Kaizen Hosts Human Resources Leaders Round Table Discussion

• diversity of thought in the workplace;
• leaning into the future and
• role of regulators post Royal Commission

Common challenges and opportunities that struck a chord amongst the group included:

• ways in which organisations can look beyond the visible characteristics of diversity, such as gender and age, and delve into, and bring to life, the benefits associated with diversity of thought;
• constraints that can exist at an ELT level, such as the ‘HiPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) effect’, which can stifle innovation based on the existence of an agreeable culture or avoidance of conflict;
• how to utilise the benefits of generational diversity by tapping into people’s minds, maximising knowledge and fostering learning and education opportunities;
• the investment, or lack thereof, in sophisticated HRIS’ to produce data as an enabler of predictive analysis in support of strategic decision making as well as a source of understanding, sharing and celebrating unique organisational characteristics such as cultural diversity;
• leveraging the disruption of technology in the workplace to create organisational benefits that promote flexible working arrangements for staff as well as collaborative digital work interaction via real-time and dynamic applications such as Yammer;
• investing in our leaders to support and improve their competencies for anticipation of change and leading into the future;
• the importance for organisations to weave ethical standards and behaviours into organisational culture that satisfactorily meets the expectations of multiple stakeholders and
• remuneration and employee value proposition as a challenge for SME’s when competing against multinational enterprises or top tier local corporations.