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So, we’ve made it past the halfway point of one of the strangest, most trying years in recent memory. High elbows all around (because “fives”, you know, are so 2019) for making it this far.
Although it’s late July, we’re not out of the fake-Zoom-background woods just yet. As I shared with dozens of retail benefits leaders during a recent roundtable, self-care is what HR preaches but rarely practices, so block out some time on your overscheduled calendar, leave your home office, and go for a walk/run/scream. My 6-year-old reminds me every morning to, “have fun in your work dungeon, Dad,” so we all have opportunities for practicing what we preach.
Despite the ongoing challenges, I’m hearing good news from leaders as they turn their focus to the rest of the year and beyond. Stabilization is sorely and desperately desired, and the potential lies in the willingness to completely reinvent how organizations are structured in the future. It’s exciting to consider the possibilities of a new way of work and everything should be on the table.
Frustrated with your recruiting process? Reinvent it. Think there’s a better way to deliver value to employees? Create it. Think the Ulrich model is outdated and ineffective? Blow it up. Challenge yourself and your teams to start with a clean slate and reimagine the future. Sacred cows have just been put out to pasture, so take advantage of a greenfield approach and put fresh eyes on old models. Truly disruptive movements start with a dream and a vision, and they are realized with patience and tenacity.
If you want to discuss how to get started, grab a spot from my office hours and we can chat about anything that’s on your mind. And don’t be surprised if I’m wearing running clothes and my dog barks, because that’s how we roll in the work dungeon.
With warm regards,
—Mark
Founder/managing principal/self-imprisoner, IA
Not your typical consulting firm
In late June, Kimberly Carroll and Mary Faulkner presented a webinar based on Kimberly’s article, The Best Transformation is the One You Don’t Need. The primary concept? There are things your organization can be doing NOW and CONTINUOUSLY to avoid having to undergo a major HR transformation initiative in the future.
But… isn’t that what IA does as a consulting firm? Well, yes… but we want our clients to be self-sufficient. We think too many organizations are stuck in a consulting-reliance cycle, and we want to help break that.
The idea that organizations can take on a lot of this work themselves definitely resonated. Attendees’ questions ranged from how to align a leadership team to how high level can process mapping be. The recording for the webinar has not yet been released, but we will share on Twitter when it is. In the meantime, you can get started on your own continuous improvement using IA’s list of standard HR processes and process mapping guidelines.
Voice of HR
Carnival of HR: Innovation Isn’t On Shutdown
IA hosts this month’s Carnival of HR – a rotating anthology of blog posts from HR professionals, sharing lessons learned and inspiration from around the internet. Take some time to get to know the twelve authors with viewpoints on everything from difficult conversation to recruiting to employee experience to turning 50.
Where You Can Find Us
IA is excited to be featured as speakers/presenters in some of the industry’s most thought-provoking events, including:
- August, 6, 2020: Be on the lookout for the #HRTechInfluencer Twitter chat presented by HR Executive, featuring the IA team.
- September 20, 2020: Mark Stelzner lends his voice to Hacking HR’s HR 2021 Global Online Conference: HR Innovation and Future of Work
- October 13-16, 2020: At this year’s HR Tech Conference, Mark and Mary are back with the follow up to their April webinar, sharing recommendations on Winning the War for Skills. We’re also gearing up for HR Fight Club, but you know the first rule.
- October 27-29, 2020: Mary Faulkner participates in a discussion around the role recruiting plays in changing culture at ERE.net’s fall conference.
On Our Radar
Sometimes it’s hard to separate the signal from the noise, so we like to share some of the articles that resonate with us:
- We keep hearing again and again how working from home isn’t going away any time soon, and Harvard Business Review decided to do a little research. This article shares their findings – including the fascinating idea around collective focus and universal experience is driving sustained productivity. It’s worth a read.
- The lack of diversity in top leadership positions continues to be an issue, and recently, the number of Black CEOs in the Fortune 500 dropped by one…down from five. This brief article from Fast Company (preceded by a similar article from Fortune just a month ago) highlights how much work we still have to do to improve our leadership pipelines.
- And finally – setting boundaries continues to be a challenge for employees as they juggle work and personal life all in the same location. This article from Forbes shares good reminders on how to take back your time.
About IA
IA is a boutique consulting firm focused on HR transformation.
Our seasoned team of professionals brings deep domain experience and Fortune 1000-ready tools to help you capture the functional, operational, financial, technical, legal, regulatory, and strategic impacts of your transformational HR initiative.
Because we’ve worked with all kinds of organizations (large and small, public and private, domestic and international), we have a cross-functional, strategic perspective. And we’re not scared away by big, messy problems.
Learn more at ia-hr.com.
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