Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER July 11, 2016 10 EXECUTIVE SERIES/NEWS Taking the lead in a volatile business world "Hear how HR executives are leading HR and driving business success in today's VUCA environment" was the compel- ling draw at a recent SCN meeting. VUCA is an acronym that emerged from the military in the late 1990s and stands for volatil- ity, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. e term unmistak- ably depicts our ever-increasing, unstable and rapidly changing business world. In late 2014 to early 2015, Aon Hewitt interviewed, surveyed and assessed 45 CHROs in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia about their journey to the CHRO position. The question in the study that the SCN event focused on was "Is HR developing its own leaders to tackle the challenges of a dynamic environment?" e study concluded HR lead- ers need to master five critical ca- pabilities: leading self, leading the function, leading up and leading across. (To learn about the fifth, people need to download the sur- vey from their website.) e model certainly provides a framework for HR professional development; however, how the four/five capabilities drive busi- ness success in a VUCA environ- ment is not exactly clear to me. To learn how and what HR lead- ers and talent managers are do- ing differently to drive success in a VUCA business world was the real attraction. Hearing from the three HR ex- ecutives about how HR was lead- ing the change by adapting HR strategies would have been invalu- able. However, no mention was made about expanding leadership expertise and behaviours that en- courage greater understanding, precision, adaptability and agility. No examples were offered on how HR is changing its strategies and supporting leaders in champi- oning a vision for change and rein- forcing the ability to adjust quickly to local and global trends. Nobody talked about how HR is taking or needed to take the lead in replac- ing traditional hierarchies with ef- ficient networks and building new levels of interconnection, collabo- ration and interdependency. I'm certain that in this new "chaotic norm," meaning the VUCA environment, HR leaders are finding conventional leader- ship skills are becoming increas- ingly outdated. It seems to me that a VUCA business world requires leaders to think and act in entirely new ways if they are to make sense of the unforeseen, supposedly unsolvable issues and convoluted challenges they face. Without a doubt, leaders in the VUCA world are expected to make relentless shifts along with speedy decisions. Somehow, the Aon Hewitt study doesn't really address the original question put forward by SCN. Naturally, I wonder if it's possi- ble that, unintentionally, for some leaders and organizations, VUCA has become an overwhelming di- lemma in their business world. Is it also possible some leaders find the state of uncertainty so distressing that any efforts with flexibility, innovation and trans- parency have stopped working? Here's where I believe HR lead- ers can and need to seize opportu- nity. By taking the lead, HR needs to ensure leaders learn and prac- tise newfound behaviours, skills and mindsets to adapt, respond, navigate and succeed in today's VUCA environment. Trish Maguire is a commentator for SCNetwork on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership develop- ment coaching. She has held senior leadership roles in human resources and organizational development in education, manufacturing and entre- preneurial firms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. Trish Maguire Leadership In Action Leaders are expected to make relentless shifts along with speedy decisions. and challenging for workers and employers alike. At the same time, higher participation rates for women in the labour force, the rise of dual earner and single par- ent families, growing demands for informal caregiving as the popu- lation ages, and other factors are creating added family and per- sonal responsibilities, especially for middle-class Canadians and those working hard to join them." The Canada Labour Code would be amended to allow work- ers in federally regulated sec- tors to formally request flexible work arrangements from their employers. "As a number of recent studies suggest, many are seeking more flexibility in when, how and where they work because they highly val- ue work-life balance. Millennials are the fastest growing segment of Canada's workforce and have now become the largest generation in the Canadian workforce," said Mihychuk, adding the proposal is designed to ensure workers do not lose their jobs or the necessary hours to qualify for employment insurance. e demand for flexible work options is growing rapidly, ac- cording to Ian Cameron, manag- ing director of the McQuaig In- stitute in Toronto, which does an annual global talent recruitment survey. "In 2015, 20 per cent of our respondents said that they were starting to offer flexible work ar- rangements to attract talent to their organization. And in 2016, that went up five per cent to 25 per cent. So it does seem to be trend- ing that way." Millennials want more Right now, millennials make up about 36 per cent of the workforce in North America, said Cameron. "And over the next decade, they're going to take over in terms of the largest population in the workforce... And a lot of what they value is a work-life balance," he said. "ey want to be able to have more of a flex work environment." When employees are given appropriate flexibility, it allows them to continue to deliver great results, but they're often able to manage and balance competing work and family priorities, said Genevieve Coleman, manag- ing principal at Korn Ferry Hay Group in Waltham, MA. "One thing we often talk about is work-life integration, so they're able to do their job, do it well, and manage whatever it is that they need to manage that's going to take their attention away from their work," she said. "It can create higher levels of engagement, loyalty and commit- ment to an organization. In some cases too, it even can help with productivity and performance because it's less about where work gets done or when work gets done. "It's never a question of the work not getting done." Employer hesitation But there's still no shortage of hesitation on employers' part, said Coleman. And that hesitation can be categorized in one of two ways. "Either leaders or managers think the results are going to suf- fer or, two, it's going to be more challenging to manage a team that has flexibility in their schedule. Now, that's certainly not the case, but that's sometimes why we've seen the hesitation," she said. Appropriate flexibility is depen- dent on business requirements, of course. And there are certain per- sonality types — or profile types — that don't feel all that comfortable with flex work, said Cameron. "ey actually prefer to have some very well-defined structure — rules and regulations and processes to follow that are very consistent because it helps them feel like they're doing the right thing, they're doing a good job. Without that, they feel a little lost and unsure what the right way to go is," he said. "One of the challenges is… some of them will thrive in a flexible work environment, and others will find it very difficult." Another challenge is how to create work environments that provide both flexibility and struc- ture and guidelines, to meet peo- ple's preferences. "Maybe that's the definition of flexible — it's not always work flexibility for everyone, it's flex- ible in that it could be either-or: structured and well-defined, or variable, depending on who the people are that you're working with," said Cameron. "e closer you get to manufacturing or pro- duction (sectors), that's harder, because people feel like you can't allow flexibility because how's the work going to get done? So it's being creative. A flexible work ar- rangement, there's lots of ways to make that happen," she said. "When you're in more of a manufacturing 24-7 environment or there's shift work, those are the places where you have to be just a little bit more creative." It's helpful to go back to under- standing your workforce, accord- ing to Cameron. "What are we working with? Who is our workforce? What type of characteristics embody our workforce right down to the individual level? And then based on that insight, deriving some ways to structure it. And right on the heels of that, how are you go- ing to manage it?" he said. "Flexible can mean a lot of things — it could be flex hours, it could be working from home, it could be working at a distance, it could be a lot of different things. So how do you actually manage people under those situations? That's a chal- lenge as well. It could mean that even management has to work in more of a flex work environment because they may need to be pro- viding someone with coaching, management, feedback at eight o'clock at night or over Skype." Management support One of the things that can make or break flexible work arrangements work is the level of support that you have from line managers, said Coleman. "We know that in a lot of orga- nizations that have flexible work arrangements, there's some level of policy around it, but when it comes to the actual practice of managers approving it, supporting it, that's where sometimes there can be a breakdown," she said. "We've seen organizations that have great formal flexible work policies, but their managers don't really understand it, or they're not held accountable, or even the policy hasn't been communicated well to managers. So ensuring that managers understand what the policy is, that it's been com- municated to them, they've been educated on it, and they feel like they have the support of the orga- nization on how to interpret it and make it work within their respec- tive areas of the business — that's one of the key things." Employers still hesitant about providing flex work "When it comes to the actual practice of manager support, it can break down." Federally regulated bank employees could see greater flexibility in their work arrangements with changes to the Canada Labour Code. Credit: Chris Wattie (Reuters) LABOUR CODE < pg. 1

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