Tag: Motivation

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MAP Student Conference 2017 – T-minus 13 hours… and counting!

by Natalie EllisLeave a Comment on MAP Student Conference 2017 – T-minus 13 hours… and counting!

Aston University

We’re fast approaching the Midlands Area Partnership student conference at Aston University and the organisers cannot wait to meet, greet and network with everyone attending!

Ok so there is a heck of a lot to get through in just one day so what actually goes on prior to the event? This blog post is to fill in all the details to highlight exactly how much work goes into making these events a success.

First of all there is a lot of organising to do, budgeting, sourcing an appropriate venue, guest speakers to discuss relevant topics, catering (well of course! If you’re giving up a Saturday you need a vast amount of coffee, tea and food to keep those brains engaged!). Then there’s the task of confirming the attendees, any dietary requirements that they may have and any access requests to the venue so that everyone can enjoy the event.

The organisers will be at the venue very early on the morning of the event to conduct final checks and to ensure everything is set up in time for the delegates to arrive, they are of course our guests!

This is just a short burst of what happens behind the scenes, the day itself is much more fast paced, so this year there will be just half an hour to book in all 200 attendees between 9:00-9:30am and waiting to greet you will be Nic, Gill, Max and Janice so make sure this is your first point of contact.

As this event is completely sold out, we don’t want those who were unable to attend missing out so myself, Amy and Priya will be hosting a mini blog squad reunion so pop over and see us as we’ll be gathering the information from our speakers, talking to as many people as possible to gather your thoughts on the event but also you can ask us anything, we’re here to highlight the key topics at the event.

Finally we can then hand over to the speakers, this year we have a welcome address from David D’Souza and an opening keynote from Dr Richard MacKinnon before moving into the breakout sessions which consist of relevant topics in today’s HR world.

One thing I am really looking forward to is the HRD Panel at 14:20pm with Dr Richard MacKinnon, Simon Lewis and Carol Carson so make sure you don’t miss it!

Finally there’s the closing keynote from Tiffany Poeppelman, a really passionate organisational psychologist so this is something I’m particularly excited about attending for so I’ll be quoting from her a lot on Twitter.

In advance of the event, a huge thank you to the CIPD, Midlands Area Partnership, our fantastic speakers, organisers, volunteers, Aston University and personal thanks goes to Eleanor Lloyd-Jones for making this event happen.

I’m off to watch the rugby now and will see you all bright and early tomorrow. Don’t forget to pop over and see me at the Northamptonshire Branch stand after lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Blogging, Business, Career, Career Woman, CIPD, Conference and Exhibition, Employee well being, Health, HR, Human Resources, Love, People Management, Random Acts of Kindness, Uncategorized, Wellness, women in business

#HRActsofKindness is back!

by Natalie EllisLeave a Comment on #HRActsofKindness is back!

kindness

In June this year I launched a small idea called “HR Acts of Kindness” after witnessing the impact of the brexit result. The result not only divided opinion but also divided relationships and had a big impact on the way organisations conducted business.

I remember driving home after seeing the impact it had on my work environment and thinking that there must be a way to turn this divide into a positive and to unite people again and that’s when HR Acts of Kindness was born; in the driving seat of my Mini Cooper!

Little did I know the overwhelming response I would receive to those 5 challenges!

Due to the support and people asking me to bring it back; I wanted to re-launch HR Acts of Kindness with a festive twist in hope to keep the kindness going. You don’t have to be in HR, you just need to have a desire to make a difference. Thank you to all of you who have messaged me, told me your stories and encouraged the success of this small idea that escalated rather quickly!

Christmas can be a difficult time of the year for so many people and I’m asking the HR community to help me kick start a kindness movement which will help those who need it most at this time of year.

At the Annual Conference and Exhibition, Peter Cheese spoke of how HR needs to adapt and be relevant to the needs of not only businesses but our communities and by us working collaboratively we can inspire the future of our profession. By launching HR Acts of Kindness, I believe this provides the perfect opportunity for us to make that impact and not to let what we learnt at ACE become a distant memory as we return to our day jobs.

I gave an interview to Ady Howes at DPG during the CIPD ACE 16 event and if you’d like to see it, I have put the You Tube link here: https://youtu.be/cmeotrPzTS8

Unlike the original HR Acts of Kindness, this time around, I am providing a full list of challenges tomorrow morning which will run from now until Christmas and it covers a whole list of different ways we can utilise our skills to support our work environment, employees, families and communities.

What I’d like to do is to get as many people involved and I want to hear your stories, pictures and anything else you’d like to share with me as you undertake one or more of these challenges.

Most of the challenges are free and there’s bound to be something for everyone to get involved with. Get your teams, departments and anyone else you can think of involved, we need as may people as possible to spread the kindness and reach as many people as we can.

As a thank you; when I receive your stories and pictures I have a special gift to send you so make sure you get those success stories in. After all, it’s nice to say thank you for taking part.

Together we can make our communities a better place; one small act of kindness at a time.

 

 

 

Business, Career, Career Woman, CIPD, Employee well being, HR, Human Resources, People Management, Random Acts of Kindness, Uncategorized, Wellness

#HRActofKindness Challenge Two: Reconnect

by Natalie Ellis1 Comment on #HRActofKindness Challenge Two: Reconnect

Welcome to day two and our second challenge. I hope you enjoyed yesterday and I’m looking forward to hearing what you got up to!

Reconnect with a former colleague or connection on Linked In or grab a coffee with a colleague that you’ve not had time for recently.

#HRActofKindness

Business, Career, Career Woman, CIPD, Employee well being, HR, Human Resources, People Management, Random Acts of Kindness, Uncategorized, Wellness

#HRActofKindness Challenge One: Recognition

by Natalie EllisLeave a Comment on #HRActofKindness Challenge One: Recognition

Good morning and welcome to challenge one. We are not starting small; today’s challenge is exactly that, a challenge!

Don’t forget to let me know how you are getting on and spread the word, let’s show the world what HR can do! Have a fantastic day.

Recognise when a colleague is having a bad day or if they are struggling;

find out what you can do to help and support them

#HRActofKindness

 

Business, Career, Career Woman, CIPD, HR, Human Resources, People Management, Uncategorized, women in business

Is HR really out of touch?

by Natalie EllisLeave a Comment on Is HR really out of touch?

Smileys

In January’s issue of People Management it was revealed that only 48% of employees knew who HR was and that they had not seen anyone from the function in over 12 months.

I took to Twitter and spoke to many what seemed to be many disgruntled employees, it caused quite a debate! They could not see the purpose of the department or had encountered their HR Manager in not just weeks or months, but YEARS! Some even compared HR to “being on the same level as estate agents” calling them confusing as there are no clear divisions of service. This begs the question, has HR lost touch with its workforce?

HR professionals also voiced discomfort at the findings, stating that the very reason they are part of the profession is to support employees as well at the business, they agreed that more needed to be done to improve relationships and indeed their reputation within their businesses. I 100% agree, it is up to us as HR professionals to get out from behind the desk and get in touch with our people. Since the publication came to light, I myself have made some changes in my diary and also make a point of going around the building and speaking to my colleagues, it is important for HR to be visible as otherwise you’ll end up fading into the beige walls, adding zero value and losing touch with employees.

Is it acceptable that HR are seen as simply too busy with meetings, administrative duties and other commitments that they have forgotten those who they are employed to support? I personally do not think it is and I don’t believe it is the case overall. Many issues can be resolved simply by sitting down with line managers and supporting their requirements to effectively manage their employees. I also think that HR should speak directly to employees to gain a further understanding of company culture and what they need to keep them happy at work (and no, money isn’t always the answer!). A survey cannot replace a relationship, I don’t believe they are effective and I also don’t believe they provide the honest answers needed in these types of situations.

In order for companies to move forward or progress, they must do so with the employees of that business behind them, if they don’t then it’s only a matter of time before the cracks start to show and relationships break down which then creates a divided “them and us” culture and is incredibly difficult to recover from. As Sir Richard Branson said “take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers”. Here are some handy tips that can improve communication and visibility as a HR professional:

  1. Speak to people, pick up the phone and use emails less. Only use an email when required to clarify information
  2. Move around the building, schedule time to go and speak to people, ask them about their jobs and take an interest, we know what they do on paper but do we know what they actually encounter every day
  3. Have an open door policy; going into HR is daunting enough without the locked doors and secret squirrel approach, we’re not MI5! Open the doors and make employees feel welcome!
  4. Get out there! If you have regional sites, schedule some visits and learn about the employees, we recently had our Managing Director go out on a back to the floor style exercise and went out with one of our delivery agents, they get to see what it is really like!
  5. Create an employee forum to meet once a quarter, discuss concerns in an open, non-judgmental environment, this will assist in building trust with the employees and learn what changes could be implemented to make improvements

Only we can create a positive impression of our profession, go out there, speak to your people and be a different story from those within the PM survey.

A huge thank you to those who contributed to my blog post by giving me their views on this controversial topic, by speaking to you I am able to understand the perspectives of others to hopefully inspire HR departments and employees to work together to make improvements. It is up to all of us as we share the responsibilities of our working environments after all.

As always, please feel free to suggest any topics you’d like to see, comment below and I look forward to hearing your views