Me and my values are off to ACE!

Values - how do yours send you?

I tend to think about how my personal values fit with whatever I'm doing. It can help me to go places and be there, with purpose.

With a sore back making me reflect on why I'm pushing through to CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition (aka ACE) I've decided to share how my values guide me 're such events this in a blog. In no particular order...

Connectedness

Conferences, exhibitions and events provide a great opportunity to engage with peers and connect to their content, to catch up on old connections and make new ones both personally and in terms of connecting ideas and content cerebrally.As a blogger, it also means I can give back by giving a sense of connection to those who can't attend.

Passion

In my case, I am passionate about people and the world of work (amongst other things!). People who attend conferences tend to be at least interested, if not passionate, about conference content. I find it a real shame when some people lack any passion towards their profession and don't see the value in being amongst others at events such as ACE.

Image from Pixabay

Kindess

In this context, for me, this value is about the how we do the connectedness bit. We may for example have different views from the ones being presented but how we express that should always be done in a kind and considerate (not to mention professional) manner. It's also about making sure that we're building our networks based and/ built on kind, respectful relationships and not just a match in the thinking space.

Kindness to self is also something to consider. For example introverts may need to take care if their energy and emotions (see Mark Hendy's blog here: https://hendyshrblog.com/2018/04/16/introverts-tips-for-conference-survival/) I will need to practice self-care to get through the travel and the days this week. For me this will be pretty practical - wearing easy clothes, heat packs and sensible shoes are among my considerations!

Curiosity 

I am a bit of a sponge when it comes to learning, I try and soak up something wherever someone spills out content. Even if I don't agree, it gets me thinking. Curiosity scratch itched! But it's not just the content I appreciate at events like ACE, it's the exhibition bit too. My curiosity leads me to seek different ways of presenting things and so I also love seeing how people get engagement at their stands.

Curiosity often leads to creativity in my book and I've already been bowled over by the example fellow Blogsquadder Gary Cookson set with his creative vlogs about ACE. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=OOxk-jUnCUE) 

I'm not going to top his video efforts, but I'll keep you connected. You be kind, I'll be curious and let's be passionate about our profession together. 

So, that's me. How do your values send you or show up at, or in your planning for, events?

See you there or read about it here!
Denise.


Note: I was invited to be part of this years #cipdace blogsquad and received a free ticket so I could attend the sessions and share my insights. My thoughts and reflections will be my own and unedited.

Back to blogging for CIPD ACE19

A share about my day... and how it matters for ACE!

It's been a while since I blogged and certainly a while since I did it regularly and with abandon (e.g. not checking it loads and still not pressing the publish button). And yet, in a few weeks time I'll be on the CIPD ACE #blogsquad again. Woo hoo!

I know it can be liberating to just go for it but rather than go in cold, I plan to warm myself up with a few random posts over the coming weeks. And here's the first of them.

So, a few things about my day...

- Morning:
It started with me feeling pretty fragile and useless to be frank. Parenting makes me go into my TA child too often, and sometimes life just feels hard.

- Mid morning:
I stood on my values and that of my organisation and tackled some behaviour that had unsettled me.  More of the hard stuff I had to, rather than wanted to do - It would have been easier to let it go but where's the integrity and stretch in that!

- Mid day:
I had my feelings and competence validated as an experienced colleague on the front line echoed my observations and suggested actions I'd already scheduled to tackle some workplace issues. Her views and mine was shared by others too, when one person had got me me thinking I'd missed the plot!

- Early afternoon:
I was helpful - I'd given my brain (complex advice) and my body (covering reception) and neither by halves but in embracing and giving my all in the moment! I was thanked, and I am thankful about my developing trusted relationships with new colleagues.

- Late afternoon:
I had the moment I hope for everyday but don't get that often - my 'I'm making a real difference' moment - A solution I offered and organised for a colleague had resulted in her really smiling for the first time in a long time. You know the one, the one where the light goes back on in their eyes. Gone was the low, anxious, frustrated flight risk, scratching for solutions to confidence, lightness, energy, self belief, results and pride.

Early evening:
I watched a smart, passionate colleague share her expertise, expertly, to a room of peers and take the tough questions on like a boss. Answering, stretching and making people think and reflect. Just as I expect to happen at a little event in Manchester soon!
(Picture may be added, permission to be sought)

And then to travelling home as I reflected on the day past.

So what's all this got to do with ACE you might ask.
Well, it's to do with what you can expect...

I'll be open and honest, I'll be sharing my opinion and my feels, I'll be listening hard and considering the evidence, seeking the positive (grateful for the experience), and I'll not shy away from the challenge.

Finally I hope that, like today, things (my blogging I mean) get better as I blog my way through ACE to the point where something I offer makes a real difference to someone, perhaps someone who's not experiencing the event first hand or perhaps in a face-to-face moment.

I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am.

Denise.
Off to try parenting again!

HR: Sounds like...

Songs reflecting HR for me in this moment.

Once again, Twitter is the trigger for a blog. This time, this blog, is thanks to Mark Hendy (a fellow CIPD blog-squadder), who invited/challenged our #PLN* to come up with 5 songs that reflected HR for us. It should have been kind of easy, given I'd had to pick just one song for my reflections of my ODPP with Roffey Park. After all, I could now choose 5 songs and there were no limitations. But just like the #7booksin7days challenge I'd done recently, its not as simple as it seems...


...Some songs have silly statements and sound meaning ("The world is just a great big onion"!) and others initially sound good but are light on meaning or heavy on swearing and so on! And that's before even thinking about genres or artists, how the overall message fits or if you even like a song related to the (rather open) subject!


Whilst I'm still wrestling with my choices I'm embracing the Sunday chill and just going for it. On that basis here are the five that get this blog out and a glass of wine in hand....


1. "This is Me", from The Greatest Showman... because everyone should be encouraged to bring all of themselves to work, it's about diversity too and if you've seen this video you'll get the power of a lightbulb moment which feels very L&D to me! https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=this+is+me+rehearsal+song+youtube&view=detail&mid=D52DC2E2E2BD00D17752D52DC2E2E2BD00D17752&FORM=VIRE


2. "Everything must change", Oletta Adams does my fave version* (just pipping Nina Simone) but its a rework. That in itself talks about iteration and variation. And let's face it, (coping with and helping others to cope/adapt to) change is a topical and constant theme to address for OD and L&D, and HR.
*Here are allllll the versions: https://secondhandsongs.com/work/4541/all


3. The theme from The Office ("Handbags and Gladrags") - clearly the link here is the show and not the song itself. If ever a show gave HR a purpose, this is the show! It should remind people the value we can add.

4. "Lift you up" by Ryan Stephenson is likely to be the least known song on my list, but oh how it resonates for me and my passion for L&OD. Themes include: trust, teamwork, support, diversity, passion, purpose and persistence.


5. And, despite what I said, I just couldn't rule out Marvin and Tammi's "Onion song" - its actually a great song with some relevant lyrics because as HR tries to get back to it's People core, lines like: we got a great big job to do, reach for a higher goal, every one single soul's got to do their share' and 'come on and plant love seeds' all fit for HR in my humble opinion. Just don't let the onions make you cry!
One last thing, what action would you take based on the first songfact here? (Answer not really required!): https://www.songfacts.com/facts/marvin-gaye-tammi-terrell/the-onion-song


I hope my choices make some sense, but more importantly that something on this list made you reflect, smile and/ remember why we're in this profession.


*Lifts the vinyl off the turntable*


Denise x

For more:

• Contact me using the 'Contact form' above right
• Follow me at: @DamsonHR (Twitter)
• Call direct on: 07887 643807
• LinkedIn: Denise Sanderson-Estcourt, FCIPD

* #PLN = Personal learning network.

Out of a meeting to meet people - A new appraoch

A meeting design to make the most of our time!

A few weeks ago I posted on Twitter that I'd had a win with a new meeting approach I'd tested with the OD group I chair. Such was the interest, and feedback from participants, I promised I'd share what it was all about in my first blog for a while (which I hope won't be the last).

The background:

The OD group is made up of volunteers and so it has constantly evolved, and sometimes struggled with attendance as people prioritised other things - like their proper jobs! Also, as chair, I commit to being creative about how we do our meetings so as to model OD themes such as engagement. At the RCP we're recognised by some as a group that gets (the nice, soft) stuff done, but a challenge we often face is not having enough regular input from outside of ourselves and outside of our meetings.

The purpose:

So, my idea was designed to do a few things:

• Do something we'd really not tried already, in the room

• To engage people, external to the group, in what we do

• To make it easier for the members to get OD out of the room, in a way that didn't impact their already limited time in between meetings.

The challenge:

It had to work across multiple sites simultaneously!

The activity in brief:

The thinking how to address these considerations resulted in the 10-3,2,1 activity described below.

Simply put, the group were given

10 mins, to ask

3 questions, in pairs, (so the)

2 people, we're to bring back what they'd learnt to the room to share for

1 minute

Simple enough, yes, but not without thought and the need for a little preparation*.

*Disclaimer: Possibly not even original, though I can honestly say I've not been involved in such a thing before!

The thinking:

The ten minutes was to give people enough time to leave the room and get around our fairly large estate, to find colleagues to talk to. This was purposefully tight as people had to energise quickly or they'd fine themselves at the further ends of the building. Queue the Annika Rice style dash. But I knew some of the nearest teams might be challenging so that was a lesson there!

The three questions were so that people were purposeful and on topic. Thus the questions in themselves had to be clear, relevant and phrased specifically to get quick, useful insights.

Getting people to work in two's meant they were accountable to and supportive of each other. One pair came back and suggested they needed a bodyguard(!) so I can imagine going out alone might have been more of a challenge.

With just one minute to present back, before a plenary looking for themes, the pairs had to work together to agree what the key messages were that they were to bring back.

The learning application:

To do this exercise required people to be willing to do something a little different, to trust the process (and me) to meaningful and to know their way around the place.

The preparation was just the choosing of a meaningful topic, the right questions and documenting them, along with the instructions.

The whole thing was easy enough to act upon, but the purpose and design had to be intentional.

The outcome:

The result was a fun, energised approach to hearing the employee voice in a quick (albeit limited in number) way.

It was certainly enjoyed by the participants who gave great feedback ("I loved it" "Great idea" "Best meeting we've had"), and it was valuable to me in getting feedback on a college project I've been leading on. It also gave food for thought about how/when else the approach could be used... In fact, the CEO has suggested walkabout Wednesdays, and IT and internal communications are thinking of ways they can use it.

Nobody's followed up yet, but watch this space!

Over to you:

If you do (or have done this or similar), how was that for you? If it would help with something you're doing, borrow away but do tell me how it goes!

Thanks for reading,

Denise x

For more:

• Contact me using the 'Contact form' above right
• Follow me at: @DamsonHR (Twitter)
• Call direct on: 07887 643807
• LinkedIn: Denise Sanderson-Estcourt, FCIPD

When HR hurts itself - session reflection at #cipdACE

Thoughts from "How can we evolve the HRBP model to make it more effective" 

I have heard several times at the #cipdACE conference that HR (and L&D and OD) needs to do something about it's reputation.

This morning John Amaechi galvanised a whole room (based on what I could see and have heard since) around how and what we could do to becoming giants and why and how to be more human, as we've been hearing about from Peter Cheese and others.

There has been so much to be proud of as a profession here at the annual conference, but the lat session I went to also showed that we still have work to do to be 'stronger together' (yes really, and yes I know how political/trite etc that sounds). It seems we sometimes struggle to break down silos and see the 'value' of all within HR, or at least explain it.

And when the question of outsouring came, the responses showed how 'conflicted' we are ourselves, even though there was clear sense-making (A: its about the quality of the relationship). This again raised how important it was to do what we do in context of our organisations - their culture, size, customer need. In other words, their is a place for that diversity and a reason for it.

On top of this, there were some sound points made including:

• Everyone needs a business partner mindset, eg understanding the business
• To understand the business, we must venture into it and talk to people!
• It's about understanding the business environment we operate in.
• Skills must be fit for purpose across different roles
• We need to be mindful of the career trajectory of different roles in HR

But it is what happened after the session reflecting the 'mood' to something said in the session, that really emphasises my title point - that HR must model values like collaboration and kindness rather than undo itself. It doesn't mean that we all have to bend but we should all blend. Yet one comments was taken as creating a them and us of BP and COE and was taken by some to seemingly dimish some work. That did not seem to be the intent. But it was what people heard. It upset some. It changed the mood. Some of the good points that followed, were I suspect, lost in the mood-fog.

Having said that, what was good was that audience participants 'called it out' - people said how they felt, listened to clarification, supported each other and didn't lose sight of the intention that we want to do what's right for our businesses. And there was challenge as to whether we were really future thinking though it was hinted at.

What I got from it is that we need to listen to each other better, rank less, learn more, forgive, explain better, do better, move on. And perhaps set our bold future.

We're all in this. We all matter. We are all and must strive to act as giants. Us, not leaders, not robots, not AN Other. It is you, and me and all of US.

I'm thinking about what my actual 'pledge and do is' from what I've heard and experienced - what's yours? Share on Twitter or engage on LinkedIn. See you there!

Denise.
#blogsquad
#cipdACE #E4

An ACE first day

Day one reflections from #CIPDACE

This isn't a sophisticated blog, but when there's so much to tie together and so much going in my head, I find it helpful to put down some summary thoughts down writing*

Here are three clusters of thought...

My first reflection actually isn't about the conference itself, but rather about the 'how you show up' attitude I see at conferences.
People come for so many reasons - to learn from others, to engage with others, to stretch themselves, to check out providers and to have some headspace. They come from far and wide. And whilst that's great, it does make me wonder how much we more we should be doing to create the vibe outside of such events, how we 'show up' in our day-to-day and what we can about those people who are in our teams who don't feel the positive profession vibe (that sometimes being the why they don't leave the office to experience this).

Secondly, casting my mind back to this morning, I'm also pleased that I've been able to carry the content of the keynote on 'Trust' with me. It really has permeated my thinking today. In fact in the summary of the two main sessions I attendee, we today, it is clear that learning to let go and trust is pretty key to the now and the future of work. For example need to trust people to be self-directed learners, we need to trust people to development others and we need to trust people to self-manage and self-assess rather than force them into classrooms or appraisals.

And finally, along with trust, another overarching thought that keeps coming through for me is the importance of knowing and doing what works for your business. In other words: Context. What works for one place doesn't work for others. But, lets not ignore that the issues are really consistent which is why most of us rock up and hear similar themes in sessions at similar events over what has been a significant period of time.

None of this is big news. None of this is rocket science. And yet, here we are again. Because whilst it all makes sense, it's not enough to hear this it's how it translates for real. And it's not as simple as it sounds or why aren't we all doing it.

What is easy (and right) is feeling personally uplifted by what's possible for the profession when you attend ACE, and I am hopeful for what's coming next (starting with tomorrow).
I believe that those people I've engaged with today will be passionately sharing when they get back to their clients and companies. I look forward to how the new profession map will continue to professionalise us. And I trust that those of us here will really hear and benefit from the messages we're hearing.
But, the most important thing for me is to how we translate this mood in a sustained way in a wider space.

For more detailed content, follow my twitter account @DamsonHR or to connect with me find me there or on LinkedIn.

Same again(-ish) tomorrow? See you then!

Denise.

*Other truths: I also need to write to justify my time here and the CIPDs trust in me, and to support my fellow blog-squadders who you really should check out!

Approaching CIPD ACE with refreshed thinking

It's nearly ACE!

I am really pleased to be on the #Blogsquad of the CIPD's Annual Conference and Exhibition (the ACE in the title!). But, there's a 'but'. Several, in fact!


Whenever I find myself using the word 'but' after a less than positive sentence, I know it's time for some fresh thinking*.


(*And fresh thinking is one of the things I know I'm going to experience at ACE.)


So this week, I've had to challenge myself around the sentence "I'm really looking forward to CIPD ACE, but..."


In no particular order, my 'but' list is...


1. I've so much to do in the office
2. My son is not happy I'm off... again
3. There's so much to see and do there, how will I do it all?
4. I'm not properly prepared
5. What if I don't do my blog-job well enough


So, here's what I'm reminding myself in response...


1. With so much to do at work, now is the perfect time to give myself this 'break'. We can get too locked in to the day job, and getting out and about can revive us and make us more efficient and energised on the return.


2. My work related trip refreshes me for home too, as a break from the everyday. More importantly, it's good for my son to see me do work-stuff outside of the day job and see how immersed and happy you can be doing a job you really want to be and grow in.


3. Whoa, take the pressure off! I don't have to see and do it all. And nor should I want or need to. One of the great things - there's such a range of things to engage in. You have, can and get to make some savvy personal choices. Linked to...


4. I'm not prepared YET, but equally I'm not there yet either. There's still time. If I focus. Focus on what I actually need to hear, see, seek and know. But also that I should just allow room to go with the flow, in the moment, when the time comes.


5. I will reflect what I feel as well as what I see and hear. And what does 'well enough' mean anyway. I'm not there to be perfect, just to give a reflection of my experience. And hey, I'm not alone... there are my super talented blog-squadders who'll be doing a super job, sharing content in all manner of ways. (In other words, get over yourself Dee!)

And there you have it.


Do you have a 'but' list? Is it much the same as mine? How can you reframe yours? I tell you, it'll be worth it to go with a healthy mindset and clear conscience.


If you can't make it, find us on social media and read our various blogs. You'll find us using the hashtag #cipdACE and will find most of us on LinkedIn or a quick internet search.


Hope  to see you there in person, or on social media!
#reenergised #excited Denise.