When the elephant in the boardroom....is the baby.

In my travels I meet many people who are, unquestionably, leaders.

They may not have a famous name, nor mix in the circles thereof, yet individually; these people are blazing trails and pioneering new ways of thinking and acting. Particularly in the realm of people motivation, internal community development and passion-to-needs alignment: the emerging, as yet unnamed field(s) that that will replace HR.

It is more of these brave, experiment-to-learn leaders the world needs, and less of the celebrity entrepreneur or dispassionate, pasty, middle-aged industry “guru”.

Over the course of the last 3 years I have seen hot topics emerge, rise and become part of the collective dialogue in HR, both in Australia and globally. Think digital disruption, big data, predictive analytics, HR as marketing, gender equality and unconscious bias, to name but seven. And there are many more.

It is unlikely the conversation will ease in any of these areas come 2016. Yet there are two topics I predict will become even hotter:

1. Informal peer-driven mentoring, powered by social technology and;
2. Flexible work practices (for both men, women and inter gender).

The Conversation

Some weeks ago I connected with Jen White, a Sydney based leader in the Australian HR industry.

With a strong generalist background and a passion for leadership development, White is an all-round talent expert, who isn’t afraid to challenge perceptions and behaviour. In particular, White is challenging organisational perceptions on women who seek to close the gap between family life and that of being an executive leader.

I was also interested exploring White’s passion for, and commitment to mentoring: both for herself and service to her peers. As she cited, HR can be a lonely and stressful profession. I can corroborate this experience: as such, I see the practical, organised, accessible AND widespread provision of mentoring for HR and female leaders as a huge gap that needs filling in Australia and around the world.

Interview – Jen White, HR Leader Sydney, Australia.

I see that you started off with a Bachelor of Social Work. Can you tell me about that?

Sure can. When I completed my HSC I wasn't 100% sure what profession I would like to work in. I was always really interested in people, sociology, psychology type subjects so I entered a Bachelor of Social Work thinking that it would help me become clearer on the profession I would like to one day work in. I figured that if I was learning something I was interested in, it was a good career starting point and that from there I could transfer my skills into a role that I would enjoy. In the third year of my degree I became inquisitive about people in organisational contexts and decided to pursue a career in Human Resources, believing that the skills I had learned in my Bachelor of Social Work were entirely transferrable. 

Social Work is a great, but less considered foundation for HR, as it teaches you about resilience and the unpredictable nature of human behaviour. Can you tell me about the #1 thing about your career that you weren't expecting?

When I reflect on what I thought my career would be like, I thought about working with people to find solutions and fix problems. Almost like working through a logical, clear, 'to do' list.

What I underestimated was the scale and privilege of doing so en-mass / on behalf of an entire organisation’s workforce, the positive, almost tidal impact that this can have, and the different order of thinking and skills that this has required.

Jen, I’d like to talk a bit about gender equality in the workplace as it’s been such a hot topic for 2015. What is your advice for your peers who want greater balance, but don’t want to compromise on career progression?

To these people I say: be brave enough to ask the question. If you want more flexibility, first do your homework around how it might ‘work’ and build a case. It doesn’t have to be complex.

If your relationship with your manager and executive leaders is solid, there is every likelihood they will listen.

Increasingly, high performing organisations are starting to realise that people aren’t indispensible. Good talent is hard to find. If keeping you means giving you a day at home a week, or the ability to pick your kids up from school and then work into the evening after they have gone to bed – then why not?

Nine to five is starting to disintegrate, as well as the notion of “permanent full-time”. The best organisations recognise this and are adjusting themselves accordingly.

That’s solid advice. Can you talk a little about your own experience ‘in the field’?

Ten weeks after my daughter was born, I contacted my organisation: the replacement they had organised for me hadn’t worked out. I decided to lead a conversation about returning to work because I recognised a need to bring in my expertise at a time of significant organisational change. We negotiated that I would come to work 10 hours a week, my daughter in tow, whilst I helped them plan through an important implementation phase.

I remember walking into one of the “Big 4’s” with my new baby and having her in the boardroom with me. Everyone was supportive: my team and all of the consultants on the project. When I needed to breastfeed, I’d just go into an interview or break out room. Back at work, interestingly I found that having children in the workplace, it raised the standard of behaviour. It reminds us that we're a heard animal and we subconsciously think about the impact of our decisions.

That’s an incredible example, Jen, a real precedent that will no doubt inspire and encourage readers. Which leads me into the next segment of this interview: mentoring. Can you talk to me about the importance of this in your own career?

It’s critical for me to have good people around me: both in my team at work, and professionally in a wider circle. I have a wonderful female mentor; she’s brilliant and has a lot of experience. I also work hard to develop my own team at work, and together we can present a united front to the business, delivering quality solutions that solve real problems.

How did you find your mentor and what do you attribute to that relationship?

We worked together, I was very fortunate. After that, we developed a friendship. She is someone with whom I can have an honest conversation. That is so important.

And without a doubt, my accomplishments have come about because of clarity: this is something I gained from mentoring. The relationship really helped me get really clear on my purpose: what it is I am seeking to achieve, how I can support both an organisation and the people within it. Importantly, it has helped me discover what my own values are, and how I fit as a person within all of this. HR can be incredibly wearing at times and so I find it helpful to come back to something bigger and overarching to keep me centred.

Following the formal interview, White and I also spoke about the “future of HR” and the skills that will be required to succeed come 2020 and beyond.

Invariably, White sees the relentless “always on / always on demand world” pushing us toward greater balance and equilibrium: both IN life and within the HR profession.

White believes that from a professional perspective, ‘HR leaders MUST find the balance between being technically strong yet not being overly rule-bound, or reliant on process, policy and procedure. In the future, HR professionals simply won’t be able to bring an old framework into play - as if we're following a recipe. It’s just not going to work. The future of HR will be about being more curious and inquisitive as to 'the why', asking lots of questions and listening deeply. It will be about courage: calling out what we know intuitively is out of kilter in an organisation. Or sometimes just being more pragmatic in our solutions rather than theoretical.

My hunch is that the balance of power will continue to shift in the direction of the worker. This will give rise to all manner of changes, none the less an increased demand by people to apply their skills and passions to real problems as they arise in the business. That is, the concept of a fixed “job” will fall away, and in its place, people will move through the business in a fluid manner, rotating through projects. They will develop a huge array of skills and become incredibly powerful and valuable assets. Ironically this will come about because they are perceived and treated as people, each with a unique and irreplaceable value proposition.

Regarding work-life balance

In 2016 and beyond: organisations will no longer be able to ignore the demands of a workforce who desire flexibility. Be it because of “external commitments”, health-related / disability reasons, or a sheer desire to attain greater balance in this one-time-only experience we call life, smart organisations will come understand that the ‘minority’ represents the desires of the majority. To allow people to work in way that suit them, lead to deeper states of flow, performance and fulfilment.

To this end, talent professionals will need to develop skills in motivation and performance psychology, as well as creativity, innovation, and open-mindedness. The future belongs to those who recognise that the box never actually existed: it’s an illusory straight jacket, a hangover from the Industrial Revolution, if you will.

Learn to unlearn, and then learn again

Technological transformation is precipitating change at a rate so fast that means we will likely need to “unlearn” everything we ‘think’ we know about people, productivity and the way products and services are created and delivered, the way business is done.

Come 2016 (and beyond) organisations will realise that the future of people at work is about the delivery of an experience, and this includes providing people with community and mentor based support. The support granted to people may not necessarily be bound to the realm of traditional work, either. In short, the provision of an experience at work will align with the interests, values strengths of the full person, not just the 9-5 “fa?ade” that we have been playing to for so long.

Vanessa Wiltshire was Founder and Leader of The HR Talent Community, an online and real life events and networking hub for progressive HR practitioners and people leaders. Like Vanessa, these people desired to witness and to effect large scale transmutation of the HR profession: taking it from a compliance and policy silo to one of integrated talent enablement, balanced equally with compassion AND passion for the person, plus profit-driven intention.

Over the course of 3 years, Vanessa built the HRTC network from scratch to over 12,000 followers in 103 countries. She did this using the power of word-of-mouth, fuelled by social technology.

Despite the positive transformations that are occurring in mindsets and workplaces globally, for an HSP / INFJ like Vanessa, the business world mostly feels relentless and unforgiving. The higher you get, the windier (and more lonely) the peak becomes. So, in November 2015, Vanessa finally decided to show up with authenticity in her own life and follower a kinder path. It's one that allows her to bring gifts of writing, verbal / visual communication and service to people to a new space. Seriously exciting times.

Contact: Vanessa [email protected]