OzHR #24 - Organisational Politics

Politics, it's so easy to blur the lines between conflict, competitiveness and cahoots. Organisational politics is the use of social networks and power structures to get the job done. And that's where the contentiousness comes in, because the job can change - is it the job that everyone has agreed to, or the job of serving ourselves? Whatever our opinion of organisational politics, it's a fact of being around more than 2 human beings. So how do we deal with it, and use it to the organisation's advantage?

The chat will be Thursday 13 March starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Or join in from international waters at 4:00pm in Singapore, or 8:00am in London.

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. Do you generally see organisational politics as a positive or negative activity? How you do approach highly political situations?

2. What do you think is the main difference in how men and women participate in organisational politics?

3. What are the key skills for being a formidable political player? What's the best way to learn these skills?

4. How can positive politics be fostered in an organisation? 

OzHR #23 - Translating vision to frontline management

Executives write a vision.
Middle managers share a vision.
Frontline managers live the reality of the organisation.

The excruciating difficulty of HR often isn't getting executives or middle managers on board, it's actually getting the frontline management to give a damn.

They've heard the messages millions of times before, and while you're saying one thing, another part of the organisation might be telling them another. And when it comes down to it, they might have had 10 visions come through with changing executive management, but they still just had to get the job done. They might be really engaged with their job, but for the most part, the organisation's vision probably isn't something they're too interested in.

You might read that and think "wrong, wrong, wrong." And you'd be right. But it's still true, true, true. So the question for HR is, how do we get these people on board - because an organisation might be led from the top down, but it's built from the bottom up. Frontline management is the key to making the vision a reality.

The chat will be Thursday 6 March starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Or join in from international waters at 4:00pm in Singapore, or 8:00am in London.

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. Do you know the communications your frontline management receives? How do you ensure consistent messaging?

2. How can frontline managers be re-engaged with executive messaging when they have already disengaged themselves from it?

3. If a vision doesn't translate to the frontline reality, what's gone wrong? What is HR's role in the solution?

4. How can a frontline manager's visionary capability be lifted? Without it, should they be a manager in the first place?

OzHR #22 - HR vs The Office Dragon

Every single office has one. It's like when a definition of offices was created, it was written: "A space where administration work is done, usually including a desk, a chair, a computer, and an impossibly difficult person to interact with on a daily basis." The Office Dragon.

A recent article described the office dragon as someone who's known as 'breathing fire a little too often'. I see them as the person who has gained political standing, and then throws their weight around to the point that you dread having to work with them. One minute they're on your side, the next they're out to destroy you. And this could be the part-time administration clerk!

So if every single office has one, every single person has an experience with them. And I doubt it's been a good experience - so come and share some wisdom about this particular workplace challenge.

The chat will be Thursday 27 February starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Or join in from international waters at 4:00pm in Singapore, or 8:00am in London.

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. How do you define an office dragon? Do they always bring negativity to the workplace, or do they have their part to play?

2. How can HR disrupt the tolerance of office dragons? Can HR influence the security of an office dragon's position?

3. Are office dragons the best or worst at office politics? Is there a way to politically insulate yourself from them?

4. What advice would you give to staff suffering from the office dragon's heat? When does it go from grumpy to inappropriate?

OzHR #21 - Thriving Despite Disruptions

Have we become less tolerant of disruptions? I would say yes, as technology speeds up our connection to eachother, we expect services to be delivered and problems to be fixed in an instant. From what might have been accepted as a part of normal life, a simple disruption is now highly damaging to reputations. And I can vouch for that, because last week I had a fail with #ozhr. Sick, exhausted and in survival mode to keep the rest of my life ticking over, #ozhr was just not delivered. And this is what comes to mind:

@sarahmillerau Better than #H7N9 & an important lesson in succession management
— Shane Granger (@gmggranger) February 14, 2014

Disruptions can come in many forms:
-sickness
-extreme weather
-disrupted supplies
-geographic constraints
-time

There's no avoiding them, whether personally or professionally. So the question is, how do we thrive despite disruptions?

The chat will be Thursday 20 February starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Or join in from international waters at 4:00pm in Singapore, or 8:00am in London.

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1) What's the best way to ensure a disruption doesn't mean non-delivery? Does technology reduce, or heighten the pressure?

2) What can HR bring to the table in avoiding disruptions in organisations? How can HR help people to thrive during disruptions?

3) What are the key practices for organisations to avoid disruptions? How does one prepare for something they have never experienced?

4) What's the best way to recover a reputation after a disruption? What personal experience do you have with disrupted service providers?

The 3rd Half, the 5th Quarter, The Recap of OzHR #20 - Succeeding in Cross Cultural & Cross Geographic Projects

Like an absolute boss, @hrtechgirl Juhi took us to some really great insights on succeeding in cross cultural & cross geographic projects. You can find the whole chat here on storify.

But for a quick highlight, here's some of the pearlers of the night;

@hrtechgirl @sarahmillerau @michaelsleap @koobs To some extent project teams must create mini cultures to beat natural barriers #ozhr
— Clare Haynes (@WildfireSpark) February 6, 2014

@michaelsleap So true Michael! #ozhr But often in project senior leaders come and go, is that presence enough? I say no!
— Juhi Jhunjhunwala (@hrtechgirl) February 6, 2014

@sarahmillerau I cant think of anything that applies to Cross Geo/Culture that *doesnt* also apply everywhere else. #OzHR
— koobs (@koobs) February 6, 2014

@hrtechgirl true. Point to ponder is how leadership manifests differently in each culture. Western ideas prob don't work elsewhere #ozhr
— Michael Sleap (@michaelsleap) February 6, 2014

You guys are such smarty pants. Thank you Juhi for the fabulous chat!

And remember, if you've got something you'd like to hold an #ozhr chat on, just tweet/email/flagwave me and we'll make it happen,

OzHR #20 - Succeeding in Cross Cultural & Cross Geographic Projects

I am so excited to introduce you to the topic and host for our 20th OzHR - what a fantastic topic for our region! Juhi Jhunjhunwala is such a smart cookie, and has been a regular OzHR chatter on her twitter account at @hrtechgirl. OzHR is open to anyone to set a topic and host a chat for getting ideas and feedback on current challenges they're facing. A few weeks ago, I hosted a topic on workshops, getting the wisdom and inspiration I needed to host my own workshop. This week, Juhi is bringing her own challenges, and asking for our community's wisdom on succeeding in cross cultural and cross geographic projects. What a killer topic! Take it away Juhi!

"Hi, I'm Juhi, and I lead the HR Systems and Process Improvement projects cross culture and cross geography at Oil Search Ltd. I'm also a SoMe enthusiast who is about to get married and wants to start my own Vegan foodosphere! It is extremely difficult, because of many many many reasons :). One of the key challenges related to my paid job is we have a very interesting operating model much like other Oil and Gas companies where Corporate in theory is the policy and standards maker and the oil producing assets are run as a separate unit but need to follow corp. policies and standards. In theory should be easy, one makes it and other uses it. Of course not! Add to that communication challenges and understanding of the model and multiply that problem by cultural and economic differences you have a complex recipe. Sounds like a dream challenge job doesn't it? I am keen to know if there are people out there who have implemented projects and change programmes in such countries or circumstances and learn what their experiences have taught them."

The chat will be Thursday 6 February starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Or join in from international waters at 4:00pm in Singapore, or 8:00am in London.

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. Do cross-cultural & cross-geo projects require special skills as opposed to normal project & change management practices?
2. What are the signs of failure for cross-cultural and cross-geo projects?
3. Is sponsorship the key ingredient of leading successful projects?
4. What makes change stick in cross-cultural and cross-geo projects? Is there a magic formulae/ingredient?

OzHR #19 - The Power of Influence

It's like the code word to get into the cool kids club of HR: "I'm not a people person." We all like to get off on this image of being stern, number crunching hard asses who don't mess with business - we get it done sucker.

But it's just not the reality.

Maybe we're not having warm fuzzy conversations with the front line staff. But we're sure as heck nursing, encouraging and protecting our relationships with our counterparts in the organisation. We ARE people people, because that's the only way we ever get things done. We have to have incredible relationships and be such excellent communicators that they will want to do our requests.

In short - we need influence.

And that's where we come up short. Influence isn't just something we can wake up knowing and it's not something you can practice too easily. But it's absolutely essential to our effectiveness.

So let's discuss it, and share our wisdom with each other.

The chat will be Thursday 30 January starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. How do you define influence in the workplace? Is influence something that can be learnt, or must it be from birth? 

2. Can influence compensate for a highly accountable position with little control? Is it really that powerful?

3. Is there a way to measure influence? Should it determine who you interact with? Does it matter to your personal brand?

4. How do you build influence? How do you know if it brings better results?

The 3rd Half, the 5th Quarter, The Recap of OzHR #18 - Workshopping for Change

This #ozhr session was entirely for selfish purposes - I am writing my first workshop ever and it's something that is really, really, realllllly hard to get right. And didn't you all confirm that! There's no formula - in fact formula might be bad:

@JonWoolfrey @whippasnappahr @MarkSouterLive That's a start, cookie cutter *anything* never engages the mind or heart. #OzHR
— koobs (@koobs) January 23, 2014

And you can't just get any old facilitator in to run the workshop:

@whippasnappahr yes during a org change process, needed to bring in independent facilitators to show impartiality #ozhr
— zoemounsey (@zoemounsey) January 23, 2014

No, if it's going to get anywhere, and do anything, it's got to be powerful and emotional:

A4 Life changing = The information & connection that is shared by the audience to answer the challenge. Impacts the facilitator, too! #OzHR
— Mark Souter (@MarkSouterLive) January 23, 2014

And there's got to be follow up actions, and daily practice:

@ozhrtweets specific actions (preferably daily if possible) to create & reinforce new habits & behaviours is an essential part. #OzHR
— Jonathon Woolfrey (@JonWoolfrey) January 23, 2014

But if you get it right, maybe, just maybe the workshop could be something beautiful. Something that connects people out of their ordinary lives for just a few hours, and brings them inspiration and momentum. Something rather special indeed.

@ozhrtweets And on the positive: Being taught something about yourself you didnt know. #OzHR Q4
— koobs (@koobs) January 23, 2014

OzHR #18 - Workshopping For Change

Have you ever been part of an amazing workshop? I think they can be life changing experiences if they are good enough. They just bring that sort of momentum, inspiration and unique connection with individuals that doesn't happen in every day life. A workshop can be the perfect springboard into a wonderful time of creativity and drive. It might even generate change.

But that's one in a million workshops.

And that's what this is about. How do we make create one in a million workshops? Are they even the right way to be starting change? Is it a good way to be connecting senior management with front line staff?

The chat will be Thursday 23 January starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. How can senior management decisions be made in step with front line staff's needs? Are workshops an effective tool?

2. Is HR a good business function to be holding workshops? Do you think facilitating is a specialised skill set?

3. Can workshops really make change happen within an organisation? If not, what's the point of them?

4. What sets workshops up to fail? And makes a workshop a one in a million, life changing experience?

The 3rd Half, the 5th Quarter, The Recap of OzHR #17 - HR Metrics

Wow you guys make me sweat sometimes - I have to admit that putting yourself out there on Twitter only to be ignored can be a struggle. But it's totally worth it when we start having our great #ozhr conversations, and the wisdom starts to flow. Twitter is such an experience.

OzHR #17 was one of those nights. Nobody was around, and boy oh boy did I get it! It was HOT!!! But then we made some sweet, sweet HR music on the subject of metrics.

@whippasnappahr isnt about control.Its about casting a spotlight on business relevant data.Trend analysis can support better decisions #ozhr
— Rebecca Clarke (@rebeccaclarkenz) January 16, 2014

.@whippasnappahr @gmggranger Numbers are meaningless alone. Measuring the RIGHT things is HARD. #OzHR
— koobs (@koobs) January 16, 2014

@ozhrtweets HR is like Treasurer of Govt. Need to get strategy & policy right & pull right levers & influence - results not guaranteed #ozhr
— Michael Sleap (@michaelsleap) January 16, 2014

Also hr only has influence if & a big if they can related these metrics to the business ops, no point saying detentions is down #ozhr
— Michael Specht (@mspecht) January 16, 2014

That @rebeccaclarkenz is one smart lady. You should check out the rest of conversation here.

Thanks for being you #ozhr!

OzHR #17 - The Impact of HR Metrics

HR Metrics. "Measurements used to determine the value and effectiveness of HR strategies . Typically includes such items as cost per hire, turnover rates/costs, training and human capital ROI, labor /productivity rates and costs, benefit costs per employee, etc.." Thank you to Wikipedia for that explanation.

The bigger the organisation, the more they matter. But they are rarely even taught in HR university courses. And because our individual experiences with working with HR Metrics vary wildly, I am guessing our opinions on this topic vary wildly too. So I'm excited to hear all about your thoughts and background in HR Metrics.

Let's get honest, let's get realistic and let's get down to the nuts and bolts that make real knowledge transfer in our community.

The chat will be Thursday 16 January starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. Do you work with HR Metrics? How did you learn them? Do you find them a valuable tool in your daily work?

2. How much influence does HR have over metric items that rely on management to enact? (Think retention, productivity, etc.)

3. Should organisations of all sizes be measuring their people management, or is there a scale for HR metric usefulness?

4. If female leadership numbers are high but the female leaders are copying masculine leadership styles, are the numbers still good?

OzHR #16 - Email, HR's Friend or Foe?

Welcome back from the break – I hope you’re refreshed, focussed and ready to tackle the 100+ emails waiting for you. Not so funny is it, coming back to an avalanche of written word – all vying for your attention. Could you imagine having that volume of paper in your letter box every day, just for you?! What I find even more amazing about our email habits is how very little training we have on something that affects so much of our lives. It’s how we work, receive bills, maintain relationships and settle court cases. And we’re all just meant to muddle through it.

Another interesting thing about email is how much of a tool it can be. When used well, it documents conversations and reduces risk. When used poorly, it damages relationships and stunts their growth. Email is something HR must use well – really well. So let’s talk about it…

The chat will be Thursday 9 January starting at 7pm AEDT. Now we're in daylight savings time, find your city (or corresponding time zone) below, for the starting time:

7pm - Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne (AEDT)
6:30pm - Adelaide (ACDT)
6:00pm - Brisbane (AEST)
5:30pm - Darwin (ACST)
4:00pm - Perth (AWST)

Just make sure to pop a #OzHR in your tweet so we can see it, and be sure to invite others along for the ride!

The questions this week are:

1. Is email just another form of ‘busy’? How do you cut through the noise with your writing, and in your inbox?

2. As work emails are more available outside of work, does this promote flexible working or hinder work/life balance?

3. Is email HR’s friend in documenting conversations, or HR’s foe in managers engaging with staff?

4. What’s your email pet peeve? Do you have any resolutions for 2014?