Wednesday 27 May 2020

The return to the office



As people slowly return to the office, we need to think carefully about who works there and what they do. Just having half the workforce there at one time makes little sense.

We need to understand what the office can do, and what it can't, and what digital technologies can do, and what they can't too.

In 'The Social Organization', I suggested offices were mainly about communication, collaboration and co-operation, but can these benefits still be achieved when working 2m apart?

And although everyone complains about Zoom calls, there's a lot we can do online, including developing trust and psychological safety.

To get the balance, or combination of physical and digital workspaces right, we need to consider what people need to do - and importantly (and missing from most other suggestions on this area), what organisational groups and networks need to do too.

I write about all this at Workspace Connect:




Jon Ingham
 


Tuesday 26 May 2020

Top 100 Global HR Tech Influencer 2020




It's great to be recognised as a Top 100 Global HR Tech Influencer by Human Resource Executive and HR Technology Conference again this year.

"Now more than ever, leaders are needed. Whether it’s CHROs creating innovative benefits packages for struggling workers, product developers pioneering solutions to target the new challenges facing our workforces or industry analysts providing needed guidance and insights to guide this new world of work, strong leadership will be essential to workforces across the world not only as they recover from the global pandemic, but eventually begin thriving again."


The list recognises the leaders whose work will be critical to this new age of HR.

It's great to be included in it.


See:





Jon Ingham
 

Thursday 21 May 2020

Remote Work and Distributed Organisations




I’ve been speaking at a few online conferences recently about building on remote work to create distributed organisations.

You can find out about what I mean by this in this article on Linkedin.

And you can see my presentations on Slideshare:


As I note in the Linkedin article, HR and OD need to be on top of this. We’ve potentially missed the opportunity of building distributed organisations during the full lockdown, but remote working isn’t going to disappear. So we can still recapture the opportunity for the reset, if we're willing to do so.


Jon Ingham
 



Sunday 10 May 2020

Human Resources Online: Strategic HR



I've recently conducted a webinar on Strategic HR together with Human Resources Online in advance of delivering a range of online training sessions delivered during the day Singapore time..



Jon Ingham
 

Friday 8 May 2020

#HRDLive COVID-19 and HR: 'the new normal'




I'm interviewed on the future of HR and 'the new normal' post-pandemic in the very first lockdown edition of the HRD Live Podcast.


You might be thinking both I and my interviewer, Michael Hocking, look far too happy to be discussing coronavirus, furloughing, downsizing and recession, and you'd probably be right.

Even for me, business is harder than it was. My wife generally works with me in my business but is now furloughed, mainly so she can lead on home schooling. And since we pay ourselves dividends on top of a minimal salary she won't get anything like the £2,500 many furoughed staff are getting each month even if her role remains in stasis all year.

But it was the end of the week, a Bank Holiday weekend, with blue skies and birds tweeting. We're still healthy. And hey, I'm enjoying all of these benefits, if not all the other things around them.


We also discussed HR and the 'new normal'. This wasn't planned as a title for our conversation but I dropped the term into one of my own points, so I can't complain. I just wish I knew what it is - are we looking forward to entering into a 'new normal' at some stage, meaning we're in a temporary abnormality at the moment?, or is this the new normal, meaning Michael and I were really discussing preparing for the new new normal that follows?

Whichever it is, I don't agree that the term is ludicrous - both now and future states will be very different from each other, and also different to the past.

The other term people have been using is the 'big reset'. I've also been a little reluctant to use this, as got into it in a big way after 2007 to then find out nothing much changed at all. However, this time around, I really can't see how things are not just going to be different, but really, really different from before.


To find out more, check out the podcast, or I'll also be elaborating here.


Jon Ingham
 


Monday 4 May 2020

Workspace Connect: Connected and Best Fit




My latest (two-part) posts at Workspace Connect: