Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeArtificial intelligenceHR transformationHR softwareAutomation

Embracing organisational agility as a CHRO: five key behaviours

by Mark Judd 8 Apr 2021
by Mark Judd 8 Apr 2021 People leaders' ability to be agile can impact performance. Photo: Jamie Roach / Alamy
People leaders' ability to be agile can impact performance. Photo: Jamie Roach / Alamy

The pandemic forced the chief human resources officer to make decisions about personnel, recruitment and furloughs in a matter of hours. Mark Judd examines how, after the initial shock, fluctuating economic conditions and ongoing lockdowns, HR teams became used to operating in a climate of continuous and unprecedented change.

In the face of change, the most resilient companies are those that remain agile. In fact, a recent Workday study on organisational agility highlighted that the top-performing companies were 10 times more likely to react quickly to market shifts, verifying that agility is more often than not synonymous with performance.

And it starts with the CHRO. Implementing agility successfully, requires the c-suite to lead the charge. The CHRO, in particular, has an essential role in establishing an agile culture across the business. After all, an organisation cannot be agile if its people are not on board.

The challenge is that, while a lot of CHROs recognise the importance of agility, creating a culture of agility is easier said than done. In fact according to the study, a third of CHROs still don’t think their company’s strategy enables them to respond to market change. And, for a lot of organisations, the pandemic has put a strain on their culture and operations as people cannot communicate in-person and access systems, data, and information as easily remotely.

Personnel Today Awards 2021
opens for entries

It all starts with a frictionless foundation; the sort that you can only get from a fully cloud-based technology. With that, you can start to develop a clear picture of your financial, people and operational data. Data is always live, easy to understand and secure. Organisations can start to benefit from technologies such as machine learning, conversational assistance, and data-to-data point analysis.

Capabilities, such as these, help large organisations, with multiple sites, and thousands of employees, to standardise practices in areas such as recruitment and training procedures – which we know can be a vital asset to maximise workplace performance.

With this foundation in place, the CHRO is in a position to start building a culture of agility. There are five key behaviours identified by Workday’s global organisational agility and digital growth survey:

  • Be responsive — Companies need the ability to plan continuously and in real-time to overcome uncertainty. This means CHROs have to implement real-time scenario planning so they have the agility to manage ongoing challenges such as fluctuating team capacities. Fail to implement real-time scenario planning, and CHROs could face staff shortages, unsupported employees and a workforce that is not equipped with the right skills to transition out of lockdown.
  • Be adaptable — Enterprises must create flexible organisational structures and processes that enable both the business and leadership to pivot quickly in the face of change. Opening discussions across departments, in particular with finance and legal, can help the CHRO adapt at speed and feel supported.
  • Be skilled — Companies have to plan for upskilling the majority of their workforce and increasing employee engagement. In fact, 50% of organisations are already planning to upskill their workforce by 2024 to adapt to the changes in the working environment. The CHRO is central in initiating the right recruitment and training to equip the organisation with the future skills required. With organisations easing out of lockdown, it is integral that CHROs are preparing their organisation with the right talent if it is to succeed post-pandemic.
  • Be empowered — CHROs must empower decision-making at every level by equipping employees with the information and data they need to innovate and make independent, and yet informed decisions. This is also a core component to maintaining strong employee engagement in a remote setup. Organisations can build trust with their workforce through enabling more access to data which, in turn, helps maintain a good culture under these challenging times.
  • Take control — CHROs need to be able to recognise failure and act on it. They should understand if something isn’t working, switch gears and try a different approach. Finding ways to measure performance and pivot to avoid risk are essential traits in keeping agile, in particular during the pandemic, and should be embedded into the organisation’s culture.

Last year’s challenges, from furloughs to remote working, taught CHROs the importance of being able to rapidly adapt to change. This year, CHROs leaders have the opportunity to consolidate their learnings from the pandemic by fully embracing agile ways of working for the long-term. This starts with building an agile culture across the organisation. Those that take the time to invest in the right behaviours will lead their businesses into a position of stability and opportunity.

  HR Systems opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more HR systems jobs

Avatar
Mark Judd

Mark Judd is vice-president, HCM Product Strategy, EMEA at Workday.

previous post
Firefighter who called gay colleague ‘half a man’ wins £12k pay out
next post
Oxfam suspended from UK funding amid new misconduct claims

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

What is employee wellbeing? Gethin Nadin talks to...

13 May 2022

Productivity blighted by users’ tech problems, research reveals

6 May 2022

Four ways technology can help improve health and...

26 Apr 2022

Work in the metaverse: what should HR prepare...

1 Apr 2022

How to make the best of tech to...

10 Feb 2022

Could the metaverse take hybrid work to the...

25 Jan 2022

End ghosting in recruitment: Technology means there’s no...

25 Jan 2022

Survey: Engage with frontline workers or risk losing...

20 Jan 2022

Why algorithms at work aren’t all bad

18 Jan 2022

How HR can get ahead of AI regulation

4 Jan 2022
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+