LEAP HR LifeSciences Europe Meeting

What a couple of days! I was privileged to be part of this insightful event. Thank you to @Sophie Lawson and @Eleanor Roshier at Hanson Wade for making this possible.

Here are a few thoughts I had about the event, and what I learned from my HR colleagues.

The essence of our discussions: Rethinking and repositioning HR at the heart of the business, and reimagining employees as people – embracing people in their unique wonder.

I learned about what some of my colleagues were doing, for example I still have a lot of questions about the ‘Wellbeing Concierge’ that @Anne Benedict of Compass shared with us. Likewise, I’m intrigued about the ‘Unbossed’ Culture at Novartis, and @Chris Howarth shared his experience of this, and the removal of performance ratings – which is truly progressive, but I think we’ll all agree takes a lot of work and change management.

I really enjoyed @Wendy Pickford’s exploration of strengthening the role of HR as a Community of Change Agents and redefining the role of Leaders in an organisation. The programmes Wendy shared with us inspired me to explore how Astra Zeneca are approaching their Leadership Development further.

@Zaheer Ahmad gave me lots to think about in relation to DE&I strategy and programmes, and I will be doing some reading and exploration with the Leadership team at Kyowa Kirin to understand how we can be braver and bolder in the future with our DE&I agenda.

Overall, the two days left me energised and excited for the future of HR. It also gave me optimism – the world of work is changing, HR teams across the world are positioned superbly, centre-stage to support and even orchestrate this change.

It is clear though, HR is also changing, we are pivoting to focus on employee experience, not just traditional HR activities. As an HR community we need to balance this focus on transforming ourselves and our teams in this brave, bold new world, and supporting our Leaders to find their confidence in embracing people in their organisations in an inclusive and trusting way. Let’s support each other in this journey.

Be bold, be brave, be you.