Feeling compelled this morning to write a blog (maybe something to do with the Manchester air - or the bacon & eggs...). I blame Perry Timms and Cris Beswick, who yesterday served up a barnstorming first open mic discussion on "how you get people to be extraordinary".
It can be a pretty tough ask to attract an audience at a lunchtime fringe event of this type, but seemingly out of thin air a "glittering array" (yes, according to Twitter, the collective noun for HR professionals) of at least 40 people packed out the "Ace Interactive" corner of the exhibition hall to think a little differently about innovation and what it takes to create exceptional organisations.
To be honest, I shouldn't have been that surprised, for Perry (Head of Talent & OD at The Big Lottery Fund) and Chris (author of "The Road to Innovation") had set up these 'conversations' (there will be another one today) by leaving a juicy trail of blog post and tweets for us to 'follow'.
I was hugely heartened by the eagerness of HR practitioners to embrace (at least at this conference among peers) the concept of 'positive disrupters' in the workplace, and the soul-destroying effects of 'silo thinking' and colleagues' with vested interests "playing games" (as Cris put it) in meetings. A big shout out to Barry Thorogood of Team International, who lived up to his name with some classy interventions from the floor including hints of the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh (see Plum Village) and stories about Ford workers empowered to innovate on the 'shop floor' by sharing some of the amazing stuff going on in their heads, and not just seen as "moving pieces of metal around". I grabbed the mic to make a case for how our perception of a 'brand' will become the aggregate of all that brand's people - and how employees should be rewarded for being 'social'. The stakes are high. As Jackie Orme said in her opening address, "I believe what we do over the next 2 years, will define the role and contribution of our profession over the next 20 years." I think Jackie is spot on.
Cris has already posted a blog about his impressions from this first session.
Besides Perry & Cris, Part II, and more servings of 'happiness' (the management trend du jour?) I'm looking forward to attending three sessions on Wednesday's main conference menu: "Employees First, Customers Second", "HR Leading Business Change", and "Trend Spotting & Future Thinking". All right up my street. And it's tweetup day, too.
I will try not to miss lunch again today (a sign of a good conference?). And on a 'happy' note... it's not raining.
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