Experts challenge HR and L&D to rethink their assumptions
A whole lot of external influences - including globalisation, market uncertainty, generational shifts and technology - are redefining what employees want from their careers. Speakers at this week’s Future Talent Conference - held at the decidedly unfuturistic Royal Opera House in London - challenged HR and L&D professionals to re-think their basic assumptions on talent management. Experts highlighted the following five areas where HR might be going wrong:
1. The definition of a ‘multinational’ company
Gurnek Bains, author of Cultural DNA: The Psychology of Globalisation, revealed that every organisation - no matter how ‘multinational’ it claims to be - has a culture that is “firmly rooted in its domestic culture”.
Bains said that his first management consultancy post at an American company, highlighted the potential damage of cultural clashes. When he and his European colleagues raised what they thought were insightful, appropriate questions about a new strategy, the US leaders misinterpreted this authenticity as negativity and rebelliousness. Not long afterwards, Bains left the organisation, and subsequent attempts by the US company to expand into overseas markets failed, Bains said, because employees disliked the imposition of American values.
2. Understanding crucial talent segments
Broad assumptions about the career aspirations of millennials and women are wrong, argued Clare Moncrieff, executive advisor at HR consultancy firm CEB. For example millennials are often regarded as wanting to hop between organisations, but Moncrieff’s research has shown that they are in fact seeking to hop between different experiences - and are more than willing to seek out those experiences within their current organisations. Millennials are also “driven externally, caring more about how they compare to their peers than about absolute performance,” said Moncrieff.
She also highlighted a disconnect between the female-friendly initiatives organisations put in place, and those which women say are helpful to their career advancement. Just 1 per cent of women surveyed by CEB said women's groups helped their career progression, with mentoring (10 per cent), holding leaders accountable for gender diversity (11 per cent) and flexible time schedules (25 per cent) cited as the most effective tools.
3. Old boy networks will dismantle themselves
It’s well-known that many young people still rely on the old social networks of their families and family friends to secure that vital first step on the career ladder. It’s up to HR professionals and their organisations to remove this barrier to entering the workforce, argued Piers Linney, former star of Dragons’ Den and founder of Work Insight, which aims to open up access to workplaces to young people.
“Work experience placements are limited because of the high resource commitment,” said Linney, whereas brief ‘insight’ placements - which would last for a full or half-day - are much easier to arrange and fit into normal working patterns. Open to employers of all sizes, Work Insight places the financial burden on organisations, who must pay to register on workinsight.org - at a cost that is lower than arranging traditional work experience placements, Linney says. And with no selection criteria, 14 to 19 year olds from all backgrounds can choose insights at any type of employer, in any sector. Describing the service as “Uber for work experience”, Linney is hopeful that automating the placement process will drive efficiency levels that will make the process irresistible for young job seekers and organisations alike.
4. What makes an environment creative
People, not spaces, are creative, said Kursty Groves-Knight, founder of meditation app Headspace. “You simply can’t put someone in a space and expect them to be creative,” she said, because every individual works in a different way, and every organisation has a unique culture.
When Groves-Knight visited the Lego Future Lab - where “the future of play” is developed - she expected it to be a shining example of an inspiring workplace. Instead, she was dismayed to be confronted by a lack of natural light; large, unused desks; a small building area and waste bin after waste bin. “They had inherited this space, and didn’t question what was supplied as standard,” she said. The following day, employees opened up the blinds and reorganised the space into four big project areas to better reflect their working styles and needs.
5. Ignoring psychology
“Offices pay more attention to logistics than the mental health of their staff,” Alain de Botton, author and philosopher, told the audience. “We need to think much harder about the psychology underpinning your business,” he argued, or else your business is doomed to fail. He recalled asking a Penguin publishing executive why they didn’t offer a service that predicted what book he should read next, or which author would be successful, only to be told: ‘we just do publishing’. “It’s essential that you look at the bit of human nature your business is trying to satisfy,” said de Botton, or else you’re doomed to failure.
He also called for workplaces to step up to the challenge of helping employees develop their maturity levels. “Offices could teach us this valuable skill,” said de Botton, arguing that defensiveness - a symptom of immaturity - was one of the biggest barriers to change. “It’s best if we all start by admitting we’re damaged - but that’s not your standard HR induction.”