Let’s ditch the complex!

Here’s a little known secret: HR and people practices don’t have to be complex!

In fact, we work with organisations and businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors every day to strip back the complexity in creating thriving organisations where people feel empowered and engaged to do their best work.  

It’s true: the world of HR and of people and culture is characterised by extensive compliance obligations and regulations. However, one thing we regularly see is leaders and business owners conflating compliance and legal issues with complexity, when sometimes that’s not the case. Often, clients come to us with a problem: 

·       Their high-value staff suddenly resign 

·       They can’t attract the right talent for roles 

·       Their engagement surveys are poor, or even non-existent 

·       Staff exit interview feedback is bad at best, scathing at the extreme 

·       There’s significant costs against absenteeism  

·       Teams are working in silos 

·       Managers are struggling with managing performance  

All of these are signs of a dysfunctional workplace, but this doesn’t necessarily equate to a complex set of issues requiring equally complex solutions.   

At the core of things, if an organisation is going to thrive, its people need to thrive. Workplace culture is all about creating and curating an employee experience to better enable this ability to thrive, strategically and operationally. When clients approach us with some (or all) of the problems identified above, they are coming to us to help them find a solution. Sometimes, in the heat of all the negativity and dysfunction, it can seem like all the moving parts and elements are wrong and they simply don’t know where to start. Sometimes, you’re too close to the problem or the process and so it’s difficult, if not impossible, to see things objectively. We get it. That’s where - and why- we come in.  

We’re all about simplifying the complex into clear, actionable steps. We start with identifying what’s most important strategically. This is our starting point. For example, if the most pressing requirement of the team is a collaborative approach for a specific opportunity, there’s no point investing HR resources into tweaking the recruitment experience.  

We wrote about how people practices can help organisations thrive ​​in this piece, but one of the first places to start with improving employee experience is simply to ask your people. Get their feedback on what’s working for them, and where there’s opportunity to improve. What will support them to do their best work? 

Of course, ditching the complex is much easier with perspective. As an independent third party expert, we have the perspective, experience and expertise to deep dive into an organisation to see the bigger picture of what the signs of dysfunction can mean, as well as get a true understanding of the people challenges that are less tangible but no less damaging. We also provide detailed recommendations and actions to carve a clear path forward to realign processes and structures to a desired workplace culture that will better support organisational goals.   

Feedback we receive on repeat from our clients is the way we are able to cut through the complex, and leave them with a roadmap to systematically address and improve their workplace culture. Sometimes, we’re part of that solution roadmap, applying our expertise as needed, and other times we provide more advisory support to the inhouse HR team. Either way, we love being part of a solution.  

If you’d like to know more about our approach to creating workplaces cultures where people and organisations thrive, please reach out to us.