Where do people sit within a disrupted environment?
Our Founder, Julia O’Reilly, has spent her career helping organisations and businesses of all sizes to create, maintain and embed a workplace culture that allows people to thrive, with the subsequent high performance that enables commercial success. Very little in the world of work is stagnant, and change is as inevitable as death and taxes, but how can organisations support their people through times of disruption? It all comes back to solid, robust people practices.
One of the misconceptions about people practices and HR in general is that it’s static. Yes, there are basics and cornerstones to effective HR, and of course, there are legalities and compliance factors. Dynamic environments need HR practices that look beyond compliance and baseline measures to where people work within a culture that’s supportive and engaging, allowing them to thrive.
It’s no secret that organisations of all sizes are operating within challenging VUCA environments - that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. This manifests across organisations and impacts workplaces and industries in different ways. An example that comes to mind is from Julia’s early days in her career when consumers embraced e-commerce at a much faster rate than retailers had anticipated, which disrupted the entire value train.
The interesting thing about VUCA environments is that the acronym originally came from the US military. The fact that the corporate world grabbed it, and has claimed it is really quite jarring. Does this suggest that contemporary workplaces are battlegrounds? There’s no denying that disruption is the new black, and that in the contemporary corporate and commercial world there’s no real steady state. There isn’t even a new normal. It's just now. The impact of this on people can’t be underestimated, and HR practices that are flexible and aligned to a positive culture can both support people as well as manage the obstacles and embrace the opportunities that VUCA commercial environments can bring.
The opportunities a VUCA world offers HR is innovation and trying new things, as well as designing new ways of working that meet organisational needs. But first… like anything here at People and Growth Consulting, it all comes down to people.
Disruption and change causes uncertainty for people, and this can be unsettling, to put it mildly. In the day to day of work life it can look like:
Goal posts changing often
Feedback from managers to adapt and flex
Change is rapid
Change is multilayered
Workloads are high(er) with competing priorities.
This can all lead to people finding it difficult to know where they fit at work. They question if they’re doing a good job, or they may even wonder if they’re in the right job, and the right organisation too, of course, which impacts on retention. In this environment, without proactive attention and robust, yet adaptable people practices, culture and engagement can erode rapidly.
Our tip: invest in culture and in building effective teams. That’s the short version.
The longer version is when teams are set up for success and enabled to do what they do best, they can work in flow and at speed. This involves focusing on the ‘how’ of working together and aligning goals, missions and vision.
People and Growth Consulting action plans always include prioritising HR resources to where they will make the most impact over time, and in the context of VUCA organisations, that’s culture and teams. If working with us is something you’d like to explore, please reach out. We’d love to hear from you.