The global pandemic has been a huge challenge for most people around the world in the past year but many organisations are now adapting and finding new ways to be successful, especially in the field of Human Resources (HR).
In Tim Conroy’s keynote presentation on ‘The Top Priorities for HR Strategy in 2021’ at the recent HR Summit, the UK Country Manager for Winningtemp — a Frog portfolio company and leading employee-engagement software company — highlighted some useful tips for HR leaders for the year ahead.
In his presentation, he noted that post-pandemic people and leadership challenges may include mental health and well-being, work fatigue, flexibility, culture change, and isolation, among others. “There are huge challenges around people’s mental health today. Also, that will affect people in the future as many have become disconnected from their workplaces and the local culture.”
He shared that the themes that should be emphasised for good people management post-pandemic are: Collaboration, Compassion and Humility, Inspiration, and Clarity. Meanwhile, how businesses adapt and reinvent themselves are likewise key to the HR’s mission. Conroy outlined in his talk what he believes the best HR opportunities are in 2021:
Encourage the right type of leadership
“Now, more than ever, we need empathetic leadership and we can use that into the future. A way to achieve this, as the people team, is to break down engagement into subcompartments and to encourage the right type of leadership, not just now but on a continuous basis.”
Continuous measurements and feedback
“No one believes that we’ll go back to exactly where we were pre-pandemic, and one approach to this is to frequently, closely measure the organisation temperature by subcomponents to really understand what’s happening so that changes and challenges can be picked up and dealt with quickly.”
A data-driven approach for leaders
“Use data to empower managers to be the best possible leaders they can be with the right type of leadership.”
Watch the full video here.
