams the world over, from managing changing employee expectations to keeping up with digitisation. What insights can Australian HR teams take from their global peers to enhance their own HR strategies? 

In celebration of International HR Day 2024, HRM interviewed four international HR leaders to learn more about the most pressing issues facing HR in their respective countries and how they are helping their organisations navigate the modern world of work. 

How HR practitioners in New Zealand are building culturally inclusive workplaces

The unique cultural landscape in New Zealand means that a nuanced approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is essential, says Nick McKissack, Chief Executive Officer at Human Resources New Zealand (HRNZ). 

“The landscape of DEI has expanded over recent years, with greater attention being given to a wider range of communities,” he says. “For example, the needs of the Rainbow community and neurodiverse [employees] have been receiving far greater efforts by organisations committed to fully utilising their talent and creating positive workplace cultures.”

Support for Indigenous people and culture has been a top priority for some time, he says, and increased recognition of the unique needs and challenges of this cohort has been a welcome development.

“Employers are increasingly reflecting a commitment to te tiriti o Waitangi [the Treaty of Waitangi] and Māori cultural values in their diversity and inclusion programs.  

“It is predicted that one in five working age adults in the [New Zealand] workforce will be of Māori descent within 20 years. There’s a recognition that there are a range of systemic issues that work against Māori succeeding and achieving their potential in the workplace. Tackling these systemic issues takes a high priority in many organisations and is seen to improve equity more generally.

“The combination of shifting generational perspectives and Te Ao Māori values mean that organisations with a strong purpose and an authentic commitment to their people will be best positioned for future success and sustainability. HR professionals can play a critical role in helping their organisations to achieve this.”

“It’s a disorientating time for organisations, with changes in technology overlapping with broader societal changes and shifts in the world of work. The profession will be at the heart of the response and drive for better.” – David D’Souza, Director of Profession, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

Innovative approaches to employee wellbeing in Canada

According to Anthony Ariganello, Chief Executive Officer at Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Canada, managing employee wellbeing effectively requires HR practitioners to take a holistic approach which acknowledges the various facets of the employee experience which impact mental and physical health.

HR practitioners have a responsibility to assist teams in finding meaning in their work and ensuring they feel valued and worthy, he says. This includes helping employees recognise the tangible impact of their contributions, foster harmonious relationships with their peers and team members, guide their personal and collective growth and support them in maintaining work-life balance.

“HR professionals need to find incentives and get creative on what strategies will work for their respective organisations. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s important to ensure that whatever is introduced to support employee wellbeing is reflective of that organisation’s culture and modus operandi.”

Many Canadian organisations are experimenting with new ways to support employee wellbeing in a way that acknowledges the diverse needs of their workforces, he says.

“A few examples we have heard of are organisations introducing flex health spending accounts,  which allows employees to pay for healthcare costs with pretax dollars.

“Employees choose the contribution amounts made to an FSA, which are then deducted from their gross pay and, hence, reduce their taxable income for that year. Since the employee doesn’t pay taxes on this money, they save an amount equal to the taxes they would have paid on the money they set aside.

“Employers may make contributions to a FSA, but they aren’t required to.”

Ariganello says it’s also common for organisations to introduce health-based rewards to help employees achieve their wellbeing goals.

“To ensure its not cookie-cutter, [organisations] offer employees a customised wellness plan that could include overcoming challenges, access to webinars and health consultations and creating a way of sustaining those efforts through a cadence of events, or via an Intranet, specific portal or App with ongoing updates to employees.

“Another example is offering annual monetary mental health benefits to every employee and their dependents. The plan could cover access to psychologists, registered social workers, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, clinical counsellors, and marriage or family therapists.”

How HR is shaping flexible work in the UK

The landscape of flexible work in Australia has evolved drastically over the post-pandemic period. According to David D’Souza, Director of Profession at the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), as HR professionals in the UK manage a similar shift, the narrative around flexible working is becoming increasingly complex.

“There is growing appreciation that we need to be more flexible when thinking about flexibility,” he says. “Whether it’s thinking about how roles are crafted or how flexible we can be with the working week, it makes sense to be open to different ways of attracting and enabling talent to flourish.

“We are also starting to see employers feel that the social and psychological contracts may have been stretched too far. It’s important to acknowledge that the expectation and reality of that flexibility varies by role and sector, often creating situations where remote or hybrid work may be possible for some within an organisation, but not others. 

“It’s important the principle of flexibility is applied in a broad and inclusive way across economies, with a focus on good work and outcomes for organisations.”

Organisations in the UK who are less equipped to offer hybrid and remote working options are developing their offerings to ensure they can remain competitive in a challenging talent landscape, he says. 

“It’s important to think about how to help people flex their careers and development. If you can’t pay upper quartile you can still concentrate on upper quartile levels of care and support for people’s careers.”

The evolution of flexible work in conjunction with a range of other pressing challenges means that the HR function is more critical to UK organisations than ever before – and HR professionals must rise to the occasion. 

“The profession needs to continue to work in partnership across a range of functional areas to drive ever better outcomes for people and organisations. 

“It’s a disorientating time for organisations, with changes in technology overlapping with broader societal changes and shifts in the world of work. The profession will be at the heart of the response and drive for better. It will be challenging, but exciting too.”

How recruiters in Singapore are navigating a challenging talent landscape

Recruitment professionals in Singapore are grappling with similar complex skills challenges to those faced in Australia and worldwide, says Alvin Aloysius Goh, Executive Director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute. 

“Although recruitment has always been about finding the right people, the definition of ‘right’ has evolved significantly in recent years,” he says.

“The challenge is that it’s no longer enough to simply ensure a candidate meets the technical requirements on a job description. Companies need to seek candidates with a strong combination of competencies, attitude, knowledge and experience (CAKE).”

As skills needs grow in complexity, the talent market in Singapore continues to shift from an employer-centric model to one that favours candidates with the right skills, he says.

“These candidates have more options and can negotiate for better salaries, benefits, and work-life balance.

“While competitive compensation and benefits are still important, companies in Singapore are recognising that today’s top talent seeks a more holistic work experience. This has led to a surge in innovative recruitment strategies that go beyond traditional job postings.”

Recruiters are not only diversifying the platforms they use to reach candidates, but also adapting the content of their postings to attract discerning talent, he explains.

“We are seeing more companies using social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram to create engaging content that showcases their company culture and commitment to social responsibility. 

“They also leverage engaged employees to share positive experiences on these platforms, attracting others who might resonate with the company’s values.”

Through strategic employee attraction, retention and support, HR can strengthen and protect their organisations through the changes that lie ahead, he says.

“Not only will HR need to be strategic, it will also have to be adaptable to respond to these changes quickly. This includes embracing new technologies, adapting to various work models (such as flexible work arrangements), and continuously refining our people strategies to ensure short-term gains whilst building long-term value.”

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