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Digital HR Leaders with David Green

Digital HR Leaders with David Green

By David Green

In this series, David Green will be speaking to a range of senior HR leaders who are pushing a data-driven and digital HR agenda. There is an increasing need for HR professionals to become more digitally and numerically literate – to acquire the skills necessary to process, produce and leverage digital information to create business value. You'll hear from people leaders who are driving transformation in their organisations on how HR can prepare for the future and what HR leaders need to do to prepare for the Future of Work.
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38. How COVID-19 is acting as a Catalyst to Accelerate the Future of Work with Heather McGowan

Digital HR Leaders with David GreenMay 26, 2020

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BONUS: Microsoft's Chief People Officer on Creating a Data Driven Culture in HR (Interview with Kathleen Hogan)

BONUS: Microsoft's Chief People Officer on Creating a Data Driven Culture in HR (Interview with Kathleen Hogan)

Of the companies Jonathan Ferrar and I researched and included in our recently published book Excellence in People Analytics. One that really stood out was Microsoft. It is one of the best examples of scaling people analytics to provide value for employees and the business. I am especially delighted, therefore, that Microsoft's Chief People Officer, Kathleen Hogan is my guest on this week's episode of the podcast.

In our conversation, Kathleen and I discuss:

  • How HR is a strategic partner to the business at Microsoft
  • How Kathleen has worked closely with CEO Satya Nadella, to develop the culture at Microsoft over the last five years
  • The role of people data in supporting decision-making and busting myths
  • The impact of continuous learning
  • How a daily pulse of two and a half thousand employees has helped shape Microsoft's approach to hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in people strategy, culture and inclusion. So that's business Leaders, Chief HR Officers and anyone in a people analytics, learning, talent management or HR business partner role.

Aug 03, 202146:38
75. Using Data, Analytics and AI in Talent Management (Interview with Toon van der Veer)
Jul 27, 202147:28
74. How Tata Steel Uses Skills Data For Learning and Workforce Planning (Interview with Joanne Kuipers)
Jul 20, 202140:60
73. What are the Benefits of Measuring Employee Skills Data? (Interview with Rick van Echtelt)

73. What are the Benefits of Measuring Employee Skills Data? (Interview with Rick van Echtelt)

By 2025, 50% of all employees will need to be re-skilled, according to the World Economic Forum's future of jobs 2020 research. The same study predicts 97 million new jobs will emerge and 85 million will be displaced by a shift in labour between humans and machines. Most commentators believe that the pandemic has only accelerated this progress. It is not surprising, therefore, that skill availability is high on the CEO’s agenda. Recent research by McKinsey highlights that 79% of CEOs are concerned about skill availability impacting, innovation, cost, quality and growth.

My guest on this week's podcast is Rick Van Echtelt, The Founder and CEO at AG5. Through their software AG5’s mission is simple, to visualise and close skills gaps. Rick and his team do this by essentially providing an accounting system for skills, which aggregates data from multiple systems, maps current skills, tracks progress towards learning new skills and identifies some missing skills needed to future-proof the organisation.

In our conversation, Rick and I discuss:

  • The challenges involved in getting a handle on skills data
  • The value of measuring skills data and how companies should approach it
  • How having a skills based view provides multiple benefits
  • How AG5 helps clients visualise and close skills gaps

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in creating a workforce planning, learning and recruiting tool. So that is CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, learning, workforce planning, talent acquisition or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by AG5. To learn more, visit www.ag5.com.

Jul 13, 202131:29
72. How Rabobank Has Created an Agile HR Function (Interview with Tertia Wiedenhof)

72. How Rabobank Has Created an Agile HR Function (Interview with Tertia Wiedenhof)

Jul 06, 202138:59
71. How You Can Reverse Engineer Success (Interview with Ron Friedman)

71. How You Can Reverse Engineer Success (Interview with Ron Friedman)

As Ron Friedman, my guest on this week's episode, explains, we have been taught for generations that there are two ways to succeed either from talent or practice, the latter popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.

In his new book, Decoding Greatness, Ron describes a third path. One that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields from artists, writers and chefs to athletes, inventors and entrepreneurs and one that would be applied widely to learning in the workplace, the path of reverse engineering. Ron is a social psychologist whose main focus is on helping people succeed faster. He is a frequent contributor to publications like Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today and Forbes. Ron’s first book, The Best Place To Work, The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace, which we also discuss in our conversation, was named a Business Book Of The Year by Inc.

In our conversation, Ron and I discuss:

  • The differences between learning through talent practice and reverse engineering
  • How to harness the power of reverse engineering and boost your career
  • Why the three key psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are at the heart of employee engagement and performance
  • How to learn and acquire new skills
  • How to optimise for workplace relationships and work environments in a hybrid future

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in creating a culture of performance and continuous learning. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, culture, learning, employee experience or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by AG5. To learn more, visit www.ag5.com.

Jun 29, 202143:57
70. How is Novartis Reinventing Performance Management? (Interview with Steven Baert)

70. How is Novartis Reinventing Performance Management? (Interview with Steven Baert)

The transformation that Steven Baert is leading as Chief People and Organisation Officer at Novartis, in shaping culture and leadership to a re-imagined medicine is hugely impressive. As Steven explains in this week's episode of the podcast, Novartis is successfully fuelling a scientific and entrepreneurial spirit of the company through its inspired, curious and un-bossed culture. This equips the people closest to the customer or product with the freedom to own the important decisions about their work for themselves. Novartis is also empowering their people by re-imagining its approach to performance management. As one of the worlds foremost science companies, that is entirely fitting that Novartis has taken a scientific approach to diagnosing, developing, trialling and productising its approach to performance management.

In our conversation Steven and I discuss:

  • How he partners with CEO Vasant Narasimhan and the rest of the executive team at Novartis
  • The concept of un-bossing and what that entails for leaders
  • How Novartis has diagnosed that their previous performance management culture was a point of friction for employe
  • How Novartis has taken a scientific approach to re-imagining performance management involving 16,000 people
  • The four elements of the new approach to performance management, encompassing objectives, feedback, recognition and reward

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in the role of organisational culture and performance. So that is Business Leaders, Chief HR Officers and anyone in a Strategy, People, Analytics, Culture, Employee Experience or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Quantum Workplace. To learn more, visit www.quantumworkplace.com/digitalhr.

Jun 22, 202139:21
69. How Does AT&T Link Business Transformation, Culture and Performance Management? (Interview with Melissa Corwin)
Jun 15, 202140:06
68. Why Employee Experience And Performance Management Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin (Interview with Greg Harris)

68. Why Employee Experience And Performance Management Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin (Interview with Greg Harris)

Jun 08, 202143:39
67. How BNY Mellon Supports Employee Wellbeing and Resilience (Interview with Jolen Anderson)

67. How BNY Mellon Supports Employee Wellbeing and Resilience (Interview with Jolen Anderson)

BNY Mellon is America's oldest bank, having been created in 1784, and is currently on a journey of reinvention as it transforms into a digital organisation. The pandemic has accelerated this journey and that is where Jolen Anderson, my guest on this week's episode, comes in. Jolen is a Global Head of Human Resources and with her team, is responsible for translating their business strategy into their workforce strategy and igniting the passion of BNY Mellon's employees. As the business transformation was accelerated by the pandemic Jolen and her team are focused on three key driving principles. First, operational resiliency. Second, service to customers and third, employee wellbeing and safety. These three principles, not only underpin the digital transformation but the bank's culture too.

In our conversation Jolen and I discuss:

  • The central role of HR in business transformation
  • How employee wellbeing was prioritised during the twin pandemics of 2020
  • How resilience and inclusion are competencies that can be nurtured
  • The central role of people data and analytics in the work that Jolen and her team are doing
  • Why it is critical for CHROs to approach people transformation with intentionality right now and how to do this

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in the role of workforce strategy and business transformation. So that is Business Leaders, Chief HR Officers and anyone in a Strategy, People Analytics, Culture or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Quantum Workplace. To learn more, visit www.quantumworkplace.com/digitalhr.

Jun 01, 202145:58
66. How Neuroscience Can Help Organisations Drive Meaningful Change (Interview with David Rock)

66. How Neuroscience Can Help Organisations Drive Meaningful Change (Interview with David Rock)

My guest this week is Dr. David Rock, who coined the term NeuroLeadership and is the Co-Founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute, which has worked with over 50% of the Fortune 100 companies, to make organisations better for humans through science.

David has authored four successful books, including Your Brain At Work, a business best seller and has written for and been quoted in hundreds of articles about leadership, organisational effectiveness and the brain.

The centrepiece of my discussion with David is his SCARF Model, which is based on neuroscience and is designed to help us work more effectively with others.

When I came across the model a few years ago, it helped me better understand myself and change the way I interact in social situations. The SCARF Model is comprised of five key domains that influence our behaviour in social and work situations. Firstly, Status - our relative importance to others. Secondly, Certainty - our ability to predict the future. Third, Autonomy - our sense of control over events. Fourth, Relatedness - how safe we feel with others. And finally fifth, Fairness - how fair we perceive the exchanges between people to be. As David explains in our discussion, these five domains activate the same threat and reward responses in our brain that we rely on for physical survival. This explains why ourselves and others will sometimes have strong emotional reactions in social situations, both at home and at work. It is a fascinating topic and one, I know, that listeners will enjoy.

In our conversation, David and I discuss

  • How the SCARF Model has grown in relevance during the pandemic
  • The window of opportunity companies and leaders have to solve for autonomy and build a better post pandemic normal
  • The role of leaders in enabling their organisations to be truly diverse, equitable and inclusive
  • How companies should approach Performance Management in the future

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Neuroscience and its role in Leadership, collaboration, culture and performance. So that is Business Leaders, Chief People Officers and anyone in a Behavioural Science, People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Quantum Workplace. To learn more, visit www.quantumworkplace.com/digitalhr.

May 25, 202149:02
65. How Vertex has Built a World Class People Analytics Function (Interview with Jimmy Zhang)

65. How Vertex has Built a World Class People Analytics Function (Interview with Jimmy Zhang)

My guest on this week's episode is Jimmy Zhang, the Head of People Strategy and Analytics at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He joined the company, which has just over 3000 Employees, in 2018 and has built the People Analytics team from the ground up. I am often asked if People Analytics is the preserve of larger companies and I always say no, every company has business questions that can be answered with People Analytics. That said there are different challenges in setting up a People Analytics Team in an organisation with, say less than 5,000 Employees. For one, you don't have the luxury of building a large team, this means you need to take a different approach, one of partnership and leveraging skills from across the organisation. This is exactly what my guest on this week's episode has done and in doing so has built one of the most agile, most innovative and most successful People Analytics Teams I have come across.

In our conversation, Jimmy and I discuss:

  • How Vertex leverages a partnership model, a strong foundation in governance and ethics, to advance People Analytics in the company
  • The tripartite relationship between the People Analytics team, HR Business Partners and the Business and how this helps prioritise and elevate People Analytics work
  • Work that Jimmy is leading around skills to help drive career growth, development and mobility at Vertex
  • How Vertex is building a continuous employee listening program, which couples active and passive data sources
  • How Vertex tackles the build versus buy conundrum when it comes to HR and People Analytics technology

This episode is a must listen for anyone tasked with building or transforming People Analytics or who is involved in building or buying HR technology. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a HR Leadership, People Analytics, Workforce Planning or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by charthop. To learn more, visit https://www.charthop.com/digitalhr.

May 11, 202136:31
64. How to Build a Culture of Trust and Measure its Impact (Interview with Jignasha Grooms)

64. How to Build a Culture of Trust and Measure its Impact (Interview with Jignasha Grooms)

My guest on this week's episode is Jignasha Grooms, Chief Human Resources Officer at Epicor Software, a 4,000 person, global technology company.

Jignasha has 20 years of experience in the IT Industry, both in Business and Sales Operations and in Human Resources. Prior to joining Epicor, in November 2016, she spent eight years at Cisco, where in her last role she led HR for the America Sales Organisation, The Global Marketing Function, The Global Sales and Operations Function, as well as the staffing discipline in support of all Cisco Businesses and Functions in Asia, Pacific and Japan. Perhaps Jignasha’s biggest achievement in her role at Epicor has been the development of The One Epicor Culture, which puts employees at the centre and is built on pillars, including trust, agility, authenticity and empathy. It is a particularly impressive story, as you will hear, and one that has led to some significant outcomes for the Business and the workforce.

In our conversation Jignasha and I discuss:

  • How Epicor is using and measuring the success of using AI in the recruitment process
  • What HR can learn from the pandemic and what it needs to do to continue experimenting and not fall back into the old way of doing things
  • How to build and develop a culture in a company that is growing organically and by acquisition
  • How to measure the business impact of culture and connect the dots between customer experience and employee experience
  • How having the right people data in place supports a business operating in a fast paced environment

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in Culture and leading HR in a global organisation. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, Culture, Employee Experience or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by charthop. To learn more, visit https://www.charthop.com/digitalhr.

May 04, 202154:31
63. How to Manage and Visualise People Data to Create Actionable Insights (Interview with Ian White)

63. How to Manage and Visualise People Data to Create Actionable Insights (Interview with Ian White)

My guest on this week's episode is Ian White, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at ChartHop, one of the fastest growing and most exciting new technologies in our space. ChartHop has grown by more than 10X since the start of the pandemic and has a prestigious list of investors, including Andreessen Horowitz. Josh Bersin recently highlighted ChartHop as “a cool tool that displays every piece of data you need in a visual way” which is high praise indeed and deservedly so. Ian believes that when people have the full context, know what they are trying to achieve together, know their roles and fundamentally trust that Managers and Leaders are transparent and fair, you can achieve great things.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

  • How Ian's own experience as a customer of HR Tech helped inspire him to build and scale ChartHop
  • How to bring data to life so that it is accurate, accessible and applicable and so leads to actionable insights
  • Why agility, organisational design and workforce planning all need to evolve, to support the world of hybrid work
  • How CHROs can build on the last year and have an ability to experiment, to explore and to respond quickly
  • How having the right people data in place supports a business operating in a fast paced environment.

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in technologies that help organise, manage and visualise people data so that it drives actionable insights. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by charthop. To learn more, visit https://www.charthop.com/digitalhr.

Apr 27, 202136:26
62. How to Design HR Programs that Deliver Impact and Personalised Experiences (Interview with Isabel Naidoo)

62. How to Design HR Programs that Deliver Impact and Personalised Experiences (Interview with Isabel Naidoo)

Apr 20, 202139:18
61. Building a Culture that Drives Business Success and Employee Wellbeing (Interview with Claude Silver)
Apr 13, 202144:28
BONUS: Arianna Huffington and Donna Morris on How Walmart is Helping its Associates Achieve Healthier Habits

BONUS: Arianna Huffington and Donna Morris on How Walmart is Helping its Associates Achieve Healthier Habits

The guests on this week’s special bonus episode are Arianna Huffington, CEO and Founder of Thrive Global and Donna Morris, Chief People Officer at Walmart. In our conversation, we discuss how the pandemic has thrust the human resources function centre stage, and how HR has thrived during this difficult time in organisations where the function is well led, has strong senior stakeholder equity, has prioritised employee wellbeing and has robust capability in people analytics. If anything, this has raised expectations of Chief People Officers even further, can they and the functions they lead evolve at the pace necessary to deliver on the expectations of Leaders and the workforce?

In our conversation, Arianna, Donna and I discuss:

  • How the role of the Chief People Officer has changed since the beginning of the pandemic
  • What the impact of these increased expectations have had on Chief People Officers themselves
  • The lessons in workforce agility Walmart has learned from hiring over 500,000 associates so far in the crisis and how they will carry these learnings forward
  • How to adopt the mindset to find opportunity in ambiguity and why it is important that Leaders set the tone
  • What HR can do in 2021 and beyond, to capture more value for the business

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in HR and how it can create value for the organisation and protect the health of its workforce. So that is Business Leaders, Chief People Officers and anyone in an Organisational Health, Employee Experience, People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by gloat. To learn more, visit https://www.gloat.com

Mar 30, 202138:38
60. Creating Business Impact Using People Data and Technology (Interview with Alexis Saussinan)

60. Creating Business Impact Using People Data and Technology (Interview with Alexis Saussinan)

To build sustainable success in people analytics, you need a few key ingredients. Let's look at three. First, align the work of the people analytics team to the business strategy and priorities. Second in parallel, be intentional about building analytical capability across the wider HR function and third, get the sponsorship from the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Global HR Leadership Team and Senior Leaders in the business.

My guest on this episode of the podcast has mixed all of these ingredients and more since founding the people analytics team at Merck, in 2016. Alexis Saussinan is the Group Head of People Data and Technology, and the function he has built has become a bedrock of Merck's people strategy and consistently delivers value to the business and the global workforce at Merck.

Alexis and I reflect on the journey of people analytics over the last five years at Merck and look forward to the future as Alexis' role has expanded to bring people data, analytics and technology together.

In our discussion, Alexis and I discuss:

  • How to align the work of the people analytics team with the business and the people strategy
  • Examples of people analytics in action, including how Merck takes a skills-based approach to workforce planning
  • The size, structure and skills of the people analytics team and how it has evolved over the last five years at Merck
  • How a combination of CHRO sponsorship, ambassador networks, rotational programs and effective communication combined to help grow a data-driven culture
  • Why bringing people data, analytics and technology together enables the next wave of HR transformation

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in creating business value and employee experience from people analytics, in parallel with increasing HR capability in data and digital.

So that is Business Leaders, Chief HR Officers, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a people analytics, learning, HR leadership or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by gloat. To learn more, visit https://www.gloat.com/.

Mar 23, 202150:20
59. Getting Started with a Skills-Based Talent Strategy (Interview with Karen Powell)
Mar 16, 202140:59
58. What are the Business Benefits of a Talent Marketplace? (Interview with Ruslan Tovbulatov)

58. What are the Business Benefits of a Talent Marketplace? (Interview with Ruslan Tovbulatov)

My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Ruslan Tovbulatov, who first saw how HR and people analytics could be a strategic enabler of innovation, during his time at Google. This inspired Ruslan to pivot towards the HR tech field, first by joining Arianna Huffington at Thrive Global, where he worked in senior product and marketing roles for four years before moving on to his current role as VP of Global Marketing at Gloat. The company that first coined the phrase talent marketplace. In this episode, Ruslan shares powerful examples of the business benefits of creating a talent marketplace.

In our conversation Ruslan and I discuss:

  • The burgeoning HR technology market, the factors driving its growth, why the market is fragmented and what lies ahead
  • The challenges involved with running a company in a new category of HR technology
  • Powerful examples of the business benefits of a talent marketplace at companies such as Unilever, Schneider Electric, Nestle, Standard Chartered Bank and Walmart
  • The benefits talent marketplace provides to employees, managers and businesses as well as the future developments in this field
  • Whether the talent marketplace will mean that jobs won't exist anymore

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in HR transformation, internal mobility, workforce planning, people analytics and HR technology. So that is Business Leaders. Chief HR Officers and anyone in a people analytics, learning or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by gloat. To learn more, visit https://www.gloat.com/.

Mar 09, 202154:43
57. How Unilever has Created a Culture of Internal Talent Mobility (Interview with Jeroen Wels)

57. How Unilever has Created a Culture of Internal Talent Mobility (Interview with Jeroen Wels)

When the CEO cites the internal talent marketplace you have helped to create, as a major contributor to revenue during the company's quarterly earnings call, you know you have achieved something pretty special.

That is what happened to my guest for this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast. Jeroen Wels is the Executive Vice President of HR at Unilever and the architect of Flex Experiences. Flex Experiences is Unilever's thriving, internal talent marketplace, which is currently used by 65,000 global employees who are able to share their skills and experience with people in other teams and in other countries. During their quarterly earnings call for the first quarter of 2020, Unilever CEO, Alan Jope, highlighted how by using Flex Experiences the company had been able to redeploy over 3000 people from parts of the business with low demand, to the areas that were seeing high demand due to the pandemic. As you will hear from Jeroen in this episode, Flex is a standout example of a talent marketplace and the impact, both to the business in terms of agility and unlocked hours and employees in helping them discover their purpose and support their careers, is huge.

In our conversation, Jeroen and I discuss:

  • The journey of talent marketplace at Unilever so far and what is coming next
  • How the events of 2020 cemented the business case for talent marketplace in Unilever
  • Jeroen’s horizon thinking approach to working with HR technology companies and startups
  • Whether the talent marketplace will mean that jobs won't exist anymore

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in agile transformation, employee experience, learning and internal mobility. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, learning or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by gloat. To learn more, visit https://www.gloat.com/.

Mar 02, 202151:05
56. Why Are So Many Companies Building Talent Marketplaces? (Interview with Ina Gantcheva)

56. Why Are So Many Companies Building Talent Marketplaces? (Interview with Ina Gantcheva)

Feb 23, 202147:28
55. How Capital One Delivers Value at Scale with People Analytics (Interview with Guru Sethupathy)

55. How Capital One Delivers Value at Scale with People Analytics (Interview with Guru Sethupathy)

Welcome to the final episode of series eleven of The Digital HR Leaders podcast. I first met today's podcast guest nearly four years ago, just before he embarked on his current role. I was hugely impressed. His background as an economist, his focus on delivering value and his sheer passion for the possibilities afforded by people analytics meant, I judged, that he had all the ingredients to be successful.

Today as Head of People Strategy and Analytics at Capital One, Guru Sethupathy presides over one of the leading people analytics functions in the world. During this, just shy of four year tenure, Guru has quadrupled the size of the team to around a hundred people and together with his team has delivered significant value to the business as well as Capital One's Associates. Guru is a deep thinker and has retained that passion for people analytics that I saw four years ago. I know that listeners will enjoy learning from Guru’s experience and vision for people analytics during the next 45 minutes or so.

In our conversation Guru and I discuss:

  • The key milestones of how people analytics has been scaled at Capital One during Guru's tenure
  • How people analytics has supported Capital One and its associates during the pandemic
  • The steps that Capital One has taken to build a data driven culture across its HR function
  • How to scale people analytics by developing products that people will use
  • How well equipped HR functions have thrived during the crisis of 2020
  • How to turn insights from people analytics work into actions
  • The role of HR in helping to prepare organisations for hybrid ways of working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in people analytics, employee experience and HR technology. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, learning, HR tech or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue. To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

Feb 09, 202155:08
54. How Can HR Help Organisations Prepare for Hybrid Working? (Interview with Ethan Bernstein)

54. How Can HR Help Organisations Prepare for Hybrid Working? (Interview with Ethan Bernstein)

The nature of work and workplaces was already changing, but the pandemic has fast-forwarded many aspects of the future of work. Today's guest is Ethan Bernstein, who is an Associate Professor in the Organisational Behaviour Unit at The Harvard Business School.

He teaches the second year MBA course in managing human capital, the Harvard Business School online course on developing yourself as a leader and various executive education programs. Ethan studies the impact of workplace transparency, the observability of employee activities, routines, behaviours, output and performance on productivity. With implications for leadership, collaboration, organisation design and new forms of organising.

Together with others, Ethan has conducted research during the pandemic to understand the implications of working without an office, which sought to answer a number of questions. Paramount amongst them was what impact has working from home had on productivity and creativity?

The discussion that follows is rich, wide ranging and consistently fascinating. Ethan is one of the most interesting, knowledgeable and witty guests we have had on the show yet. 

In our conversation, Ethan and I discuss:

  • The key findings of his research on the impact of remote working and the impact it is having on productivity and innovation
  • The implications, post pandemic for work, collaboration and workplace design
  • How well-equipped HR functions have thrived during the crisis of 2020
  • What the future leaders he teaches in his Harvard MBA course are saying about the role of HR
  • The role of HR in workplace design and in helping prepare their organisations for hybrid ways of working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in workplace transparency, technology, people analytics and future ways of working. So that's business leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, strategic workforce planning, HR tech or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue . To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

Feb 02, 202154:01
53. How HR Enables Business Transformation at Prudential Financial (Interview with Wagner Denuzzo)
Jan 26, 202138:23
52. How Singapore Uses Skills Data to Support Lifelong Learning (Interview with Wenshan Xu)

52. How Singapore Uses Skills Data to Support Lifelong Learning (Interview with Wenshan Xu)

Welcome to episode two of series 11 of The Digital HR Leaders podcast. According to the latest Future of Jobs report from The World Economic Forum, by 2025 50% of all employees will need to be re-skilled. Moreover also by 2025, the same research predicts that 97 million new jobs will emerge and 85 million will be displaced by a shift in labour between humans and machines. Most commentators believe that the pandemic has only accelerated this progress.

Skills is not just a challenge for organisations it is a challenge for entire countries and Singapore is setting a template that others could and perhaps should follow. The mission of SkillsFuture SG, or SSG for short, is to build a skills competitive Singapore and a nation of resilient and confident lifelong learners.

My guest today is Wenshan Xu, Deputy Director of The Skills Development Group at SSG. Wenshan describes the unit as an intelligence unit for skills and as you are about to hear, the work they are doing is as fascinating as it is important.

In our conversation Wenshan and I discuss:

  • How SSG helps re-skill workers in sectors affected by Covid and then helps them transition to sectors that were hiring
  • How SSG works with employers, education providers and citizens to create a skills and learning ecosystem that meets the changing requirements of jobs in the country
  • How Wenshan’s team uses data, analytics and machine learning to understand the supply and demand of skills now and in the future
  • The skills taxonomy that they have developed, which encompasses 34 skills frameworks, 11,000 skills competencies and over a thousand job roles
  • How all this supports the vision for talent mobility in Singapore

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in skills, learning and workforce planning. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue . To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

Jan 19, 202151:02
51. The Future of HR with Dave Ulrich, Brigette McInnis-Day (Google) and Rupert Morrison (orgvue)

51. The Future of HR with Dave Ulrich, Brigette McInnis-Day (Google) and Rupert Morrison (orgvue)

Welcome to the first episode of series 11 of The Digital HR Leaders podcast. As I wrote in my annual list of HR predictions for 2021, which we covered on last week's episode, the pandemic has thrust the Human Resources function into the spotlight. All eyes are on HR. Some have likened the pivotal role the CHRO is playing in this crisis to that played by the CFO in the global financial crisis. Undoubtedly HR has a unique role to play, but how does the function shift towards generating value for the business, the customer, the workforce, investors and the community at large?

We decided to bring an esteemed panel of three experts together to debate the topic. Firstly, Brigette McInnis-Day Head of HR at Google Cloud, where she focuses on attracting and developing amazing talent and shaping the culture for business growth and transformation.

Secondly, we have Dave Ulrich, Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and co-founder of the RBL Group. With his colleagues, Dave has written over 30 books that have shaped the HR profession, defined organisations of capabilities and shown the impact of leadership on customer and investors.

Last but not least Rupert Morrison, who is leading the way in data-driven organisational planning as CEO at orgvue. He has also authored a Chartered Management Institute shortlisted book of the year on data-driven organisational design.

In our conversation the panel and I discuss:

  • The impact of the pandemic on organisations, employees and HR
  • How HR can be more value and business focused
  • The skills that Google looks for in its HR business partners and how Google measures its culture
  • The impact of the pandemic on workforce planning, organisational design and people analytics
  • What HR can do in 2021 to capture more value for the business

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in HR and how it can create value for the organisation. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in an organisation design, people analytics or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by orgvue . To learn more, visit https://www.orgvue.com/.

Jan 12, 202156:03
BONUS: David Green's Predictions for HR in 2021

BONUS: David Green's Predictions for HR in 2021

This is a special bonus episode to kick off the podcast for 2021. In 2020, we learnt that the field of Human Resources is even more important than we thought it was, that People Analytics can save lives and that humans and the organisations they work for can adapt quickly in times of crises.

What do the events of 2020 mean for HR though, as we set sail into 2021? I have been publishing an annual set of predictions since 2014 and the show's producer, Ian Bailie, persuaded me that it would be fun to record a special episode of the podcast framed around my predictions for 2021. As you will hear I managed to turn the tables on Ian at several points in the conversation to get his take on a couple of the trends that are destined to set the agenda in 2021.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

  • Whether the future of work has arrived and if so, does it mean we can actually stop talking about the future of work?
  • Why People Analytics is set to evolve in 2021 and how it can deliver more value at scale
  • How skills, learning and careers are coming together and breaking down traditional silos in HR
  • What HR Leaders and professionals can do to prepare for the future

This episode should be an interesting listen for anyone in a Workforce or People Analytics role, as well as HR, Learning and Business Professionals interested in how HR can drive business outcomes and create valuable experiences for employees.

Jan 05, 202154:14
50. How Wipro uses People Analytics to Enable Hyper-Personalisation (Interview with Renil Kumar)

50. How Wipro uses People Analytics to Enable Hyper-Personalisation (Interview with Renil Kumar)

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic HR functions with People Analytics Teams have been pivotal in co-ordinating and leading responses to the crisis in companies all around the world. Well, one such company is Indian multi national giant Wipro, which found it had to suddenly contend with 150,000 remote workers in India alone.

My guest on this week's episode of the podcast is Renil Kumar, Vice President and Global HR Head at Wipro. He is the personification of a modern HR Leader, Business focused, data-driven, technologically savvy, inclusive and collaborative.

In our conversation Renil and I discuss:

  • How People Data and Analytics enables hyper-personalisation across Wipro’s 200,000 plus global employee workforce
  • How a powerful People Analytics project at Wipro delivered quantifiable value to the business, as well as revealing some interesting insights on the impact of team size and promotions
  • How to infuse HR Professionals with the skills needed to be more data-driven and why experimentation, starting small and getting hands-on drives progress
  • How Organisational Network Analysis can be applied in Sales and Customer Service
  • What HR can do to prepare their organisations for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in how HR can drive significant value in large multinational businesses. So that is Business Leaders, CHRO’s and anyone in a HR Leadership, People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

Dec 08, 202031:22
49. What is the Impact of Virtual and Hybrid Working on Innovation? (Interview with Michael Arena)

49. What is the Impact of Virtual and Hybrid Working on Innovation? (Interview with Michael Arena)

There should be little doubt that human capital is a firm's greatest asset, however, this isn't enough. Organisations must also ensure that individuals are relationally positioned for success. In other words, bringing in the best people is only part of the solution. Firms must also bring out the best in people and that requires us to more intentionally leverage social capital. Those are not my words, although I wholeheartedly agree with their sentiment, but of Michael Arena, my guest for this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders podcast.

Michael is the author of the brilliant book, Adaptive Space, How General Motors and Other Companies are Positively Disrupting Themselves and Transforming Into Agile Organisations. He is also a faculty member in Penn's Masters in Organisational Dynamics and he is currently the VP for Talent and Development at Amazon Web Services. He is also one of the world's foremost experts on Organisational Network Analysis.

In our conversation, Michael and I discuss:

  • Why social capital is the next frontier for HR and how to measure it through the use of active and passive ONA
  • Why the pandemic will likely fast forward the future of work by five or ten years
  • The critical role that social capital plays in generating, incubating and scaling innovation
  • The potential implications to bridge connections of a shift to virtual and hybrid work environments
  • Some typical use cases and specific examples of how ONA can be used in relation to understanding collaboration, M&A, research and development, culture and employee wellness
  • How to ensure ONA initiatives deliver value for the business and the workforce and properly address any concerns on ethics, privacy, and trust
  • What HR can do to prepare their organisations for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Innovation, Culture, People Analytics, Employee Experience and Social Capital. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a Talent Development, People Analytics, D&I or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

Dec 01, 202041:39
48. How to Democratise People Analytics to Drive Agile Decision Making (Interview with Daniel West)

48. How to Democratise People Analytics to Drive Agile Decision Making (Interview with Daniel West)

My guest on this episode of the podcast is Daniel West. His 20 years of experience in HR Leadership roles at data-driven companies like Uber and Apple have taught him how analytics can drive business performance, improve customer outcomes and enrich employee experience and culture. Daniel is now the founder and CEO of Panalyt and the technology his firm provides is helping organisations bring together and democratise their people and business data and enrich it further with external and social capital data to drive decision-making.

In our conversation, Daniel and I take a deep dive into organisational network analysis and how social capital data can be linked to performance, engagement, sales and innovation. We also discuss:

  • The level of analytical skills required by HR professionals and what we can learn from our counterparts in Marketing
  • The impact of democratising data across business stakeholders and how this drives more agile decision making and improved business outcomes
  • The critical role of ethics and trust in People Analytics
  • A great example of how a Japanese company had to virtually onboard over 200 new starters due to the pandemic and used People Analytics to help that effort
  • What HR can do to prepare their organisation for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in People Analytics, Employee Experience and Social Capital.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

Nov 24, 202042:41
47. How Bayer is Redefining the Workplace around Purpose, Innovation and Culture (Interview with Melissa Harper)

47. How Bayer is Redefining the Workplace around Purpose, Innovation and Culture (Interview with Melissa Harper)

We are in the midst of the biggest global pandemic for a century, combine that with social unrest, an economic crisis, and at the same time, rapid business transformation, then the role of the HR function has never been so important.

One company where HR has really come to the fore during the crisis is Bayer. My guest on this episode of the podcast is Melissa Harper, Senior Vice President for HR Innovations at Bayer. With more than 30 years of HR experience, Melissa has been at the forefront of Bayer's response to the crises of 2020 and efforts to redefine the workplace around purpose, innovation, and culture.

In our conversation, Melissa and I discuss:

  • Why Bayer’s people first philosophy, has been critical to the company's response to the crisis and its efforts to redefine the workplace of the future
  • How Bayer is incorporating some of the positives that have emerged in 2020 such as faster, more distributed decision making and increased employee listening to enhance its innovative culture
  • Bayer's approach to inclusion and diversity and how this is premised on taking action on the talent challenges that arise
  • How digital analytics and culture provide the connective tissue around the workforce at the company
  • What HR can do to prepare their organisation for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Inclusion and Diversity, Culture, Employee Experience and Innovation. So that's Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning, I&D or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

Nov 17, 202035:33
46. How People Data Can Drive Better Business and Employee Outcomes (Interview with Chin Yin Ong)

46. How People Data Can Drive Better Business and Employee Outcomes (Interview with Chin Yin Ong)

When I was in Singapore a couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Grab, one of Southeast Asia's largest and most innovative technology companies and spending time with the guest on this week’s episode, Head of People Operations, Chin Yin Ong and some of her talented team. With a background in sales and marketing, a psychology degree and a passion for using technology and analytics to drive better outcomes for the business and its workforce, Chin Yin is the epitome of the Chief People Officer as a catalyst for growth. Chin Yin combines her role as Head of People with running the technology solutions team, which as you will hear, capitalises on the technology Grab has developed for its customers to enhance the work experience for Grabbers, which is Grab's name for its employees. I know you will enjoy listening to some of the innovations that Chin Yin and her team are driving at the tech firm.

In our conversation Chin Yin and I discuss:

  • How to keep employees engaged and connected during the crisis
  • Examples of how people data is driving better business and employee outcomes at Grab
  • How to infuse HR professionals with the skills required to be more data-driven and achieve the optimal combination of head, heart and gut
  • The rise of micro learning and the impact on skills
  • Why the 2020s is set to be the golden age for HR

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in employee experience, people analytics, HR technology and business outcome driven HR. So that is business leaders, CHROs and anyone in a people analytics, workforce planning, recruiting or HR business partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Panalyt. To learn more, visit https://www.panalyt.com.

Nov 10, 202042:46
45. Making Learning a Habit that Matters at Ericsson (Interview with Vidya Krishnan)
Oct 13, 202046:24
44. How Novartis Promotes Learning Curiosity to Drive Business Value (Interview with Simon Brown)

44. How Novartis Promotes Learning Curiosity to Drive Business Value (Interview with Simon Brown)

Oct 06, 202045:41
43. Improving Employee Experience through Learning, Skill Development and Mobility
Sep 29, 202041:07
42. How Do You Create a Learning Culture in the Workplace? Interview with Gianpiero Petriglieri

42. How Do You Create a Learning Culture in the Workplace? Interview with Gianpiero Petriglieri

In this episode of the podcast, my guest is Gianpiero Petriglieri, who is the Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, and an expert on leadership and learning in the workplace.

Gianpiero has chaired The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on new models of leadership and is listed among the 50 most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers 50. His work explores how and where people development sustains the personal foundations and professional abilities to exercise leadership mindfully, effectively and responsibly.

Gianpiero’s studies highlight the psychological, social and cultural functions of leadership development and his teaching methods provide an example of how to perform those functions purposely for the benefit of individuals, organisations and society at large. His research has appeared in academic journals, media and business journals, like the Harvard Business Review, where five of his essays have been included among the ideas that shaped management in the last decade.

In our conversation, Gianpiero and I discuss:

  • Why organisations are struggling to embed a culture of lifelong learning
  • The differences between cognitive learning and socio-emotional learning and why organisations need to make room for both
  • The role of technology in supporting the development of skills
  • Examples from companies like Schneider Electric and Lego who have developed culture and environments where learning can thrive
  • The role of the Chief Learning Officer and whether it should sit within HR or report directly to the CEO

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in learning, skills and leadership development, either from an individual or company perspective. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Degreed. To learn more, visit https://degreed.com/.

Sep 22, 202050:56
41. How Can HR Help Shape the Reskilling and Learning Agenda? Interview with Lynda Gratton

41. How Can HR Help Shape the Reskilling and Learning Agenda? Interview with Lynda Gratton

The guest on this week’s podcast is Lynda Gratton. Lynda is a Professor of Management Practice at The London Business School where she directs Human Resource Strategy in transforming companies, which is considered one of the world's leading programs on Human Resources. Lynda is also the founder of HSM, the research consultancy and has written extensively on the future of work, the role of corporations and the interface between people and organisations. Lynda's most recent book, The New Long Life, A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World, was published at the end of May and we will talk a little bit about that in this episode.

In our conversation, Lynda and I also discuss:

  • What we have learned about people, organisations and the impact of remote working on collaboration during the pandemic
  • The new skills, behaviours and mindsets individuals need to thrive in the future of work
  • How to make reskilling stick within organisations
  • How individuals, organisations, and governments can navigate the challenges of a hundred year life
  • The role of HR and learning teams to help drive the reskilling and learning agenda

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in learning and skills, either from an individual or a company perspective. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, Workforce Planning, HR Tech or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Degreed. To learn more, visit https://degreed.com/

Sep 15, 202050:06
BONUS: Diane Gherson at IBM on Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics

BONUS: Diane Gherson at IBM on Reinventing HR with AI and People Analytics

We’re kicking off an exciting autumn season of the Digital HR Leaders podcast today with a special bonus episode featuring Diane Gherson, discussing how IBM has infused AI and analytics into HR. During her time as CHRO, Diane led the redesign of all aspects of IBM’s people agenda and management systems to shape a culture of continuous learning, innovation and agility. She has also digitally transformed the HR function, incorporating AI and automation across all offerings resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of net benefits. Every field needs its standard bearers and ever since taking the reins as CHRO in 2013, Diane has been a pioneer, taking the HR profession to a new level and was deservedly recognised as the HR Executive of the year in 2018.

In our conversation Diane and I discuss:

  • How IBM has created a marketplace for talent, encompassing skills, personalised learning, career management and internal mobility
  • A company wide jam that Diane initiated to support initiatives around returning to new ways of working at IBM
  • The practical examples of how infusing AI and machine learning into HR programs can deliver significant value to the business and employees
  • What HR needs to do to drive more value in the post-crisis world and why its the model for leaders and organisations to thrive in the twenty first century.

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how to set up the HR function to deliver significant value to the business and its workers, so that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Sep 08, 202046:17
SPECIAL: Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation (Interview with Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui)

SPECIAL: Building a People Analytics Function in a Humanitarian Organisation (Interview with Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui)

Welcome to the fifth of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast that collectively provide an outside in perspective on HR.

People Analytics is the fastest growing part of HR and prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, was named by HR practitioners themselves as one of four trends in LinkedIn's annual global talent trends report that were most likely to impact on how their organisations hire, develop and retain their workforces in 2020. During the crisis People Analytics has been further elevated as companies strive for insights and data to drive employee safety and wellbeing, understand the impact of remote work and create their return to  the workplace plans. Many practitioners and leaders in the People Analytics space have no previous experience of working in HR.

My guest on this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast is Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui. When she took on the challenge of setting up the People Analytics function at the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2017, Sophie had a background in Finance, and Operations, but not HR. Sophie quickly established that in a humanitarian organisation, the key people related requirement is to ensure the right people are on the ground at the right time to support the ICRC’s critical humanitarian work in conflict zones.

In our conversation, Sophie and I discuss:

  • How she set up the People Analytics function, identified priorities and delivered the first use cases
  • How the team evolved and developed its skills over the three years Sophie was at the helm
  • Tips for other People Analytics Leaders who run small teams
  • The steps Sophie took to help up-skill the wider HR community at the International Committee of the Red Cross
  • How her experience in People Analytics is supporting her in her new role as HR Partner for the Near and Middle East Region at the Red Cross

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how to set up and develop a People Analytics team and the unique challenges involved in leading a small team in a humanitarian organisation. So that is CHRO’s, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Aug 18, 202035:58
SPECIAL: Dan Cable on How to Help People Love What They Do At Work

SPECIAL: Dan Cable on How to Help People Love What They Do At Work

Welcome to the fourth of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast that collectively provide an outside in perspective on HR. In many respects the COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a people crisis and it has been heartening to witness that many organisations we work with at Insight222 have put the safety and wellness of their workforce at the centre of their response to the crisis. However, multiple studies show that an alarming majority of employees are actively disengaged and un-motivated. They are not helping their organisations and by suppressing what neuroscientists call “our seeking systems” organisations are not helping their employees by focusing on making work routine instead of creative and joyful.

Our guest for this week's episode is Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan explains that because we spend most of our waking hours at work, his mission is to spend his working hours trying to understand how people can feel like work is part of their real life, rather than the long commute to the weekend.

In our conversation Dan and I discuss:

  • Why biology as opposed to lack of motivation causes the malaise of workplace disengagement
  • How by galvanising three triggers, leaders can activate their employees seeking systems and drive exploration and learning
  • How HR can use job crafting to drive engagement, stimulate learning, create innovation and essentially enable people to bring their best selves to work
  • A three-step process for people to stimulate their full potential as outlined in Dan’s upcoming book, Exceptional.

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how neuroscience can help drive culture, engagement and wellness in their organisations. So that is Business Leaders, Organisational Psychologists, Chief HR Officers, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Aug 11, 202049:51
SPECIAL: What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations? Interview with Torin Ellis

SPECIAL: What is HR's Role in Creating Diverse and Inclusive Organisations? Interview with Torin Ellis

Welcome to the third of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast, providing an outside in perspective on HR.

The brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police on May the 25th has unleashed a sustained and unparalleled wave of protests around the world. This terrible incident highlighted once again, the scourge of racial injustice and the responsibility we all have to speak up against discrimination in any of its ugly and reprehensible forms. We all need to commit to help to drive change in our companies, in our HR and People Analytics communities and in our societies.

The guest on this episode of the podcast is Diversity Strategist, Torin Ellis, who has worked with companies ranging from small 20 person startups to some of the biggest multinational companies, to help them identify inhibitors that stall the consistent achievement of the diversity, equity and inclusion objectives achieved through recruitment.

We start our discussion with the glaring injustices that the killing of George Floyd, once again, highlighted and then transition to how HR and recruiting professionals can support their organisations to be truly inclusive and equitable by following a simple and purposeful mantra, focus on people.

In our conversation Torin and I discuss:

  • How the killing of Mr Floyd and the process that it has inspired made Torin and other black people he knows feel
  • What those of you listening can do to help make a difference
  • Why true diversity, inclusion and equity results require leadership, un-wavering support and above all a focus on people
  • Why hiring managers are at the crux of progress and how data can reveal some uncomfortable truths
  • Examples of companies, including Nike and Allovue, who have created more inclusive organisations

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how to embed diversity in their organisations to create more inclusive and equitable workplaces. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role. Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Aug 04, 202047:57
SPECIAL: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic on the Role of Leadership in Times of Crisis

SPECIAL: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic on the Role of Leadership in Times of Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis is testing our political leaders like they have never been tested before. Leaders who appear to score high on narcissism and low on empathy are failing dismally. It is interesting that those political leaders, especially female leaders, who combine competence, transparency and empathy and are using data and science to inform their decision making appear to be performing much better. The brilliant Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is my guest on this week’s episode of the podcast. Tomas is an international authority in psychological profiling, talent management, leadership development and people analytics. Tomas has also written 10 books including his most recent, “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?”, and is one of the most knowledgeable interesting and engaging people in our field.

In our conversation Tomas and I also discuss:

  • Why digital transformation is primarily about people and not technology and what this actually means for leaders, HR and employees
  • Why skills is a new currency and why learning is paramount
  • How people analytics can be integrated into other fields, such as diversity and inclusion
  • How to stay on the right side of creepy when it comes to AI and analytics
  • What HR needs to do to drive more value

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in ethical and empathetic leadership and the role of HR and how both will need to evolve as the use of data, analytics and digital technologies become widespread in our organisations. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Jul 21, 202047:03
SPECIAL: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work with Amy Edmondson

SPECIAL: How to Create Psychological Safety at Work with Amy Edmondson

I can't think of a better way of starting this series of summer specials that are providing an outside-in perspective on HR, than by taking a closer examination of the concept of psychological safety. In the workplace, psychological safety is the belief that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. People feel able to speak up when needed with relevant ideas, questions or concerns without being shut down in a gratuitous way.

Psychological safety is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated, to be candid. Those are the words of Amy Edmondson, my guest on this edition of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast. Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, Author of "The Fearless Organisation - creating psychological safety in the workplace in learning, innovation and growth."

In our conversation, Amy and I discuss:

  • The definition of psychological safety, what it is and what it is not
  • The role of leaders and HR in creating psychological safety and the link between psychological safety and culture, learning, and innovation
  • How to create psychological safety in virtual teams
  • The relationship between psychological safety and transparency
  • Examples of organisations who have created and embedded psychological safety and the subsequent benefits they have enjoyed

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in the role that culture, leadership and trust play in driving innovation and growth. So that is business leaders, Chief HR Officers, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Jul 14, 202040:37
40. How Can People Analytics Drive Business Value? Interview with David Green

40. How Can People Analytics Drive Business Value? Interview with David Green

Jun 09, 202045:47
39. How People Analytics Has Progressed in the Last 10 Years (Interview with Jeremy Shapiro)

39. How People Analytics Has Progressed in the Last 10 Years (Interview with Jeremy Shapiro)

The guest on this week’s podcast is Jeremy Shapiro, the Executive Director for Workforce Analytics at Merck. Jeremy is rightly considered as one of the most highly regarded and influential leaders in our field, and co-authored one of the first articles I ever read on People Analytics, the seminal Competing with Talent Analytics, which he co-wrote with Tom Davenport and Jeannie Harris and was published by the Harvard Business Review in October 2010. With the 10th anniversary of the article approaching, Jeremy and I thought it would be neat to reflect on the last 10 years, assess the considerable progress the field has made and ponder what lay ahead.

This episode is recorded in two parts, part 1 was recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, and part 2 was recorded more recently in the midst of the crisis.

In our conversation Jeremy and I discuss:

  • How the workforce analytics team is organised at Merck and talk through examples of their work
  • The New York strategic HR analytics meet up group that Jeremy co-founded and how this has helped foster a thriving people analytics community in the Big Apple
  • Whether AI and automation is a threat or an opportunity for HR
  • The work the team is doing around employee listening, both using active and passive data sources
  • How the COVID-19 crisis is acting as an accelerant to digital transformation and the work of people analytics teams
  • What the role of people analytics will be in the next normal

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

Jun 02, 202055:14
38. How COVID-19 is acting as a Catalyst to Accelerate the Future of Work with Heather McGowan

38. How COVID-19 is acting as a Catalyst to Accelerate the Future of Work with Heather McGowan

May 26, 202041:56
37. How National Australia Bank Has Scaled People Analytics (Interview with Thomas Rasmussen)

37. How National Australia Bank Has Scaled People Analytics (Interview with Thomas Rasmussen)

This week's guest on the podcast is Thomas Rasmussen, one of the most respected and pre-eminent People Analytics leaders in the world. Thomas has built and led People Analytics teams at A.P Moller-Maersk, Shell and now National Australia Bank where he has responsibility for employee experience, digital, HR strategy as well as People Analytics. In his words, People Analytics is truly more impactful than ever. It has gone from being a strategic differentiator the best CHRO’s demand, to an absolute essential to manage the COVID-19 crisis.

In our conversation Thomas and I discuss:

  • How people analytics is helping to support executives, managers and colleagues at National Australia Bank during the pandemic
  • The progress of people analytics since Thomas and Dave Ulrich published their seminal 2015 paper, "How HR analytics avoids being a fad and why people analytics needs to be based in HR."
  • How people analytics is organised at National Australia Bank, providing example case studies of the work
  • How bringing employee experience, analytics and digital together creates a powerhouse and enables the scaling of analytics
  • The importance of ethics and how this underpins people analytics and the use of people data for good.

This episode is a must listen for anyone in a workforce or people analytics role, HR and business professionals interested in how people data can drive business outcomes and CHRO’s looking to build or scale their people analytics capabilities.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

May 19, 202042:24
36. The Role of HR in the Future of Work with Ravin Jesuthasan

36. The Role of HR in the Future of Work with Ravin Jesuthasan

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the changes to the Future of Work. Many of the trends we expected to develop over the next year have come to pass quicker than expected. CHROs, as a recent article in the economist highlights, are at the fulcrum of an organisation's response to the crisis just as the CFO was in the global financial crisis.

Indeed, this crisis makes the main topic of this week's episode with Ravin Jesuthasan on the role of HR in the Future of Work even more important. Ravin is one of the lead authors of a fascinating recent study called HR 4.0, shaping people's strategies in the fourth industrial revolution, which is a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, Unilever, Saudi Aramco, and Willis Towers Watson, where Ravin is Managing Director.

In our conversation, Ravin and I discuss:

  • The six imperatives that comprise HR 4.0 which include building an agile learning culture, developing new leadership capabilities, and enhancing the employee experience
  • Examples of organisations who are already experiencing benefits from an advanced approach to managing and developing people
  • The key skills required by the Chief People Officer and how these are changing
  • Why HR decision science or people analytics is the key underpin of the future HR function

This episode is a must listen for CHROs and other HR leaders as well as those working in people analytics, workforce planning and employee experience roles.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com

May 12, 202040:18
BONUS: What is the Future of People Analytics? PAFOW panel with Dawn Klinghoffer and Amit Mohindra

BONUS: What is the Future of People Analytics? PAFOW panel with Dawn Klinghoffer and Amit Mohindra

Welcome to a special episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast. It features a panel discussion, which took place at the PAFOW conference in San Francisco. One of the bitter sweet aspects of the COVID-19 crises is that People Analytics has become even more important. In a recent article in the Economist, which compared the role of the Chief People Officer in this crisis to the role of the CFO in the global financial crisis, one of the conclusions drawn is that the pandemic makes People Analytics even more relevant. As such, there is much interest about the future of People Analytics, where it's headed and why. This was the topic of the panel I moderated at PAFOW, which featured two of the most renowned and prominent leaders in our field, Dawn Klinghoffer and Amit Mohindra.

In our conversation, Dawn, Amit and I discuss:

  • Highlights of the work Dawn and her team have undertaken at Microsoft and Amit has delivered in People Analytics leadership roles at McKesson, Apple, and now Wayfair
  • Where the future of People Analytics lies, the opportunities and the threats
  • The role of People Analytics in helping their organisations identify the link between employee wellbeing and company financial performance
  • The key challenges that need to be overcome for People Analytics to realise its tremendous potential
  • Tips to practitioners on where they can focus as they seek to develop People Analytics within their companies

This episode is a must listen for CHROs and those working in a workforce planning or people analytics role, and indeed anyone interested in the role people data plays in helping drive better outcomes for the business, managers and their workforces.

Apr 21, 202045:24