From the editor

I spent my early career in HR in large retail organisations in the United Kingdom. It sometimes felt like one month I was on a conveyor belt of disbanding and rejigging teams, and then the next month I was hiring and designing new organisational structures and teams. The yo-yo effect was strong! Yes, we’re told that change is inevitable and nothing ever stays the same, but it felt like these change initiatives weren’t really grounded in a strong purpose. And they certainly didn’t seem to make the organisations more human.

But that was 15-odd years ago! Perhaps we didn’t realise then that it’s the human-to-human interactions that matter most. We didn’t fully recognise that organisations are full of people with hopes, dreams, stories and problems. We didn’t realise that we don’t work for an organisation, we work for a boss, each other, and our team.

This issue of Human Resources magazine looks at the theme of Change Management. With a change of government in Aotearoa at the

end of last year, things in the public sector will inevitably also change. With high interest rates, high inflation and a crunched cost of living, jobs could be at risk. With the arrival of ChatGPT and other AI-based tools, technology has and will continue to evolve and change. And with the ever-warming planet, our climate, and hence all our actions, are set to change. The one thing all these changes have in common is that it’s we, as HR professionals, who will inevitably be the ones implementing them.

In our feature articles this issue, Digby Scott, change maker and change expert, writes on what HR can do to lead through change.

Leanne Holdsworth, author and change consultant, looks at what mindsets we need to humanise the workplace through change. We also look at what some HR people have done to make change more human in their organisations, and we delve into how HR can prepare for upcoming changes.

Amongst the turmoil of change, we also take time to celebrate our HR superstars with coverage of the NZ HR Awards 2024, which took place on 14 March in Auckland. Ka pai to all the finalists and award-winners!

Kathy Catton

Managing Editor

Kathy.Catton@hrnz.org.nz