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