Reimagining HR and Maximising Our Impact

Episode 3: Reimagining HR and Maximising Our Impact

It’s all about people, purpose and impact.

In this episode, I talk about the fire and baby in my belly and why I’m driven to reimagine HR. It’s all about people, purpose and impact. And without those three elements, I can’t change the world. But I’m just HR, right? How could I possibly change the world? How could I change your world? I returned to Australia in 2018 with a fire and baby in my belly to approach life and work differently. I had different perspectives on culture and wealth and happiness and success. I’d seen the results of leading with heart overhead and the impact we can have on individuals, teams and whole communities. It was meaningful. I, uh, wanted my work to be meaningful, to create a legacy, not just for my kid, but for my profession, but with a migrant husband on a visa with no work rights. I tried to go back to work early after having our daughter. I tried finding part time work so I could balance my family. And despite two decades in my industry and being at the top of my career, I was offered roles and salary that I’d got as a graduate. So, this is what the motherhood penalty looks like. This is what gender inequality looks like. This is what inflexible workplaces look like. Noting, this was pre pandemic and we’re having a same, same, but different debate now.

The wind was knocked out of my sails, but then it started to fuel the flames again

The wind was knocked out of my sails, but then it started to fuel the flames again. In Cambodia, I worked with global organisations, doing phenomenal things for the world.  I spent time with business leaders who I never would have had the chance to meet at home.  people like Dave Ulrich. But even with Dave being known as the father of modern HR, there’s a new generation and thinking coming through that we’ve got an opportunity to explore. And some of the most powerful influences don’t even come from within HR. They come from marketing, they come from tech, they come from the community. I was excited to shake things up and share with clients in Australia what we’d been applying in AIPAC, using our global insights. And I started talking with new and old colleagues working in HR. Let’s just say they didn’t have the same fire in their belly. It was more like a knot in their stomach. I spoke with HR teams and leaders who were feeling the burn. They weren’t feeling the love. I’m still talking with them, and they tell me that they’re under-resourced, that they’re overwhelmed, that they have over-committed and undervalued. Life’s too short to be unhappy at work. Yet many HR professionals who are free to shape. Their careers are just that, disengaged, unfulfilled, and miserable.

They tell me that they’ve got no time for podcasts, that there’s no time for articles, no time for networking, which often means that there’s no time for fresh thinking, there’s no time for innovation, and definitely no time for fun and I get it because I was there ten years ago, and I remember what it feels like, but I also know what it feels like to be free of it. And there’s too much noise, there’s too much content and conflicting ideas to navigate when you’re too busy. And the way we think about our work often lacks the deliberate intent that we need to be productive and to make cool stuff happen. And people have been asking me to do a podcast for ages because they know that I’m chatting to people at stupid hours of the night or taking the time to figure out the sales from the substance. And I honestly wish that I’d had someone like me to fast track, giving me content that I should care about when I was working in house.

And I know from my research that HR and business leaders need help to cut through the b’s, to explore different ways of thinking and to inspire them to create high impact HR functions. But this podcast isn’t about me rabbiting on all the time. I want to introduce you to people who are doing cool stuff, who are thinking about things differently, and who are making the world better. I have so many HR horror stories for us to unpack, and we will share some of those in my solo episodes, but I also want to hear yours. I want to understand how we can do better, but also create a community so we’re not trying to do this alone again. Life is too short. Us humans are built to be together. Relationships, connection.  It’s about people. How many times have you told someone at a barbecue that you work in HR and they roll their eyes or they pull a face, or they make some smart ass remarkable. Oh, human robots, human remains, or the fun police, the business blockers.

I help my coaching clients to tap into their narrative so they can come back with vast wit and substance to those comments.  it’s the golden triangle of knowing what you bring, how you help, and why it lights you up. And I don’t disconnect myself from HR. I might not be in the house anymore, but I proudly tell people I work in HR, and I do. I work in this space. I consult in this space. And I want that for others, too. But you gotta be able to back it up, right? And that’s the opportunity that we have to level up.

Sales expert Julia Hewitt has some tips on networking.

By the way, the worst question to ask someone at a barbecue or networking event is what do you do? Boring. If you hate answering it, stop asking it. Sales expert Julia Hewitt has some really cool tips on networking to make sure you’re connecting and not collecting. And I’ll put the link in the notes so you can check it out, but it’s things like swapping. What do you do with questions like, do you prefer to talk about industry stuff or would you rather we workshop Game of Thrones, math or survivor?  you’ll find out more about the person behind the profession and you’re likely to be more interested. You can’t fake it if you really want to connect with people. So ask a question that you actually want to talk about or chat more about.  One of my biggest reminders from my time in Cambodia was the genuine focus on relationships and meaningful connections. And I feel like we’ve lost that and I’m bringing it back.

With the re-imagined HR community, I am bringing it back. Networking aside though, the eye rolling comes from some reputational damage we have as a HR profession. And if we don’t do anything purposeful to address it, it won’t get better. It’s not going to change. We need to enhance our brand and reputation to gain trust, for HR to have credibility and demonstrate our value as a strategic partner in the organization’s success. And I do a lot of work in the consulting space exploring how people’s strategy impacts profit and customer experiences and productivity. It’s not the HR agenda, it’s understanding the business agenda. And along the way I’ve realised the opportunity to help HR teams to strengthen their business, commercial and strategic acumen so they can help organisations to achieve extraordinary things.

Susan Colintuano has a great TED talk on career advice. She probably didn’t get that and explores it in more detail. She calls it the missing 33% that contributes to the gender pay gap. And given that so many HR leaders are women, it’s probably what’s stopping us from getting from the middle to the top. It’s the missing link for Chro stepping into CEO roles. Lena Nair is a great example of someone that’s overcome this. She was the global head of HR for Unilever and she’s now the CEO of Chanel. And she deliberately spent time in operations, and she focused more on the business and the external community than she did on operational HR activity. And Lena Nair’s actually just an inspirational human. And I take the time to find those people so I can soak up their brilliance if I’m having a bad day. Her motto is lift as you climb. And that is hands down what I’m here to do through reimagine HR. It’s to lift other people up as we all climb higher. But let’s stay real here. I’ve had bad days. I have bad days. It is not all sparkles and rainbows over here at reimagine HR, and we are not immune to the challenges and the barriers that you’re experiencing in house if you’re working in HR and we still find ourselves banging our heads against a brick wall or on occasion, being immersed in Groundhog Day moments. But the key. The key, though, is mastering how to identify early and reposition yourself so you don’t get stuck. Being stuck is the antidote to happiness.

Being stuck prevents personal growth and fulfillment. It stops our ability to pursue meaningful goals and experiences. So it ultimately leads to stagnation and being unhappy and dissatisfied. I help people to get unstuck. and it’s some of my most rewarding work.  Like, whether it’s one on one coaching or small group coaching, when you get to see people grow in their clarity, their confidence, their capability to go on and do epic things and live their best lives, it is the best feeling. Like, it’s the rewarding work feeling that I bottled up in Cambodia and I refuse to let go of. And you know how they say, like, finding joy in one aspect of life often leads to the discovery of more joy. So, I like to look at it as, the cycle of happiness, the more happiness we can create in people’s roles, the more happiness that’s going to flow through to us as a collective. And it’s addictive, it’s infectious.

So, I want my HR colleagues to get a taste of it and to go on to transform their lives, their teams, and their workplaces, because the reality is, it’s not just about us. Right? Happiness is a competitive advantage in business. It fuels performance, it fuels success. So reimagining HR means looking at the business landscape with a different lens. It means stepping into that role as a business strategist. We’re not going to be engaged early in business discussions or decisions if we’re not contributing to a business conversation. And we do some cool work with HR teams so they can get comfortable and confident in that space. It’s game changing, but you don’t need a seat at the table because you’re actively sought out for advice and insights to help solve business problems. And Natal Dank doing some great work on design thinking and agile HR to support us in addressing the real business problems our organisations face. And I’ve been working in that space for quite some time now and it’s a big part of our signature programmes like the HR breakthrough experience.

I want HR teams to have breakthrough moments so they can fundamentally change the way they think about HR.  By definition, breakthroughs often come from moments of breakdown or adversity. We don’t want that. But without that adversity, we don’t have the mirror that’s highlighting the potential for growth and resilience in those challenging situations. So, in a workshop setting, we might create the safe space for considering the moments that challenge us the most and what we can learn from them and flip on its head. But often it’s also the opportunity that comes from throwing out the HR rulebook and freeing our thinking from the shackles of the rules.

COVID gave us the most amazing platform to completely change the way we engage, manage and develop our workforce. So why have so many of us gone back,  gone back to the bureaucracy, the rigidity, the rules based approach?  We can blame executive or organisational cultures, which are often underpinned by security and fear, but how influential are we in persuading them to think differently? Because culture change is a long game, right? For me, I equate it to my fitness and health goals, which I’m not nailing right now, if I’m being honest. But you need to be clear and deliberate in your goals and then consciously adopt daily habits every blessed day that are going to help change the behaviours that are giving you poor health outcomes. Organisations are the same. Boards and executives need to truly have a desire to change culture and to change their own habits and behaviours. And commit to sacking that brilliant jerk who might bring in the most sales but also bring the most toxicity into your organisation, poisoning the productivity and morale of at least 20 people around them, if not more. No more brilliant jerks. Again, for those at the back, no more brilliant jerks. It takes courage, though, right? And in those moments, a CEO needs their ChrO more than ever before, providing evidence of the negative impact on the culture, suggesting alternative solutions and ensuring a fair and respectful process that’s aligned to organisational values. But we’re talking about real values, not those fake ones on posters that nobody actually recalls or lives by.

This podcast is about helping HR professionals reimagine their jobs and careers

I’m really conscious that in sharing all these reasons that I think we need to reimagine HR, that it can sound like I’m kicking my own profession in the guts. But that’s not why I’m here. This podcast is, for me, an opportunity to explore what is happening in your world, not to talk about the world according to Trina. And this is only because it’s early in the piece that I’m sharing my story to give you a platform to understand what’s coming next. But it’s also why I speak with global thought partners and seek out different insights, different to my own. The most important thing for me is the conversations, real conversations with real people about what works for them, what they’re navigating, what they’re trying and how it turned out. And I’ve said in previous episodes that I’m here to change the world. And while I’ve been told that that’s a bit too much and over the top, it’s why I’m showing up. It’s about improving on the past, to create a better future for HR, for our employees, for our companies, so they can promote kindness and empathy and understanding. And people might think that that’s just all warm, fuzzy, nice to have stuff. It changes performance. It changes business performance. It impacts the bottom line. So those successful companies can then advocate for social justice, address inequality, protect the environment, our workplace communities flow into our broader communities. Right? And so, we have an opportunity to foster collaboration and cooperation across all people. Too much? Mhm. I’ve heard that before. But not for me. But you do you, right? And you might not be setting out to change the world. No problemo. But you might want to improve your job. You might be interested in improving employee experiences. You might want to improve your brand and reputation. You might want to address the gender pay gap. Or you just might want to go home happier and with energy in the tank for the people who matter the most to you. And I’m here for all of it. I always talk about meeting people where they’re at. I’m a pragmatic person.

These podcasts are not going to be ranty, preachy soapbox exercises. I want to help. I’m here to help. You might be looking for innovative HR tools and solutions. You might be seeking continuous professional development resources or looking for networking opportunities in a community that gets you. You might want timely industry insights and trends. Or you might be looking for guidance on navigating problems and finding solutions.

Our vision at ReimagineHR.

It’s creating thriving organisations where employees feel connected, valued, inspired and empowered to do their best work, including you. 

Imagine that.