When it comes to innovation, corporations in New Zealand are on notice. The pace of change is hard to fathom, and large companies create an image remnant of a massive ocean liner, helpless without the assistance of an agile tug-boat to help it pivot when things get tight.
When Doctor2Go first last pivoted to offering corporate wellness services we started to take a closer look at where the innovators in HR were as we looked to introduce a new idea to the workplace. Historically HR was known for being the people police, focused more on policy and compliance, than talent and culture, and we struggled to find HR executives open to discussing a new way of thinking.
If you want to survive and thrive in this new, volatile business world, HR should be leading the charge in discussing how do we lead, manage, engage and support our employees in a radically different way. Over the past 12 months, we found the places you can go if you want to make a difference in your company, find your tribe in by following these people or attending their meetups and events.
Social Media, Meetups & Community
This past year Matt Jones has taken social media by storm, built a thriving LinkedIn community, established regular meetups up and down the country and recently launched a new type of conference focused on having a conversation and community of professionals who can learn from each other.
As the founder of the Young H&S Professionals Community and Advanced Saftey, Matt has shifted the focus from systems and policies to culture collaboration and continual learning. I’ve met a few of the people involved in the event planned for Christchurch this October 2018, it won’t be anything like your traditional compliance focused H&S conference. Come expecting to meet like-minded innovative individuals you can learn from and connect with post-conference, Matt is building a community, and we’re pleased to be involved as a Gold Sponsor. Please see here >
Meet-up & Emerging Digital Community
We first met Pene Barton at a conference where she debuted NZ’s first HR Talent Recruitment Chatbot and found out about her restaurants. Later on, we were introduced to Molly by AFQY founder Ryan, as the most innovative HR person he knows, sure enough, Molly demoed her recent project, an app which lets staff give real-time feedback to the CEO via their mobile phone.
When we heard about the Auckland Human Resources Meetup group they were starting, we had to be involved. Auckland HR Meetup was hands down one of the best business meet-ups I’ve attended. First up was Emma Kirkman, one of the co-organisers of the meet-up, set the scene with a no holds barred talk which outlined industry leading ideas and laid out a roadmap to address them. Then we had a real-time poll to discuss the major issues before we broke into teams to discuss solutions. I walked away with three actions I will look to implement immediately based on ideas others provided from experience. This is our new #HRTribe #AKLHRMEETUP
Online Training, Workshops & Conferences
If you haven’t been to one of Elephant’s HR events, then you don’t know what you’re missing. Angela has been at the forefront of HR Industry training disruption for years. When we reached out to her 18 months ago to ask where to find the HR innovators, she pointed us in the right direction. Every one of the people we have met through Angela is shown a willingness to engage and learn. We recently sponsored and attended her even at Generator @GridAKL, the speakers she organised to set the conference apart, ranging in subjects from neural theory to global business expansion, design thinking, agile, future of work & workplace diversity – she creates a space to facilitate the discussion of new ways of working. Her conferences have a balanced approach peering industry experts with a workshop format which leaves you with a list of actions you can take away to implement based on working in groups.
Singularity University
Think TED Talks on steroids; Singularity University is a Silicon Valley think tank that publishes videos on YouTube “exponential” technologies, think self-driving cars, AI, blockchain and IoT – all of the technology you’re being told will be ubiquitous and will completely change your working life. In today’s world, HR is the best positioned to work with ICT to reshape business. Organisations that understand process philosophy and transactionalism are the ones who will thrive as technology evolves to create new ways of working and living.