Welcome to the fifth of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast that collectively provide an outside in perspective on HR.

People Analytics is the fastest growing part of HR and prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, was named by HR practitioners themselves as one of four trends in LinkedIn's annual global talent trends report that were most likely to impact on how their organisations hire, develop and retain their workforces in 2020. During the crisis People Analytics has been further elevated as companies strive for insights and data to drive employee safety and wellbeing, understand the impact of remote work and create their return to  the workplace plans. Many practitioners and leaders in the People Analytics space have no previous experience of working in HR.

My guest on this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast is Sophie Rwegera Khadhraoui. When she took on the challenge of setting up the People Analytics function at the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2017, Sophie had a background in Finance, and Operations, but not HR. Sophie quickly established that in a humanitarian organisation, the key people related requirement is to ensure the right people are on the ground at the right time to support the ICRC’s critical humanitarian work in conflict zones.

In our conversation, Sophie and I discuss:

• How she set up the People Analytics function, identified priorities and delivered the first use cases
• How the team evolved and developed its skills over the three years Sophie was at the helm
• Tips for other People Analytics Leaders who run small teams
• The steps Sophie took to help up-skill the wider HR community at the International Committee of the Red Cross
• How her experience in People Analytics is supporting her in her new role as HR Partner for the Near and Middle East Region at the Red Cross

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how to set up and develop a People Analytics team and the unique challenges involved in leading a small team in a humanitarian organisation. So that is CHRO’s, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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Welcome to the fourth of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast that collectively provide an outside in perspective on HR. In many respects the COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a people crisis and it has been heartening to witness that many organisations we work with at Insight222 have put the safety and wellness of their workforce at the centre of their response to the crisis. However, multiple studies show that an alarming majority of employees are actively disengaged and un-motivated. They are not helping their organisations and by suppressing what neuroscientists call “our seeking systems” organisations are not helping their employees by focusing on making work routine instead of creative and joyful.

Our guest for this week's episode is Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Dan explains that because we spend most of our waking hours at work, his mission is to spend his working hours trying to understand how people can feel like work is part of their real life, rather than the long commute to the weekend.

In our conversation Dan and I discuss:

• Why biology as opposed to lack of motivation causes the malaise of workplace disengagement
• How by galvanising three triggers, leaders can activate their employees seeking systems and drive exploration and learning
• How HR can use job crafting to drive engagement, stimulate learning, create innovation and essentially enable people to bring their best selves to work
• A three-step process for people to stimulate their full potential as outlined in Dan’s upcoming book, Exceptional.

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how neuroscience can help drive culture, engagement and wellness in their organisations. So that is Business Leaders, Organisational Psychologists, Chief HR Officers, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics or HR Business Partner role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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Welcome to the third of our series of summer special episodes of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast, providing an outside in perspective on HR.

The brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police on May the 25th has unleashed a sustained and unparalleled wave of protests around the world. This terrible incident highlighted once again, the scourge of racial injustice and the responsibility we all have to speak up against discrimination in any of its ugly and reprehensible forms. We all need to commit to help to drive change in our companies, in our HR and People Analytics communities and in our societies.

The guest on this episode of the podcast is Diversity Strategist, Torin Ellis, who has worked with companies ranging from small 20 person startups to some of the biggest multinational companies, to help them identify inhibitors that stall the consistent achievement of the diversity, equity and inclusion objectives achieved through recruitment.

We start our discussion with the glaring injustices that the killing of George Floyd, once again, highlighted and then transition to how HR and recruiting professionals can support their organisations to be truly inclusive and equitable by following a simple and purposeful mantra, focus on people.

In our conversation Torin and I discuss:

• How the killing of Mr Floyd and the process that it has inspired made Torin and other black people he knows feel
• What those of you listening can do to help make a difference
• Why true diversity, inclusion and equity results require leadership, un-wavering support and above all a focus on people
• Why hiring managers are at the crux of progress and how data can reveal some uncomfortable truths
• Examples of companies, including Nike and Allovue, who have created more inclusive organisations

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how to embed diversity in their organisations to create more inclusive and equitable workplaces. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs, Senior HR Leaders and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role. Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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The COVID-19 crisis is testing our political leaders like they have never been tested before. Leaders who appear to score high on narcissism and low on empathy are failing dismally. It is interesting that those political leaders, especially female leaders, who combine competence, transparency and empathy and are using data and science to inform their decision making appear to be performing much better. The brilliant Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is my guest on this week’s episode of the podcast. Tomas is an international authority in psychological profiling, talent management, leadership development and people analytics. Tomas has also written 10 books including his most recent, “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?”, and is one of the most knowledgeable interesting and engaging people in our field.

In our conversation Tomas and I also discuss:

• Why digital transformation is primarily about people and not technology and what this actually means for leaders, HR and employees
• Why skills is a new currency and why learning is paramount
• How people analytics can be integrated into other fields, such as diversity and inclusion
• How to stay on the right side of creepy when it comes to AI and analytics
• What HR needs to do to drive more value

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in ethical and empathetic leadership and the role of HR and how both will need to evolve as the use of data, analytics and digital technologies become widespread in our organisations. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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I can't think of a better way of starting this series of summer specials that are providing an outside-in perspective on HR, than by taking a closer examination of the concept of psychological safety. In the workplace, psychological safety is the belief that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. People feel able to speak up when needed with relevant ideas, questions or concerns without being shut down in a gratuitous way.

Psychological safety is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able, even obligated, to be candid. Those are the words of Amy Edmondson, my guest on this edition of The Digital HR Leaders Podcast. Amy is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, Author of "The Fearless Organisation - creating psychological safety in the workplace in learning, innovation and growth."

In our conversation, Amy and I discuss:

• The definition of psychological safety, what it is and what it is not
• The role of leaders and HR in creating psychological safety and the link between psychological safety and culture, learning, and innovation
• How to create psychological safety in virtual teams
• The relationship between psychological safety and transparency
• Examples of organisations who have created and embedded psychological safety and the subsequent benefits they have enjoyed

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in the role that culture, leadership and trust play in driving innovation and growth. So that is business leaders, Chief HR Officers, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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To celebrate the one year anniversary of this podcast and over 100,000 listens, we thought we would do something different. The team managed to persuade me to record a special role reversal episode of the podcast with me in the hot seat and the show’s co-creator Ian, firing the questions that some of you, including one of our previous guests Dave Ulrich, have kindly taken the time to send in. In this episode we look at the role of People Analytics in driving business value and how it is a key ingredient in HR’s success in the future.

In our conversation, Ian and I discuss:

• Five steps to getting started in People Analytics and why analytics is a team sport
• Where People Analytics belongs in an organisation and how the field has been impacted by COVID-19
• The most important skills required by HR professionals in a digital context
• The factors that provide me with optimism and pessimism about the future role of HR in delivering value both to the organisation and to the employee
• Why a human centred approach encompassing analytics, employee experience and digital technology promises a bright future for HR

This episode should be an interesting listen for anyone in a workforce or People Analytics role. HR and business professionals interested in how people data can drive business outcomes and CHRO’s looking to build or scale their People Analytics capabilities.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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The guest on this week’s podcast is Jeremy Shapiro, the Executive Director for Workforce Analytics at Merck. Jeremy is rightly considered as one of the most highly regarded and influential leaders in our field, and co-authored one of the first articles I ever read on People Analytics, the seminal Competing with Talent Analytics, which he co-wrote with Tom Davenport and Jeannie Harris and was published by the Harvard Business Review in October 2010. With the 10th anniversary of the article approaching, Jeremy and I thought it would be neat to reflect on the last 10 years, assess the considerable progress the field has made and ponder what lay ahead.

This episode is recorded in two parts, part 1 was recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, and part 2 was recorded more recently in the midst of the crisis.

In our conversation Jeremy and I discuss:

• How the workforce analytics team is organised at Merck and talk through examples of their work
• The New York strategic HR analytics meet up group that Jeremy co-founded and how this has helped foster a thriving people analytics community in the Big Apple
• Whether AI and automation is a threat or an opportunity for HR
• The work the team is doing around employee listening, both using active and passive data sources
• How the COVID-19 crisis is acting as an accelerant to digital transformation and the work of people analytics teams
• What the role of people analytics will be in the next normal

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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COVID-19 is changing our world irrevocably. First and foremost it is a health crisis, people are getting sick, families are losing loved ones and the virus is going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

In the words of this week's guest, Coronavirus might also be the great catalyst for business transformation. What previously was expected to develop over the course of several years is instead unfolding before our very eyes in the course of a few months. If the Future of Work requires restructured workplaces, redefined roles, rapid learning and reserves of trust, and it does, organisations are being challenged to do all that and more as they address the Coronavirus pandemic. Those are the words of this week's guest, Future of Work strategist, Heather McGowan, whose new book, The Adaptation Advantage, co-authored with Chris Shipley, has just been released.

In our conversation Heather and I discuss:

• Why COVID-19 is acting as the catalyst for business transformation and the Future of Work
• The pivotal role of culture and how leadership styles will adapt in the Future of Work.
• How we need to embrace and absorb new skills and let go of old ones
• Why our old measure of potential success, IQ has given way to EQ and is now shifting yet again to AQ or adaptability quotient
• Why the role of HR needs to evolve and what HR leaders need to do differently

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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This week's guest on the podcast is Thomas Rasmussen, one of the most respected and pre-eminent People Analytics leaders in the world. Thomas has built and led People Analytics teams at A.P Moller-Maersk, Shell and now National Australia Bank where he has responsibility for employee experience, digital, HR strategy as well as People Analytics. In his words, People Analytics is truly more impactful than ever. It has gone from being a strategic differentiator the best CHRO’s demand, to an absolute essential to manage the COVID-19 crisis.

In our conversation Thomas and I discuss:

• How people analytics is helping to support executives, managers and colleagues at National Australia Bank during the pandemic
• The progress of people analytics since Thomas and Dave Ulrich published their seminal 2015 paper, "How HR analytics avoids being a fad and why people analytics needs to be based in HR."
• How people analytics is organised at National Australia Bank, providing example case studies of the work
• How bringing employee experience, analytics and digital together creates a powerhouse and enables the scaling of analytics
• The importance of ethics and how this underpins people analytics and the use of people data for good.

This episode is a must listen for anyone in a workforce or people analytics role, HR and business professionals interested in how people data can drive business outcomes and CHRO’s looking to build or scale their people analytics capabilities.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the changes to the Future of Work. Many of the trends we expected to develop over the next year have come to pass quicker than expected. CHROs, as a recent article in the economist highlights, are at the fulcrum of an organisation's response to the crisis just as the CFO was in the global financial crisis.

Indeed, this crisis makes the main topic of this week's episode with Ravin Jesuthasan on the role of HR in the Future of Work even more important. Ravin is one of the lead authors of a fascinating recent study called HR 4.0, shaping people's strategies in the fourth industrial revolution, which is a collaboration between the World Economic Forum, Unilever, Saudi Aramco, and Willis Towers Watson, where Ravin is Managing Director.

In our conversation, Ravin and I discuss:

• The six imperatives that comprise HR 4.0 which include building an agile learning culture, developing new leadership capabilities, and enhancing the employee experience
• Examples of organisations who are already experiencing benefits from an advanced approach to managing and developing people
• The key skills required by the Chief People Officer and how these are changing
• Why HR decision science or people analytics is the key underpin of the future HR function

This episode is a must listen for CHROs and other HR leaders as well as those working in people analytics, workforce planning and employee experience roles.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by Insight222. To learn more, visit https://www.insight222.com

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