CITIZEN OF THE WORLD Travelport’s CHRO talks bespoke HR ALL FOR ONE How Barclays is becoming a world leader in D&I WWW.HRMONLINE.CA ISSUE 5.03 | $12.95
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Navigating the legal minefield of mental health claims
CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
LEADING IN A COMPLEX AGE
Insights from Xref, EY, Whirlpool Corporation, BlueShore Financial
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CONTENTS
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UPFRONT 02 Editorial
How much should a job candidate’s social media footprint matter?
04 Statistics
There’s a lot of talk about people analytics – but so far not much action
06 Head to head
How HR practitioners are developing the next generation of leaders
08 News analysis
HR issues in an era of global geopolitical and social uncertainty
32 FEATURES
ALL FOR ONE
How Barclays is breaking new ground for disability inclusion and accessibility worldwide
10 Rewards/benefits update
Why one tech startup is doubling down on family benefits
12 L&D update
Could your organization benefit from cross-training?
17 Opinion
COVER STORY
David Weiss offers a different take on the traditional knowledge transfer approach
FEATURES 50 Turning leadership spend into leadership investment
EY’s Adam Canwell on how to get a better return on leadership development
22 36
CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
FEATURES
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
HR’s key role in navigating the often complex legal web of mental health claims
PEOPLE 55 Career path
Jennifer Bouyoukos earned her stripes as an HR leader during the tech boom
56 Other life
For HR consultant Robert Godden, it’s always tea time
48 FEATURES
HRMONLINE.CA CHECK IT OUT ONLINE
LEADERSHIP BALANCE IN AGILE ORGANIZATIONS What do mature organizations need to know before emulating the agile models of startups?
HRD Canada spoke to three top CEOs to find out how they’re using innovative people strategies to drive their organizations’ success
PEOPLE
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD Travelport CHRO Rose Thomson on why global organizations need a customized approach to HR
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UPFRONT
EDITORIAL www.hrmonline.ca FALL 2017
Social media as a corporate asset
I
recently attended a conference that raised some interesting issues around the social media profiles of candidates and employees and the possible implications for employers. It seems that currently, the rather one-dimensional approach to assessing – and leveraging – the social media footprint of the ‘most suitable’ employees or candidates is limited to three things: LinkedIn, LinkedIn and LinkedIn. However, we are rapidly approaching a time when this will need to change, and talent management strategies will need to need to involve a deeper dive into the social footprint of candidates and employees. For example, when will talent attraction and recruitment strategies eventually start to factor in individuals’ social profiles? And if the hiring manager is presented with two identical candidates based on the traditional assessment criteria used, will a candidate with a large social network who actively produces and promotes thought leadership content get the nod over the other?
Talent management strategies will need to involve a deeper dive into the social footprint of candidates and employees If that does happen, when will candidates be valued and begin to ‘trade’ off their social profiles? How much is that network worth to an organization that has specific strategic objectives tied to profile-raising and business development? A related – and already debated – issue is who owns what part of an individual’s networks or IP? From there, will we eventually see scaled salaries for those who have valuable social profiles and networks? Will we start to see a divide between those who are social and those who aren’t, if those ‘social’ employees are more valuable? And will this see an overall shift in what attributes organizations seek when hiring? For those still tied to checking paper-based CVs and the conventional criteria once deemed to be critical for success in a job role, it’s food for thought … Iain Hopkins, editor
EDITORIAL
SALES & MARKETING
Editor Iain Hopkins
Senior Business Development Manager Sarah J. Fretz
Senior Writers Laura McQuillan Nicola Middlemiss Writers Libby Macdonald Joe Rosengarten Hannah Go Copy Editor Clare Alexander
CONTRIBUTORS David Weiss Callum Hughson Denise Fleming Adam Canwell Kristy Peacock-Smith
ART & PRODUCTION Design Manager Daniel Williams Designer Marla Morelos
National Account Manager Andrew Cowan Vice President, Sales John MacKenzie Associate Publisher Trevor Biggs Marketing and Communications Manager Melissa Christopoulos Project Coordinator Jessica Duce
CORPORATE President & CEO Tim Duce Office/Traffic Manager Marni Parker Events and Conference Manager Chris Davis
Production Manager Alicia Chin
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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES sarah.fretz@kmimedia.ca
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UPFRONT
STATISTICS
Plenty of data, low confidence
WHAT’S THE DATA FOR? Answers to the question “What type of people analytics do you produce using your talent data?” reveal that the most dominant use of HR analytics is in the analysis of staff turnover.
Data-driven insights are the ideal, but right now a yawning chasm exists between promise and reality CONFIDENCE IN people analytics remains low, and the teams carrying it out are overwhelmingly “green, lean and unloved,” reports the New Talent Management Network. Of the companies the organization surveyed last year, 77% of those with a team dedicated to people analytics revealed that the team had been operating for less than three years; one in four teams had been in place for a year or less.
34%
Increase in people analytics teams from 2015 to 2016
85%
Organizations that are already performing people analytics
In addition to being green, these teams appear to be under-resourced: 78% reported the number of staff dedicated to people analytics to be four or fewer; 30% of teams were just a single full-time employee. And in response to a question about the HR analytics team’s effect on people analytics, 41% of respondents said their team was hindering organizational success rather than enabling it.
69%
Organizations that aren’t performing people analytics but plan to start within a year
95%
Companies that are projected to conduct some level of people analytics in 2017
Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
UNRELIABLE DATA Organizations often find that quality of the data itself is hampering efforts to delve deeper into people analytics. IS YOUR ORGANIZATION’S DATA STRUCTURED AND AVAILABLE IN A WAY THAT SUPPORTS PEOPLE ANALYTICS?
USABLE? WHY NOT? Dispersed data was identified as the biggest challenge in terms of data quality, followed by inaccuracy. While “dirty data” is an impediment to people analytics in the short term, it is solvable with a data strategy that standardizes an organization’s approach to how data is gathered and stored. 70% 60%
77%
50%
58%
40%
Yes
30% No
70% Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
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30%
25%
20% 10%
23%
0% Data is dispersed across multiple incompatible HR systems
Data is not reliable/ trustworthy – inaccurate or incomplete
Different metrics/ measures used for the same item
Lack of raw data available for manipulation
Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
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84%
Turnover analytics – basic (desired and undesired turnover)
75%
Talent acquisition analytics – basic (time to fill, cost per hire)
43%
Identifying development needs of groups
35%
Workforce planning (not including leadership succession)
31%
Estimating individual potential to advance (likelihood of promotion or upward movement)
28%
Turnover analytics – advanced (identifying key turnover drivers for select groups)
26%
Identifying factors correlated with high-performing employees Talent acquisition analytics – advanced (source of hire versus performance and potential)
23%
Workforce productivity statistics
23%
How confident are you in the following elements of your people analytics approach?*
Ability to predict future gaps/challenges
26% 22%
Ability to share unique insights about the performance-driving factors in your organization
22%
Ability to identify high-potential leaders
*% who felt very or extremely confident
Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
TOP TIPS
WHERE WE’RE AT Most organizations are performing only basic people analytics – the only rapid development in the space has to do with incorporating the HR analytics function into other areas, rather than gaining deeper insights from existing data. 70%
Most organizations run relatively unsophisticated analytics
60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Stage 1 Preparation You are actively preparing to begin talent analytics activities within the next 12 months
Stage 2 Fundamental analytics You can identify and report on basic workforce statistics, including turnover, time to hire, engagement levels by manager, etc.
Stage 3 Advanced analytics You can identify and report on data trends, correlations and, selectively, cause-andeffect relationships. These findings inform your people management practices.
Stage 4 Decision management You manually analyze broad-based talent data and identify specific actions that managers or employees should take.
Stage 5 Automated decision management Your system automatically analyzes broad-based talent data and generates specific guidance to managers about talent-related actions they should take.
Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
Engaging with people analytics should begin with a few questions: Why use this function? What are your goals? What information do you expect to be able to deliver? Here are some tips for starting the process: Determine whether data informs your decisions or drives them; it decides much of the process. Determine what insights you are aiming to gain; have target questions to explore. Have a recipient for these insights in mind; it will help prioritize and gauge the value of your work. Have a plan for using the data; it comes at a cost and must deliver value. Given the highly technical nature of the work, consider contracting a specialist rather than opting for the internal HR team to deliver outcomes. Source: Still Under Construction: The State of HR Analytics 2016, New Talent Management Network
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UPFRONT
HEAD TO HEAD
How are you helping millennials become leaders? Millennials will soon make up the majority of the workforce, and they’re looking to lead
Spiros Paleologos
Manu Varma
Mathieu Baril
Vice-president and general manager Kronos Canadian Systems
People person Traction on Demand
Manager, business development DDI Canada
“We hold our managers accountable for developing leaders among millennials and all employees. We believe our managers are the single largest influencers of employee engagement, behaviour and development. Two years ago, we created a Manager Effectiveness Index [MEI] based on four key attributes and 16 behaviours that define an effective manager. All employees rate their managers twice a year on each behaviour; more than 90% of employees respond with candid feedback that managers use to work with them throughout the year. MEI is a concrete demonstration of our commitment to fostering leadership skills through open dialogue and challenging the status quo.”
“I am tired of the negative references to millennials. Look at this quote; can you guess the author? ‘The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households.’ Socrates. Yup, that’s right. Our approach, although it seems ‘millennial-focused,’ is premised upon broadening the concept of leadership. In many companies, leadership is synonymous with simply managing people. We want technical leaders, thought leaders and culture leaders in the same numbers as people leaders. Emotional intelligence is key.”
“Research shows that the top three most effective strategies to accelerate readiness are developmental assignments, followed by coaching (from managers and other mentors) and formal learning opportunities. While millennials enjoy the newest forms of learning (social, online, mobile), these were rated as being the least effective in driving leadership growth by leaders themselves. Noteworthy: Online self-study learning ranked at the very bottom of the list. These insights highlight the importance of integrating digital and social learning tools in a broader, integrated strategy. Without an overarching strategy to truly drive development, these high-impact opportunities will be few and far between.”
REACHING FOR THE TOP Millennials are ambitious – more than 90% aim to assume a leadership role. According to the Millennial Leadership Study from WorkplaceTrends.com and Virtuali, 43% of millennials cited a desire to “empower others” as their main motivation to become a leader. Only 5% named money as their primary impetus, while a mere 1% reported power to be the spur. Many millennials appear to realize they aren’t fully prepared for leadership, however: According to a poll from Deloitte, only about a third of current millennial leaders considered themselves fully prepared when taking on their post.
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UPFRONT
NEWS ANALYSIS
HR in a global landscape Workplace legislation is struggling to keep pace with changes occurring at a wider political and social level. HRD Canada outlines some hot topics FEW PERIODS of recent history have been more tumultuous for global geopolitics than the last 12 months, and Canada isn’t immune. The Brexit vote, the US presidential election and political developments around the world thereafter have revealed a groundswell of support for populist and inward-looking nationalist policies. Not surprisingly, many businesses have been caught in the crosshairs. “A quite significant amount of uncertainty” is how Joydeep Hor, founder and managing principal of People + Culture Strategies, describes the prevailing mood in business circles over this period. Fresh from attending an international forum on employment law in Dublin, Hor says there is very much a wait-and-see attitude as to what happens next with Brexit. “In the employment law context, one very relevant issue is the huge amount of uncertainty in terms of what the next Brexit piece is
have taken more of a protectionist stance on trade should perhaps brace for more restrictive employment laws and regulations – although he adds that the forum couldn’t reach a consensus on whether this would occur. What also emerged quite strongly at the forum was how these worldwide events are translating into people sharing passionate political views in the workplace – and, more importantly, the question of employers’ scope to regulate that conduct. “This came up not just in the context of social media, but also behavioural regulation in workplaces,” Hor says. “There was a lot of strong counsel to employers that they do need to be vigilant in terms of what kind of behaviours and conduct – whether it’s via social media or otherwise – will be tolerated.” Hor adds that in some jurisdictions, the concept of constitutional freedom of speech is extremely well protected; in others, personal
“Regardless of which country you are operating your business in, you must be clear about what you will or won’t tolerate” Joydeep Hor, People + Culture Strategies going to look like and what that will translate to in terms of regulation of employment laws,” Hor says. “Some suggest the existing EU laws have been overly restrictive; others don’t want these laws to change too much. It will be interesting to see what happens there.” Hor says employers based in countries that
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viewpoints are less likely to be shared. “Where you have 35 different countries represented, as there were at this conference, there is quite a wide spectrum of what is acceptable workplace behaviour – but regardless of which country you are operating your business in, you must be clear about what you will or won’t tolerate.”
Research from software firm BetterWorks, in conjunction with Wakefield Research, found earlier this year that 87% of 500 working American adults surveyed were reading political social media posts during the workday. This equates to two hours lost during the day. Seventy-three per cent said they often talked to colleagues about politics, and 49% said they witnessed conversations turn into full-blown arguments; that number rose to 63% when millennials were involved. “Workers aren’t just reading and talking about politics,” says Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks. “They’re actually feeling distracted from their work and dedicate much of their time, both at work and at home, to thinking about and processing the current political situation. The onslaught of news articles and social media posts isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s time for organizational leaders to shift their focus to empowering managers to deal with distraction.”
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STAYING THE COURSE Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks, suggests five ways managers can keep productivity high despite the distraction of big changes outside the office. Don’t micromanage. Don’t cut employees out of social media; allow them the freedom to have the information they need.
1
Focus on goals. Don’t deviate from goals you have already set with employees. “Goals add focus amidst the distraction and help employees get their work done,” Duggan says.
2
Encourage work-life integration. Be cognizant of the fact that true integration means employees will bring their personal life into the office, including their political beliefs. Try to find a way to manage their workload until things normalize so they are not too overwhelmed.
3
Hold your tongue. If you’re tempted to argue with an employee who doesn’t share your political beliefs, change the subject before you ruin the manager-employee relationship.
4
Unite over work. In the face of a major distraction, it’s your job to find a way to help employees stay productive. “When employees have the means to stay focused on work, it can actually feel like a respite,” Duggan says.
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Hor suggests employers review not just their social media policies, but also their dispute resolution procedures. These guidelines can also be used to deal with complaints by employees about management decisions in the wake of political developments. Another hot topic of debate at the forum
employee – is the norm. “However, what we heard as a common theme in relation to this discussion was that employers are not too concerned necessarily about the technicalities of who owns intellectual property and how that’s created in the course of employment,” Hor says, “but rather
“Workers aren’t just reading and talking about politics. They’re actually feeling distracted from their work” Kris Duggan, BetterWorks was intellectual property in the digital age. Hor says jurisdictions such as Canada, the UK, the US and Australia share a lot of commonality in terms of the idea that work created in the course of employment typically belongs to an employer. In other jurisdictions, the reverse presumption – that the work belongs to the
what’s going to happen when someone who has created it leaves to go to a competitor.” This creates an odd hybrid of employment law, including restraints of trade litigation and IP law. “It was probably the only topic discussed where the whole group of employment lawyers paused at some point and said, ‘This is usually
the point where I’d bring in some IP specialist advice,’” Hor says. “But it does have strong employment relevance and connotations, so it can’t just be seen as an IP issue. These issues become more pronounced in a global workforce where workers are constantly moving between jurisdictions.” The rise of the gig economy, global supply chain management and the automation of jobs were other key topics debated at the forum. Hor says that on just about every one of these issues, Canadian legislation is struggling to keep up – but he hastens to add that so is every other nation. “Unsurprisingly, legislation is often introduced more in a reactive than a proactive way,” he says, “and we’re seeing that happen more so now because of the rapidity of the technological, commercial and general environmental change.”
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UPFRONT
REWARDS/BENEFITS UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Benefits giant pilots online therapy sessions In what is a sure sign of increasingly digital times, Canadian firm Sun Life Financial has begun piloting online therapy sessions. “In an era where mental health claims represent almost 30% of disability claims, it’s more important than ever to explore new ways of delivering effective therapy faster to those who need it,” says Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier, assistant VP of workplace health and group benefits for Sun Life. Pelletier added that the virtual cognitive behavioural therapy has been designed to expand access to mental health care for all plan members.
Lloyd’s of London bans workers from drinking during the day
Lloyd’s of London has banned the consumption of alcohol during working hours. Staff could be fired for gross misconduct if they break the rule, which applies to the company’s 800 employees – not the underwriters and brokers who do business there – between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The ban was reportedly brought in after “roughly half” of grievance and disciplinary cases within Lloyd’s in the past two years were found to be related to alcohol misuse. Many employees at Lloyd’s reacted angrily to the ban, posting comments on the company’s intranet, according to media reports.
Multi-layered rewards systems becoming the new norm?
Employers are increasingly recognizing that not all staff should be thanked the same way – and they’re creating novel recognition systems that cater to different workers. For example, Vancouver Airport Authority has custom-designed a rewards system that includes peer-to-peer badges in its HRIS,
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gift cards from managers to workers, generous long-service awards and an annual awards ceremony recognizing staff who embody its corporate values. “A lot of companies have long-service awards programs, but just making it customized and tailored to the individual makes it more meaningful,” said Jennifer Raniga, the company’s HR advisor.
Toronto workers charged with fraud in insurance scam
One current and nine former employees of the Toronto Transit Commission [TTC] have been charged with fraud over an alleged multi-million-dollar insurance scam, in which they’re accused of claiming false health benefits to the tune of more than $5 million. The TTC says 150 employees have been fired, have retired or have resigned as a result of the investigation, which started in 2014. The workers allegedly conspired with Toronto orthotics store Healthy Fit, which invoiced products to Manulife Financial, “provided some or no products that were invoiced,” and then shared the insurance payments with TTC workers.
Café funds staff benefits with customer surcharge A Toronto café has found itself the subject of both criticism and praise after it began levying a small surcharge to help pay for employee health and dental benefits. The owners of Emma’s Country Kitchen recently announced they would include an optional 3% surcharge on customers’ cheques to go toward benefits for full-time workers. They argued that the fee – which would amount to less than 50 cents on the average bill – would be more transparent than raising prices. Coowner Heather Mee said she wants her employees to feel valued, adding that “benefits are part of that.”
The perk that could change a life A VP of HR explains why her firm offers an impressive benefit that could impact staff for the rest of their lives From on-site masseurs to unlimited vacation time, employee benefits have become increasingly creative over the past few years – but just how many could impact a worker’s life forever? Startup firm Domo has joined a growing number of companies providing their workforces with a variety of fertility benefits, including IVF, embryo transfer and egg freezing. Cathy Donahoe, vice-president of HR for the software firm, says the fertility benefits were introduced to have a real and meaningful impact on employees within the organization. “One of my roles in HR is to develop wellness programs that recognize key areas that are most important to our employees and to identify the benefits that they want,” Donahoe says. “Most of our employees are starting or building their families, which makes offering family benefits very important to them and a key priority for us.” Domo’s 800-plus employees are also able to access diagnostic tests and ultrasounds, as well as advice about surrogacy and adoption. Its fertility suite is just the latest parenting-related benefit offered by the company, which already gives all new parents $1,000 and paid time off for maternity and paternity leave, among other perks.
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“We’ve also looked for nontraditional ways to help our new moms through pregnancy,” Donahoe says, “and a unique benefit we offer is the ‘Haute Mama’ benefit.” The enviable perk provides a $2,000 grant to expectant female employees to spend on maternity clothes at stores like ASOS and Nordstrom. Donahoe says other organizations should also prioritize supporting families – both to
Q&A
Joe Parent Vice-president of sales and marketing
Benefits that matter – today and tomorrow
VENNGO
“Most of our employees are starting or building their families, which makes offering family benefits a key priority for us” demonstrate they care about their workers and as a recruitment and retention tool. “If companies want to remain competitive and attract the best possible talent to improve their workforce, they will need to look at adopting benefits that will make people want to come and work for their company – or stay in the company, for that matter,” she says. While the impressive variety of benefits will undoubtedly help Domo attract and retain talent, they also stand as testament to the company’s culture – one that doesn’t force women to choose between their career and their kids. “Women have it hard enough trying to balance the struggles of being a mom while also wanting to advance in their career,” Donahoe says. “By showing them that we care about their families, their future families and honestly just their overall future, it shows that we are really investing in them as a valuable employee and asset.”
Fast fact Discount program provider Venngo has been recognized on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 lists for its innovation, leadership and rapid growth
How has technology changed how employees access the benefits on offer? Employees expect and demand access to all elements of their employee benefits in the manner and at the time most convenient to them. At the office, from a home office, from a client location or on the go – each of these scenarios must be anticipated and accommodated by the employer and the technology used to deliver programs. The HR function needs to anticipate these needs and bake in the requirements right from the start. This is not an IT or technology issue; it’s about designing flexibility into the strategy.
What will Gen Z – the generation after millennials – expect in terms of employee benefits? That’s very difficult to predict! There are so many things that will impact the expectations, needs and desires of that cohort, such as the job market, education, income levels, social awareness and activism. A few themes are probably pretty good bets, though. First, the growth of the ‘gig’ economy – young workers will not necessarily expect or even desire a long-term relationship with their employer. Second, mass personalization: Individuality is thriving. Uniqueness is the new conformity, and nobody wants to think they are like anyone else. Finally, young people aren’t looking for a place to settle in, earn a living, raise a family and retire. They actively seek out meaningful work that aligns with their personal values. Wise employers will realize this and have a benefits strategy that caters to these themes. They will focus on adding value to employees every day, not via quarterly bonuses or pensions, and allow maximum flexibility, providing unlimited options to personalize the benefits according to individual needs and desires. There should be no ‘one size fits all’ elements in the total compensation package.
What’s the key to a sustainable benefits program? From the company’s perspective, sustainability comes down to identifying the resources required to deliver the program – initially and ongoing – and making something of a cold-hearted assessment of the return on that investment. Benefits programs like Venngo’s not only deliver benefits to employees, they also help employers directly. Savings on things like massage therapy, optometrists, dentists and so forth can extend the value of company-funded health spending accounts, making the dollars allocated go further. Our programs also boost the overall health and wellness of employees by making healthy lifestyle choices more affordable and achievable. We take suggestions directly from employees for businesses they want to see on the program, and we also have people visiting businesses in every community across Canada, constantly looking for new and interesting savings opportunities.
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UPFRONT
L&D UPDATE
Should your company be cross-training? A senior industry figure says training staff for multiple roles and responsibilities will pay off down the line
have a deeper knowledge of different aspects of the company’s operations. The organization also enjoys high retention rates – something Peterson attributes to the many development opportunities given to employees. “If employees feel as though they are being developed from the inside of an organization, they are less likely to leave,” he says. “This will ultimately have an impact on the organiza-
“Cross-training helps to connect the dots between many different areas of the organization”
Talent shortages are an ongoing issue for many employers across Canada, and while cross-training won’t solve the problem, one HR exec says it can help alleviate the stress. “Cross-training helps to connect the dots between many different areas of the organization and helps employees discover career paths they may not have thought of in the past,” says Travis Peterson, vice-president of talent at valet services provider Towne Park. “Expertise is important, but so is a breadth of knowledge.” Peterson says cross-training has had a
NEWS BRIEFS
significant impact on Towne Park’s business performance, as it enables the company to move its 13,000 employees into different roles and locations to meet specific demands. “Cross-training allows us to respond quickly to client needs and provides our associates with constant learning,” he says. “[It] has given us the ability to be agile when responding to the ebb and flow of our business.” The training approach has also helped Towne Park forge a strong talent pipeline. More than 75% of its leadership positions are filled from within, which helps ensure leaders
Canada eschews on-the-clock learning
A recent survey of Canadian employers has revealed a widespread reluctance to let staff study during work hours – even when it’s directly relevant to their job. Just 24% of CFOs surveyed said they allow all employees to attend professional education courses during their workday, while another 17% said it depends on the employee’s track record. More than half – 56% – did not allow staff to take courses during company hours; however, 15% had made exceptions to that rule in the past.
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tion’s bottom line. Therefore, cross-training is not just about getting the job done, but should also be considered a tool for retention.” For organizations that are considering implementing a similar training approach, Peterson has some sage advice. “Engage your employees in the process,” he says. “They will have opinions and insight that will add to your model. The act of implementing this type of philosophy is an exercise in leadership development as well.” Peterson also suggests organizations identify top performers who have the skills and desire to take on extra responsibilities, and get them involved in “shaping the curriculum.” “Not only will this broaden their skill set,” he says, “but it will help you to navigate the management process more efficiently and effectively.”
Retail giant turns to VR to train staff Walmart appears to be leading the way in L&D after becoming one of the first major retailers to adopt virtual reality as a training tool. “It’s helpful for associates to see mistakes in a virtual environment and know how to deal with them before they experience it in real life and don’t know what to do,” the retailer said. The US chain confirmed that it will be rolling out the technology to all 200 of its training centres by the end of the year, and it expects that around 140,000 associates will participate in the VR experience.
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Q&A
Alan Middleton Executive director SCHULICH EXECUTIVE EDUCATION CENTRE
Fast fact An expert in branding, Middleton has lent his advertising expertise to global corporations from Kodak to Unilever
Skills for multi-generational leadership What will be the biggest issues of managing across generations in the future, and what skills do HR professionals need to solve these? There are absolutely different styles of the different generations, but they’re not as marked as people think. There may be broad-based cohort similarities, but mostly this is still about understanding the individual and how they work with others. You’ve got to be a lot more team-oriented, with a lot more delegation of responsibility and a lot more encouraging of innovation. Anybody who’s got even a slight ability to listen and work in teams, or more importantly, has gone through training – it may be inclusion and diversity, but it also may be project management – will have learned how to work across that. Is there an issue? Yes. Is it as big an issue as people are making it out to be? I don’t think it is – we’re not all jumping off a cliff, saying, “We’re not talking to each other.”
Communication seems to be key when it comes to engaging all generations of workers. How can HR leaders ensure everyone is on board with ideas and strategies? I think the notion of communication now is: say ‘why.’ That’s true of all education now and all dealings with employees. Don’t just say ‘what’ and then leave it; say ‘what’ and ‘why’ this is happening. People may
Workplace mentors boost women’s ambition
A recent survey found that women feel far more confident about their ability to reach the C-suite when they have a workplace mentor. Research by Women of Influence and American Express found that just 32% of female workers believe they can reach the C-suite – but that number leaps to 61% if they have a mentor. “Having a mentor ... is absolutely critical and very helpful for women’s self-perception and for their level of ambition,” said Catherine Finley, VP of HR at Amex Canada.
MBA touted as “ticket to the C-suite”
still push back at you and say, “Why are these people being hurt because of this?”, but at least if you’ve attempted to explain in a fairly open fashion what’s going on, you’ve got a better chance of getting the middle of the bell curve to say, “I don’t like it, but I do understand it.” The other addition is: listen. There is no doubt that some genders and cultures have a greater difficulty or cultural blockage in coming forward with what they believe and think in an open group. It’s the role of any management to really try to engage and understand what these people are thinking. If you miss it, you’re missing gold.
What are the best strategies for HR leaders to prevent intergenerational conflicts? You’ve got to divorce people from preset attitudes, and the more you can get people working together on a problem or an issue, the greater chance you’ve got to do that. Will it go away entirely? Absolutely not. You’re still going to have conflicts. But I don’t see why that should be any greater between generations than within generations. Encourage more exchange of views, rather than policies and procedures that work in a hierarchy. You can’t do same old, same old. You have to find new ways to do things, which means you’ve got to develop a culture that’s open to investigating and listening to new things.
HR professionals who earn an MBA will accelerate their journey to the C-suite and look more attractive to prospective employers, according to one senior educational figure. An MBA is “like getting 15 years of work experience,” says JD Clarke, executive director of recruitment and admissions for Ivey Business School’s master’s programs. “You’re going to start contributing on a much more strategic level. Naturally, as you start to think more strategically and contribute more strategically, roles will broaden.”
Cybersecurity training must become a priority
A new report from the SANS Institute is calling on employers to improve employee awareness when it comes to potential cyberattacks and security breaches. Researchers say firms must focus on four areas: human resource allocation, partnerships, hiring of dedicated professionals and fostering security ambassadors. The report also revealed that the biggest challenge is time – more than three-quarters of security professionals spend just 25% of their time on awareness.
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PEOPLE
GLOBAL HR LEADER
Citizen of the world From IBM’s graduate program to HR roles in global companies like CocaCola, Walt Disney and Barclays Bank, Rose Thomson has made M&As and structural transformations a key focus. She shares her story with HRD Canada
CONSIDERING HER impressive body of work experience and current global HR role, an obvious question to ask Rose Thomson, CHRO at Travelport, is how a global HR leader can possibly hope to gather many vastly different corporate cultures in a global entity into something that resembles a unified front. Her response is telling: “I’m a very simple thinker. The way I’ve been talking to my team, the senior leadership team and the board is very much about the fact that I see us as being more similar than different, and I liken that to vanilla ice cream. My whole 2020 HR strategy is predicated on ice cream!” Thomson elaborates that it’s the common frameworks and “key elements” that make Travelport the company it is. Then it’s about acknowledging that each country, each divi sion, will need to take a “bespoke” approach. “That’s the topping – the sprinkles or the strawberries,” she explains. “So it’s done from a functional perspective: If you sit in the commercial or technology department, you’ll have a slightly different flavour to that, and if you sit in Asia or Australia, you’ll have a slightly different flavour as well. It’s about how we build the framework that is Travel port, which everyone understands, and then add that flavour on top that acknowledges
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there are some legitimate unique elements that we must also address.” HRD Canada recently sat down with Thomson to discover what else she has learned throughout her career.
HRDC: Can you provide some context around Travelport as a company? Rose Thomson: Travelport, on last count, had 4,100 employees globally and a 2016 net
When you as a consumer use an online travel website, for example, we pump all our content into that website, so when you’re doing an online search for flights and a hotel, you’ll be seeing our content. However, you’ll be seeing it on the front end of an online retailer.
HRDC: What are you currently concentrating on in your role? RT: We have close to 100 HR professionals in
“My personal mantra is to never say no when someone asks you to do something. And throughout my career, that willingness to take on more responsibility ... has led me to bigger roles and bigger opportunities” revenue of over $2.3 billion. We’re repre sented in around 80 countries, including Australia, Canada and Singapore, with our headquarters in Langley, UK. We’re a B2B specialist in technology for the travel industry. We have a very large sales force and an equally large technology function, so we look after airlines, travel agents, hotels, cruises, car hires – all that back-end technology.
the global team, and one thing we need to look at is how efficient we are in supporting the business and the role that HR plays. Moving forward, my vision for HR at Travel port is very much that it’s an instrument of business transformation, because as a busi ness we are undergoing tremendous change. I’m focusing on HR’s role in driving that. How do we leverage our people resources
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PROFILE Name: Rose Thomson Company: Travelport Title: CHRO HR experience: 17+ years Previous roles: »»Managing director, HR, Barclaycard »»HR director, Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland »»HR director, North West Europe, The Coca-Cola Company »»HR director, Coca-Cola South Pacific »»General manager, human resources, Coles Group »»HR director, South East Asia, The Walt Disney Company Qualifications: Bachelor of arts, Macquarie University; master of arts, Macquarie University Graduate School of Business
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PEOPLE
GLOBAL HR LEADER to enable that strategy? How do we create agile leaders so as the organization changes, as our customers change, as their customers change, how do we need to be leading? And then having a high-performance culture, which is very much about how we raise the bar on what good and great looks like. How do we ensure people have the capabilities and competencies, and what’s required to get there?
change is important, helping them to see what that means for them, and doing that in a respectful way. Change is always going to happen, but we’ll be judged based on whether we treated people with respect and fairness once the emotion is removed from those decisions. That was the catalyst for me moving into HR, and since then I’ve worked on several M&As; I’ve done divestments, all sorts of projects.
HRDC: You have experience in change management, and M&As in particular. What have you taken from some of those experiences?
HRDC: You’ve worked around the world in some well known global companies. Can you outline some of your best learning experiences from those companies?
RT: Let me tell you about the reason I got into HR in the first place – because I actually started not in HR, but in the graduate program at IBM in software manufacturing. I lived through the night of the long knives when IBM in Australia lost half its workforce almost overnight. I was lucky; I
RT: I moved into HR when I left IBM in the 1990s. The majority of my career has been with big multinationals – IBM, Disney, CocaCola, Barclays and now Travelport. I’ve been fortunate to work with those companies. I’ve had incredible opportunities;
“Change is always going to happen, but we’ll be judged based on whether we treated people with respect and fairness once the emotion is removed from those decisions” survived – but I remember it well. It was a Friday when it happened, and when we came back on Monday, there were six [empty] desks between me and the next person. Everyone’s name tags were still on their desks, and it was almost like they had all died in a terrible accident. All the effort was rightly put towards those who were exiting, but as survivors, we suddenly had to do the work of 5,000 people, but there were only 2,500 of us. I just thought these kinds of changes could be done in a more effective way, and that’s what flipped me into HR. I think I’ve always enjoyed change and transformation, because that’s about growing, both from an organizational perspective and from a personal perspective. It’s about helping people to understand why
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I’ve seen the world; I’ve done things I never would have dreamed of doing. I’ve dressed as a princess; I’ve stood on the street and handed out free cans of Coke – not to mention all the more serious HR work I’ve been involved with! I’ve just had a privileged career.
HRDC: What do you attribute that success to? RT: My personal mantra is to never say no when someone asks you to do something. And throughout my career, that willingness to take on more responsibility and also take accountability for things has led me to bigger roles and bigger opportunities. It’s not that they’ve fallen into my lap – because I don’t think that happens – but I’d like to think those opportunities come from hard work and doing the best I can on a daily basis.
ROSE THOMSON’S TOP CAREER TIP “Don’t be afraid to say yes to opportunities, but also go and seek them out. I’ve been lucky that the companies I’ve worked for have allowed me to work overseas, and I think if you aspire to a global role, you must experience other cultures. The way people work around the world is very different, and unless you can experience that firsthand, you’re going to wonder why things don’t always happen how you thought they would. Getting out and about and understanding the market challenges and opportunities, as a senior business leader with my business hat on, is what I try to do.”
HRDC: How do you stay on top of everything you need to in a global role? RT: I’m lucky that I’ve lived and worked across Asia, across Europe, and I’ve worked with big American corporations, so I’ve spent a lot of time there as well. Things change all the time in terms of legislation and regulation, and I think it’s impossible for any one individual to be on top of those things. So whether it’s leveraging your own team in terms of making sure you understand what’s going on in their markets, or whether it’s just being connected through various industry networks or leveraging your legal partners, or just reading a lot about what’s going on, while I say you can’t be on top of everything, you do need to at least recognize that things do change.
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UPFRONT
OPINION
GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email editor@hrmonline.ca
Knowledge transfer from the outside in The upcoming wave of retiring boomers makes the challenge of knowledge transfer more urgent than ever, writes Dr. David Weiss MANY FEAR that when baby boomers retire, their knowledge will ‘walk out the door,’ and the organization will become woefully deficient. This fear has launched a growing industry focused on supporting organizations in the process of knowledge transfer. The purpose: to ensure that people who leave or retire from an organization transfer their knowledge before they depart. In theory, it seems like a great idea. If it works well, organizations reduce the loss of knowledge by transferring it just before the person departs. Even though the costs to document this knowledge can be high, many organizations pay it to mitigate the potential risk. Unfortunately, theory and practice are not the same. Some people who are departing may be reluctant to document all they know. They may have some resentment that they’re leaving or don’t want the replacement to be as successful as they were, so they hold back the knowledge that needs to be transferred. Others may not know how to determine what is truly important; they may provide so much information that new incumbents find it hard to distinguish insights from irrelevant information. Even when the transfer is done well, there are issues with how the knowledge is used, if at all, by the recipient. Sometimes the knowledge transfer report remains on the shelf, and the new incumbent chooses not to read it or doesn’t even know it exists. An incumbent may
have any number of reasons for not reading a report from their predecessor. Some explanations given include: “I need to find my own way,” or “The knowledge transfer describes the past, and I need to focus on the future,” or “I did look at it, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it,” or “I just didn’t have time to read it.”
Essentially, the new incumbent defines the information he or she needs to know. Here is the recommended outside-in knowledge transfer approach: Departing leaders should describe and transfer the active files so that new incumbents can work on them right away. The deeper insights from the knowledge transfer probably can wait a few months so that new incumbents can understand, experience and struggle with their new role. People new to their positions need to feel the pain and the urgency to learn so they will be motivated to use the transferred knowledge. The organization should create an expectation that departing leaders will return (for a fee) after two months for a two- to three-hour interview with the new incumbent. That interview should be led by the new incumbent and focus on very precise questions he or she needs to know and wants to act on. The discussion might explore how the departed leader used access routes to engage key stakeholders, or how to work around barriers, or why a particular project is meeting so much resistance. It might include
“This inside-out approach [to knowledge transfer] often misses the mark of what the new incumbent really needs to know” The natural response might be to consider abandoning knowledge transfer. However, that would be a hasty conclusion. The problem of knowledge walking out the door would remain. We need to rethink our approach to knowledge transfer so that it creates the value we need during this time of significant talent transition. The real knowledge transfer challenge is: Who defines the knowledge that should be transferred? The typical approach is an inside-out approach, with the person leaving the organization defining the knowledge that should be transferred. This inside-out approach often misses the mark of what the new incumbent really needs to know. The preferred approach is to view knowledge transfer from the perspective of the recipient and use an outside-in approach.
seeking advice on next steps in a challenging area. With this outside-in approach, the incumbent pays great attention to that knowledge and will likely leverage it for the organization’s benefit. So, should we be concerned that knowledge is walking out the door? Of course. However, we need to know how to focus on the knowledge that is essential to be transferred – and that is probably determined best by new incumbents. Dr. David Weiss is president of Weiss International, specializing in innovation, leadership and HR consulting. He is also the author of LeadershipDriven HR and a guest faculty member of the Schulich and Rotman executive programs. For more, visit weissinternational.ca.
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LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
HR ANALYTICS
Analyze this Executive teams are expecting more from HR, putting HR leaders under pressure to prove their value. Analytics could be an important first step AS THE NATURE of how successful businesses are operated and make money has changed, so has the role of the HR department. Focus has away shifted from the physical assets of the organization as more businesses realize that their competitive advantage and potential for future growth are more closely linked to their human assets. As a result, HR leaders are coming under increased scrutiny as leadership teams examine how HR is assisting in pushing the business forward. Embracing metrics and analytics and developing programs around rich, relevant data are some of the fundamental ways in which forward-thinking HR
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leaders are proving their value to their CEOs and playing a key role in helping their organizations improve the bottom line. “Most organizations are interested in increasing revenue, decreasing expenses and managing risk,” says Paul Juniper, director of the Industrial Relations Centre [IRC] at Queen’s University. “A well-developed analytics program can support those goals.” A metrics-based strategy has the potential to play an integral role in the areas where HR has the most impact. Forward-thinking HR departments are realizing the value of using metrics to hire effective people who stay longer and to build training and development strat-
egies that increase the productivity curve of existing employees. “How can HR increase creativity, innovation or loyalty; how can we out-compete our competitors? Those are the questions you are able to consider once you have gone through the difficult work of deciding what information you want to collect and then building a robust system for collecting it,” Juniper says.
Making sense of the numbers As key functions of HR, recruitment and retention data has the potential to reveal a lot. Other parts of the organization often believe that the quicker a new hire is made, the better, but the
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reality is often different. Juniper gives the example of a person who needs to lose 25 pounds. Cutting off that person’s arm would be a very efficient way to get rid of the weight, but it wouldn’t be very effective or productive for the rest of the body. “Hiring people as quickly as possible isn’t really the right question,” he says. “The question should be how you can hire the best people who will stay as quickly as possible. If it takes a bit longer to hire the right people, rather than hiring for the same job over again, it’s worth it. A fairly simple statistic like time to hire actually gets quite complicated when you think about what is really meaningful and important.” Juniper also explains how an HR department can take a static number – like turnover, for example – and turn it into something more dynamic and meaningful. Turnover rates are often hard to analyze and comprehend, and don’t take into account unexpected events that happen in an organization over the course of a year. “Context is everything – you need to know how much of your turnover is voluntary and how much is involuntary,” he says. “How many of those people who left voluntarily were critical to your organization? Everyone thinks their own role is critical to the organization’s success, but that is not really true.” By looking at previous years’ data, you can start to develop a trend analysis to predict future turnover. “That can be really helpful, especially if you can break it down into how many people left critical jobs,” Juniper says. “You can then turn something that is a static measure of the past into a dynamic measure and start thinking about the future. That’s when HR gets the ability to pull on levers to make the organization more effective.”
Future gazing Juniper also encourages HR leaders to conduct an environmental assessment of their organizations to examine the threats the business is facing and to figure what needs to be solved in the future to keep the organization safe and growing. For HR, maintaining a forwardlooking focus is crucial to enabling these assessments to have any impact.
“When you start work around metrics, you are always looking in the rearview mirror, but you can’t drive a car very well if you spend all of your time looking back,” Juniper says. “It’s important to develop techniques to analyze metrics that help you predict what is going to happen in the future based on what has happened in the past.” Some HR departments are quick to
“That is why you have to tie the collection of this information into one of the basic needs of the organization,” Juniper says. “Executives are always thinking about how they can increase revenue, decrease expenses or manage risk. If you can give statistics that help them do one of those three things, they will be very interested.” Whether private, nonprofit or public, all modern organizations face the same prob-
“Executives are always thinking about how they can increase revenue, decrease expenses or manage risk. If you can give statistics that help them do one of those three things, they will be very interested” Paul Juniper, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre complain about limited budgets, staff shortages and talent gaps, but those situations often occur because HR is not seen as valuable by the company’s executive team. It’s up to HR to be proactive and prove its value, not wait for the CEO to make a hopeful investment of time and money. If the organization’s leaders believe HR is doing something to ensure their future success, they will allocate funds to it.
lems. If HR can collect and process metrics the organization needs to be successful in the future, the company’s leaders will naturally begin to consider HR as a crucial resource. “That’s when HR has the opportunity to really make a change and help make organizations successful,” Juniper says. “That’s how HR gets tied into what is happening on the organizational level.”
ABOUT QUEEN’S IRC Changing demographics, new technologies and a globally competitive market are transforming the work we do and the way we do it. How do you keep up with the skills and tools needed to manage and thrive in this evolving business environment? Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre [IRC], a professional development unit within the Faculty of Arts & Science, delivers programs in labour relations, human resources and organizational development, based on more than 75 years of experience and research. Our programs are led by industry leaders and designed for busy practitioners who want to directly apply their knowledge to their work environment. Human resources: Learn how to build and engage teams in multi-disciplinary environments, manage change and transform key HR data into business strategy. Labour relations: Develop the skills to effectively handle disputes and negotiations, build trust, and manage unionized environments. Organizational development: Diagnose organizational challenges, explore design issues and develop robust solutions. Choose from two- to five-day open enrolment programs delivered across Canada or customized on-site training solutions that address your organization’s specific needs. We also offer certificate programs in advanced human resources, organizational development, labour relations and advanced labour relations for professionals who want to continue to develop their skills and contribute to their organization’s success. Why Queen’s IRC? • Opportunities to network with high-level colleagues from across the country • Coaching from internationally renowned facilitators with real-world experience • Experiential programming to test theories and ideas • Skills and strategies that directly apply to work environments • Mentoring beyond classroom sessions Learn more: www.irc.queensu.ca
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
Taking on the world Tech startup Xref is a global success story. HRD Canada chats with cofounder Lee-Martin Seymour about how the organization’s people have been the secret ingredient to its success Company name: Xref Number of employees worldwide: 44 Year founded: 2010 THE MOMENT that spawned Xref wasn’t exactly an ‘aha’ moment for cofounder and CEO Lee-Martin Seymour – it was more of a ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ moment. In 2009, after spending 17 years working in recruitment, Seymour witnessed one of the major issues of the hiring process: A colleague had become so frustrated with waiting for a candidate reference that he decided to just make one up. It wasn’t the first time Seymour had witnessed this, and when he took a moment to consider that this was even possible – and wasn’t just being done by recruiters, but also by candidates – it made him realize the HR field was in desperate need of a shakeup. “It had become reliant on old processes, which offered no security for employers and meant HR professionals were bogged down in procedures and paperwork,” he says. “Given how frustrating it could be to complete, everyone involved in the referencechecking process was willing to cut corners and take massive risks to get to a hiring decision.” At a coffee meeting with a colleague, Tim Griffiths, the two hatched a plan. “As I vented about the situation, I could instantly see the cogs working,” Seymour recalls. “As an MBA-qualified technologist, it didn’t take much for Tim to imagine how we could build an online platform that would take the
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manual, unreliable process and turn it into something fast, consistent and genuinely useful to the industry.” And so, from the scribbles on the back of a napkin, Xref was born.
Rapid global expansion By 2015, Xref was a successful brand generating respectable revenue, so Seymour and Griffiths positioned it to go public, rather than taking the more common approach of seeking funding from a single investor. This was a strategic decision and one that marked
many of the original attributes of Xref ’s culture remain firmly in place. “We may be geographically dispersed, but in terms of the communication and support we offer each other, we are very close,” he says. “We make use of technology wherever possible to add efficiency to our working lives, and to share news and updates across the team globally. It’s not uncommon to see scenic holiday snaps posted in informal group chats. Pictures of a recent engagement were even shared company-wide via the Xref WhatsApp group.”
“Our success to date merely propels us forward, and sitting on our hands, seeking business as usual, is not an option” Lee-Martin Seymour, Xref their ambition to expand globally. Xref today has more than 60 employees and has expanded beyond its Australian headquarters to support clients across APAC, Europe and North America. Seymour describes the culture of the company as “open, honest, hard-working and fun.” Still, this global expansion poses a question: How does rapid growth impact on the unique culture of a startup? Seymour says
However, the company’s rapid global expansion is also the cause of its main people-related problem. Time is of the essence, and in order to build market share quickly and efficiently, the company has needed the right staff. Seymour says the danger, when time is tight, is that the level of focus on new hires falters. While Xref has dedicated itself to ensuring the same level of hiring due diligence is applied today as it was
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
in less manic times, Seymour concedes that no organization will get it right every time. “As a fast-growth company, it’s reasonable to expect 10% to 15% of hires to end up not being suitable for the journey, despite best intentions,” he says. “At Xref, we embrace this. We have an open door to those who feel they simply cannot add value and proactively help those who wish to move out of the business. It’s crucial that the business does not hold onto people who cannot find a way to add value or align with our culture.” Seymour also relayed to HRD Canada his most satisfying hiring experience. Recognizing that he and Griffiths had reached the extent of their knowledge about how to list the company, Seymour penned a letter about their indecision and the fact that, faced with an oppor-
people management within the company. Seymour says both leaders are “very aware of what makes all our people tick, what their ambitions are and what they bring to the business.” However, he adds that they also have a fantastic leadership team that manages and supports the groups of employees that operate within their business function. “Small business life is often determined by daily decisions – some hard and businesscritical, and some that are not so hard but are absolutely necessary,” he says. “Tim and I can’t oversee everything all the time, so we must be able to rely on our leadership team to confidently handle the easier decisions.” It’s often said that in some ways, the focus in large companies needs to be turned on its head. Instead of spending time and resources
“We hire people who align with where we are going, are excited about joining us on that journey and have the skills we need to get there – not those who can play a short part today” Lee-Martin Seymour, Xref tunity, they needed an audience with ‘reason.’ He then sent that letter via LinkedIn to every lawyer in town who had experience in IPOs, mergers, acquisitions and technology, and looked fresh, engaged and aspirational. The subject of his message was ‘Meeting at 9 a.m.,’ making it clear that, even with the best intentions, any lawyers who weren’t available at 9 a.m. would have to pass. At 6:15 a.m., a lawyer replied and welcomed Griffiths and Seymour into his office at 8 a.m., where they spent the next three hours. “He brought clarity, experience and a network that could help,” Seymour says. “He is and will always be our corporate lawyer and a dear friend. That was the best recruitment I have ever done – and the biggest lesson I have ever learned.”
Lessons for bigger players Both Seymour and Griffiths have prioritized
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on those employees who are failing expectations, this focus should instead go toward those employees who offer value, insight and ambition. If this shakeup doesn’t occur, the best performers can be neglected by what Seymour describes as “a vale of reliability.” At Xref, winners are propelled, invested in and encouraged to take risks and ownership. “We hire people who align with where we are going, are excited about joining us on that journey and have the skills we need to get there – not those who can play a short part today,” Seymour says.
LEE-MARTIN SEYMOUR ON STAYING AHEAD OF THE PACK “All my learning has come from real-life situations, making mistakes and tackling hard decisions with linear common sense – no lessons, theories or textbooks. But being able to recognize and accept when you have reached the limit of your knowledge is critical to business success. Some try and fake it till they make it; I prefer to be open and inquisitive. I like to know how things work, challenge the status quo and take a pointy stick to tradition. I surround myself with people who are the best in their field, who know the answers and have experienced the things that I also want to conquer but have limited knowledge or experience of.” that you’ve created an “untouchable” business is “commercial suicide,” he adds. “We are at the very beginning; our success to date merely propels us forward, and sitting on our hands, seeking business as usual, is not an option. Before listing, we had time and no money; we were under the radar. Now we have strong capital and a lack of time; we are above the parapet, and the game is on.” The company is continuing to scale quickly, and with this rapid growth comes new challenges. The way organizations use the Xref solution in each market varies, and Seymour says it’s not possible for his company to walk in, plug in the Xref platform and walk away. “We have to work with clients to really understand what they need and how we can help,” he says. “It all takes time, but we must maintain our integrity and make sure we get it as right in every market as we have in Australia.”
The future Looking ahead, Seymour says time presents not just his company’s biggest people challenge, but also its biggest business challenge, adding that Xref needs to “run as fast as it can” to stay ahead of the competition. Believing that a public listing is a signpost
Xref brings ease, security and value to the recruitment process. The automated online solution delivers the data-driven candidate insights organizations need to make smart, confident hiring decisions. Its customer-centric platform and team enable the flexibility and scalability its global clients require to hire the best talent, quickly.
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Leading in a digital age A digital literacy program is just one of many innovative L&D initiatives that BlueShore Financial’s CEO, Chris Catliff, has introduced. He shares his unique approach to building future leaders with Iain Hopkins Company name: BlueShore Financial Number of employees worldwide: 320 Year founded: 1941
BLUESHORE FINANCIAL takes a unique approach to developing leaders. Borrowing a concept from the hit TV show Dragon’s Den, the firm’s leadership team comes together to work on a project with the aim of dramatically improving the capability of the company and its people. Their concepts are then pitched to the executive team, who either dismiss it or implement it. “It’s fun but quite nerve-wracking for those taking part,” says Chris Catliff, president and CEO of BlueShore Financial. “On the TV show, the participants often do a lot of work on the project, and if it gets rejected, they’ll assume it’s about money – but often there are other reasons why it won’t fly. We see the same thing occurring here. When people have something pointed out to them – a different perspective or something they may not have seen themselves – that’s a powerful learning experience. They won’t make the same mistake twice.” Vancouver-based BlueShore has established itself as a small but innovative player in the financial services field – and much of that is due to Catliff ’s leadership. As demonstrated by the Dragon’s Den concept, his innovations encompass how the company delivers its
services not only to consumers, but also to its internal operations. For example, he’s an advocate of ‘Velcro management,’ in which he pulls people away from one area of the business and puts them into another area for a period of time in order to build cross-functional capabilities and collaboration between teams. “We don’t have those traditional hierarchical structures that concentrate leadership up
freedom and cover to do that.” Catliff is also an advocate of bespoke leadership programs, because every company is unique, and therefore its approach to identifying and grooming future leaders should be, too. The best programs, he says, “build upon the stories of your successes, but also your failures – the story of why you’re different.” To do that, he adds, it’s necessary to have a
“If you’re not capable of delivering what’s needed in this digital world, you probably don’t have a role in this organization” Chris Catliff, BlueShore Financial a chain of command and into a few hands; we’ve got a flatter, more dynamic and flexible team-based structure,” Catliff says. “That’s the reality of digital work today. It’s all teambased. You have to have the new young leaders developing and gaining the experience where they can take what they’ve learned from school and almost re-engineer how we do our work. They can’t do that unless they’re given the
C-suite and HR team who are willing to develop leadership programs that meet the company’s unique needs and are guided by long-term business objectives. Catliff also suggests matching a leader’s strengths to the role while compensating for whatever development challenges they might have and backfilling for that. “Give them the chance to develop in those areas and even fail
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COVER STORY: CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
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a little bit,” he says. “Fail fast, but keep trying – that’s a powerful formula for engagement and long-lasting impact.”
Digital disruption The financial services industry, like all industries, has been dramatically disrupted by technology. Should this disruption be feared or embraced? “I’d say both,” Catliff says. BlueShore is doing everything it possibly can to embrace disruption – even changing its core mission and processes to embrace technology and aiming to improve its clients’ financial well-being in an interconnected, digital world. “If you’re not capable of delivering what’s needed in this digital world, you probably don’t have a role in this organization,” Catliff says.
like a cheque deposit transaction,” Catliff says. “For questions like, ‘I’m getting married; what do I need to do?’ or ‘I’m selling my family home; how do I distribute the money to my kids?’, those are often not repeatable events, and that’s where we really shine. We have data and technology behind the employee, but it’s their skills that set us apart.” Catliff has also taken steps to ensure the gap between employee skills and the demands of new technology does not widen. Two years ago, he looked into whether a digital literacy program or benchmark system existed. Not finding one, the BlueShore team created one in conjunction with a specialist consultancy. The program tests existing skill levels and then helps guide those who need to bolster their digital skills. Catliff says that interestingly,
“I’ve realized over time that you really need to think about the people. That’s the critical element that will deliver results” Chris Catliff, BlueShore Financial For BlueShore, the business strategy is to build digital capabilities and solutions into the customer’s journey into the company, and then into how the company delivers its services out to those customers. Another vital element is the company’s ‘TnT’ strategy – talent and technology. “They are the two critical elements,” Catliff says. “We’re a leader both in how we treat people and how we utilize technology. We don’t go for efficiency per se; we go for agility – in other words, our ability to react quickly and with flexibility, as opposed to trying to do everything on a huge scale and making it more efficient. That’s what our big-bank competitors do, and it sometimes creates a whole pile of bad customer interfaces.” People and technology are inexorably linked. In financial services, everything that is transactional is rapidly becoming digitized. However, customer advice is another matter. “Truly transformative advice is not a commodity
digital literacy was not dependent on age or job position, but rather on how much time and energy a person is willing to spend on developing these skills. “We’ve created several vignettes and other tools to help employees come up to speed,” he says. “We’ve also created digital ambassadors for each department so they can be the go-to person if there are any laggards.” The initiative has had an interesting unforeseen benefit: it has bolstered cybersecurity in the company. “We target all our staff with phishing attempts, and if they click on these emails – which a small percentage do – they are immediately triaged with a digital literacy test on how to respond appropriately,” Catliff says. “It doesn’t matter how high the walls are around your castle if one of your employees is letting down drawbridges.”
Getting ahead in a tight talent market This focus on digital goes to the heart of
CHRIS CATLIFF ON DATA ANALYTICS “Our senior VP of HR sits at the intersection of talent and business. She has to help me drive our business results and do so through the important asset of our people, particularly by providing strategic insights about our people. HR confidence, like our entire business, is driven by data analytics. I want to see the best ideas put forward, but HR must present those ideas backed with data. We have our highest level of employee engagement at 82%, and it’s critical that we analyze that data and fix any problems so we don’t have those same problems recurring next year. One of our head of HR’s degrees is in mathematics, so she’s well across the numbers!” BlueShore’s employer brand. Catliff says the company is purposely targeting people who want to transform the financial services industry and want to work for a company that is attempting to do that. So far the strategy is working – to the extent that other financial institutions are headhunting BlueShore’s staff, particularly those in the IT field. Indeed, the Vancouver area is a tech hub – the likes of Microsoft and Hootsuite are based there. This means candidates with digital skill sets are snapped up quickly. “It’s a seller’s market for talent – we’re all experiencing higher vacancy rates, there are more jobs available for the same pool of candidates, and there’s much greater competition for talent,” Catliff says. “It’s difficult to get people to move across the country to come here – difficult for them, but also expensive for us. So what we sell is our culture and the fact that we focus on L&D.” That approach is indicative of Catliff ’s own view as the CEO of a leading company. “I used to believe that in business, all you had to think about was money and financial results,” he says. “I’ve realized over time that you really need to think about the people. That’s the critical element that will deliver results.”
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: CEOs ON LEADERSHIP
A global mindset A female pioneer in a male-dominated industry, Whirlpool managing director Silvia Del Vitto shares her story with HRD Canada Company name: Whirlpool Corporation Number of employees worldwide: 93,000 Year founded: 1911
SILVIA DEL VITTO is the very definition of a global executive. Her career has taken her from Europe to Asia and now to Oceania. She started her career at the organization she still works for – Whirlpool Corporation – in her home country of Italy. Fortuitously, the company’s Italian headquarters were located just 7km from the house where she grew up. Del Vitto always knew she wanted to travel and have an international career, and that was one of the reasons why she initially chose to apply for a job at the company. Boasting more than 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centres around the world, Whirlpool offered boundless scope for an ambitious future leader. “Whirlpool Corporation has brought about many exciting career opportunities for me,” Del Vitto says, “and being exposed to different areas of the business, I’ve had the opportunity to gain extensive knowledge about how the company works and implement this consistently across different geographic regions successfully.”
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Looking beyond geographic borders occurred early in Del Vitto’s career. Whirlpool Corporation had been running its Far East region from Europe and was looking for someone to relocate to Singapore. It made sense to send someone with sound knowledge of company principles, values and experience
relationships with HR and says the key to this is always being aligned on the overarching vision and strategy “to make sure that organization is built the right way.” “To be effective, you need to spend time with people, understand their needs and expectations, try new things, and support
“To be effective, you need to spend time with people, understand their needs and expectations, try new things, and support change” Silvia Del Vitto, Whirlpool Corporation within different areas of the organization so that the overarching brand experience would be consistent, but to set them up with a local team to ensure cultural idiosyncrasies were considered and accommodated accordingly. Del Vitto was a natural fit for the role.
The role of HR, now and in the future Del Vitto prides herself on building strong
change,” she says. “A true open and flexible mindset and working environment are key, as well as a firm grasp of the numbers.” A key to Whirlpool Corporation’s success is its HR practices – one of which is offering employee growth programs, which provide a clear and achievable career path for all staff. Having spent just shy of two decades at the company, Del Vitto’s own career provides the
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“A true open and flexible mindset and working environment are key, as well as a firm grasp of the numbers” Silvia Del Vitto, Whirlpool Corporation
perfect example. “In that time, I’ve developed and grown with the company from an initial marketing assistant role to roles across all product categories, brand management roles and category marketing lead roles. I was product marketing director in EMEA for many years before taking on market director of the Far East, to my role today as managing director across Australia and New Zealand for the Whirlpool brands, including Whirlpool, Ariston and KitchenAid.” Today, Del Vitto describes her leadership style as hands-on and practical, which allows her to address challenges with flexibility and quickly find solutions to issues. “I’m described
as being passionate, very results-oriented and often going beyond job scope,” she says. Del Vitto has also been recognized as a supporter of change, and as such, she’s played an active role in different organizational and process redesign campaigns. She has also been something of a pioneer – she’s one of the few female heads of business within the major appliances industry. However, she says she has not experienced any “disadvantages, challenges or hardships based on my gender” – something she attributes to Whirlpool Corporation’s culture of acceptance, equality and opportunity. She has benefited from a number of inspirational mentors and role models.
“Esther Berrozpe, president of EMEA operations, was a role model for me and also a source of inspiration,” Del Vitto says. “Esther definitely influenced my leadership style – she taught me to challenge myself, set clear objectives and put the consumer in the centre of all decisions.” Looking toward the future, Del Vitto says there are “many opportunities in the region” for Whirlpool Corporation. She’ll be drawing on the company’s multi-brand portfolio and its global commitment to driving innovation to build new channel partnerships. “I’m really looking forward to being involved in the next chapter of their growth across this region,” she says. “Watch this space.”
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FEATURES
SALES LEADERSHIP
From sales manager to sales leader Traditional sales training is not sufficient to upskill a salesperson into a leadership role. Callum Hughson outlines Ivey Business School’s possible solution IN TODAY’S performance-driven sales culture, outstanding sales leadership is fundamental when it comes to delivering results. However, the sales manager role is one of the most difficult sales positions to fill effectively. New hires have been known to flame out quickly when transitioning from a front-line sales role to a sales leadership role. It’s easy to see why – organizations tend to follow a pattern of investing heavily in front-line salespeople and then promoting the top performers into sales management roles. Once there, these top performers struggle to adapt to the scope of the additional responsibilities assigned to them. Why? Because historically, sales training is technically focused. Newly minted sales managers haven’t received the foundational leadership training that is essential to success in a sales leadership role. Essentially, managers are being expected to lead without being given the proper training.
The need for leadership skills Sales management is the method of procuring and developing a sales force, setting a strategic sales vision, and executing sales techniques that allow organizations to continuously reach – or even exceed – their sales targets. It’s also one of the most challenging roles due to its multi-faceted nature. Not only must sales managers be experts in presenting, negotiating, forecasting and managing a pipeline, but they also need to strategize, respond to
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changes in the market with innovative solutions, coach, recruit, hire, develop talent, and inspire and empower their sales teams. Yet often in senior management’s eyes, reporting numbers and overall sales performance are their top priorities. Typically, the sales manager role is not clearly defined. Sales managers aren’t usually given a sales management process to follow. And should their performance falter, sales managers are typically given more sales training, when what they really need is leadership training. Unfortunately, technical abilities don’t translate into leadership capabilities. Without providing leadership skills and competencies to complement sales training, top-performing salespeople transitioning to the role of sales manager are being set up for failure. According to the Sales Management Association’s Hiring Top Sales Management report, only 19% of firms are effective at onboarding sales managers. In addition, a whopping 75% of sales representatives who have been promoted to a management position will return to a sales position within two years. Harvey Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, is famous for having said that “the growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” In sales management, these words are particularly apt, as there is a direct correlation between sales leadership and sales performance. In fact, according to a 2015 Harvard Business Review study, of those salespeople who exceeded their sales targets – the top performers – 69% rated their sales manager as being ‘above average’ or ‘excellent.’
Bridging the gap The strongest sales organizations are those with sales managers who are sales leaders. They operate strategically, and they set the vision, direction and expectations as the anchor of the sales force. The sales leader attracts, hires, develops, coaches and, as a result, retains top-performing talent. The best sales leaders not only coach, but are leaderbreeders. They are able to develop their own
TOP 10 RESPONSIBILITIES OF A SALES LEADER 1. Establishing and communicating direction, organizational objectives, business focus, priorities and value proposition 2. Communicating goals and performance expectations 3. Defining core value-added activities and core competencies 4. Demonstrating conspicuous behaviour to exemplify the desired values and culture of the organization 5. Recruiting, training and developing skills and knowledge of sales staff 6. Motivating and inspiring individual and organization performance 7. Creating commitment to meet goals and required process discipline 8. Monitoring and coaching individual development (mentoring by example) 9. Keeping a long-term view and developing plans to deliver sustainable results 10. Using the necessary leadership style to suit various situations Source: Professor Michael H. Taylor, faculty director, Ivey Sales Management Program
Without providing leadership skills, topperforming salespeople transitioning into the role of sales manager are being set up for failure salespeople to become successful sales leaders themselves. According to Professor Michael Taylor of the Ivey Business School at Western University, “sales force leadership requires market knowledge, customer knowledge, and buying behaviour knowledge, as well as process optimization expertise, internal political skills (to argue for infrastructure resources), coaching and development skills, the ability to gain incremental commitment from members of the team, and motivational skills.” Taylor is the faculty director of the Ivey Sales Management Program, an executive education program designed to address the lack of leadership training within sales. Taylor has structured the curriculum of this program to develop sales leadership potential and performance management expertise. The program provides transformational tools to influence the sales team and lead change, which results in a more agile organization and the acceleration of innovation in the market-
place. Agility is a critical competency in a fastchanging, competitive market. An organization that cannot change quickly will start losing market share – quickly. In addition to sales leadership competencies, participants of the Ivey Sales Management Program become well versed in how to increase the effectiveness of the sales team beyond their own individual talent and expertise. Sales force management strategies, process tools, incentive frameworks and supporting systems are examined so that program participants may form their own blueprint for successful and sustained sales excellence.
Callum Hughson is the digital marketing manager for Ivey Executive Education at Ivey Business School. The Ivey Sales Management Program takes place at Ivey’s residential executive centre in London, Ontario, from October 25–27, 2017. For more information, please visit www.ivey.uwo.ca/executive/ourprograms/ivey-sales-management, or call 800-948-8548.
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FEATURES
INSIDE HR
All for one Barclays is rapidly becoming the world leader in diversity and inclusion, but it’s in disability inclusion and accessibility that it’s truly blazing a path 32 32
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‘A SOLUTION for one becomes a solution for many.’ That’s the call to action that Barclays has rallied behind globally for the past several years when it comes to diversity and inclusion. It’s especially pertinent when that solution is designed and implemented for people who identify as having some form of disability. The Barclays global D&I strategy has five pillars: gender, disability, LGBT, multicultural and multi-generational. Mark McLane, head of global diversity and inclusion at
and technology of ‘personalized’ debit cards. While many people would use an image of their partner or children on the card, an infinitely more practical use might be to make the card red, especially if that’s a colour on the spectrum that can be more clearly seen than others. “They could also use a big arrow so it looks like a hotel room key,” McLane says. “For visual impairment across the spectrum, being able to quickly differentiate my ATM card from my credit card, to have that sense of
“The gravest concern is not knowing what colleagues need to make them successful” Mark McLane, Barclays
The Barclays team celebrates IDAHOBIT 2016 – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
Barclays, explains that ‘a solution for one becomes a solution for many’ means fundamentally understanding the accessibility needs of the bank’s customers and employees. “It means we have more inclusive business solutions that, quite honestly, some of us may not even think of as being a solution until we see that in action,” he says. To cite one example, Barclays’ talking ATMs are today being used to help individuals with visual impairment. “As you get older and need reading glasses, sometimes the print at an ATM on a very sunny day can be difficult to see, but once you take your headset out and plug it in, you now have a voiceactivated machine,” McLane says. Another example is Barclays’ highvisibility debit cards, which use the principles
independence in banking, is really what it all comes down to.”
A design-thinking approach It’s not just customers who benefit – it’s also the company’s 120,000 employees around the world. Barclays has made inclusive technology mission-critical. McLane says it may sound simple, but even steps such as ensuring that all corporate videos are subtitled can make a big difference. “It’s putting the work in at the front end, not the back end, not as a bolt-on,” he says. “That’s transformational for the organization. With something as simple as subtitling videos, I’ve had colleagues say to me, ‘In this new hot-desking environment, all computers have speakers, but now with my colleagues
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FEATURES
INSIDE HR SHARING BEST PRACTICE Mark McLane outlines three key steps Barclays has taken to lead the company toward the highest-ever score in the UK’s Disability Standard. The Barclays mobile banking app is the first banking app to be accredited by Ability Net for its accessibility.
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Able to Enable, a campaign focusing on accessibility in employment, is an expansion of the Barclays internship and apprenticeship programs. It reaches out specifically to those who identify as having a disability to help the company become a better employment destination for them.
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This is Me, now in its fourth year, started out as a mental health and wellness campaign focusing on colleagues sharing how they manage their mental health and wellness and their careers at Barclays. Today it has become more generally about disability. In the past three years, Barclays has also partnered with the Lord Mayor of London to launch the initiative into the city. In turn, 80 companies in the City of London have deployed similar campaigns.
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Barclays celebrates D&I on five fronts: gender, disability, LGBT, multi-cultural and multi-generational
sitting next to me, I can watch a leadership video and read the subtitling.’ That’s not something I would have thought about in the past, but again, you can see it’s taking something that improves the lives of a few that really improves the lives of many.” In many ways, Barclays has taken a design-thinking approach to its inclusive solutions. “You must start with the user,” McLane says. “Although I’m the chief diversity officer, I started my career in sales and marketing, so I always think of the end user. You must have the end user in the room. But having you in the room is not enough – we also have to listen. We have to take advantage of your voice being in the room. You have to feel like you’re working in an inclusive and
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welcoming environment to be able to bring yourself to work, to bring that difference to the table and know that it matters.”
Global benchmarking Wherever he is in the world, McLane says the question he is most frequently asked is, “How do we rank in this area; where are we furthest ahead?” “I always respond, ‘First give me a country, and then give me a division of the bank,’ because even within investment banking, retail banking and corporate banking, there are very different cultures and customer bases. So it’s very fluid.” However, McLane concedes that certain geographical locations are ahead of the pack.
He cites some parts of the UK that are ahead of others on accessibility. The US, meanwhile, pulls ahead from an infrastructure standpoint, possibly due to building code changes. He also cites work that his colleagues are doing in Tokyo around accessibility in employment as leading the way in APAC. Increasingly, the organization is taking part in benchmarking in various jurisdictions around the world. For example, it has used the Accessibility and Inclusion Index in Australia to step back and assess where the company falls among its corporate peers. Similarly, in 2016, Barclays in the UK was the first company to achieve 98% on the Equality Standard by the Business Disability Forum. “Someone asked me recently at a confer-
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ence, ‘So, Mark, what’s next?’ I said that for me, it’s working with the Business Disability Forum as one of its founding members to figure out what is next – not to rest, but to continue to pull other companies along on the journey. How do we raise the bar? What would 98% or 100% look like three years from now? Getting to 100% doesn’t mean the work is done; it means we’ve reached a good standard today. “Like any benchmark, I’ll use the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index in the US,” he continues, “but every three to four years a new milestone comes into play: What’s next; what are we doing? I think that’s our responsibility to help drive D&I.” He adds that Barclays aspires to be the most accessible FTSE 100 company. “I always say, ‘I don’t know what that looks like – it’s very aspirational.’ But knowing that’s what we want to achieve gives us the energy and drive to figure out what’s next.”
Key tips McLane is keen to dispel some misconceptions about what it takes to become a truly accessible organization. “The gravest concern is not knowing what colleagues need to make them successful,” he says. For example, it’s common to put in place practices prior to the individual starting work, which McLane deems “well intended but a bit backward.” “I think this goes back to where we started – about listening,” he says. “Even through the interview process, asking potential colleagues what they need to be successful. Some of the concern around employing people with disability tends to go right to this idea about infrastructure – ramps, barrier-free lavatories and things like that – which you should have anyway. But sometimes it’s as simple as: What time do I arrive at work? Do I have any flexibility to make sure I can leave at a certain time? Is there suitable transport available in the city? Sometimes it’s even simpler – for example: ‘I use a certain type of keyboard.’ That’s not a big ask.” McLane, who says his passion for D&I was sparked at Whirlpool Corporation, believes D&I deserves the same level of market
MAKING A DIFFERENCE The 10 key areas determined to drive the greatest benefits for access and inclusion of people with disabilities within an organization are as follows: 1. Commitment: We commit to best practice on access and inclusion for people with disabilities as employees, customers and stakeholders. 2. Premises: Our premises are accessible to people with disabilities, and whenever necessary, we make adjustments for individuals. 3. Workplace adjustments: We anticipate the needs of people with disabilities and have a robust process for making any adjustments that might be needed by individuals. 4. Communication and marketing: Our communication and marketing channels are accessible to people with disabilities, and whenever necessary, we make reasonable adjustments for individuals. 5. Products and services: We value people with disabilities as customers, clients and service users, and address their needs when developing and delivering our products and services. 6. ICT: Our ICT is accessible and usable by people with disabilities, and we also make reasonable adjustments for individuals. 7. Recruitment and selection: We attract and recruit people with disabilities, which gives us access to the widest talent pool at every level. 8. Career development: We value all our employees, including those who experience disabilities, and are committed to their retention and development. 9. Suppliers and partners: We expect our suppliers and corporate partners to reflect and enable us to meet our commitment to best practice. 10. Innovation: We pride ourselves on our innovative practices and continually strive to do better. Source: Access and Inclusion Index Benchmark Report 2016, Australian Network on Disability
“It’s putting the work in at the front end, not the back end, not as a bolt-on. That’s transformational for the organization” Mark McLane, Barclays segmentation that might occur in a marketing department. The overarching goal, he says, is to attract great talent to an organization. “That’s where I fell in love with the work. That’s where I understood the gap – colleagues and customers are not two different sets of people. Colleagues are customers who just happen to work here. If we can start to take some of that discipline around customer understanding into HR and, within HR, the colleague understanding back into the business, we have a full circle, and we’re really adding value to the organization.”
As a final tip, McLane suggests HR be clear on who is in charge of diversity and how HR fits in. “You need to ask who’s leading diversity for your organization,” he says. “My role is helping to build the discipline into the organization – both into the business and into the HR function. For HR, they must understand they have permission to know they don’t know everything. It becomes an iterative learning process for everyone. When you start to have that realization, you also take some of the fear out of the organization – the fear of getting it wrong.”
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FEATURES
SECTOR FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH
Why HR is stuck in the middle HRD Canada caught up with Lorenzo Lisi from Aird & Berlis LLP to find out how HR can navigate the confusing world of mental health claims
OVER THE past decade, huge strides have been made in raising awareness around mental health and well-being in the workplace. Large corporations led the way in starting conversations that reduced the stigma around mental health, and that ethos of open-
A new dilemma
Between a rock and a hard place
Although organizations have realized the value in providing their employees with the resources to treat mental health issues – and have worked hard to remove the stigma around actually using them – disability claims
The factor that once made it so easy for those affected by a mental health issue to hide their suffering – invisibility – is now impacting sufferers once again. Just as there is no stigma around breaking an arm and getting treatment, there is also nothing to contest it – the X-rays speak for themselves. But mental health issues are much more nuanced and hard to prove if an insurer is unconvinced. In many cases, mental health claims are not approved initially, which means the employee is off work without leave. HR is caught between a rock and a hard place when the insurer rejects the claim but the employee maintains they are not well enough to return to work. When this occurs, it’s crucial for HR to maintain an ongoing and open line of communication with the insurer. Lisi advises HR to handle a mental health claim or dispute in the same way they would any other physical disability. “HR cannot ask for a prognosis, but they can ask about the expected return-to-work date and ask the employee’s doctor if modifications can be made to accommodate a return to
“It’s important to keep on top of these cases because they tend to stay in the ether, and then a year down the line, you’re still dealing with them ” Lorenzo Lisi, Aird & Berlis LLP ness and awareness has now spread to organizations of all sizes in all industries. As a result, people with mental health issues are now much more likely to seek help and get treatment earlier, which is proven to result in better outcomes. An employee who may have suffered in silence for 20 years is today more likely to be proactive and tackle their mental health issues head-on.
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they require accommodations for their condition. That leads to a complex situation where HR is often stuck in the middle between employee, doctor and insurance company. In certain situations, insurers will refuse an employee’s application for short-term disability coverage, and the employer can’t find out why. “In these situations, HR has to ensure they maintain a consistent process in dealing with all mental health issue claims,” says Lorenzo Lisi, partner at Aird & Berlis LLP and leader of the firm’s labour and employment practice group. “That means noting the circumstances around which the claim occurred. Was this the first time the issue was reported, or is it a recurrence of a known issue? Did the claim follow a performance review or occur when an individual was about to disciplined for misconduct?”
related to mental health are creating significant challenges for HR departments. In particular, situations are arising where insurers are casting doubt on the legitimacy of employees’ mental health disability claims, leaving HR in a difficult position. HR is not allowed access to information regarding an employee’s mental health diagnosis and, as a result, is forced to accept a doctor’s word that
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EMPLOYERS’ TOP FIVE CHALLENGES IN MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH
work,” Lisi says. “It’s important to keep on top of these cases because they tend to stay in the ether, and then a year down the line, you’re still dealing with them. It’s really important to be vigilant and stay in touch with the insurance company.” In certain scenarios, an insurer might say they don’t have enough medical information or proof of disability to substantiate the claim. In that situation, an employer has the right to ask the employee to either provide adequate medical information to support their claim or return to work. They can also consider arranging an independent medical examination if they believe the employee’s doctors are being too subjective.
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Lack of employee knowledge and/or willingness to use counselling and resources (49%) Inadequate manager knowledge and behaviour when an employee is struggling (48%) Stigma regarding mental health issues (46%) Inadequate coworker knowledge and behaviour when an employee is struggling (42%) Poor employee coping skills in adapting to change (26%) Source: Human Resources Trends for 2017, Morneau Shepell
It’s not uncommon for an employee to return to work with restrictions or modifications to their job descriptions. However, as is the case in many scenarios where mental health is involved, how those modifications are implemented is not black and white, which can create confusion. If a claim is anxiety- or stress-related, is it possible to modify the job description to completely avoid stress or anxiety?
“I’ve had employers tell me about doctor’s notes that say the employee should avoid multi-tasking, but that’s what the job was all about,” Lisi says. “It is best to be consistent with your process and to not prejudge. Mental health issues are becoming more and more prevalent for employers, and they have to learn to how to deal with them just about every day.”
www.hrmonline.ca
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HRD 5
FEATURES
SECTOR FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH
HOW EMPLOYERS ARE DEALING WITH MENTAL HEALTH CLAIMS 31% of employers indicated that the number and length of complex mental health claims was their greatest challenge in managing short-term disability 27% indicated that accommodation and modified work requests as part of the return-to-work plan is a challenge in managing shortterm disability 29% said they have implemented mental health training for managers 24% have implemented training for employees to improve coping skills and resilience 63% reported that their organizations have focused on increasing promotion of their EFAP to improve mental health and resilience Source: Human Resources Trends for 2017, Morneau Shepell
38
The latest developments Employment law concerning mental health is constantly evolving, and it’s an issue that is increasingly under the spotlight. Organizations are being closely scrutinized on how they deal with mental health issues and are aware that any misstep or breach of policy that attracts high-level media attention could lead to significant reputational harm. Many companies now hold special workplace events to raise awareness around mental health and wellness and employees’ right to make claims. While this represents a step forward in many ways, Lisi has noticed that the increased knowledge around the ability to
way is crucial for organizations that want to protect their employees’ well-being and boost their organization’s productivity. It’s an obvious concern for employers, which was highlighted in Morneau Shepell’s Human Resources Trends for 2017 study. Thirty-one per cent of employers surveyed indicated that the number and length of complex mental health claims was their greatest challenge in managing short-term disability, while 49% said a lack of employee knowledge and/or willingness to use counselling and resources was their top challenge in managing mental health. Taking a proactive approach to mental wellbeing is key, and many organizations seem to be
“It raises the question of where the distinction is between normal work-related stress and what can be considered extreme or recognized as a mental health condition” Lorenzo Lisi, Aird & Berlis LLP submit claims is colliding with an employer’s legitimate right to carry out thorough performance management processes. Lisi has recognized a trend of employees leaving work for stress-related reasons immediately after a poor performance review. “It raises the question of where the distinction is between normal work-related stress and what can be considered extreme or recognized as a mental health condition,” Lisi says. “The threshold for proving, demonstrating or not being discriminated against on the basis of a mental health issue is lowered, and employers have to figure out how to deal with that because it’s a real challenge.” Prevention is more effective than a cure with all physical health issues, and mental health is no different. Identifying problems early and tackling them in an effective and empathetic
coming to that realization. Sixty-three per cent of respondents to Morneau Shepell’s survey said their organizations have focused on increasing promotion of their EFAP to improve mental health and resilience, while 33% saw better training for their managers as a key strategy for improving disability management. Lisi believes all HR professionals should be aware of the mindfulness and wellness programs that are available to help deal with mental health issues in the workplace. “HR needs to be proactive in terms of giving employees the resources and keeping communications open, so if there are stressors in the workplace, they can be sent to EAP or an appropriate practitioner,” he says, “but be mindful of the fact that they need to implemented in a way that is consistent within the framework of the business.”
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15/08/2017 7:02:42 AM
FEATURES
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
Stepping up to the plate Optimizing workforce scheduling and deployment by aligning labour resources with customer and business demand. Taking control of employee absences and managing vacations, time in lieu and sickness more efficiently.
Employee advocate
The link to business performance
HR directors are also employee advocates. As such, they play a vital role in the success of the organization via their skills and knowledge about employees. If an organization really wants to leverage its greatest asset – its workforce – it needs to strike a balance
Leading organizations today realize the importance of aligning all labour costs with associated revenue and business profitability. The who, when, where and what need to be measured effectively, and this is where a comprehensive WFM platform plays its part. Businesses get the tools and operating parameters they need at every level to deploy resource plans and schedules effectively while delivering top-down management controls over payroll overhead, overtime, contract staff, absence management and other major cost drivers in the business. Labour is the biggest single overhead in all organizations, yet it is often overlooked. Modern WFM solutions go beyond simple time and attendance functionality. Worldclass companies are using WFM solutions to introduce flexible working options; optimize labour planning, scheduling, and modelling; respond to union and legislation requirements; track and cost projects; and manage planned and unplanned absences. Today’s integrated WFM solutions build a bridge between the operational and the strategic elements of the organization.
Today’s integrated WFM solutions build a bridge between the operational and the strategic elements of the organization Strategic partner The active involvement of the HR director in WFM projects has never been more important. Within organizations today, the HR director is viewed as a strategic partner. In this role, they contribute to the growth and the success of the organization’s business plans and objectives. A WFM solution can help by: Attracting, retaining and motivating employees by giving them more control and input over their work schedules. Reducing operating costs by making optimal use of your existing workforce and minimizing the need for overtime and temporary labour. Improving productivity and quality by allowing you to make informed realtime decisions based on actual data.
40
Change champion Finally, HR directors are change champions. Their knowledge and ability to implement successful change strategies make them extremely valued by the other directors. Many employees do not like change and sometimes see it as a threat. However, with the technological advances in modern WFM solutions, change can be extremely positive for employees, as it can give them more control over their working lives. By getting involved from the start, employees set the tone and help define the HR policies, thereby ensuring that their department’s goals and objectives are achieved.
Mairead Walsh outlines why HR directors are taking a more active role in workforce management projects THE AREA of workforce management [WFM] has undergone significant change in recent years. Some of this change has come about due to advances in technology; some has been due to the way modern businesses operate, compete and use labour resources. WFM is essentially the process of balancing work requirements with available resources. It includes areas such as time and attendance, labour scheduling/e-rostering, and absence management. WFM solutions enable organizations to ensure that strategic objectives are met in an efficient, cost-effective manner while also balancing the needs of the employees.
aging and inspiring them to realize the vision of the organization.
between the needs of the business and the needs of the employees. This is where a WFM solution can take centre stage. By achieving this balance, the workforce will help the organization achieve its goals and, most importantly, put a human face to the organization.
Empowering employees HR directors empower employees. They want to help employees to achieve both the goals of the organization and their own personal goals. A WFM solution empowers employees to improve both their efficiency and effectiveness. With the help of an integrated WFM solution, employees are provided with the framework and tools to assist them in achieving personal objectives and goals while encour-
Mairead Walsh is head of communications and marketing at Softworks. She has published numerous papers, articles and case studies on workforce management topics. Walsh’s other publications can be found at www.softworks.com/whitepapers, or contact her at mwalsh@softworks.com.
www.hrmonline.ca
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2017-08-09 12:25 15/08/2017 7:03:42 AMPM
CANADIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O17
Thursday, September 14 The Liberty Grand, Toronto The Canadian HR Awards continue to provide a stunning showcase of excellence, inspiration and insight for the HR industry. This year’s record number of nominations ensures that the Canadian HR Awards remain the most competitive awards show in the country. HRD Canada is proud to present the organizations, teams and individuals at the forefront of HR best practices who made this year’s list of finalists. Together with our publisher, Key Media International, we would like to thank everyone who submitted nominations this year and all our sponsors who continue to make this event a success. We look forward to celebrating your success at the awards ceremony hosted by Ben Mulroney on Thursday, September 14, 2017 at the Liberty Grand in Toronto. Visit www.hrawards.ca to book a table or for more information.
#HRAwardsCA
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION
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EVENT PARTNER
THE ULTIMATE SOFTWARE AWARD FOR
BEST WORKPLACE CULTURE
THE ACCOMPASS AWARD FOR
HR TEAM OF THE YEAR
THE AIRD & BERLIS LLP AWARD FOR
THE KPMG IN CANADA AWARD FOR
(MORE THAN 500 EMPLOYEES)
CANADIAN HR CHAMPION (CEO)
CANADIAN HR LEADER OF THE YEAR
yy Actionable.co
yy Bank of Canada
yy Carol Leaman
yy Kathy Enros
yy Empire Communities
yy BCLC
yy Lotek Wireless
yy Coastal Community Credit Union
yy Lumenix yy MD Financial Management yy Scalar Decisions yy Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario yy Uberflip yy WilsonHCG
yy Corus Entertainment yy DIALOG yy Ingram Micro Canada yy Ipsos Limited Partnership yy Jazz Aviation yy Michael Garron Hospital | Toronto East Health Network
Axonify
ACL
yy David Pilz IndustryBuilt
yy Glenn Attridge Attridge Transportation
yy Karim Mamdani Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
yy Laurie Schultz ACL
yy Randy Frisch Uberflip
yy Rick Watkin KUBRA
yy Robert Gialloreto Consumer Protection BC
yy Andrew Waitman Assent Compliance
yy Nando’s Canada
yy Gordana Terkalas Aecon Group
yy Arielle Meloul-Wechsler Air Canada
yy Alexis Corbett Bank of Canada
yy Ben Bazinet Horizon North Logistics
yy Anna Crane Lumenix
yy Jerry Gratton O2E Brands
yy Jennifer Vantuil Platinum Investments
yy Cheryl Stargratt Tangerine
yy Krista-Lee Walters The Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators
yy Niagara Casinos
yy Tanya Wick
yy Ubisoft Toronto
Tolko Industries
yy Yee Makowich Vision 7
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IN SUPPORT OF
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CANADIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O17 THE ADP CANADA AWARD FOR
CANADIAN HR RISING STAR OF THE YEAR yy Christina Juneja Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
yy Diana Trasolini Paladin Security Group
yy Elise Elliott Colliers International
yy Emily Dunphy Wolseley Canada
yy Izzie Egan BLANKSLATE Partners
yy Jabeen Boga Stantec Consulting/ Ashton College
yy Margaret McBeath Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada
yy Marie Josee Normand Solertia Consulting Group
yy Starleeta Brown Centennial College Alumni Association, Centennial College and Glen Corporation
AWARD SPONSOR
THE IVEY BUSINESS SCHOOL AWARD FOR
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HR INDUSTRY This is the highest honour and most coveted award at the Canadian HR Awards. This award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the industry as a whole through visionary people management strategies and leadership. This award will acknowledge someone with an established history of distinguished service to the HR profession and who has exhibited leadership and provided inspiration to others in the sector while putting the interests of the industry at the top of their priorities.
THE TALENTEGG AWARD FOR
THE VENNGO AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR
BEST EMPLOYER BRANDING
FINANCIAL, PHYSICAL & MENTAL WELLNESS
yy City of Mississauga
yy BlackBerry
yy Douglas College
yy CAA Club Group (CCG)
yy Mattamy Homes yy Royal Bank of Canada yy Sparkrock yy TD Bank Group Campus yy Tungsten Revenue Consultants
yy PointClickCare yy Sklar Wilton & Associates (SW&A) yy Sun Life Financial yy Traction on Demand yy Vancouver Airport Authority yy Fibernetics
Winner to be announced on September 14
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EVENT PARTNER
THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO AWARD FOR
THE XREF AWARD FOR
NEXT GENERATION EMPLOYMENT INNOVATION OF THE YEAR
MOST INNOVATIVE USE OF HR TECHNOLOGY
yy Bell Canada
THE MAXSYS STAFFING & CONSULTING AWARD FOR
THE GLOBOFORCE AWARD FOR
MOST EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT STRATEGY
BEST REWARD & RECOGNITION STRATEGY
yy City of Burlington
yy BlueCat
yy BlackBerry
yy BlueCat
yy City of Windsor
yy FCT
yy Colliers International
yy Coastal Community Credit Union
yy Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
yy Hydro Ottawa
yy Indigo Books & Music
yy RBC Wealth Management yy Ultimate Software
yy JYSK yy The Co-operators Group yy Traction on Demand
yy CAA Club Group (CCG) yy Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital yy J&M Group
yy IndustryBuilt yy O2E Brands yy Online Business Systems yy Points International yy The Minto Group
yy Jazz Aviation yy LoyaltyOne yy Talent Matters yy Tata Consultancy Services yy TeraGo yy Ubisoft Toronto
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CANADIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O17 THE BEYOND BOARDROOMS AWARD FOR
THE FELDMAN DAXON PARTNERS AWARD FOR
BEST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
BEST TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
yy AstraZeneca Canada
yy AV Gauge & Fixture
yy Cisco Systems Canada
yy Beedie Development Group
yy DIALOG
yy BMO Financial Group
yy Empire Communities yy Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital yy Indigo Books & Music
THE SENECA AWARD FOR
THE HRD CANADA READERS’ CHOICE AWARD FOR
BEST LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
BEST SERVICE PROVIDER
yy ADP
yy ADP
yy Best Buy Canada
yy Fasken Martineau
yy CCO (formerly Cancer Care Ontario)
yy Morneau Shepell
yy LoyaltyOne
yy Hydro-Québec/ Ellicom
yy PointClickCare
yy EllisDon
yy Canterbury Foundation
yy Hydro Ottawa
yy Ultimate Software yy Workday yy WorkTango
yy Sienna Senior Living yy Tolko Industries
yy Niagara Casinos
yy City of Vancouver
AWARD SPONSOR
46
AWARD SPONSOR
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EVENT PARTNER
THE AWARD FOR
CANADIAN HR TEAM OF THE YEAR
(FEWER THAN 500 EMPLOYEES)
yy ACL yy ENERCON Canada yy Fairmont Winnipeg yy KLF Media yy KUBRA yy Lumenix yy Nexonia/Tallie yy Pelmorex Media
THE AWARD FOR
THE AWARD FOR
THE AWARD FOR
EXTERNAL HR ADVISOR/ CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR
BEST HR COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
EXCELLENCE IN DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
yy Athena Training and Consulting
yy CAA Club Group (CCG)
yy BLANKSLATE Partners
yy Corus Entertainment
yy Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada
yy Clear HR Consulting
yy ENERCON Canada
yy e2r
yy Horizon North Logistics
yy epitome.HR yy MaxPeople
yy Vancouver Film School
yy Peak Performance Human Resources Corp.
yy The Clorox Company of Canada
yy Predictive Success Corporation yy The Leadership Agency yy Vertical Bridge Corporate Consulting
yy Indigo Books & Music yy IndustryBuilt yy Manulife yy McDonald’s Canada yy Tangerine yy Tata Consultancy Services yy Vancouver Airport Authority
yy Colliers International yy Hostelling International – Canada, Pacific Mountain Region yy KLF Media yy Matrix Search Group yy Parq Vancouver yy TD Bank Group – Campus yy Miller Thomson LLP yy Vancouver Airport Authority yy City of Vancouver
yy XNL HR
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FEATURES
AGILE MODELS
Leadership balance in agile organizations Dr. Denise Fleming addresses some of the challenges faced in establishing an agile workplace in mature organizations
Agile Flexible Adaptive
Inconsistent Indecisive Unstable
Future
Past Fixed Controlled Structured
Agile?
of technology companies such as Google, Spotify, Netflix and Facebook. All were spectacular startups when they began their organizations, and they are now global behemoths. However, this raises the question of how applicable their organizational and work models might be for mature organizations that face significant changes in order to transition into agile, flexible and adaptive structures and work habits similar to those of the tech giants. When mature corporations are considering implementation strategies to deliver ‘agile’ with changes to the nature of work, they may need to consider different strategies than those of the behemoths. Mature organizations adopting an agile organization strategy face a very different organizational challenge. For mature organizations to become agile, they need to unravel existing structures and processes and simultaneously build new ones. These changed activities also influence the remuneration, status and number of employees. To be successful, implementation strategies need to take into account the current context, the history of the organization and the industry, and the speed with which technology is continuing to change and be adopted by consumers and other businesses. Leadership teams in mature organizations are adopting an ‘agile, flexible and adaptive’ focus. This aims to increase customer focus and responsiveness, with greater efficiency and effectiveness in making use of new technologies and adapting to the change in the nature of work.
Enormity of the change HOW DO we adapt? Changes in the nature of work are causing organizations to consider changing the way in which they are structured and the way in which work is managed. • Should structures be de-layered? • Should silos be eliminated? • Should the existing processes be
48
adapted or removed? • Should the culture of the organization itself be modified?
Why adapt? Agility models being established across the globe by product services companies such as ING are focused on replicating the success
Mature organizations may have a long history of great success, with strong market growth and profitability, powerful reputations, respect, and customer loyalty. These organizations may have been: • structured into divisions • operating autonomously • part of conglomerates • operating in silos
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• fully integrated • operating in a global or national matrix Mature organizations may be well governed, with tight controls over all elements of the supply and value chains, deep human and physical resource capability, and shareholders expecting success and growth to continue unabated.
Inherent challenges for leaders It is possible to explore an agile model from two perspectives: the organization’s and its leaders’. What might leaders need to consider when changing their leadership style to one that is agile, flexible and adaptive? When the nature of work changes with fast technology and then changes again completely with artificial intelligence and quantum computing, such unknowns will require leaders to be as agile, flexible and adaptive as their technology-driven organizations and customers. Inherent in those changes are significant risks.
Agile – Quick and light in movement, active, lively, an agile mind The opposite of agile could be seen as ‘sound and stable.’ When applied to governance, values and integrity, leadership needs to be sound and stable. Soundness and stability can also be helpful in providing clarity – the outcomes of AI and quantum computing may need to be sound and stable, too, to enable them to be adopted. An agile leader may be seen as being inconsistent – not a sought-after leadership style or quality.
Flexible – Easily bent, willing to yield Again, structures and processes may need to be flexible as new products and services are designed and emerge in industries disrupted by their very emergence. One perception of flexibility can be indecision. So what would happen if the perceptions of a leader shifted from being seen as flexible in making a new environment to being seen as indecisive? It is very hard for people to follow an indecisive leader – followers become frus-
trated and eventually stop following until, in their minds, the leader’s mind is made up. New strategy implementation can falter.
Adaptive – Adapt to make suitable to requirements; adjust fittingly In periods of great change, history has shown that only those organizations that adapt to the new environment survive. But what happens when leaders who are able to adapt quickly also adapt frequently and are seen as unstable – as markets, changing quickly, need new responses? Can a leader who is perceived as unstable motivate and empower followers – or will followers divert, or block new ideas and decisions, waiting for
Startups’ products, systems and processes can be tried and developed further as new technology emerges, or stopped in favour of something different if they fail. ‘Try, fail and fail fast’ is the mantra of a startup. That’s much easier to do if there is no existing market, customer base, suppliers, partners and balance sheet of assets to be written off. A startup evolves as it finds its direction, niche and vision – people don’t stay if they don’t fit. Startups are funded as high-risk. Leaders of mature organizations have to take established shareholders and investors on the journey to a new model; their shareholders have expectations of capital and
Mature organizations adopting an agile organization strategy face a very different organizational challenge than those that were startups. They need to unravel existing structures and processes and simultaneously develop new ones stability to return? So which is it to be? Agile or inconsistent? Flexible or indecisive? Adaptive or unstable? How can leaders find the balance? Many highly successful companies are well managed and controlled; structures are aligned and fixed to clear supply chains and distribution channels, which customers and the community understand. In moving to agile, flexible and adaptive organizational products, structures and processes, balance will be needed to ensure the leadership is not seen as being indecisive, inconsistent and unstable.
earnings returns to be maintained. As mature organizations adopt a startup’s model of ‘agile, flexible and adaptive,’ in order to maintain their success, their leaders need to balance their own leadership styles to avoid being seen as inconsistent, indecisive and unstable, particularly by their followers and their organizations’ shareholders. Only balanced leaders will succeed on this risky, exciting but challenging organizational transformational journey in which the nature of work has changed.
Why it feels different It is not as easy to take a mature, successful organization to an adopted ‘agile’ model as it is for a startup to do things that new and different technology enables it to do.
Dr. Denise Fleming is managing director of Foresight’s Global Coaching, which provides executive coaching to the most senior corporate executives around the world.
www.hrmonline.ca
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FEATURES
LEADERSHIP ROI
How to turn leadership spend into leadership investment The world’s companies spend US$50 billion a year on developing leadership capabilities, yet few know whether they are getting any return on this investment. Adam Canwell explains how to instil discipline into leadership development
BOARDS AND executive teams have tremendous insight into the value and effectiveness of an organization’s financial and physical assets. Yet when it comes to the intangible asset of leadership development, boards and the C-suite are flying blind. Even in organizations spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on executive development, the impact of leadership spend is barely measured. In fact, few organizations know the answers to these fundamental questions:
How much are we spending, and what are we spending it on? Incredibly, many organizations find it difficult to identify their total investment in leadership development – or even to understand where they are spending their money. Activities are usually carried out ad hoc, with little integration and often no attempt to link development initiatives with identified future capability gaps. Coming from different budgets with different owners – and often entrenched in tradition or aligned with
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personal interests – leadership development has few controls.
What impact does our investment have on business and leadership performance? Even worse, few companies are able to
was little, if any, evidence that it had improved business performance. The truth is, most boards struggle to get a cohesive view of all their leadership activities, let alone understand whether and how each initiative is aligned to organizational success. It’s hard to imagine any other corporate
Boards and executive teams must take action to ensure leadership investment delivers a clear impact. Otherwise, they run the risk of a leadership capability deficit damaging the long-term health and performance of their organization measure the impact of their spend beyond tracking the satisfaction of the participants attending leadership programs. Reflecting on the millions her company had spent on a development program with a leading business school, one executive was of the view that, while leaders loved the program, there
spend of this magnitude that would be seen as successful – and permitted to continue unchecked every year – without delivering clear impact. If any capital-intensive organization managed its capital assets in the same way most companies deal with leadership spend, the board and CEO would be fired.
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It’s time organizations applied the same discipline to their leadership asset that they do to other organizational assets. The frenzied tactical activity we see in most organizations is clearly failing. Instead, organizations need a cohesive, rigorous approach to aligning, measuring and controlling their investment in leadership development. In developing this approach, boards and the C-suite need to consider:
QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU BUILD AN EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STRATEGY Aligning, measuring and controlling leadership investment starts with a strategy, which in turn needs to clearly support organizational performance. Only then can your focus switch to tactics and processes. Do we have the leadership to effectively execute our strategy?
ff Are we selecting the right leaders and investing in the right capabilities?
Are we bearing organizational and reputational risk due to the behaviour of our leaders?
ff Are our leaders delivering exceptional performance in the right way?
Do we have a sustainable pipeline of leaders to ensure our long-term success?
ff Are our processes aligned to build leadership capability sustainably?
How can we measure our progress against these priorities effectively?
ff How are we measuring the impact of all that we are doing?
ff Are our leaders delivering exceptional performance? How do we know?
Purpose and profit Organizations need leaders who behave in a way that is in tune with their culture while also delivering exceptional performance. This needs to be an ‘and,’ not an ‘or.’
Individual and collective capability For too long, the focus of leadership spend has been on the individual leader, and individual capability and performance have been the most important unit of measure. Yet we know that most of our work as leaders is in teams or groups. Arguably, the ability to work effectively in high-performing teams has a greater impact on organizational performance, so more leadership investment needs to be focused here.
ff How do our leaders behave? Is this causing us risk as an organization? ff How well aligned are leaders’ behaviours to our organization’s purpose and values?
ff How will current promotion and retention trends impact the leadership bench in the next two to five years?
ff Where are we currently spending, and is this investment effective? ff Are the board and executive team confident we are producing the right leadership talent?
Prediction and performance Performance in a current role is a poor predictor of success in the next role up. Yet most organizations base promotion decisions almost entirely on current performance. We need to start using predictors of potential – both tried and trusted psychological assessments and also patterns in data identified by people analytics.
context-specific (such as making things happen within a particular culture with the right trade-offs). Organizations need to identify both the broad-context agnostic skills that all leaders require alongside the contextspecific skills and capabilities needed in this particular organization or industry.
The leader and the system Leadership and context People often see leadership either as a set of skills and capabilities agnostic to environment or as being entirely contextspecific. We believe both perspectives are correct. There are some generic skills and capabilities that all leaders need (such as influencing), whereas others are very definitely
We need to stop pretending that spending on a single, time-limited program will have a sustained impact on an organization’s leadership capability. To build an effective leadership architecture or system, organizations need to consider everything that develops leaders for the long term. This might mean performance management, career
mobility, reward, mentoring or development at key transition points rather than broad sheep dips. In the current turbulent business and geopolitical environment, leadership is one of the true strategic advantages an organization can build for the long term. Boards and executive teams must take action to ensure leadership investment delivers a clear impact. Otherwise, they run the risk of a leadership capability deficit damaging the long-term health and performance of their organization.
Adam Canwell is the global leader of EY’s leadership consulting practice within People Advisory Services.
www.hrmonline.ca
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FEATURES
EMPLOYMENT LAW
A robot took my job … Automation is expected to soon replace countless jobs, and questions are being raised about the rights of employees who are let go as a result. Kristy Peacock-Smith outlines the potential issues
IN 1942, renowned science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov coined the Three Laws of Robotics, which provided ethical principles for the human engineers of robots. These days, robots are no longer merely a thing of fiction – they are emerging to take on roles previously occupied by humans in factories,
robots will take jobs away from humans or create new opportunities for them. In his final address as president, Barack Obama said, “The next wave of economic dislocations won’t come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good middle-class jobs obsolete.”
It is a subject of ongoing debate – whether robots will take jobs away from humans or create new opportunities for them transport systems, hospitals and households. Some experts estimate that the application of robotics at work could have a direct economic impact of anywhere from $1.7 trillion to $4.5 trillion a year by 2025. This is rapidly becoming a matter that will significantly alter labour markets worldwide. So what are the impacts of introducing robots in the workplace?
Job replacement It is a subject of ongoing debate – whether
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But there are arguably even more important questions about whose interests should be protected in such a case – the operational requirements of a business or an employee and their job. Further, what are those interests? Microsoft founder Bill Gates has advocated for a robot tax, which would require companies that replace humans with robots to pay a tax equivalent to any foregone income tax. But what about the employees whose jobs have been replaced? What obliga-
tions does a company have to them? Take this case as an example. Acme Pty Limited employs 50 staff members in its food processing plant to sort heads of lettuce. Two of the employees are team leaders who manage 24 workers each. The main KPI of the team leaders is to train the employees on the tasks required in the plant. However, a robotics firm has recently designed robots with sensors to measure the density of items such as heads of lettuce. Acme decides to acquire two such robots and lays off the 48 workers. The two remaining team leaders now train and manage the robots to assess the heads of lettuce and to reject one if it is noncompliant with company standards. Once the robot has memorized the task, it can autonomously perform the task without human assistance, leaving the team leaders free to perform other, more sophisticated tasks. Undoubtedly, the automation has both taken away and created jobs. However, the question for HR professionals remains – are
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HUMANS AND ROBOTS: 3 KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK Are your organizational policies and procedures suitable for a mixed workforce of robots and humans? A chatbot developed by Microsoft was removed from Twitter after learning and tweeting racist remarks. What will you as an employer do if an employee comes to you with a complaint of allegedly unlawful conduct by a robot?
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Is your company considering introducing robots into the workplace in order to capture information during recruitment processes regarding a new recruit’s facial expressions and body language? If it is, have you considered the potential data protection and discrimination issues involved in the use and storage of this information?
2
What happens with liability? Because robots have no legal personality and cannot therefore create primary liability, presumably an employer’s vicarious liability is not triggered.
3
Robots are, of course, not classified as employees – indeed, they currently have no legal personality at all the 48 workers who lost their jobs entitled to redundancy benefits?
Does a robot have rights? The long-standing principle of redundancy is that a role is redundant if an employer no longer requires the job to be performed by anyone because of changes in operational requirements. In some jurisdictions, there are additional memorandums that provide the following example of a change to an enterprise’s operational requirements: where a ‘machine’ becomes available to do the job performed by the employee. So the question then becomes: Is a robot a machine? Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a
robot may convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own. However, the short answer to this question is yes – a robot is a machine; it is simply a machine that is capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. Additionally, robots are, of course, not classified as employees – indeed, they currently have no legal personality at all. This means that until lawmakers give robots some form of legal personality, an employer who makes an employee redundant in order to introduce a robot into the workforce would still have to say that they no longer require the job to be performed ‘by anyone.’ Therefore, based upon these simple legal principles, a redundancy situation may still arise even if the employer still requires the
employee’s activities to be undertaken, albeit by a robot. This means that an employee whose job is replaced by a robot is still entitled to receive severance pay as a result of the redundancy of their role. Employers will also need to consider if their policies and procedures are suitable for a mixed workforce of robots and humans (see box above). The relentless pace of technological development and the increasing demand for productivity increases will surely result in what the McKinsey Global Institute estimated in 2013 to be a potential 15% to 25% automation of workers’ tasks across a variety of industries. If this is true, then there must also be a whole new body of law focused on apportioning legal responsibility for the acts of robots – and indeed, perhaps a narrowing of the definition of redundancy.
Kristy Peacock-Smith is a partner at international law firm Bird & Bird.
www.hrmonline.ca
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PEOPLE
CAREER PATH
PEOPLE FIRST The backdrop might be tech or it might be finance, but for Jennifer Bouyoukos, nothing is as fascinating as people A Sudbury native, Bouyoukos grew up in an entrepreneurial environment that saw her helping out in the family businesses at the age of 12. It’s where she got her first experience in HR, hiring workers while still in school herself “I knew what it took to be a success in the job. Customer service was very important – it was part of the culture, and we had to maintain the culture my father had built”
1984 GETS A TASTE OF HR
1990
STUDIES PEOPLE
1997
JUMPS INTO THE TECH BOOM A meeting with a Toronto-based friend during the heyday of the tech boom culminated in Bouyoukos sending out a slew of resumes and landing a successful interview “I saw a lot of ads for technical recruiters and thought, ‘That sounds like something I could do.’ I never looked back. I was introduced to so many tech giants when they were up and coming – what a ride!”
2007
LEAVES TECH The opportunity to work for an iconic Canadian brand with a legacy of success drew Bouyoukos out of her tech comfort zone “I say I got an MBA at Manulife because of the amazing people I worked with – I had so many mentors. It was not tech, so the experience told me I could transfer my skills. It provided the leadership development I lacked until then. It was the biggest learning experience”
2016
REUNITES WITH OLD FRIENDS A new venture from the Janna Software team provided Bouyoukos with her latest challenge: SVP of human resources for NexJ Systems, which provides enterprise customer management solutions to the financial and insurance industries “The company that gave me my start in HR has helped me rise to a new career level. I feel like an architect. The Toronto tech community is exploding everywhere; there’s so much competition for talent. My role here is very complex”
The same fascination with people and behaviour that enabled Bouyoukos to turn aggressive customers into engaged customers at her family’s business directed her toward an undergraduate degree in psychology “I was always interested in people – I thought the idea of understanding people better was fascinating and motivating. It was a natural fit for me”
1999
DRINKS FROM THE FIRE HOSE Upon joining Janna Software, Bouyoukos honed her skills rapidly, onboarding more than 200 people in a single year during a period of hyper growth. Later, she also guided the company through an acquisition
“I drank from the fire hose. It took a lot of courage and determination, being just a girl from Sudbury with no formal training. I was learning on the job while reporting to the CEO. It was a pivotal experience, a phenomenal ride” 2012
CONQUERS SOCIAL MEDIA When she became RBC’s head of global talent channels, Bouyoukos relied on her background in social media to rethink the bank’s talent acquisition strategy “It was really about raising the bar for RBC as a competitive employer. The executives were fearful of social media, but we were able to sell social media as a way to drive our competitiveness – and RBC became the front-runner of talent acquisition on social media”
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PEOPLE
OTHER LIFE
TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email editor@hrmonline.ca
TEA FOR TWO Robert Godden’s devotion to the world’s most popular beverage is just his cup of tea WHEN HE got his start in recruitment, lifelong tea drinker Robert Godden made a point of identifying which tea shops offered the best brews for his numerous daily meetings. Fittingly, when he left his job as CEO of Essence Recruitment, he did so to buy a tea shop. These days, the tea shop has moved online, where Godden sells the blends he creates with his wife, Anne, as a sideline to his work as an HR consultant. The couple has diversified their offerings to include events, the most popular of which are talks on the history of tea. The spark for that arm of the business was provided by friends from an online group who wanted Godden’s expertise on using teas for health and beauty. Godden devised an interesting means of presenting the information and addressed the group to great effect – then word of mouth did the rest. Styling themselves as ‘Lord and Lady Devotea,’ Godden and his wife advertise their whereabouts in various tea shops across the globe in the course of their travels, which he says has allowed them to meet many “weird and wonderful” characters. Not only does he blog on the subject of tea, but Godden has also written a book on the topic, The Infusiast. Any spare time left over is spent trawling secondhand shops for unusual teapots. Godden’s latest effort involves planning a talk on the environmental effects of teabags for the World Environment Fair, an event expected to attract 20,000 people. “Teabag,” he says, “is a swear word.”
8 to 12 Cups of tea Godden drinks every day
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Tea blends available online in the Devotea range
450 billion Tea bags sold each year (a figure Godden wishes were zero)
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