Employee engagement

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May 2015 | business-reporter.co.uk

that’s how many businesses said employee engagement was their #1 priority

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a diverse workforce is an innovative one

PL e c O a n Y E ia l D d L E E re EV E N p E L A R GA o O NI G r t PM N E M EN G & E NT T

87%

Joanne Frearson

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there are amazing women doing amazing things

why people want to work for someone they can believe in

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Martha Lane Fox

René Carayol

Business Reporter · May 2015

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Employee engagement

Opening shots René Carayol

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GAINST all odds, Aston Villa FC will now be at Wembley Stadium facing the might of Arsene Wenger’s resurgent Arsenal team for the 2015 FA Cup final on May 30. This is has been ac h ieved by e xempla r y employee engagement demonstrated by the recentlyappointed Villa manager, Tim Sherwood.

In western developed economies, there is still the dangerous habit of appointing the “smartest man in the room” as the leader – the words are chosen carefully, as it is still disappointingly far too rarely a woman.

In the rarefied world of football leadership, it has to be said most clubs are not spoilt for choice given this very narrow criteria. There are many examples of the football manager/coach who is more technocrat (including the many exfootballers) rather than visionary leader.

There is an obvious parallel with the selection and appointment of business leaders in the same western developed economies.

In a n era of rapid c ha nge a nd transformation, there is still far too much of a premium placed on intellect and academic rigour, when what is actually necessary is the ability to keep a team

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THE ESSENTIALS

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As Villa’s new boss has shown, people want a leader they can believe in energised through tough times. Many recent surveys on employee engagement tell us that an emotional connection with your people is much more powerful and enduring for morale and motivation than an outdated reliance on intellectual prowess.

We see this played out again and again, and only need to look at how Nigel Farage removes any intellectual stimulus from his campaigning, just to connect and engage with a disaffected electorate.

Paul Lambert was the previous manager of Aston Villa, who had presided over one of the most dismal runs in Premier League history. They just could not score and had plummeted down the table, seemingly facing inevitable relegation from the very commercially lucrative Premier League.

Many would say an overindulgent board and chairman persevered with Lambert, mainly because of his sensible statements despite his failing strategy for success. The

real flaw with Lambert was his inability to engage with his players and, just as importantly, his inability to connect with Villa’s huge and loyal following.

When the board eventually decided to intervene and fire Lambert, they went for the complete antithesis of Lambert in Tim Sherwood. Sherwood may be many things, but an aloof intellect he certainly is not.

Many find him just a little too outspoken, and the cliché most associated with him is “he wears his heart on his sleeve”.

In just two months, with the same set of players, he has galvanised and reenergised everyone’s relegation favourites.

He has given them a new-found purpose, and instilled a strong sense of both selfbelief and confidence. He is the living embodiment of the culture he is instilling; smiles, high fives and much fist-pumping as he plays to a hugely supportive gallery.

He has brought that famous underdog spirit that Brits love so much, so much so that they beat the much-fancied Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final en route to the final at Wembley.

Tim Sherwood will never be everyone’s cup of tea but he knows how to engage his employees and instil in them a cause that they all believe in and are prepared to fight for.

Despite those who decry him for being a little too colourful, those working with him see authenticity, the common touch and, most of all, someone that they can believe in.

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Learning & development

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Learning as you go: the key to successful employment EMPLOYERS who can ingrain learning and development into the everyday activities of their employees are creating a more agile workforce.

Alan Bellinger (right), principal business consultant at The Learning & Performance Institute, says: “The key to developing capability across the organisation – whether that involves knowledge, skills, or behaviours – is to

embed learning into work. In other words, workplace learning becomes just another workplace activity.

“The traditional educational model is to push learning so that it’s available when the learner needs it. But that approach inhibits workplace learning.

The best that chief learning officers (CLOs) can do today is to position employees to know where they can find what they

need to know, when they need to know it.”

According to Bellinger, workplace learning should work on the basis of “skills as a service.” He says: “The watchword today is that contribution is key – contribution to our co-workers, to the client experience, and to the enterprise. And that’s the reason that developing a

learning culture across the organisation is the real enabler of an effective workplace ethos.

“We expect our workforce to be far more agile today than has ever been the case. And by embedding learning into work we are creating an environment in which agility becomes a reality.”

High-stress workplaces equal lower productivity, say experts

By Joanne Frearson ORGANISATIONS are finding that work cultures focused towards high pressure and competition environments often lead to high staff turnover and ultimately poorer business results. Firms are realising that developing employees in their jobs and creating a culture which is engaging, inspiring and meaningful is vital when it comes to retaining staff, according to a recent study by Deloitte.

Deloitte’s third annual Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of Work report showed that 87 per cent of surveyed HR and business leaders found the top issue facing their businesses was lack of employee engagement.

Josh Bersin, principal and founder of HR research firm Bersin by Deloitte, says: “As demand for talent picks up, the balance of power in business is rapidly shifting from the employer to the employee.

“Moreover, workers are becom ing more mobi le, contingent and autonomous, and, as a result, harder to manage and engage. In this new world of work, organisations need to re-imagine the way they manage people and come up with new, out-of-the-box ideas to make themselves relevant.”

According to the report, organisations that created a culture defined by meaningful work, employee engagement, job and organisational fit and strong leadership were outperforming their peers and were likely beat their competition in attracting top talent.

HR and business leaders in the survey also recognised that a general lack of skills were likely to impede business growth. As the economy improves and the market for high-skill talent tightens even further, companies are realising they cannot simply recruit all the talent they need, but must develop it internally.

Among respondents, 85 per cent ranked learning and development as a top issue, compared with 70 per cent last year, making this the third most critical issue in the 2015 survey.

Meanwhile, 80 per cent cited workforce skills as a top issue (up from 75 per cent last year), and 35 per cent rated the lack of skills in HR as a “very important” problem, up from 25 per cent.

Brett Walsh, global human capital practice leader at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, says: “There are significant shifts happening in the global workplace that business must actively manage.

“In addition to workers’ changing expectations from employers, skills needed on the job are changing faster than ever.

Organisations are quickly falling behind on developing the right skills across all levels.

“There’s an urgent need for organisations to re-evaluate their learning programs and treat leadership development as a longterm investment, rather than a discretionary training spend item when times are favorable.”

The Deloitte report also showed that companies were struggling to decrease workplace stress, simplify business processes and reduce complexity.

There were 66 per cent of respondents who believed their

employees were “overwhelmed” by today’s work environment and 74 per cent cited workplace complexity as a significant problem. Around two thirds of companies said they were updating their engagement and retention strategies.

According to the report, to help i mprove employee engagement managers should be trained as coaches and mentors rather than evaluators and graders. Research has shown that a person’s best performance comes when they are given meaningful work that leverages their personal strengths and aspirations rather than simply evaluating people against goals.

Analytics were also being increasingly used by companies to help boost employee engagement and increase learning and development.

Three quarters or 75 per cent of respondents cited talent analytics as an important issue.

Jason Geller, a principal at Deloitte and national managing director of the US human capital practice, says: “Organisations are already using talent analytics to understand what motivates employees and what makes them stay or leave. These insights help drive increased returns from talent investments, with huge consequences for the business as a whole.”

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Employee engagement

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All your courses, compliance and control in one place

W

hen mobile-enabled technology expert Mark Taggart couldn’t find an e-learning system capable enough to train users in the heavily-regulated clinical trials industry, he put a team together and created one.

The US government Centers for Disease Control & Prevention thought it was so good they suggested it should be launched as a stand-alone solution… which is why Create eLearning is now available to HR and training managers throughout industry and commerce.

Developed specifically from the users’ point of view, Create eLearning (CeL) is the only online learning management system which enables you to manage all your training events,

including instructor-led classroom modules, in just one place.

Available as a SaaS (Software as a Service) or on-premises solution, the system is designed to be easy to use, easy to deploy and mobile friendly. It exploits smart data interchange to integrate seamlessly with other systems via a single sign-on, and includes built-in compliance, tracking, appraisal, auditing and reporting tools.

Designed as a whole-life solution, the Create eLearning platform can be used for interactive training, mentoring and assessment from pre-recruitment, hiring and on-boarding right through to staff appraisals and ongoing retention programmes. Placing the emphasis on rapid course creation, comprehensive real-time monitoring and immediate

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compliance management, CeL delivers online training, available 24/7/365, enabling people to learn anywhere, at any time and on virtually any device.

But it’s the management and compliance functionality which sets it apart…

•R eal-time attendance tracking and instant communications direct from the portal enable immediate resolution of non-compliance issues •D ate/time-stamped certification delivers fully evidenced data for internal and external audits • Graphical dashboard reports provide complete visibility and control and enhanced management reporting Recognising the man-hours creating online course content can take, CeL also offers access to a network of professional course creators and a library of ready-made courses. The company’s in-house experts provide comprehensive support and a free, no-obligation trial of its platform too. telegraph@create-elearning.com www.create-elearning.com

The psychology of job satisfaction: four steps to increasing employee engagement “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organisation’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energised employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.”

– Jack Welch, former CEO of GE

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survey of more than 7,000 employees across 20 countries suggests UK employees have some of the lowest employee engagement with their jobs in the world. The Global Perspectives survey, released by global research firm ORC International, placed the UK 18th out of 20 countries. In addition, a 2011 survey by the Office for National Statistics found that on a worker-to-worker productivity basis, the UK is 20 percentage points lower than the average of the G7 industrialised nations.

Harrison Assessments has developed a unique methodology which has gained international recognition for its success related to employee engagement (http://www. amazon.com/Creative-Schools-GrassrootsRevolution-Transforming-ebook/dp/ B00OZ0TNOK). The method is based on uncovering psychological engagement factors of individual employees and facilitating dialogue related to those factors.

It starts with a 25-minute online questionnaire that identifies 175 preference factors for each employee. The resulting

information enables a four-step process that has proven to dramatically increase engagement and retention.

Step one – Ensure employees are in roles that fit their natural interests and task enjoyment “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs No matter how hard you try to increase engagement, it will not be successful unless employees enjoy the tasks and have interest in the job. Therefore the first step is to make sure employees’ natural enjoyment and tendencies are aligned with the job. The Harrison engagement questionnaire analyses each employee’s work preferences and interests related to the specific job. It can be used for talent acquisition (http://www. harrisonassessments.eu/talent-acquisition. html) or with existing employees. When used for existing employees, it provides the necessary clarity to adjust roles and responsibilities to achieve a better fit.

Step two – Discover what individual employees expect from employment The engagement questionnaire also measures the level of importance that each employee gives to various expectations. The following are examples. How important is career development? How important is flexible work time? How important is having their opinions valued? How important is work-life balance?

How important is obtaining more authority to make decisions? How important is career advancement? Each individual gives different importance to these expectations, and thus it

is essential to understand the relative importance for the individual.

Step three – Discuss employee preferences and expectations “Nothing will create high levels of engagement throughout the organisation like candid conversations between managers and direct reports about what each employee wants and what engages them.” – State of Employee Engagement 2014 modern survey article Employment is a business relationship in which mutual needs seek to be satisfied. The Harrison questionnaire maps the key issues that must be understood to achieve a mutually beneficial employment relationship, enabling productive discussions that lead to employee engagement and increase business results.

Step four – Build a framework of shared responsibility Although it is essential to understand employee preferences and expectations, in many cases it is not realistic to just give employees what they want. Employees may need to overcome some psychological barriers in order to achieve a personal goal.

For example, an employee may want career development but be unclear about their career goals. The Harrison engagement reports uncover such issues which enables managers to easily develop and engage employees.

Harrison Assessments offers a free trial at www.harrisonassessments.eu/ contact.html To find out more about the Harrison questionnaire see www. harrisonassessments.eu/index.html

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Role model behaviour: how is key to engaged employment

By Joanne Frearson

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AVING a mentor can be vital to help develop a person’s career.

They can help an employee overcome problems in the workforce as well keep an employee feeling engaged.

Melissa Di Donato, area vice president in EMEA and Asia Pacific for Salesforce, tells me how mentoring can help employees grow and develop in the workforce during at the Everywoman Advancing Women in Technology forum.

Mentoring was a hot topic of conversation at the forum – it took Di Donato 15 minutes to walk over to meet me from the stage area, she says, as all she kept hearing about was people talking about mentoring and how to find one.

Di Donato’s advice for them is that mentors should be used at all stages of their career, not just the beginning. She believes events like the Advancing Women in Technology are a good place for people to find mentors outside their normal workplaces, and listen to role models on stage. “I hope people realise how important mentors are for the development of their career,” she says.

“Not just for when they are starting out and not just for when they are in middle management or for when they are growing.”

She also believes it is essential to have more than one mentor. They should be both male and female and people interested in pointing out

opportunities inside or outside the workplace.

Currently, Di Donato has five mentors of her own, while she herself mentors six others.

At Salesforce, mentors are an important part of staff development. Each new employee is assigned a mentor from outside their department.

She explains this is so they get a perspective from a different area within Salesforce. But she does not believe mentoring schemes should be a onesize-fits-all approach, and should be implemented along the lines of the culture of the company.

Her advice to the women at the forum is that they “have to understand what the culture of the company requires. It may require a number of different schemes. Some people are visual learners. Some people are auditory. It depends on how people learn and grow. A variety of approaches ensures everyone is impacted and will gain benefit from mentoring.

“A lot of folk have a lot of informal programmes, or have some very rigidly structured programmes, but maybe perhaps there is something in between that works best to ensure that everyone is touched by a mentor.”

Where Di Donato sees mentors can really help in the workforce is in overcoming hurdles and fears. She says: “Fear around asking for a raise, fear around asking for help, fear around asking for clarification in a role, fear around not knowing what to do in a situation if they do something one way, will it be not well regarded.

“It is important to help the mentee think through what the issues at hand, and the options, are. They need to do what is right for them.

“It is also about reminding that person why they are there – they have

got there through success, they are smart, they are clever, they are strong, they can do it because at the end of the day, no matter what tactic or style one uses, the belief in oneself will get you past.”

Mentoring can help make sure small problems do not become larger ones. Di Donato explains if a small problem is not addressed and becomes larger, these are the times when someone will leave a job.

“Mentoring retains more women and men,” she says. “It ensures longevity.

The reason is because when an issue is faced by an employee at any level of their career, most people without mentors will eventually, if they don’t say something, will push it down.

The next time it comes up it is even stronger and they try to push it Melissa down again.”

Di Donato

CIPD calls for increase in employee volunteer work AROUND 93 per cent of employers who offer time for staff to volunteer believe that it provides a personal development opportunity for employees, according to research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the

professional body for HR and people development.

Peter Cheese, CIPD chief executive, says: “Our research shows corporate volunteering benefits businesses and their employees, as well as the communities in which they work.

“Not only does it help businesses

build stronger roots in their local communities, but it also gives employees an invaluable opportunity to develop new skills and give something back.

It can also form part of a new relationship between organisations and their employees, helping them to

attract and retain the right talent to meet their wider business objectives.”

The top three skills being developed by staff who volunteered were teamwork, communication and an understanding of the local communication.

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Joanne Frearson talks to Capital One’s Karen Bowes about how taking employees out of their comfort zone is reaping rewards

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MPLOY EES who feel motivated and inspired in t hei r jobs ca n help improve the performance and productivity in an organisation. But keeping a workforce engaged is not always easy. Companies need to have programmes in place which focus both on an individual’s personal goals as well as ones for the workforce.

Capital One is one firm that has been successfully implementing schemes to help its employees feel engaged. Last year it won the UK’s Best Large Workplaces award for the second year running. But it did not always have such an engaged workforce.

Before Capital One entered the Great Place to Work Awards, “Engagement was lower than we wanted it to be,” says Karen Bowes, vice president of international HR and sustainability at Capital One. “We had lost that edge in

the UK. We went on a sustained programme of rebuilding trust between the business, leadership, management and the employees.

“What was key was asking the employees to engage themselves, to get involved, to understand the business, the benefits and the environment we create.”

Capital One’s transformation was facilitated by focusing the staff towards four different principles of employee engagement. Bowes explains that the first of these was the power of purpose or what we are trying to do every day and why? This focused on the human side. The second was leadership, which looked at getting the leaders of the

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company to really lean in, be present, listen, communicate and make things happen.

The third was listening and acting on what employees’ experiences on the ground, what was getting in their way and causing them to become demotivated and what could be done to change these things quickly. The fourth was a sense of cameraderie – a sense of not taking things too seriously and having fun.

The main challenges for Capital One came around the idea of purpose and leadership. “The reason is that it can sound a bit fluffy,” says Bowes. “We are trained from an early age in business to be clever, to think with the right brain

Locksley McPherson

Left: Capital One’s Nottingham head office – the firm recently won the UK’s Best Workplace award for the second year running. Inset left: Capital One’s Karen Bowes

and to intellectualise everything. It is hard to get leaders to a point where they realise the power of purpose because it is so outside their comfort zone. That is where we made our biggest investment.

It was around the development of leaders.

“We took our first 50 leaders and put them through a leadership development programme about envisioning the future, inspiring and engaging the heart and that pushed them out of their comfort zone. They worked with actors and told stories. We also did some work with a company called Speak the Speech. We asked our top 50 to start talking on video about why their purpose was important and asked them to connect to it on a very personal level.

“It is the power of bringing out the person within, and this idea of authentically connecting with what you are saying. It is about translating those very human stories with presence, and with impact. It is about bringing out the best of you, so you are authentic on stage.”

From this process Capital One discovered that for employees to feel engaged it was vital their leaders were present in the organisation.

Bowes explains being present as a leader can be interpreted in a number

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A diverse workplace is an innovative one – but self-belief is key D

of ways. It can be on stage telling a story, but it can also be about how connected you are to your team on the floor.

She says: “Do you have barriers around you that exist in four walls, or are you out on the floor sitting with your team, engaging, working, but also listening and talking and just being present? That makes a real difference to accessibility and trust. It breaks down hierarchies.”

To help create an environment where teams works together and which push people’s leadership skills, managers at Capital One are also taken off site for advanced classes.

This has included a visit to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth for sinking ship simulations, to help managers understand how to come together as a team, or using a horse whisper to show managers how to use emotive skills in the work place. If horses sense you are nervous or not being honest, they will not do what you tell them.

Bowes explains: “Just telling a person to do something isn’t necessarily going to get the outcome you want.”

Personal development programmes based on Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, are also run for all members of staff. Bowes

explains that the course, which is run on a volunteer basis, focuses on you as a person instead of you in your job.

Around 75 to 80 per cent of staff have completed it. “It gets you to focus on your goals in the future, what are you trying to achieve and the steps you can take to realise your goals, and how you manage along the way,” Bowes says.

“It takes you from a place of dependence to one of independence, but then to a place of interdependence.

The employer trusts you and you are the best version of you. People like it because while they can focus on work goals they can also focus on personal goals.”

Capital One’s policy of creating an atmosphere of cameraderie seems to be bearing fruit. In its contact centres, attrition rates are well below the national average. “It is about entrusting you do a great job,” says Bowes. “You are not tied to your desk – if you need a break you can take one.”

Empowering employees to work not only on their work goals but their personal ones seems to be helping keep staff engaged at Capital One. Pushing leaders out of their comfort zone and creating an environment where people do not take themselves too seriously could well be making a difference.

IVERSITY IS important in the workforce as it not only inspires creativity and enhances problem solving, but leads to an improved performance in the results of companies.

ML Krakauer, executive vice president of human resources at EMC Corporation and Jackie Glenn, global chief diversity officer at EMC Corporation, at the Everywoman Advancing Women in Technology forum, are both strong advocates that diversity in the workforce is good for business.

Krakauer says: “When you think about women, they represent half of the world, and in order to find the best talent you have to be looking at the entire talent pool which is available globally. It really is business imperative. It is important.”

According to Glenn, studies have shown by having more women or just more of a difference within a workforce, it will produce better results for a company. She explains that difference can also include ethnicity and disability.

Diversity is also a main driver of innovation in business. Krakauer says “You need to have people with different experiences, different backgrounds and different skills because when you bring that all together you really get creative sparks.

“Diversity is a critical compound to driving innovation and achieving goals and getting the very best talent to do great things.”

As part of EMC’s diversity strategy, the company has made a conscious decision to host forums like the Everywoman Advancing Women in Technology, because they feel it develops their female staff.

Glenn says: “What women will take away from the conference, in a nutshell, is how to manage their career. How to network. How to bring their authentic self to work. How to be agile.”

It also gives women the opportunity to learn from other females who have reached senior positions, she says.

“I really believe in role modelling,” Glenn continues.

“The more women who are in high positions, the more it gives other females the ability to say, I can get there. I think we need to get more women in the pipeline, but in the absence of that they need continuous development. Women need to understand that they are just as qualified and just as good to hold some of these roles.”

Below: The Everywoman Forum 2015, which promotes roles for women in the technology sectors

EMC has numerous workshops and programmes for their women to develop.

What Glenn finds surprising is when the firm asks its female employees to grade their skill sets against how people see them, nine out of 10 times they normally grade themselves lower than their colleagues.

Glenn explains these forums can help get women to the point where they are grading themselves higher or the same in relation to how others see them. They are also valuable because they give people the opportunity to learn from others with different backgrounds.

Krakauer adds: “It is also a great opportunity to share best practice and find out what others are doing. It is also a great opportunity to network because different people give you different views on how you might solve a problem.

“If you look at the network of a powerful business leader or politician, they will have in their network other people in their company, other people in their industry, they will have academics and they will have other politicians.”

Another major message to come out of the event is developing your career also means taking risks and it is important to step outside your comfort zone.

“The messages that are coming away are everyone can have an exceptional and exciting career,” says Krakauer. “It is not just women, it is men too. But you have to be willing to step away from some of the things that feel familiar and safe, take risks and do new things. If you do that you will have a really exciting career.”

Although people may hit bumps along the way in their career, Krakauer believes these perceived setbacks should be viewed positively.

She says: “Every career has setbacks, and you should not feel as if you are the only person that has ever hit a bump in their career.

“Most careers have multiple setbacks – when you hit one of those, it may be very hard at the time, but it is a good chance to step back and think. It may be closing a door, but it is a good chance to think about what is it you do really want to do.”

Having a diverse workforce is essential when it comes to creating an environment which brings forth innovation and can help overcomes the difficulties staff members may face. Perhaps overall, it can improve the performance of companies too.

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The big interview Martha Lane Fox EXCLUSIVE Joanne Frearson

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ARONESS Martha Lane-Fox CBE is searching on her phone trying to find a picture she has just taken of the audience at the everywoman Advancing Women in Technology forum, where she has delivered the keynote speech.

A picture suddenly flips up on her mobile screen of a 600-strong crowd of mainly women.

It is extremely vivid, full of colour and reflects a diverse crowd of women who all have careers in technology. There is a clear look of excitement in their faces. She tells me it is a photo she is keeping to look at when she wants to feel inspired.

“It is fantastic just having this many women in a room, just feeling the energy is fabulous,” Lane Fox tells Business Reporter after coming off stage. “If this network can get connected into places that are looking for women technologists or places that are looking for special expertise, this is when it becomes really powerful.

“It would be great if every woman in this room got a non-exec role, whether it is for a small charity or a big corporate, whatever.”

Lane Fox, a great advocate of women’s rights, is at the Everywoman Forum to help inspire and motivate women in technology. She believes taking risks and being bold can help give you an enriched career.

“Women are breaking the glass ceiling all over the place, all the time,” she tells me in the green room. “You just have to be the best you can be and not be scared, take the risk and never feel you cannot be at the table or in the room. It is really important that women feel they are able to break it. That is the first step. There are amazing women doing amazing things all the time.

“Think far and you might get further than you would have done if you thought small.”

Although she believes the situation is getting better for women, Lane Fox does not think things are getting better fast enough and says there should be more women on boards. She believes in quotas, finding it offensive when people say they don’t want “token women”.

“There are enough awesome women out there for it to not be token,” Lane Fox says. “We just need to make a massive step change. I don’t believe if we mandated that every board had to be 50 per cent female, we would end up with any less good boards. We would end up with better boards.”

Lane Fox sits on numerous boards herself, including Marks & Spencer as a non-executive director, and that of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

She is also a chair of Go ON UK, a coalition of public and private sector partners that are helping millions of people and organisations online as well as a chair of Lucky Voice and MakieLab. She believes strongly in leadership and reckons the issue of women on boards has to be recognised from the top, starting with the prime minister then FTSE CEOs. Companies must be transparent about the numbers, she says, and say what they are doing about it.

It is also important to involve men in this

Women are breaking the glass ceiling all over the place. There are amazing women doing amazing things all the time.

Martha Lane Fox unveils the exhibit of the NeXT computer, which Tim BernersLee used to devise the World Wide Web, at the National Science Museum last year

conversation and Lane Fox does not believe change will happen unless men are included.

Being bold and thinking big was certainly in Lane Fox’s thoughts when she co-founded travel and leisure website Lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman in 1998, which floated at the peak of the dot-com bubble.

She tells me how her confidence in herself came from her parents. She says: “They just blanket-bombed me, with the ability to feel like

you can do stuff effectively and you should always try.

“Even though it sounds like a bit of a silly device, I do still switch on something in my brain when I am feeling nervous, when I walk into the House of Lords [she was awarded a CBE and appointed a crossbench peer in 2013]. I still get intimidated and nervous and I think of a switch, going from nervous to confident in my head and I try and flick it and I start smiling inanely.” Lane

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The CV: Mart ha Lane Fox • Co-founded Europe’s la

rgest travel an website, lastm d leisure inute.com, wit h Brent Hober 1998, taking it man in public in 200 0 and selling in 2005.

• Founded ch aritable found ation Antigon in 2007 e.org.uk • Appointed cr ossbench pee r in the House of Lords in Mar ch 2013 and is currently chai of Go ON UK r .

• Appointed C hancellor of th e Open Univer in March 2014 sity .

• Co-founded and chairs Lu ckyVoice, revolutionisin g the karaoke industry.

• Non-executi ve director at Marks & Spen the Women’s cer and Prize for Fictio n.

• Patron of Ab ilityNet, Repri eve, Camfed an for Kids Law d Just

Fox then demonstrates the inane grin to me: “Guess what! If you are smiling inanely and you believe you are being upbeat, like this, It can really help with confidence. Small tricks like that can all help.

“If I feel it – and I have all the luck in the world – I really do appreciate it is tough for other women.

But all I can say, from my experience, is that thinking it can really help you to feel it.”

She is involved with organisations such as Everywoman because it can provide women with resources that can help them in their career goals, from promotions to pay rises to managing a team. She feels having a strong value set is inspiring and motivating for people.

Also, events like the forum can keep the conversation going about the importance of getting more women involved in technology or on boards.

Lane Fox says: “You have to be selling all the time. You may think that someone has got your message or is inspired by the mission or understands what the company is up to, but probably they haven’t. You have to tell them all the time. You have to constantly say, we are going in this direction. We are doing it because it is going to be great and we are doing it because of the customers.”

To help get more women in technology, Lane Fox believes we should take a look at the education system and schools and ask why girls don’t choose science courses. She also believes women who are unemployed could be paid to learn to code to fill the skills shortage in this area.

What excites Lane Fox the most about technology is that it has the potential to shift the power balance. She says: “The user is the powerful one generally with technology and digital services. That is just a good thing. It disrupts traditional corporate power, broadcast power or political power. It is starting to do that.

“Look at what is happening in governments now. There are published numbers of how governments operate looking at accountability, and transparency. We can look at citizens and see what is going on in the world. That is a big shift, and is probably the thing I find most inspiring.”

Learning & development

9

Employers give thumbs up to apprenticeships in new survey

By Joanne Frearson APPRENTICESHIPS CAN improve employee loyalty to a company as well as increase business opportunities – so reckons the government, which has rolled out nine industry-designed degree apprenticeships to bring together the best of higher and vocational education.

A survey of 555 employers by Redshift Research found 56 per cent of those surveyed who offer apprenticeships report that apprentices stay longer than other recruits.

Of these, 59 per cent say this is because of the quality of the training provided and more than half believe it’s down to apprentices having the ability to learn and grow in the business from the bottom up. In addition, one third of those who offer apprenticeships say apprentices are more committed to the business than other employees.

The survey also revealed apprenticeships are not just helping employers to build a loyal, skilled workforce, but also enabling them to attract and win new business.

Over three quarters, 76 per cent, of apprentice employers polled say they actively promote their apprenticeship credentials when pitching for new business or talking about their company, with 40 per cent saying it is a key element of their pitch.

The research also showed that taking on apprentices marks businesses out from the crowd, with a third saying that by taking on apprentices they have been able to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

The study also showed the impact that apprenticeships have on organisations’ wider supply chains. A third of all the employers questioned said they would be more

likely to choose a supplier or partner if they offered apprenticeships. And 35 per cent of apprentice employers say they actively advocate apprentice recruitment through their supply chain.

There have been 2.1 million apprenticeships created since 2010. The government’s scheme intends to attract more people to sectors such as chartered surveying, aerospace engineering and nuclear.

The apprenticeships will bring together higher and vocational education and will allow people to combine both the academic study from a traditional university degree and the practical experience and wider employment skills vital for career success.

Business Secretary Vince Cable (below) says: “Backed by industry and our top education institutions, they will help ensure we meet the skills gap and give people the chance of a great start to their working lives.

“Apprentices will split their time between university study and the workplace and will be employed throughout – gaining a full bachelor’s or master’s degree from a top university while earning a wage and getting real experience in their chosen profession.

“Higher apprentices are already able study to degree level as part of their apprenticeship but degree apprenticeships will go further. They will involve a degree as an integral part of the apprenticeship, co-designed by employers to make sure it is relevant for the skills industry is looking for. As with other apprenticeships, the cost of course fees are shared between government and employers, meaning that the apprentice can earn a full bachelor’s or even masters’ degree without paying any fees.”

Business Reporter · May 2015

10

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Employee engagement

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Happy 50th!

Brunel University London is looking forward to its big birthday with pride and confidence

B

runel University London is an international university committed to addressing the challenges of society through groundbreaking applied research and educational programmes.

Founded in 1966, the university has a reputation for high-impact academic research in a range of disciplines, organised into three colleges and three institutes. Within this structure it works extensively with industry partners, contributing to global innovation and policy change.

Situated in West London, the university has a broad portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes that attract 14,000 full-time students and 2,000 staff from more than 100 countries across the world.

Recent rankings in Times Higher Education place Brunel as one of the world’s leading universities under the age of 50 years old, and the 19th

most international university globally. It will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016.

Heading up the commercial part of this structure is commercial services director Tracy Strachan.

Tracy has been instrumental in promoting employee engagement and learning development within her 400-strong team – so much so that Brunel was awarded Investors in People, silver standard after just ten months, and is now on track for gold in June this year.

Tracy is a role model for excellent leadership and operates to extremely high standards; this is why she has been shortlisted from nominations from all over the world for the “Leader of the Year Award”

by Investors in People.

Helena Dickens, Investors in People specialist practitioner, said: “Tracy is a brilliant leader, who has just lifted everyone and the business is performing better as a result,” Tracy said: “We are working

From left to right: Mary Noble, training consultant; Julia Buckingham, vice chancellor; Tracy Strachan, commercial director; Tony Davies, quality and training manager

together with our staff to build an open and inclusive culture, where performance is balanced with well-being, in order to create the right environment for success.”

Within the team, the training and development is designed and delivered to meet the mission, vision and values. The mission is very straightforward, and it is one of dedication to providing high standards, value for money and customer satisfaction to all.

The vision of Tracy’s directorate is to excel in the provision of services for the benefit of Brunel University London and the values are at the heart of everything that the team does: Quality: Excellence in all that is said and done Integrity: Respect and fairness to and for all Clarity: Openness being the key to communication Empowerment: The team is encouraged, supported and empowered to achieve collective goals

Partnership: Collaborations within the university and with external partners are encouraged Self Determination: Individual ownership of the future to improve the workplace Sustainability: Financial, social and environmental sustainability is seen as key to future success The training solutions which have been created are bespoke and make the aims and objectives all the more achievable. The senior management receive continual leadership development and individual coaching using personal development plans. The front line management also participate in leadership development, including, 360 degree feedback, business planning, objective setting, key performance indicator measurement, customer care and focus, coaching and mentoring skills, business profiling and working with the local community.

All the training is about two-way communication and involvement.

One of the front-line team commented: “I went to a customer service session, which was excellent because we learned using real-life situations which I was encouraged to join in with, and it has really helped me with our students.

Since Tracy has come along and introduced Investor in People, coming to work is brilliant.”

The results of this have been clear to see, with staff retention at more than 90 per cent and morale at its highest level recorded.

As with anything new, there are always a few sceptics thinking it might be the latest fad, so to overcome those doubts, Tracy and her two deputies, Peter Bent and Jane Croft, established a platform for continual improvement to ensure there was commitment to the long-term strategy.

The introduction of quarterly conferences for the whole directorate inviting two-way communication, a directorate newsletter, a talkback process, recognition awards and succession planning in the form of a talent matrix now all form part of the daily activity. The commitment to

training, coaching and developing is also demonstrated by a dedicated resource of a quality and training manger for the directorate. Tony Davies is a driving force in the development and delivery of the strategic training plans at all levels.

Tracy believes that this is an invaluable investment for current and for future success.

Using the Investors in People framework as a powerful tool for continuous improvement, Tracy has designed policies and procedures which are sustainable.

Tracy and her team have committed publicly to plans for developing her people to her people and to other stakeholders, a sure sign of a leader who has strength in her convictions. The staff within Tracy’s directorate now also speak with conviction of how their managers inspire and motivate them.

David J Umpleby, head of Investors in People, said: “Brunel University has used the Investors in People Framework as a model for excellent practice across the organisation, and that is how it works best. IIP is now integrated into the strategic plan and the team is using the framework to now focus on three clear people strategies: people, management and learning and development. These are critical areas of any organisation but especially so in education. Brunel thoroughly deserves its nomination for an IIP award – this is an organisation that has used IIP to commit to its people and create a blueprint to transform the entire organisation for the better.”

The journey of continual improvement never ends, so the next part of the journey is a “LEAN” approach to the organisation. Tracy and her senior management team are now all fully trained in the concept of “LEAN” improvement.

Tracy added: “LEAN is first about people, then the tools. Brunel University London values and respects its people and this investment into the LEAN training reflects that. I am delighted to be working for such a forward-thinking organisation and looking to the future is an exciting prospect.” www.brunel. ac.uk

Business Reporter · May 2015

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Learning & development

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As a hound who loves to go running around the park

Inspector Dogberry

a day walking around at work.

To encourage workers to

The Inspector has long been enjoyed by Google employees. The company has on-site physicians

By Matt Smith, web editor

and nurses, convenient medical

The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

be negatively impacting your

services and comprehensive

http://positivesharing.com

performance and increasing

healthcare coverage. Googlers

ditch their office chairs, and

your risk of developing

and their families are covered by

has always been in favour

raise funds for cardiovascular

health problems later in life.

travel insurance and emergency

of health and wellbeing

disease, the BHF is partnering

Spending less time sitting

assistance.

as an important part of

with Get Britain Standing to

down and more time moving

any company’s employee

launch the UK’s first On Your

could benefit your health and

some extra spending money to

engagement strategy.

Feet Britain campaign.

make you more productive.”

help them welcome their new baby.

Gavin Bradley,

challenges and more on this blog, run by the people behind recognition platform achievers.

envious of the famous perks

at lunchtime, Dogberry

However, statistics

Research suggests

New parents get time off and

For employees who want to learn,

Alexander Kjerulf, founder of Woohoo Inc., makes his argument for why every business should have a chief happiness o cer. As well as tracking his journeys around the world as a speaker, the site takes an interesting look at other areas of employee engagement, such as what the film Whiplash can teach leaders.

released by the British Heart

founder of Active

sedentary behaviour

Google reimburses them for classes

Foundation show that

Working CIC and

can increase your risk of

or degree programmes that help

almost 45 per cent

the Get Britain

developing type two diabetes

them with what they need.

of women and 37

Standing campaign,

and dying prematurely from

Employee Success Blog

said: “Leading

cardiovascular disease. It has

http://blog.achievers.com

per cent of men working in UK

a sedentary

also been associated with

offices spend less

lifestyle at

obesity, a key risk factor for

than 30 minutes

work could

coronary heart disease.

Social media is helping to create a more open culture that embraces sharing and learning, according to a white paper from MidlandHR. Richard Thomas, chief marketing o cer, says: “Emerging social media processes and tools can serve as a connective fi bre that keeps employees engaged with one another, empowering them to achieve both personal and organisational objectives.

“As the number of remote workers increases, building a culture of trust is becoming increasingly important, and social media can be used to enhance the employee experience.”

How can your business improve its employee retention rate? What are disengaged employees costing your business? Find tips to tackle these

Leader of the pack Leadership and development has become a top priority for HR professionals in the UK in 2015, according to a survey from the Top Employers Institute, overtaking employee engagement, which came in first from 2011 through to 2014.

Employee engagement fell to third place, while minimising succession risk came in second.

David Plink, CEO of the Top Employers Institute,

11

says: “The selection of candidates for leadership development programmes has historically been focused on C-suite executives and high-potential employees.

However our survey shows that highperforming organisations are making information on leadership development available to any manager who is interested in further developing his or her skills, something that sets them apart from low-performing organisations.”

Employee Engagement Blog http://blog.bullseyemanagement.com This blog provides insights on a variety of ways to better engage your staff and build a happier workplace.

Recent posts provide suggestions for creative teambuilding activities, and tips for simplifying HR management.

Employee engagement group http://employeeengagement. com/news-blog Experts at the Employee Engagement Group blog about the best ways to get staff excited about their work, from ways to hire the most engaged employees, to building a case for engagement schemes by showing the board how they can boost the business’s bottom line.

Tap My Back (FREE – Android and iOS)

Boost employee recognition and engagement with this app, which incorporates gamifi cation features with feedback and performance analysis.

Andfrankly (FREE – Android and iOS) Engage your employees with this app, which asks them questions about their work experience with a clean and simple interface.

Evolve your culture for compliance rewards

I

mproving compliance in an organisation may require changing people’s behaviours and, in some cases, ultimately your company’s culture.

The past year has been a record year for the competition and antitrust authorities worldwide – in 2014, banking institutions alone were fined more than £1.4billion. It is no coincidence that investment in compliance programmes is also reaching record levels.

A holistic view of these developments leads to an interesting observation: the investment of time and money alone is not sufficient to prevent compliance issues from re-occurring.

In fact, almost every organisation facing regulatory investigation can demonstrate that they have made efforts to communicate to their employees. Most can even prove that each and every employee has completed required e-learning modules.

So, what’s not working with many compliance programmes?

The answer is simple: They are not designed to effect the desired changes in employee behaviour over the long term.

Instead, many compliance programmes often focus on the near-term objective of asking employees to complete training modules or coursework. If an organisation has an overarching culture which tolerates

wrongdoing and misbehaviour, paperwork and online training modules will change nothing.

Let’s fill in the missing pieces and look at the essentials of building a culture that is strengthened by robust compliance.

First: build a strong awareness of how great compliance helps your company succeed.

Regardless of the impetus, before rolling out any new compliance initiatives, employees must understand the business imperatives of better compliance within their organisations. It’s critical for them to view compliance not just as a means of protecting the company, but also as a means of supporting its growth long-term.

Four steps to driving compliance success • Help employees see the value of compliance to the overall business strategy • Ensure leadership and middle management are championing its importance • Provide the means to help employees freely voice their concerns • Support direct, team-level engagement and understanding

Next: Senior leadership must champion compliance and middle-management must reinforce it.

Discussions about compliance must be well-orchestrated – and supported across every leadership level within the organisation, trickling down from upper management across all levels. A company’s ability to illustrate “what good looks like...” in terms of the right responses or behaviours in realistic scenarios will further help employees understand expectations and act accordingly.

Third: there must be feedback loops that encourage employees to voice concerns openly and, if necessary, anonymously.

Many employees are nervous about openly discussing issues and are often hesitant to challenge the status quo. That said, employees can be your most effective eyes and ears when it comes to mitigating risks within your organisation, so it is critical that they feel empowered to report any potential

compliance concerns. Therefore, compliance programmes should build in feedback mechanisms to foster employees coming forward to help identify red flags.

And finally: make it personal.

New processes must always consider individual teams. Often the best way to launch an enterprise-wide initiative is to ensure that middle management has been involved in advance to help make the actual roll-out of the programmes team-specific for their people. This way, individuals understand how this affects the way they do their jobs. Specifically, a line manager can also help clarify for employees when they must follow a new policy directly and when to exercise judgement.

Lucy LM Phillips, managing director Hartmut Vennen, managing director www.fticonsulting.com

12 · Business Reporter · May 2015

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INSIDE TRACK Talking from the heart will give you the impact you need

I

Make a difference: why feeling is believing H

ave you met James? He works for your company. He went to the well-being day and the values launch. He feels like it’s coming from all angles. The posters tell him how he should behave ”on-brand”. But his manager isn’t doing it, and the team he relies heavily on never answers the phone. The CEO says his voice is valued.

But James was on the latest focus group, diligently fills in the annual survey and nothing ever changes. It’s not adding up. And the balloons were a step too far.

James isn’t disengaged. He isn’t full of enthusiasm either, but he likes his job and wants to do well.

The truth is, engagement is still largely something that’s done “to” employees, rather than something they feel. The evidence shows we’re still getting it wrong. So how is it we’re failing in our efforts, and sometimes doing more harm than good?

All too often, companies focus on the surface stuff rather than tackle the causes of dissatisfaction head-on.

Engagement is about emotion; it’s not about

what you say or even what you do…

It’s about how you make employees feel.

And that comes from the attitudes and behaviours of the people around them.

Go back to our fundamental needs (hygiene factors) and wants (motivation factors) as human beings. James needs to feel he’s understood and – more importantly – valued. He wants his voice to be listened to. He wants to be trusted and empowered to make a difference.

He needs to feel his potential is greater than his role and that, actually, he holds your brand’s success in his hands.

So how do you do that? What you don’t do is paint a rosy picture of the future without openly acknowledging where you’re starting from.

Get down and dirty The problem with engagement initiatives is they happen outside operational reality.

And one size doesn’t fit all.

What’s it actually like for your people on a day-to-day basis?

How closely are the values on the wall reflected in the behaviours of their managers, co-workers

and (especially) the people at the top?

What are the things that turn them on, and what drives them mad? You need to know these things before you can start to close the gap.

Engagement isn’t just about celebrating the good times; it’s about empowering your people to take action in the bad times, in the challenging situations they face every day. Some days things just don’t go to plan. Show respect (and appreciation) for the reality of their jobs, and ensure every change you want to make feels relevant and real to them.

And don’t forget the human factor. Your employees don’t leave their personalities at the door when they come to work. Treat people as individuals. Understand what makes your people tick, and work with them, not against them.

Finally, seeing – or rather, feeling – really is believing. It has to start at the top.

And James? He’s excited about the difference he can make.

Jill Dean (left) is Brand Biology’s CEO Twitter: @brandbiology www.brandbiology.com

t’s all very well wanting to communicate with employees. The fact is, your employees may not want to listen.

It’s nothing personal.

We’re all bombarded with news from all sides, all the time.

If any message wants to be heard above the noise, it has to work harder.

What does that mean in practice? Competing for attention does not necessarily mean a huge video production, flashy print run or even a big budget. It means finding ways to talk to employees that recognise that they are human, with human interests, hopes and fears.

Internal communications need to be “on brand”, but this needn’t prevent you creating a head-turning campaign to stop people in their tracks.

Using creativity to evoke emotion ensures your important messaging gets the attention you want and drives the desired response.

The simple fact is that whether you’re raising awareness of a new initiative,

or embedding new company values, people respond best when they are spoken to as people.

Delight them, surprise them and amuse them. Inspire them and bring a smile to their faces, and your message will have the impact you need.

People are endlessly fascinating and storytelling is a great technique to drive this approach. The power of sharing human experiences is as old as language itself, and talking to your team to find out what their stories are, and what they think, can be the basis for powerful communication they’ll want to share. And simply giving people a chance to have their say helps them feel they count.

It’s these insights from people, about people, that we use at Tileywoodman to spark an idea that resonates through the organisation.

So, if you need to humanise your business communications, call Sarah on 01737 221199. www.tileywoodman.com

Business Reporter · May 2015 · 13

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Will our children wake up and think: “Thank God it’s Monday?”

Secrets from the winning mindset: how leaders create and sustain highperforming teams

H

ave you ever struggled under pressure? I have, and I want to help you to avoid similar mistakes. It was a balmy evening in Calcutta, 120,000 Indian cricket fans had crammed into the Eden Gardens stadium to watch their idols beat England. The pressure was rising as the run chase reached a tense climax.

England, playing well, were looking for a hero. Out I stepped under the floodlights to face my destiny… and failed. As I walked back to the pavilion, I struggled to rationalise what had just happened. I was a skilled, hardworking cricketer renowned for my clear thinking but, in that defining moment, I panicked and played a high-risk shot.

This setback made me realise that every individual and team has a psychological breaking point. Until then, I thought that talent was enough but, at that moment, I realised that to perform under pressure consistently, you needed something much more elusive – the winning mindset.

After completing an MSc in psychology I embarked on a quest to discover the secrets of success from the world’s sporting champions, coaches, neuroscientists and leaders from the military and performing arts. I needed to find out more about how the brain works and how leaders create and sustain high-performing teams.

Over the last decade, this research has spanned cultures and time zones to create a fascinating video library of interviews. Sporting Edge was born and has created trusted partnerships with a wide range of senior executives and corporate organisations who are hungry to learn from other high-performance settings.

This quote from Sporting Edge’s interview with Sir Dave Brailsford, team principal at Team SKY Cycling, gives us a great insight into the way champions leave nothing to chance as they enter pressure situations: “We work hard with the riders before key performances to recognise

I

when they might get ‘emotionally hijacked’ by negative thoughts.”

Is this how you prepare for a client pitch or a board meeting?

Taking the time to predict the “what if” threats that could derail you allows you to select a calm, prepared response rather than an emotional reaction when the heat is on.

Sporting Edge’s team of expert psychologists has translated these winning secrets into a range of inspiring keynote speeches, masterclasses, bespoke leadership programmes and digital learning resources to fast track your success.

Join forward-thinking businesses like Nomura, Barclays and Deloitte in embracing digital learning from the world of high performance.

Sporting Edge’s Performance Zone® is a revolutionary learning platform which allows executives to access more than

300 videos and learning resources from thought leaders across 83 business topics – on demand.

So when you face the pressure of presenting a new strategy to the board, managing a maverick or re-energising your sales team, a game changing solution is closer than you think.

Jeremy Snape (below) is the founder of Sporting Edge, the high-performance development company that takes businesses Inside the Mind of Champions® to learn the secret psychology of success 01858 414 214 www.sportingedge.com

travel to work in a vehicle built by robots. I hold virtual meetings with colleagues miles away. I work where and when I want to, equipped with mobile technology. My world of work is very different to that of my father. I wonder what it will be like for my son. I want him to have a rewarding job that he enjoys, that gives him purpose and fulfilment.

As he looks for work, will the world be his oyster?

Will he have a choice of jobs and salary, because his demographic is smaller than mine? Or will he find jobs filled by better-educated peers from China and the Far East? Will developments in nanotechnology and biotechnology open up new jobs in new industries, or wipe out middle-tier posts, further polarising highearning jobs and low-paid work? How will he fund a pension or pay a mortgage?

We need to ask these questions now. Our children’s

world of work will be very different in 10 or 20 years’ time. What jobs will the UK be able to offer our young people? Increasing competition from the Far East, changing environmental conditions, new technologies have already changed our world of work radically this century.

Globalisation, smarter working and fewer young people could provide more opportunities, but will we have prepared our children and our organisations to be able to take them?

The UK has a choice now to respond to tomorrow’s challenges with a real step change in education and in driving innovation. UK business has a choice now to create the conditions that allow our children to flourish in the world of work of the future, and which release their talent and potential.

Are we up for it? info@engageforsuccess.org

Business Zone

14 · Business Reporter · May 2015

Video special

Vanda Cox, director of corporate benefits at Broadstone, shares insights into how businesses can approach auto enrolment and enable their business and staff to benefit. Exclusive interview from The Telegraph Studio. http://business-reporter. co.uk/videos/category/ pensions/

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Winning the talent war

The future

Are you making effective use of virtual meeting rooms?

M

any organisations are replacing face-to-face classroom training with virtual instructor-led training (VILT).

Virtual classrooms have obvious advantages: they are often cheaper, more effective, and take less time to attend; they reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint, and are more appealing to an internet-savvy workforce. But there are also some less obvious benefits.

One of these is renewed focus on the training budget (both time and money) for learning objectives – face-to-face courses are normally delivered in units of eight hours, and part of their attraction is being able to get a break from the office and daily routine. This is not the case with VILT sessions, which are rarely longer than 90 minutes each and usually attended from the office.

Implementing VILT is relatively straightforward, yet the often forgotten, but vital aspect to consider is people, as new skills are required to make the most of opportunity.

organisation already has • Ability to record and publish a virtual classroom delivery • Can use your existing training and learning media assets • All-inclusive package from your provider, including bandwidth, storage, software, service, and system-level support

Best-practice tips when implementing VILT

Key advantages to VILT

• Get professional host support for your subject instructor • Use 60 to 90 minute bite-sized chunks of training • Design the flow of the communication – ad hoc is no longer applicable • Rehearse • Recognise that the delivery format allows the content to be closer to on-the-job learning and play to that strength when designing the curriculum • Make sure your instructors are conversant with the modern fasterpaced delivery and technology • VILT is an audio-led experience, so vocal intonation is paramount – VILT highlights poor delivery technique

• Reliability, scalability, built-in video and audio • Useable on devices that your

Using a professional virtual host ensures your learner’s focus is on the

subject matter and the instructor, and not on the VILT technology.

A virtual host and instructor will need to rehearse the delivery at least once together. This might seem like an unnecessary cost, but there are a lot of things to test and get right before you allow learners in through the virtual classroom door. You don’t want learners losing confidence in the virtual environment before the delivery has even got underway.

The host role is no longer simply pointing out the fire exits and toilets.

Now they have to help learners understand how to use, and interact within, the virtual classroom. They also play a vital role in facilitating the instructor’s best delivery by ensuring they don’t get tripped up by the technology, and keep to time.

A professional and experienced virtual host will also know what to do when something goes wrong within the virtual classroom, and will normally have access to an extra level of technical support resources.

Contact us for an informal discussion about implementing VILT in your organisation info@ActiveC.biz www.ActiveC.biz

As Britain’s economy continues its rejuvenation, training budgets are looking healthier for many of the UK’s leading businesses. With 2015 marked as the year of the talent war, organisations must move quickly to develop their existing workforce with a dedicated training strategy. This can then be used to attract the UK’s most ambitious individuals needed to leap ahead of competition.

Tangible benefits to your organisation, as well as to your employees, requires more than short term transactional training courses of a few days’ class time and examination.

Investing in high-level training such as a part-time master’s programme provides real-world content, embedding knowledge learned to ensure that your business gains experienced staff while developing a strategic skills base.

QA has a proud history of delivering highly applied training programmes to thousands of professionals annually and has more than 6,000 clients, 80 per cent of which are in the FTSE 250.

“We never forget that training isn’t an end itself; it’s a means to achieve better performance,” says William Macpherson, CEO of QA. These factors shape the QA Executive Master’s part-time master’s portfolio as an immersive method of driving quality and engagement within the workforce. Designed for the working professional, our programmes include: •M A in Applied Project Management • MSc in Cyber Security • MSc in Web and Mobile Development • New for 2015 – MBA Lorette Parker is the QA Executive Master’s Business Manager 0845 074 7967 masters.qa.com

Business Reporter · May 2015 · 15

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The debate What are the key drivers for employee engagement?

Rob Woollen Managing director Rightway Wellbeing Ltd People will engage more effectively with work that makes them feel good – and feel valued.

It’s all about wellbeing – both mental and physical. Organisations achieving strong employee engagement do so by creating a workplace people come to because they want to. Typically, we see four key drivers in action: First, board members are committed to well-being as a strategic concept. Second, roles provide an inherent sense of worth and balance an appropriate level of autonomy with support and direction. Third, managers have strong relations with their teams. No matter what the board says or does, it’s how managers treat people that makes the biggest difference.

Training is critical here. Interactions within and between teams are also important. Finally, communication works both ways. Employee engagement can’t be done “to” people. Peer champions can provide a bridge between organisational goals and staff desires.

None of this is easy. But put in the effort, and you reap the rewards. r.woollen@wellnessfromwithin.co.uk www.wellnessfromwithin.co.uk

Janine Chidlow Managing director, EMEA Resource Solutions

Sarah Walker Founder, The Employee Engagement Forum

Cathy Brown Executive director Engage For Success

The key driver for employee engagement is trust. Trust is intrinsically linked with so many factors that impact on an employee’s sense of inclusion and happiness, which ultimately results in them feeling engaged.

Trust from management ensures employees feel able to voice their opinions and bring ideas to the fore. When confident that their contribution is valued, staff feel empowered to make decisions and share their views openly and honestly, resulting so often in conversations that positively impact client service and the overall success of the business.

When employees trust in and respect the management, a sense of pride naturally follows, and they feel assured that their employer prioritises their career progression and wellbeing. Trust between colleagues allows employees to be their authentic selves at work and is critical in order to achieve a true spirit of camaraderie, teamwork and importantly, fun.

There are many aspects of working life that contribute towards staff engagement levels, but ultimately trust underpins them all.

Feedback from our Employee Engagement Forum delegates firmly indicates that it’s all about treating people as people. We all want to know what’s going on, feel involved and have our say.

A clear focus on communications is crucial. The larger the organisation, the more important it is that messages are unambiguous and consistent. Above all, these messages must stand out.

That’s where creativity is needed…

It might be a clever idea to get people thinking differently, an insightful means of inspiring leaders or beautifully designed graphics employees will respond to.

Powerful communications allow colleagues to form strong working relationships, build a sense of community and create a work environment where people give their best.

So whether a plan includes video, print, digital or events, an inventive idea supported by eye-catching visuals and clever words will ensure your initiatives get the attention they deserve to drive engagement.

Strategic narrative – not a strategy document that gets filed away, or a video of the CEO explaining direction, but the living story of where the firm has come from, where it’s going to and where we fit in.

Engaging Managers – Are we treated and recognised as individuals? Are we coached and developed? Do you trust us to do our jobs?

Employee Voice – the people in your business are the people who know what’s going wrong, know how to fix it, know how to improve it. If you aren’t giving us the space and the confidence to speak out, if you aren’t listening to us, then we’ll stop telling you.

Integrity – if the behaviour that we see every day echoes the values of the organisation, if what our leaders say is what they do, then trust flourishes. In a nutshell, we’re human beings, not human resources. Listen to us, involve us, treat us as individuals, trust us. We’ll do the same for you.

janine.chidlow@resourcesolutions.com

sarah.walker@tileywoodman.com

info@engageforsuccess.org

Considering employee engagement at every recruitment touch point

T

he importance of an employer considering employee engagement from the first point of contact with a candidate and throughout the recruitment process, not just at the on-boarding stage, cannot be underestimated.

With a greater understanding of employment psychology and an increased emphasis on culture fit developing in recent years, employers today are looking at far more than simply matching job requirements with CVs. There are two critical factors that must be considered in order to successfully source and retain the best talent: creating an inclusive culture that allows employees to be their authentic selves at work, and driving employee engagement from the very beginning of the recruitment process.

In an era of strong competition and demand for top talent, it’s particularly important for companies to articulate their DNA (values, culture and beliefs) at every point of contact during the hiring cycle. A successful employment match requires true compatibility, not just of skills, but also of the employee’s expectations and the company’s working culture.

Research shows that employee satisfaction and engagement depends not just upon executing responsibilities well but also feeling included in an organisation, able to contribute to its success and, critically, being able to be yourself at work.

Today’s increased focus on employee engagement has seen many market-leading technologies emerge to support it, revolutionising the way in which employers interact with candidates. Forward-thinking businesses are using apps, social media, gamification and video to connect with

prospective employees and involve them in their culture from the very first point of contact, offering real insight into company DNA with innovative methods.

Not only does this modern approach promise an easier transition, it also delivers reduced attrition; if employees are able to affirm their compatibility with a company before joining, they’re likelier to achieve more successful employment and greater levels of satisfaction.

With increasing competition to retain high achieving employees through the growing practice of counter-offers, creating a strong sense of engagement throughout the hiring process is even more crucial. Candidates who already feel

invested in their prospective organisation are less susceptible to retention tactics from their current employer.

At Resource Solutions we’ve been discussing the critical role of engagement for a number of years. We see a direct correlation between strong employee engagement, career longevity and the success of the business. Not least because employees who feel able to be authentic at work are more engaged and therefore more productive.

We actively encourage our clients to have the same conversations at the top of their organisations; focusing not only on the key issue of diversity but also looking at inclusion and employee engagement across all levels of the business and at every touch point with both potential candidates and existing employees.

As the principles that guide recruitment continue to evolve, one thing is clear – engagement is critical at all stages of employment. This is as true at the outset of the hiring cycle as it is ten years into an employee’s role. With the right approach, the use of innovative technology and a greater understanding of fostering engagement, companies can benefit from an engaged and motivated workforce, ultimately resulting in success for employers and employees alike.

Resource Solutions is a leading provider of recruitment outsourcing solutions. To find out more about how Resource Solutions can support your business, please contact janine.chidlow@resourcesolutions.com