Global human capital trends
In publishing its latest (2017) research into the hot topics facing HR professionals, Deloitte identified ‘seismic changes in the world of business’ that will impact both where organisations need to step up to stay competitive and how HR leaders need to step up to stay effective business partners in this changing world. Their interviews with over 10,000 business and HR leaders (51% from large and medium companies and 49% from small businesses), indicates that regardless of sector, size and shape of the organisation, life in the next few years will be dominated by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). There is likely to be significant disruption to the traditional ways of thinking about HR service provision as centres of excellence in HR policy and process, plus great business partnering.
Unfortunately, many organisation cultures are still firmly rooted in a culture and leadership style that rewards driving performance towards a clearly defined goal, over a period of time, and with a mapped out plan and budget to do so. HR is often set up to support this way of working with articulated and well defined processes for identifying talent, measuring and rewarding good performance in terms of outputs delivered. This mind-set is unlikely to deliver results (outcomes desired) in a VUCA world – where plans are easily disrupted, there are too many variables for goals to be clear, and too many things changing fast and unpredictably for any idea or direction to remain valid for very long.
HR, with its influence on key processes that help to form human behaviour, is in the fortunate position to be able to influence an organisation’s mind-set and the style of its leaders. But developing the insights and know-how to make informed interventions to build an agile, flexible and responsive employer, can be challenging.
We have designed a programme for leaders facing a VUCA world, who seek a focussed and targeted burst of input, support and challenge to build their understanding and skills in how to lead and develop an organisation to respond well to ‘seismic change’. The Henley Advanced Management Practice (AMP) programme, has been attracting an increasing interest from senior HR professionals as well as senior managers and directors of organisations facing this world of rapid change. Through latest research, relevant concepts and lots of interactive dialogue and practice, participants learn how to support themselves and their organisations to thrive in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution – to develop a more agile frame of mind, to understand how to work with and through others to deliver outcomes despite uncertainty and volatility, to seize the opportunity in complexity rather than fall at the first unexpected result.
Find out more about The Henley Advanced Management Practice programme.
