5 things I learned at this year's HR DISRUPT

More than a month ago HR World Adria hosted the most vibrant and engaging in person HR conference, meant to disrupt new ideas, and introduce a rebellious future, for all of us. I have personally quite enjoyed it and it took me a while to gather all my thoughts and ideas and present them in this article. Read further to learn more about what was shared that made a lasting impact on me!

1. Vrednost ljudskih resursa zavisi od vrednosti ljudskosti u ljudima

I had to direct quote Voja Zanetic, but translated it would mean something like this - The value of HR as a function depends on the value of the humanity in us. We are living through unprecedented times and there is always an uncertainty, a conflict, a struggle. Maybe older generations can tell you if it was like that before, but for me, it never felt like it does now, and like it has felt in the last couple of years. Which makes the role of HR even more important. It's not a reactive, administrative function. It's a proactive, empathetic, disruptive function. It's a function that CARES and that's how it should always be. Iva Marinkovi? also touched upon that, with her speech about how to properly conduct layoffs, but I firmly believe we can make this point for every single part of the process. And let's all make an effort to do so.

2. Peak into your neighbors yard for disruptive ideas

Each topic only lasted 5 minutes, and it's a challenge to transfer solid piece of information that can be actionable as soon as the speech finished. But, Dusan Basalo and Aleksandra Strbac did just that. A month later, this remains the most useful part of the conference for me.

They talked about how many innovative and mind blowing ideas came from looking into what other industries are doing, for example how Tinder's idea of perfect matches served as a foundation for the onboarding buddy matching tool.

I loved that because it also confirmed me what I suspected - having a narrow focus won't get you very far. Yes, you could be an HR but you can learn about sales and design, finance and art craft and have THAT knowledge lead to a breakthrough in your current scope of work. Sometimes it's better to go wider, that to just continue to dig even deeper!

3. Do you dare to intelligently disobey?

A speech by Marina Deli? sat really right with me, cause she spent her five minutes talking about people who aren't afraid to 'get in trouble' to make sure their voice is heard, their ideas implemented, and their opinion taken into consideration. I have a bias towards action, and an ownership mentality. And that gets me into trouble. What her speech made me understand isn't that I should or shouldn't do it, but that I need to be smarter about it. We are who we are, we don't necessarily need to change, but we should make our character work in our favor, and not pull us down in a work environment. This isn't something I have achieved, but it is something I will work hard on!

4. Good presentation skills will never go out of style

No matter what you do. No matter who you are. No matter what is the point you want to make. Learn how to present it. I spend most of my time presenting ideas to others - doing sessions, managing knowledge systems and content, delivering speeches, making content for social media. I pride myself in knowing how to do it.

Out of all of those content forms, live presentation is the trickiest one. But, when you know how to do it, like Goran Jankuloski did, those 5 minutes become so engaging I didn't even have a second of attention to spare to take notes. I frantically wrote them down during a speech that came after, because there was a lot to be learned. And my main learning remains - learn how to deliver a good, if not great, presentation. It doesn't matter how good your idea is. A poor delivery will ruin it, no doubt.

5. Slow the fuck down!

I am not sure if you should be allowed to swear on LinkedIn. But, I will make an exception for this particular point. From first to last speaker, the incredible Alina Perrin an ongoing topic that weaved through it all was - mental health.

You all know by now that I have founded Healthy career (Zdrava karijera in serbian, you can find me on instagram). And my throat is dry from repeating this point. You have to set goals that are tied into your values, like Lena Thompson talked about. You need to design workspaces that fit humans, not machines, a point Shani Persson made. You need to strive to maintain your focus in a world that constantly fights for your attention, as Petar Kosovac politely pointed out. And in the end, you only have yourself to blame when you don't succeed.

Take ownership. Take accountability.

Educate yourself and others.

Seek help.

And do better! For yourself, and the entire humanity around you.

Let's all do a bit better job of taking care of ourselves, from now on.