Tackling Turbulence

Resources from the Circle of Peers Winter Series, February – March 2024

Tackling Turbulence will be our overall theme for 2024 and we discussed how we can we drive the performance of our people via the use of a strong evidence base.

The pressure faced by People Professionals is how to make the case to the C-Suite and convince them that the performance of leaders and managers has a direct impact on the performance of their people.

Shifting Tides: Looking to the Future

Resources from the Circle of Peers Autumn Series, November – December 2023

The theme for 2023 looked at how People Professionals need to focus on helping Leaders and Managers to be more effective.

Recent research and our experience suggest that there are two key questions for organisations to reflect on now:

1. Are we clear about ‘purpose’?
   • Why we are using coaching?
   • What is the problem it is solving or the culture it is enabling?
   • How do we ensure our coaching continues to serve our needs?
2. Where is our evidence of ‘impact’?
   • How are we measuring the results from our investment in coaching?

Using these questions, we can then project forwards as we believe that the future of work will be determined by where ‘work’ is going.

As guest speaker, we were delighted to host Alison Carter, Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Employment Studies (IES). Her current research includes mindfulness and organisation readiness for change, but it is her evaluation of training and development programmes at work (especially coaching) for which she is recognised as an international expert.

Shifting Tides: How can we work with Leaders and Managers?

Resources from the Circle of Peers Summer Series, July – September 2023

As part of this focus this year, our Summer Series continued to delve into the foundations of the topic of coaching. Building on the Spring Series which looked at shifting approaches, we explored how People Professionals can begin to work with Leaders and Managers.

People can only develop effectively when they see the need to develop so, as ever, we explored how best to do this.

Shifting Tides: Coaching Techniques

Resources from the Circle of Peers Spring Series, May 2023

As part of our focus this year on ‘Shifting Tides’, our Spring Series overviewed the topic of coaching techniques.

We had an open discussion around how best to lay the groundwork and culture, factoring in standards from both the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).

Talent: Shifting Tides

Resources from the Circle of Peers Winter Series, February – March 2023

Excellent leaders and managers are highly sought after and organisations fortunate enough to retain them recognise that effort and energy is essential.

This has to be, as people professionals, our highest priority.

Our Winter Series:

• Looked at the shifting tides all organisations are facing

• Reviewed the perceived differences between leaders and managers

• Discussed six behaviours that should be recognised, rewarded and developed

Talent: Digital Dexterity

Resources from the Circle of Peers Autumn Series, November – December 2022

As part of your talent strategy, it is imperative that you critically evaluate the skills of your people – digital dexterity is key.

Drawing upon recent Gartner, Deloitte and CIPD reports, our recent blog article on the Artificial Intelligence Skills Evolution provides an introduction to one key aspect of this fascinating area and discusses the adaptations that may be required. One featured quote from Deloitte’s 2020 report:

‘Only 26% of organisations are ready to handle the impact of AI, 54% say they don’t have the skills to build the skills needed for the future, and 86% say they have to reinvent their organisation’s ability to learn.’

Reinventing Career Development to Support Effective Talent Management

Resources from the Circle of Peers Summer Series, July – August 2022

Building on our first two topics of the year, our third event series moved the focus to an analysis of the meaning, crossover and division between these two key areas.

Our guest speaker was Wendy Hirsh (Institute of Employment Studies). One of the recommendations from the May 2021 CIPD report, Learning and Skills at Work Survey, challenges us to be future-focused. Getting creative about career development can only improve our agility in this evolving and demanding area.

Making the Case to Invest in Talent

Resources from the Circle of Peers Spring Series, March – May 2022

Building on our first topic of this year, How do you Grow Talent?, our second event series explored this crucial area and moved the focus to Making the Case to Invest in Talent.

Our guest speaker was Andy Moreland (Investors in People). One simple statistic from one source we looked at, the 2020 Gartner report, Future-Proof your Talent Strategy, shows just how critical this area already is and will only increasingly become for organisations:

‘64% of HR leaders do not have an effective plan to address how technology will change the skills needed in the workforce.’

Growing Talent

Resources from the Circle of Peers Winter Series, February 2022

In times when sourcing the best new talent is increasingly difficult, having both the expertise and structures in place to grow your own is essential – and provides a key means of showing your people the value that you place in them.

Autumn Leaves Fall: Are Your People Falling Too?

Resources from the Circle of Peers Autumn Series, November 2021

As we get ready for our winter period here in the northern hemisphere, let’s consider our people. We are still coping with COVID and now potentially our flu bugs. What about our people who are not ill? How are we checking their morale and well-being?

Finding our Focus as People Professionals

Resources from the Circle of Peers Summer Series, July – September 2021

We are in a real period of flux or continuous change. As People Professionals are we focusing on the right things? In the words of Benedict Cumberbatch, “The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.”

We explored:

How to help drive up performance
How to embed learning at all levels
How to transform yourself into a coach

Hybrid, Remote-First Working: the impact on learning

Resources from the Circle of Peers Spring Series, March – April 2021

First of all, what is the difference, if any, between Hybrid and Remote-first working? What is the latest thinking?

Then, it is recognised that Learning and skills at work need attention, so what impact does remote working have on the effectiveness of learning?

Human to Human – room for improvement?

Resources from the Circle of Peers Winter, January – February 2021

Is there a danger that in our ever hectic working lives People Professionals are perhaps reverting to:

P P P – Policies, Processes and Procedures

or

T T T – Transactions Take less Time?

Coping Skills – People Professionals’ Real Challenge?

Resources from the Circle of Peers Autumn Virtual, October 2020

We need to be in a good place ourselves before we can support others. Maureen will share some ideas to get your creative minds going!

• How to develop resilience in others
• How to cope with shifting priorities creatively
• How to develop well-being tactics
• Helping managers think in outcomes rather than micro-managing