Newsletters
Before the modernization of society, we had to wait weeks, if not months, for letters from family or news from afar. Items as basic as coffee or fruit were luxuries enjoyed infrequently. And worksites were often located days away from leadership, with infrequent updates on progress, let alone the day-to-day wellbeing of the workers.
We’ve come a long way since those days. Technology has made the world simultaneously bigger and smaller – bigger, because we can reach more people than ever before with the simple push of a button; smaller, because we can see, in real time, the impact our decisions have on others. This abundance of access causes cognitive whiplash as we scroll online, viewing SNL jokes in one post and images of war in another.
With all this information at our fingertips, we struggle to discern signal from noise. I hear from leaders who are buried under unread notifications from instant messaging, emails, texts, and voicemails – supposedly helpful alerts that often serve to distract as much as they inform. We labor under the disillusion that more choice leads to better decisions, when it just serves to paralyze us. This overwhelmed state may not make much of a difference when trying to decide where to have lunch, but it can have real ramifications when trying to decide how best to empower the people who work with you.
Leaders are hyper focused on improving the employee experience, whether it’s in the office, remote, or hybrid. The past two years has renewed an emphasis on worker wellbeing across the entire spectrum of financial, physical, emotional, and everything in between. Additionally, there’s the collective self-reflection about what work should and should not be, leading to some hard truths for both individuals and organizations. In short, it is a time of reckoning as we consider what the future of work could be or should be.
Once again, HR finds itself at the epicenter. We have a unique opportunity to leverage the vast amounts of information gathered through all medium to convert it into actionable and hyper personalized interventions and outcomes. This includes people and processes but is also increasingly helpful in enabling one’s sense of purpose. In helping workers find ways to regain their balance during the constant tremors of uncertainly and change, we can endeavor to prioritize individualism and humanity amidst an ever-changing world.
I recently moderated a panel discussing the opportunities and challenges HR leaders face right now. In an interview leading up to the event, I shared:
I truly hope that we’ve learned something from this moment…. We’ve always talked about centering on the person but nothing has amplified the need of centering on each individual human like our collective experience the last two years. It breaks my heart to think that we might forget that lesson and fall back into old habits.
I sometimes wonder if we truly appreciate just how connected we all are. How with empathy and a deep appreciation for what makes us unique, we have an amazing opportunity to truly foster a level of engagement that reaches well beyond the artificial walls of the organizations we serve. That is the power of this moment.
With warm regards,
— Mark Stelzner
Founder/Managing Principal/Purpose Pursuer, IA
Voice of HR
We’re pleased to announce our partnership with HR Executive Magazine with our first HR Transformation column. Our team will be providing content all year long to help transformation leaders prepare for, execute, and continuously improve the HR function!
Transformation: Why you need it and how to get started
Experts from IA share a blueprint for organizational transformation – “our goal is to offer a new playbook.”
Where You Can Find Us
As we inch closer to springtime and emerge from yearend activities, IA looks forward to participating in a number of events, including the following:
- March 23, 2022: Mark will keynote the NexTech Middle East 2022 HR Summit. Click here to learn more and register!
- April 6-7, 2022: Mary Faulkner will be moderating a panel of recruiting professionals for ERE Digital, an online conference focused on Talent Acquisition strategy and execution.
- August 4-5, 2022: Mark Stelzner has been invited to keynote at TechHR India 2022. The conference theme is #FreshEyes. Stay tuned for more updates!
On Our Radar
As March tries to decide which meteorological season to embrace, the team has handpicked some recent articles that might be of interest to you:
- If you don’t share an article about the Great Resignation/Repriortization/Whatever, does it even count as a newsletter? Just in case, here’s an interesting one from Harvard Business Review that focuses specifically on frontline workers – a cohort that is all-too-often forgotten in the conversation.
- International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8, and many organizations took the opportunity to tweet their support – some at their own peril. As described by Vice, the Gender Pay Gap Bot was set to automatically re-tweet the gender pay disparity for any British organization that used a related hashtag, using legislatively required data to do so. Several organizations ended up deleting their initial tweet…wonder why.
- You’ve heard of the Five Second Rule, but what about the Three Minute Rule? Shockingly, practicing three minutes of procrastination is enough to snap you out of trying to avoid a hated task. Who knew that procrastination was so beneficial?
About IA
As trusted advisors to senior leaders, IA supports strategic initiatives that transform the way organizations work.
Our seasoned team of professionals apply a revolutionary eye, deep domain experience, and flexible tools to accelerate the achievement of even the most ambitious goals. With a cross-functional, strategic perspective, we thrive on big, messy problems. Whether large or small, public or private, domestic or international, it’s our job to support leaders and their teams in achieving outcomes that are truly unique to their culture and objectives.
Every organization has a catalyst for change – learn more at ia-hr.com.
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