Search Results

Building and maintaining a strong company culture will play a key role in reducing the impact of a resources skills shortage. In my previous post (here), I mentioned the Optimal Resourcing team recently attended the launch of Pit Crew Consulting Services’ Resources Sector Workforce Report, but the event left me with more concerns than I walked in with. The report highlighted the drivers behind the current and impending skills shortage that WA’s mining and resources sector will face, but stopped short of identifying new and innovative ways to mitigate the impact. (Not their role admittedly!) My 20+ years of experience working with companies to respond to market shifts to stay competitive, has repeatedly proven that when companies take the time to consistently build their brand and culture, they are more likely to survive economic highs and lows. I strongly believe developing a robust organisational culture has a significant role to play in the way WA businesses respond to the challenges outlined in Pit Crew’s report. Your business’ brand is in the market, whether you are in control of it or not. Defining, managing and promoting your brand promise can result in: 28% reduction in overall attrition; up to 50% greater reach and penetration of the passive candidate market; and 1 – 2 times faster time to hire. Your brand is intertwined with your culture. Managing the experience across all elements of your employee and candidate lifecycle is integral to managing your employer brand and building your culture. Having a strong employer brand can also directly affect your bottom line. Research noted that companies with a strong reputation reported an 18% increase in engagement and staff productivity and a 40% reduction in staff leaving after the first 6 months. Further, the research suggested 75% of job seekers are more likely to apply to a company with a well-managed employer brand – culture matters to your bottom line! Every culture is different and is shaped by different requirements, but there are some common aspects to consider when building a culture that reflects the needs of your customers, your people and your business. The first is the role of the customer. As mentioned in my last post, being truly customer-focussed means exploring and understanding your customer expectations. These expectations play a major role in defining your desired organisational culture and behaviours – do you know what the “right behaviours” are for your business? Let’s look at Amazon’s culture, for example. Amazon’s customers expect a reliable, on time, and cost-effective service. To enable this, Amazon has implemented specific requirements and regulated ways of working which shape their culture and expectations from their people. Their growth has created another issue – one in which their culture has become “lost” due to the large number of employees and their loss of focus on people over productivity. They are struggling with employee engagement and their turnover rate is so high, it has an impact on industry turnover rates. These are issues that are causing damage to their brand internally and externally. Amazon has recognised this, and recently wrote to their shareholders that they are “going to be Earth’s best employer and Earth’s safest place to work.” Their message to shareholders shows they are now being very deliberate in the way they not only design their culture, but how they build their employee experience journeys. Do you understand your customer’s expectations and how they need to influence your culture? Do you understand how your brand is represented in the market (internally and externally)? I encourage you to build on these questions and consider what kind of culture and brand you need to build to retain the key skills you currently have. Can you accurately articulate what your team values and what would encourage them to stay with your company? How clear is your purpose? How does this look in practise? We know that money is not usually the primary motivator for people to remain with an organisation. What are you doing to find out what your gaps are in other areas of your culture that may impact retention? WA has a significant opportunity to future-proof its operations if businesses are willing to shift their focus to consistently building a strong employer brand and organisational culture. Employer branding is not a “switch” you can turn on – it takes time, effort and consistency in all areas of your organisation. Look out for the next post in this series which focusses on how developing holistic, people-focussed strategies can support your operating model and customer delivery. We will also touch on key considerations for all businesses. The Optimal Resourcing team help companies to define their brand "promise", their purpose and how these impact their culture. We work with business' to understand what the “right work” is they need delivered, we help them find and keep the “right people”, and determine the “right behaviours” to support their employer brand. I’d be delighted to discuss how Optimal Resourcing can help your organisation – please reach out if you’d like to grab a coffee. Connect with Jude here. Sources: *Employer branding Nov 2021 – Universum. The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics – LinkedIn ** https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/15/us/amazon-workers.html

Pit Crew’s Resources Sector Workforce Report got me thinking – what can we do differently to address WA’s skills shortage? Recently, the Optimal Resourcing team attended the breakfast launch of Pit Crew Consulting Services’ Resources Sector Workforce Report. According to the report, the Western Australian labour market may need an extra 31,000 mining and resources workers by July 2023, due to an unprecedented skills shortage. Several factors are driving the need for additional skilled workers including competition from the eastern states, a decline in overseas and interstate migration and movement (a complication of COVID-19 restrictions), and competition from new projects and projects currently under construction within WA. The report identified the need for industry and government collaboration and focussed on how to attract candidates and the importance of training supervisors. I agree with and support the findings of the report, however what surprised me was that in a room full of thought leaders, industry experts and decision makers, there was a limited discussion on proposed solutions – everyone was looking for answers to the same question. The reality is, there is no silver bullet. While it’s not necessarily the report’s role to offer solutions (it simply collated and presented the data), it offers a significant cattle prod to look beyond the standard attraction and recruitment activities, and examine alternative, innovative ways to more effectively utilise and engage current resources. In our experience, the key areas that enable companies to respond effectively and efficiently to market shifts and reduce the impact of skills shortages are: Building and maintaining a strong company culture that supports attraction and retention of quality staff; Developing well-planned, holistic, people-centered strategies to support your operating model and customer delivery; Developing and training your current staff, particularly new supervisors and leaders who have transitioned from a technical role; and A customer-focussed, multi-faceted plan that is practical and easily implemented. At Optimal Resourcing, we truly believe that in order to resource the future, you have to build and retain the best teams to deliver results. Optimal Resourcing grew from my belief that there is an optimal way to resource your business – any business, any industry. To do that, you need to work backwards from your customer and build a full picture of the work required and the skills required within your business to meet the customer’s expectations. Building out that full picture will help you to identify the skills you need now, and in to the future. #RightWork #RightPeople #RightBehaviours #OptimalResourcing I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Resources Sector Workforce Report, on how we build capacity and capability in our mining and resources sector to minimise the impact of skills shortages, and opportunities for collaboration. I am passionate about the future of work, workforces and workplaces - especially when it comes to my home state of Western Australia. Join the conversation and let’s work together to be agile and flexible to enable WA to meet the challenges of the future. Connect with Jude #FutureofWA #futureofwork #mining #skillshortages #collaborationsforsuccess #resourcingthefuture #skillsofthefuture

First in our two-part series exploring the Committee for Perth, Future of Work survey It’s no secret that over this past decade there have been incredible developments in technology that have created a long list of benefits for many businesses and employees. These advancements have caused a structural, cultural and behavioural change to our workforces and workplace, and the work we undertake. Many people are concerned with the impact of technology and whether its role in our workplace has produced more disadvantages than advantages. The Committee for Perth commissioned a research study into the future of work and our workforce with some surprising responses. With results published in November 2020, the survey was undertaken by more than 1,000 Western Australians as well as more than 40 business leaders, aiming to discover their attitudes to technology, the impact of COVID-19, preparedness for future changes to the workforce and future changes to business. One of the most important data points revealed that “one-in-two people surveyed expect technology to significantly or completely change the way they work in the next decade.” In reality, technology has significantly changed the way we work for the past 40 years. Advances in technology have occurred at a rapid-fire pace from the 1970’s on. Communication technology is one simple example of the light-speed advancements in technology in the last 40 years. (Anyone remember the telex?) The Future of Work Survey identified a multitude of advantages and positive opinions from West Australians towards technology Overall, 62% of those who were surveyed believe that technology has had a positive impact on their lives. This positive impact is rooted in the benefits of using technology, specifically when it comes to communication, reducing efforts and saving time. 68% conclude that since the introduction of technology it has become faster for them to perform routine tasks allowing employees to get these tasks done faster, so they can focus on more important things. In fact, 56% agree that technology increases their capacity to perform complex tasks. Though awareness, understanding and adoption rates of AI, robotics and virtual reality are low in WA, 43% of those surveyed believe “technology enables me to work remotely” reflecting the technology impacts of COVID-19 and the adjustments made by the workforce. On the flip side of the technology survey coin: 28% agree that technology reduces the number of people needed to perform job tasks 25% stated that technology costs jobs and that jobs are being automated 22% expressed that technology causes social disconnect 18% believe that people are too reliant on technology Starkly evident is the belief that, with the rise of automation and advances in technology, segments of the workforce such as mining, health care, social assistance, education, training and manufacturing have become more vulnerable to job loss, and redundancies have climbed since the introduction of technology. Though more than half of those surveyed had changed role or industry in their career, technology was not the major driver of that change. Less than one-in five were impacted by changes in technology to the degree that they had to change roles. Overall, the survey showed employees are more likely to see the positive impacts on advances in technology. Although there are a number of concerns with those advances, most participants believe that there have been more pros than cons. Let’s see what improvements the next advances in technology bring to our work, workforce and workplaces! Look out for our next article where we explore the changing face of the workforce and business. Read the full survey report here. Optimal Resourcing are focussed on the future of work, workforces and workplaces. Our total workforce management consulting solutions can support you to find, assess, select and develop your team to build a scalable, capable workforce. #futureofwork #technology #rightwork #rightpeople #rightbehaviours #jobs #workforcechange

Thirty years ago today at precisely 7.20am, I became a mother for the first time. It is one of the most defining moments of my life – I was young and carefree, with no set plans for a career. But… being a stay at home mum was not for me. I love my son, Josh, like a mad woman, it wasn’t a deliberate decision to have a career. It wasn’t an “either/or” moment. Circumstances of the time meant that I needed to keep earning to support our family. That hasn’t changed – I still work to support myself and my family’s future, but what has changed is that money is not the compelling reason I work anymore, and hasn’t been the major reason for many years. It is an added bonus for mine and my family’s future, but working is now a choice – I simply love what I do. I love interacting with the people I have met and continue to meet every day. I love gaining knowledge of a business and the people within every business. As a very unapologetic amateur psychologist, I am fascinated with how people behave and the impact of behaviour on productivity and business outcomes. People are at the heart of what I do, why I have had the career I have had and why I am in business. At the heart of me, is my family. and my own little family unit started thirty years ago today. For that, I am eternally grateful. Happy birthday Joshingwa! Love always, Munna xx

Are you on the "outsource / insource / shared services / offshore / backshore / centralise / decentralise" merry-go-round again? *language warning - I'm frustrated and it shows* I’ve had more conversations these last few weeks about the shitshoring* that is currently happening across many organisations within Australia (and I’m sure the globe). I’m surprised, as we are in an environment of such ambiguity and uncertainty, when the economic reality is that for most organisations, cost is king. So many conversations…. And the common theme that has run through them all is “we need to save money”. I get it. I really do. Sustainable business outcomes are reliant on efficient and effective processes and a productive workforce. What I don’t get then, is the fixation on saving money through headcount, but no fixation on planning and actually understanding how the hell reducing headcount on its own, will save money. It feels very scattergunned and reactive, with little to no thought on what your business needs to keep delivering and how you can build a profitable business strategically (sustainably). Nope, just headcount for an expected short-term saving. Here’s the thing: in the long run, it will cost you money. Focusing purely on the number of headcount is short-sighted and it bugs me no end. I feel like I have a flat spot from beating my head against a brick wall trying to explain that a strategic and sustainable approach is required, not a one-trick pony tactical method. So many times I’ve seen it come apart at the seams. And yet, it’s still happening. Did you know that every 4th to 6th company backshores its activities two to five years after offshoring, and 80% of some country backshoring activities are flagged as “corrections to managerial decisions”. (1) Here’s an example of a managerial decision: lift and shift – move this role to that team because they do the same work. Do they? Really? How do you know? FFS people! Just stop it. Ultimately, it will cost you money. You will still have shit processes. You will still have shit systems. You will still have non-standardised work. You will still have capability gaps. You will still have the same delivery systems and no real change. You will be back on the bloody merry-go-round again. But with a difference. Without the people you need. What you won’t have are the people who have the tacit knowledge of your business. The ones who know the unwritten work instructions. The unwritten processes. The knowledge of how to get shit done when no-one else does. The knowledge of what was agreed ten years ago but is nowhere to be found because the systems were upgraded and no-one is sure where it was saved or whether it was actually needed anyway at the time. The once in a blue moon activity that everyone has forgotten about until it’s blue moon time. The people who know those things. You won’t have them. What you also won’t have are the people who go the extra mile. Give the discretionary effort. The “let’s just work an extra hour to get this done because so-and-so is waiting on it and we don’t want to let them down” person. The “who else is going to do it because I can’t ask Jan, she’s already under the pump” person. The “it’s end of month and we need to get this data together manually” person. The people who are proud of their organisation and want to show others they are proud of it. The people who care, not just about themselves, but about the business and the people they work with – their community. You won’t have them. Instead what you will have are the “I get paid by the ticket” people and the “that’s not standardised so I can’t do it” people and the “I don’t know, I’ve never done it before, so-and-so used to do it so we didn’t need to learn” people and the “it’s not in our work instructions” people and the “keep your head down” people and the “don’t disagree” people. The people who are too scared to make any suggestions or use their initiative in case they are next on the list (you know "the list"). That’s who you will have. And the ones you used to have? They’ll be with your competitor, because they are offering stability and safety and they recognise the importance of people to their organisations success. They’ll be with the businesses that actually understand that we are in a talent short market and always have been. The businesses who want to support and develop their people's skills and capabilities for the long-haul. Those businesses. Don’t get me wrong, there are always people available in the market, but the ones that you want (those “unicorns” for want of a better phrase) – they’re in high demand, as they’ve always been, because, well - they’re unicorns! Now you’ll be trying to find a needle in an even bigger haystack. Stop the lifting and shifting merry-go-round. Stop removing headcount without understanding, IN DEPTH, what the work of the role is. Stop consolidating roles without understanding the nature of the work that those people are actually doing – in detail! Don’t skim over it and assume you know what’s involved in their role – do the work and respect the operator! Take the time and look at the activities being done. Standardise, automate, embed. Involving your teams in these activities will give you an engaged and motivated workforce who have the genuine ability to use their initiative, to innovate and to make a difference in building a sustainable business that will return the cost benefits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – put your chainsaw away. Use a horses-for-courses approach – nothing is vanilla. You need to build a fit-for-purpose solution, not just use a broadbrush. Remember: SHIT IN, SHIT OUT. Poor processes in house will be more expensive when you outsource them or offshore them or when you try to consolidate activities into a shared services centre. And stop blaming the people who have been handed that shit sandwich (ie your vendors or shared services team). They are doing what they’re paid for. *NB Shitshoring is my general term for all types of poor work transition / movement of work across teams and roles - that could be an internal team to an internal team as well as an outsourced provider or offshore team! (If you’re ready to understand how to do this better, give me a call. No language warning required!) Author: Jude Mahony Contact us here (1) https://outsourcing-journal.org/backshoring-and-insourcing-moving-back-in/

I had the privilege of being interviewed by the fabulous Jenny Cole for her Positively Beaming Collective. (More about that here) One of the questions that Jen asked me has given me pause for reflection (well, all the questions were about reflecting on my life and career, but this one in particular has stuck with me). The question was framed around being the only (or one of the few) women in a male dominated industry. I gave an anecdote about a breakfast meeting I attended where a leader asked everyone to direct their breakfast requirements to me (as the only woman in the meeting). I’m still shocked by it but at the time I was angry. And I realised after my conversation with Jenny, that I wasn’t just angry – I was struck by loneliness. My sense of loneliness was from being one of the few women in the industry and my sense of isolation at not having many female peers that I could vent to about how that had made me feel, how many times similar events had happened in the past, would continue to happen, and what could be done to change or challenge the behaviour. I have been lucky enough to have worked with a number of amazing women in my life, some I now call friends, however at the time, there wasn’t anyone in the meeting or close by that I felt I had the right connection with personally to be able to vent to. And so the loneliness and anger hit. That has not been an isolated incident. That loneliness is something that has been a constant through my career. And I don’t mean that I’m personally lonely – I’m surrounded by a wonderfully supportive bunch of amazing family and friends. But work and career loneliness is another thing entirely. We all know that you can be lonely in the middle of a crowd. I’ve had quite a few moments where the loneliness has been all pervasive – travelling on your own in a foreign country, for work, springs to mind immediately. Sitting in a hotel room, or a hotel or airport lounge, Surrounded by people and yet connecting with no-one. Similarly in the office, surrounded by people, but lonely. The loneliness of a woman in a male dominated industry is not unique. It is a loneliness felt by many in all sorts of industries and in all sorts of roles. It is even more prevalent at the moment with physical distancing. Prior to the pandemic, it was flagged as one of the top trending topics for HR for 2020 - well before COVID-19 forced the eventuality of remote working. As one of the trends of the workforce of the future, the rise of the gig economy, digital nomads, working flexibly to suit your life requirements meant that more and more people were either already working remotely, or intending to. That in and of itself doesn’t necessarily mean loneliness, however it can be very isolating and manifest in loneliness. There is also data from Cigna that shows a clear connection between work and loneliness. Loneliness, personally and professionally, can be felt by anyone at any point in time, but particularly when you are remote and don’t have a sense of social connection. There have been numerous studies on the effect of workplace loneliness on productivity, health and wellbeing. The Australian Loneliness Report from the Swinburne University and the Australian Psychological Society in 2018 is “…the most comprehensive study of loneliness completed in Australia.” The results on the impact to health and wellbeing were cause for concern then (in 2018), and with the isolation now associated with the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are of even greater concern now. So how do we combat loneliness in a time where we need to be physically distanced for our own health and safety? You may have gathered already, that connection is the key. In a Ted talk by Susan Pinker from 2017, she discusses how close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions are the key secrets to living longer. Based on research information gathered by Julianne Holt-Lunstad and explored by Susan in her book “The Village Effect”, it is simple things like making eye contact with the guy who makes your coffee that can take the edge off loneliness and, bonus, help you live longer. Consistent social integration and intersection – those little interactions you have that don’t seem like much – are critical to your longevity and to help abate your loneliness. What that means is that socialising and connecting is vital. And socialising can be simple, but it needs to be in-person and/or face to face for you to reap the benefits. With our self-isolation and lockdown, those benefits are still attainable by video (facetime, Skype, Zoom etc) ….. ….it is eye contact that is fundamental. Seems simple, putting it into effect can be tricky but doesn’t need to be. If you are meeting virtually: Adjust your camera so it’s easy to actually look into it. Close down distracting screens, books – whatever might take your focus from your conversation. Be mindful and in the moment. If you are starting to work from the office again, you may be on different office rosters to your usual team. Prior to the pandemic, many offices were utilising hot-desking which also impacted the ease of sitting with your team and building those social connections. Networked teams have changed the usual definition of who is in your team. Agile ways of working may mean you are working with people you don’t usually. These are all different ways of working, that could impact your belonging and affect your mental health at work. Many people are now in the same situation. Make the effort to have a conversation in the kitchen or elevator or near the water cooler, with someone you don’t know. Use your camera whenever you are in a virtual meeting. Remember the “friend bench” at school? It’s specifically in place for kids to go when they want someone to talk to or play with and encourages social interaction to remove isolation. I’m not saying you should have a dedicated friend bench in the office, but hey, why not? Physically distanced and socially disconnected are two very different things. Reach out if you are isolated and reach out if you see someone on their own. It takes a village. Our post from March last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, has some very specific tactics to help you when working remotely. There are simple ideas that are easy to implement to keep you connected and hopefully reduce your loneliness! Our handout “Making Work from Home Work” (available on our website under “Free Resources”) also gives you some tips on what to do if your home becomes your office. We also love these ideas from MindTools. And if you are feeling the effects of loneliness at work, send me a LinkedIn connection request – I’m always up for a virtual or real coffee! (Side note, with no research backing.... according to today’s Co-Star Day At a Glance… “The slightest real experience can shatter your loneliness.” 😉 It’s in the stars as well!) Author: Jude Mahony 20th July 2020

A wise woman once told me “If your reality doesn’t meet your expectations – change one or the other…” How much tolerance do you have between your expectations and reality when recruiting? Are you a leader who: wants the “perfect” candidate will review hundreds of CV’s of candidates who are “not quite right” changes the role profile multiple times based on candidates you meet does the work upfront on what is actually required of the role identifies your essential criteria knows what your appetite is for development reviews shortlisted CVs and matches as closely as you can to your essential criteria has no idea where to start so scatterguns and hopes that you get lucky wants to review all CV’s received, because you will “know” the perfect candidate when you see them tries to identify what is required in the role based on what the last person did and how they did it (even if they were not a good performer) decides at interview that you “like” the person (with no basis except emotion) hires based on gut feel selects the first or last person you interviewed doesn’t follow any formal process, relies on “luck” or “intuition” only hires from referrals uses multiple assessments to make sure you have a conformer recruits for attitude, trains for skills does second, third, fourth, fifth round interviews and wonders why the candidate declines when you ask for a sixth round wants someone in your team who went to the same university as you has to ensure everyone logs on at a specific time and doesn’t log off until you do wants a new recruit who will be in the office full time and has to swipe in and out so you know they are working expects your new recruit to “hit the ground running” wants someone to start “tomorrow” but have known your current team member has been leaving for a month is so busy you keep rescheduling candidate interviews Any of this sound familiar? Having been involved in the recruitment and HR field for many years, I have seen and heard multiple combinations of the above. (My recruitment connections will also have many more to add to this list, I’m sure!) What I know, is that people are people. That means they can be volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous. They are not widgets or lighting plants. You cannot expect them to conform to very specific and exact sets of criteria as you would if you were manufacturing parts or moving lighting plants into different positions in an open cut mine. There is tolerance required - on both sides. We haven’t got to the point of genetic engineering that we can create a perfect candidate or a perfect leader! We know that AI and machine learning has played a part in recruitment over the years, trying to refine the process of identifying the “perfect” candidate. We also know that the coding is susceptible to the bias of the individual who codes it and it is still being improved. You may remember Amazon’s attempt at AI and how their algorithm quite quickly skewed towards male applicants… There have been huge shifts in AI to eliminate bias and actually assess a candidate based on the skills required for the role. (Read more on AI in hiring here). Science can help you to a certain degree, and then there’s your own “gut feel” (bias by any other name…) Having other people’s input upfront, not just your own, can help by giving you diversity of thought and to check your bias. The magic combination of: what you think you need, what you actually need and who is available is always a big melting pot. You don’t know everything. Smarts come in all shapes and sizes. Emotional intelligence, common sense, curiosity, creativity… you get it... You don’t have the same experiences, environment, skills and personal attributes as anyone else. You may have many similarities of environment (where you grew up for instance) or skills (you went to the same Uni and studied the same degree), but what you don’t have is the ability to understand how that other person’s combined experiences, environment and skills shaped their thinking and gave them a different perspective from your own. We know that the criteria used to assess a candidate is open to the bias of the leader and/or the recruiter. Broaden the pool of who has input into the criteria! Ever heard the saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room”? Me too… I’ve adjusted it though… “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you need to remove your head from your own @rse”… Don’t be so arrogant that you think you know everything and yours is the only opinion that counts. Give others the opportunity to provide input. It’s not all about you! Use those around you. Get inputs from your customers, stakeholders, anyone who has contact with the role you are trying to recruit, no matter what department they are in – especially if it’s not your own team or function. Engage an expert. You may be lucky enough to have an internal team available to support you in your recruitment efforts – use them. Listen to them. They know your business, they know the market, they know the agencies to work with and (hopefully!) they know you. And if they don’t, then give them a chance to know you – find time. Do the work of what is required in the role. Or in your team. Skills come in many forms – technical, achieving, relating and thinking . Behaviours also come in many guises. Motivators (or values) are the same. Networked teams require different profiles for each stage of the process – you will not hire the perfect candidate for each of those stages, but you can select the optimal candidates to build out your team, using a combination of skills, behaviours and motivators. Understand the profiles you need to deliver the work at each stage of your process and then source, assess and recruit against those. Start as you mean to go on: put the time in, engage with experts, listen to other people, work on your own bias, understand your tolerance levels. You are not looking for widgets – you are hiring real-life people who have their own idiosyncrasies to match yours. All relationships need a level of tolerance – on all sides! No-one is perfect. We all have our own foibles and ways of being. One thing I do know, is that the perfect candidate and the perfect leader don’t exist. Having the right people in your team is critical to your own success and that of your business. Don’t scrimp on effort, time or money when you’re hiring. And don’t scrimp on the same things after you’ve recruited – it takes all of those things to build an engaged employee and a high-performing team. Flexible working is not just about where you work from and when you work – it is also about building flexibility into your teams. Your tolerance level for non-perfection is also what needs to be reviewed, adjusted and flexed! https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tolerance NB (In relation to the reference to dating: replace “candidate” with “match” or “spouse” and “leader” with “self/friend”…. See the parallels?) 😊 Author: Jude Mahony Our total workforce management solutions can support you with strategy, planning and implementation to find, assess, select and develop people to build a flexible, scalable team. strategy, EVP, branding & marketing short-term contractor hire, fixed term and permanent employee support volume project support, retained search recruitment process outsourcing talent acquisition function optimisation

Are you a subscriber to Theory E in change management? This singular focus links directly to the number one mistake companies make when outsourcing and offshoring! Check our infographic "The three offshoring & outsourcing traps" to help avoid sh*t-shoring! Download it here If you have already found yourself the victim of sh*t-shoring, or sh*t outsourcing, we can help you reintegrate! Contact us to see how we can help. #outsourcing #hr #changemanagement #offshoring #workforceofthefuture #skillsofthefuture #changetheory #transformationalchange #peoplestrategy #humanresources #futureofwork #gigeconomy #sharedservices #GBS

April seems so long ago… my post at the beginning of April about our future workforce and skills of the future being here with a vengeance wasn’t the first time I’ve mentioned that the future of work is now. (Read the original post here). It is an ongoing thread in my conversations and has been that way for a long time. Skills have always changed and adapted to the tasks and work required at the time. They will continue to adapt as our work environment changes, not just after COVID-19, but with technology or process or leadership changes. As strategies shift and business focus changes, the technical skills required to succeed in your working life will change. Technical capabilities will always be on the move, especially as technology improves and is deployed in more areas of our lives. What will also shift are soft skills (oh how I dislike that term!) and the priority placed on different behaviours and personal competencies. New, flexible workforces, post COVID-19, require substantial uplift of capability within these “soft” skills to lead and manage teams through an ever-changing business environment. According to IBM research, behavioural skills dominated the top four core competencies global executives seek, with behavioural skills more critical than technical capabilities (see Figure 1). A recent conversation I had locally, reflected the gap in understanding and credibility given to those competencies because they are traditionally difficult to measure, not well understood and not seen as differentiators of performance and profit. The term “fluffy” was used... These competencies are far from fluffy. Josh Bersin defines it well: “….soft skills are actually hard ‘they are difficult to build, critical and take extreme effort to obtain’.” The baseline driver of performance is always personal competencies and behaviours (aka ‘soft’, ‘fluffy’ skills). Don’t get me wrong, technical capabilities are critical in specific areas and roles within a business, but personal competencies, in particular leadership behaviours, are the differentiators. Not just from the titled leaders, but across the board. Leadership behaviours are not reliant on being a manager, and can be displayed by anyone within the organisation. They need to be cultivated to help build and change the culture for adaptability, performance and sustainability. (Sustainability in this context is not just about the environment, but the long-term performance of your business and it’s continual growth). Culture is shaped by leadership which subsequently drives performance. Leadership behaviours are what will make or break a business culture and ultimately impact your bottom line and investment performance. If you ask anyone what makes a good leader or a good team member, or to reflect on a great leader they know, chances are the last thing they will mention are technical skills or competencies. Most people will list off things like: they’re people oriented, humble, decisive, consistent, objective, collaborative, creative, innovative… …you get my drift? These are not technical capabilities, or hard skills. They are what is commonly called soft skills. It is very rare that technical competencies are at the top of the list – especially when discussing leadership capability and the best leader a person has known. (Test it out – ask one of your peers or friends who the best leader is they’ve ever worked for and what made them stand out.. I’d love your feedback). The World Economic Forum top 10 transferrable skills for 2020, in my experience, form the core competencies all leaders should aspire to and develop. What I have found over the years, is a propensity for leaders to be promoted based on their technical capability, with a limited overview of these core competencies and transferrable behavioural skills. This leads to many new and emerging leaders in particular, being set-up for failure and floundering out of their depth. Typically, measuring performance of and promoting leaders is often a subjective process, driven through relationships, bias and the perception of a personal “reflectability” of poor performance (ie if I measure them as a poor performer, that will reflect on my own leadership capability or lack thereof!) Managing people is a skill set in and of itself that goes hand-in-glove with leadership (see #4 in the WEF list above). The personal attributes required to engage and motivate employees and have difficult conversations is not something many of us are born with – it requires understanding your strengths, working with them and learning how to actually manage your people. It requires the ability to have sometimes difficult conversations and address poor performance – something that many, many people struggle with. Having difficult conversations requires courage and courage requires vulnerability. Setting expectations builds trust, builds engagement and ultimately builds a high performing culture. In the words of Brene Brown: Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind. (read Brene’s work here). As a leader and manager, your job is to support, encourage and develop your team. If you are not having courageous conversations and setting clear expectations with your team members, you are not doing any of those things. You are setting them up to fail. My years of experience across the global talent spectrum has given me key insight into what makes a team tick: knowing they are working on the right work for the business and customer outcomes, making sure you have the right people in your team and then developing and encouraging the right behaviours. (you might see a similarity here from the Optimal Resourcing mission! A-ha! 😉) Developing and encouraging the right behaviours is the job of every leader and every manager. Setting clear expectations of behaviour and performance from the outset is your priority. Managing and leading to those expectations is your job. Holding yourself and your team accountable to defined expectations requires you to be consistent and unbiased. The BOOST feedback model and the Hot Stove Rule of Discipline can help keep you on track. They are both simple frameworks of consistency, objectivity, being specific and timely. Both can be downloaded from our website. Understanding and assessing behavioural skills is not “fluffy” and should not be subjective. If you really want to make a difference to your business culture, leadership and ultimately the performance of your organisation, baseline your current team’s competencies using our DNA assessment and then develop them to build and grow your business. A rich company culture can increase your performance by 1.2-1.7% and who doesn’t want that? Author: Jude Mahony 15th June 2020 Our industry-leading “DNA assessment” will help you to identify your teams personal skills, and our benchmarking process will support you in identifying the skills needed for your future workforce. The TTI DNA® profile has been designed to accurately measure an individual’s level of development in 25 business-related competencies (or personal power skills). The profile is named because these 25 competencies are like the foundational building blocks, or DNA, of performance, having been refined from an analysis of a much larger pool of skills. Build a true picture of your team’s competencies, and let us help you build a development plan for your leaders to truly make a difference to your business. Contact us for more information

According to the latest Gartner research, post-COVID19 there are nine trends that businesses will need to focus on and assess for relevance and practicality for their workforces. Some will come as no surprise, some are definite changes and are new to the previous future of work discussions. Increase in remote work Expanded data collection Employer as social safety net Expansion of contingent workers (contractors, gig economy) Separation of critical skills and critical roles Humanisation (and dehumanisation) of workers Emergence of new top-tier employers Shift from designing for efficiency to designing for resilience Increase in organisational complexity Three of the nine trends that specifically address workforce requirements are covered in this post - we will review the others in future articles. 1. Remote work: The first one speaks for itself. We have all seen the increase in remote working, working from home and flexible work practises during this crisis (and prior!). And if you’ve read any of my posts, or had a conversation with me at any point, you will know that I am a firm believer in remote working and the added productivity and engagement that it brings. Clearly a no-brainer and a win-win for both employee and employer! 4. Contingent workers: We have also spoken previously of the increase in the gig economy, or contingent / contract workers. Platforms such as Upwork have risen dramatically in their popularity from all perspectives. Allowing employees to work on specific contracts or projects, at a time and location that is convenient to them, gives not only greater flexibility to the employee, but allows the employer flexibility as well as reducing fixed employee costs. As a base component of your workforce composition plan, contingent workers offer you the skills you need, when you need them, for the specific project you need them for and the length of time you need them. They should always form part of your workforce composition strategy and organisational structure to allow you to scale up or down with your market. 5. Critical skills vs critical roles: Separating critical skills from critical roles brings a whole new level of flexibility for both employee and employer. What this means is that employees utilise and develop their skills for specific projects and requirements (read: agile, networked teams), rather than specific career paths. The changes this brings to workforce and succession planning are not huge, just a shift in focus from roles to skills and gives you the ability to course-correct as the market and your business evolves. Capability development planning and implementation will also need to adjust to suit this new skills focus. Identifying personal and technical skills of an individual (supply) and the organisational capability requirements (demand), addressing gaps between the two through buy, build, borrow, retain or release strategies will become even more crucial for workforce planning and HR teams. The common denominator with remote working, contingent workers and separation of critical skills from critical roles is: flexible working arrangements. (See our previous post here for more on flexible work) Different demographics and different generations have all expressed a desire for flexible working (pre-COVID19) to suit their lifestyles and personal circumstances: Jacinda Ardern has spoken of a four-day work week Grandparents requested flexibility to spend more time with grandchildren global nomads were on the rise (shackled since!) working parents requested flexible working hours to suit drop off, pickup and school commitments global teams required flexible hours to match differing timezones Businesses require the ability to flex as drivers change - whether they are internal or external drivers of change. Flexible working arrangements provide choice to all parties, engage employees, increase productivity and allows you to grow and sustain your business through uncertain times and volatile markets. This pandemic has shifted our thinking and forced a change on us that is here to stay. The things that were mooted previously as “nice-to-haves” are now essential, in place and not going anywhere fast. Whatever that looks like for us as employees or employers may mean a mix of different aspects, but it is clear that the 9 to 5 office environment of the past has drastically changed – for the better – and will continue to evolve as our return to work post-COVID19 commences. Author: Jude Mahony 25th May 2020 We have the necessary skills and experience to help you prepare your workforce for the current and future state. The Optimal Resourcing mapping of your future workforce approach includes: identification of critical skills that fit your immediate needs and long-term strategy, an adaptable workforce composition plan, with flexible, scalable options to suit VUCA business environments, talent retention and acquisition strategies that ensure your team can continually evolve to meet the changing demands of your business. Our industry-leading “DNA assessment” will help you to identify your teams personal skills, and our benchmarking process will support you in identifying the skills needed for your future workforce. The TTI DNA® profile has been designed to accurately measure an individual’s level of development in 25 business-related competencies (or personal power skills). The profile is named because these 25 competencies are like the foundational building blocks, or DNA, of performance, having been refined from an analysis of a much larger pool of skills. Benchmarking roles for skills, assessing your team and identifying the gaps in your workforce skill-sets is where your focus needs to be as we come through this pandemic. Gather the data you need to make long-term decisions and to build a scalable, capable workforce to sustain and grow your business. Working with the team at EZlytics, we can build a true picture of your workforce skills, the gaps in your talent supply and measure and monitor the activities undertaken to fill those gaps… Contact us for more information

Digital workplaces are now the norm (hallelujah!), but there are other side-effects that have come out of COVID-19 and will continue to build as the workforce moves onto it’s next wave of change and recovery. As we start to move back to face-to-face interactions and back to usual workplaces, there will be three building blocks that will remain for me from this time in lockdown. Flexible work arrangements, leadership behaviours, and personal resilience Flexibility Having the ability to work from home has been a tenet of my career for nearly ten years. Working with teams across Australia and internationally has meant I have always needed to manage remotely and find ways of maintaining connections without in-person interactions. Having teams in different timezones forced me to work outside normal office hours and to make sure I had a balance of work and pleasure time. Working out of a dedicated home office was great most of the time, other times not so great. Walking into my “dungeon” at 5am and not leaving until after 9pm was a health hazard. (Dungeon is what my family called it – not me!) Having the flexibility to work around personal commitments, still maintaining connections with all teams, across multiple timezones was not just a luxury, but a necessity to do my job. Having the flexibility now is still a necessity – not just because of COVID-19, but to allow me to do my job, maintain relationships and maintain life balance. We have all tried hard to build and maintain relationships through this period, but we also know that it is more difficult over Zoom than in person - though still achievable. Concentrating on deciphering physical cues and non-verbal communication is much more challenging when you are not sitting across from a person and can only see from the collarbone or waist up. It takes a lot more effort than you realise and can be exhausting - especially if you have technology challenges thrown into the mix! I was talking to an ex-colleague last week who had just returned to work from parental leave and has been working from home full time since her return. Her ideal working pattern is three days at home and two days in the office. Her bub is in childcare five days, and with an hour-long commute, working from home when she can, makes sense for her family situation. It gives her the best of both worlds – removing the commute time, means more family time. Time in the office means her personal relationships are maintained and she gets to reconnect with people on an informal basis more easily. Prior to COVID-19, there were many research articles written about the need to offer flexibility as part of the gig economy and to attract and retain different generations. The Silver economy wanted flexibility to allow them time with grandchildren. The millennial generation wanted flexibility to maintain lifestyle. Now, most if not all, generations will want to maintain some semblance of flexibility to keep their balance. Remote working has been a great experiment for many, and flexible work arrangements will be the expectation of most following relaxation of restrictions. What level of flexibility will you maintain once your office re-opens? What are your expectations of your manager once life returns to it’s new drumbeat? Do you expect your employer to continue to offer flexible work arrangements? What will you be offering or expecting? Leadership at all levels I have had many conversations with members of my teams over the years on leadership. Especially during performance reviews or development planning. I have lost count of the number of times I've heard the phrase “I want to move into a leadership role”. Leadership means different things to different people, but to me, it is a behaviour and one that can be displayed at any level of an organisation or in any role – if you choose to do so. It is not reliant on a title. In fact, many individuals who are fantastic technical experts, have been promoted to “leadership” roles and fail miserably. A technical expert still needs to learn leadership competencies. Agile teams don’t rely on one leader, holacracies don’t rely on one leader, networked organisations don’t rely on one leader. Leadership behaviours are displayed across all roles and team members, not just the “manager”. Networked, borderless organisations empower and engage, provide transparency and encourage innovation. During COVID, we have seen many examples of leadership. (Some of which make me cringe, others that make me applaud). What has been consistent is that the leadership displayed has not necessarily been by people who have “leader” or “manager” in their title. The taskforces that have been created to work through COVID-19 are very good examples of this. They are collaborative, cross-functional, networked teams where resources and expertise are shared, teams are empowered to make decisions in a faster, less siloed cluster and traditional hierarchies are reduced or removed. Networked organisations rely on cross-functional teams where individuals may play a part in a programme, a project or a deliverable. Leadership behaviours are required in every team member, at every point. It is one of the key transferrable skills that has been flagged as a “skill of the future”, but is clearly a skill required now. What shift will your organisation make to ensure you maintain the “safety” for individuals to lead by example, collaborate, share resources and focus on the critical business priorities to sustain your business? Resilience The ability to recover from adversity and overcome setbacks is critical as we start to emerge from lockdown. Understanding our emotions, working through them and using aspects of the situation to create a positive outcome works for some. For others, not so much. The mental health toll has been recognised, but not necessarily addressed. The rush to move to remote working and physical distancing meant that many people were removed very quickly from normal social interactions to trying to find not just somewhere to work at home, but ways of keeping socially connected. I have heard lots of talk about how we need to backtrack now and ensure ergonomic assessments are undertaken of home working situations before we “allow” remote work to continue, but haven’t heard mention of any “assessments” of the mental health of our teams to enable flexible work arrangements and/or to enable a return to their workplace. Assessing resilience will give us a good indication of how our people are looking for ways to progress and forge forward, or whether they are not coping with this setback and not able to see the unique opportunities that challenges present. Resilience can be developed. Remembering that the move to a new path forward is a change that will also create its own anxiety. Understanding your team’s resilience now will help your return-to-work planning. Understanding the uniqueness of each of your team, and supporting them through coaching, mentoring and identifying the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) will empower them to move through the next change phase with positivity and purpose. What steps are you taking, as part of your recovery plan, to ensure you understand your team and their resilience? How will you assess your team? Author: Jude Mahony The Optimal Resourcing mapping of your future workforce approach includes: identification of critical roles and skills that fit your immediate needs and long-term strategy, an adaptable workforce composition plan, with flexible, scalable options to suit VUCA business environments, talent retention and acquisition strategies that ensure your team can continually evolve to meet the changing demands of your business. Contact us for more information

The first in five years where I've had both my children within touching distance and, I have to say, it is a huge relief for my anxiety levels! One very big positive that COVID-19 has given me, is my daughter home again after living overseas for the last five years. My son and I both recently moved into the same apartment building, so now we are all three under one roof again. As a close-knit little family unit, and being a single parent for the majority of their lives, my children are my world and one of the main reasons that I ended up with the career I have. Being a single parent was rewarding but bloody hard work, especially in the mid-to-late nineties. Work was scarce, technology scarcer, day care even more limited. Options were small, money was tight. Those challenges meant I had to make decisions to keep us all fed, clothed and with a roof over our heads. One of those decisions was moving back to my home town of Kalgoorlie to find work (Boulder really, but not many people know where that is!). Knowing I had family support and my best friend of 45-plus years (who is also family after that length of time), made it the most sensible and best option for us. I was lucky enough to find work as a "personnel consultant" at one of the few recruitment agencies in town. That started me on a career that has allowed me to travel the world, have amazing learning experiences, go to University in my 40's and provide a safe and secure home for my children. Added bonus of making a tonne of lifelong friends, and having loads of fun and laughter along the way! Recruitment (or talent acquisition as it has evolved to) not only gave me the financial ability to raise my family, but the opportunity to add to my skills in many ways: shared services, global leadership of teams, business strategy and operating models, working with failing businesses (huge learnings!) as well as very successful businesses and people. It has allowed me to expand my knowledge of people from straight "skills assessments" that we used in the 90's to understanding and assessing behaviours, trying to really strike the sweet spot of aligning people to roles and organisational fit. (It starts with recruitment, but boy it continues tenfold through the employee life-cycle!) Today, thanks to the opportunities I've had and their own hard work, my children are both smart, emotionally intelligent, successful adults living their own versions of adulthood and on completely different trajectories career-wise. But one thing they both have in common is their innate belief in the best of people and the importance of family. Today, as always, I am one proud Munna. Thank you recruitment, you have served us all well. Happy Mother's Day Author: Jude Mahony 10th May 2020 The Optimal Resourcing mapping of your future workforce approach includes: identification of critical roles and skills that fit your immediate needs and long-term strategy, an adaptable workforce composition plan, with flexible, scalable options to suit VUCA business environments, talent retention and acquisition strategies that ensure your team can continually evolve to meet the changing demands of your business. Contact us for more information