Highlights from the Conference Board's HR Summit

By David Creelman

Why do we go to conferences? Some say to get out of their bubble, others want to meet people working on the same kind of problem they are, but the most common response is “If I can just get one good idea from each speaker it is worth it.”

The Conference Board of Canada’s 2011 HR Summit, organized Deborah Nixon of Trust Learning Solutions, had good ideas spilling out for a day and half. I can’t possibly share them all, but here are a dozen memorable insights.

Three Ideas about Leadership
* The inner game. Executive coach Clare Cheesewright shared the 'inner game' perspective that improving leadership is often about confronting the interferences that are holding us back. Take office politics: some otherwise capable managers think office politics equals dirty tricks. They let this myth interfere with doing practical things like quietly running ideas by key stakeholders before a meeting, remembering the CEO assistant's birthday and modifying a proposal to sidestep a sensitive issue. Getting past that myth will make them a more effective leader.

* When work is just a job. A manager once told Lee Piccoli, CEO of Fusion Homes, that a new employee didn't seem to be deeply committed. Concerned, Piccoli asked some questions “What are his real interests?”, “What are his hobbies?”, and “What's his wife's name?” The manager responded that he'd been busy and hadn't really got to know the new person. Piccoli’s blunt comment was “If you're treating him like an employee, don't be surprised he's treating work like a job.”

* Level 3 evaluation. When Traci Wells wanted to create an excellent leadership development program at Rogers Communications, she took the step we all know about but rarely do: she did a Kirkpatrick Level 3 evaluation of the program that assessed changes in behaviour. How did that go? To be honest, managers hated it and everyone was relieved when they were finished, but it gave the sort of specific insights needed to tune the course so it was really effective., Having the courage to do a Level 3 evaluation was important in making a course that made a difference.

Three Ideas about Values and Trust
* Deeper than competence. Whether the speaker was from Zappos or Lululemon or Royal Caribbean they cared about something much deeper than whether someone had the competencies to do the work; they wanted people to fit in to an atmosphere of mutual support and trust. As Lululemon put it, “They have to be someone you want to hang out with”. All organizations do a certain amount of sussing out whether a person will fit in, but these organizations have created such strong cultures that finding people who come to deeply trust one another is a key part of hiring.

* Values over rules. Trust depends not just on who you hire but how you treat them. Again and again the great organizations presenting at the conference showed a distaste for managing by policy. At Zappos they don't give call centre employees scripts to follow nor do they insist they finish each call in a certain number of minutes. They trust the employees have the wisdom to make the right decisions. They let values guide the culture, not rules.

* Values before profits. For values to be real, they have to come before short term profits. Zappos had one customer call go on for 8 hours. There was no fury of accountants tearing their hair out at this uneconomic strategy. This was living the value of customer service, and when that value runs up against short term costs the value wins. Fusion Homes wiped out a whole quarter of profit to finish some homes on time when they easily could have followed the industry standard practice of telling customers there had been an ‘unavoidable delay’. Do employees at Fusion Home believe the espoused value of delivering excellent work on time is real? Of course they do.

Three Ideas about Health
* Non-embarrassing fitness. We know that sitting all day is poor for our health and energy levels, but do you really want to get up in your business clothes and do exercises with a lot of strangers? I thought no, but Tri Fit proved otherwise. They led short fitness breaks that were fun and comfortable to do. It's an effective way to raise the energy level of a meeting. A side conversation with Tri Fit showed there is more to this than health, : the act of everyone getting up for a little fun stretching together builds a feeling of comradeship. HR folks should be alert to just how valuable that aspect of an exercise break can be.

* The dark side of passion. On the darker side, Traci Wells shared the story of how her utter commitment to work caused her to literally drop dead at the office, brought back to life only by the presence of an automated external defibrillator (Is there an AED nearby in your building?) Traci struggling back to consciousness at the hospital had one thought “I'm late for a meeting!” Traci found her passion for work had morphed into a dangerously unhealthy obsession. It's good to care about work, but not to the point it damages your health.

*       Toxic cultures and health. The folks at Knightsbridge shared the wrenching story of a committed manager driving to make change in a toxic culture, only to be struck down by cancer. The manager attributed the cancer to the years of chronic stress in that culture. Yes you need to be committed to work, but if you are mired in a toxic situation then you need to bail.

Three Ideas about Engagement
*       Appreciate the low hanging fruit. OC Tanner made a compelling case that when it comes to engagement; the low hanging fruit is showing appreciation for employees. If you are struggling to get engagement levels up, start by convincing your managers that timely, specific, and genuine shows of appreciation have a big impact. Showing appreciation is a basic interpersonal skill that many managers seem to lack; they need training, encouragement and good role models to make this an everyday part of their management style.

*       A philosophy not a program. A common theme at the conference was that engagement is a philosophy not a program. There is no end point where you say “Engagement, we did that, what's next”. Engagement must be a philosophy, practiced daily.

* We can affect engagement. One last point was demonstrated by the speakers: if you are committed to getting world class engagement, you really can get there. Many organizations get stuck at some 'ok' level and feel there is nothing more they can do to move the needle. But the experience of great companies shows that if you are focused and committed you can make big changes to engagement.

It is always hard to drag ourselves away from our ‘to do’ lists to get out to a conference, but they provide a place of reflection and inspiration. And the relationships you build there can continue to pay off for years.