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Humans have always been purpose-led - a clear purpose in a demanding world provides an anchor to motivate and guide us. However, in recent years, Boards and organisations have become increasingly interested in the intrinsic value clear organisational purpose can offer the business and wider society. For many organisations this is now an important strategic objective.
Trust has always been critical in HR, but never more so than today. Our people need to trust us to take decisions, sometime tough, that are in their best interests. If they do, they will stick with us when we need them, not just now but when we come out of the crisis. Our managers need to trust us to provide them with the right balance of support and challenge to help them do their jobs in stressful times. If they do, they will do a great job of engaging our people. Our leaders need to trust us to balance the needs of the business and our employees and short-term survival and thriving in the long-term.
Over the last few weeks I have been proud to be associated with the HR function. In all our interactions I have seen HR professionals step up to the plate and demonstrate why articles like Fortune’s rant in 2005 miss the point. Never has there been a greater need for HR’s skills in transforming the way we work. In a matter of days, we have shifted huge numbers of people to working from home, supported them and their managers in coping with the emotional pressure of dealing with a totally uncertain future and provided relevant online learning. But the time has come to shift our focus.
In The Economist article of April 24th ‘Corporate Innovation – The Crucible of Creative Disruption’ , the author noted that whilst the ‘pandemic is an unmitigated disaster’ it is a big spur to innovation. It is forcing companies who currently lack the capital to invest to think how to do things differently without a huge outlay.
In all our conversations and interactive webinars, there has been a recognition of not only the impact of the coronavirus on physical health but also its impact on mental health. Whatever the virus means individually, collectively it’s increasing anxiety, stress, sadness, boredom, loneliness and frustration.
