Search results for: "navigating employee relations"

In recent months, I’ve spoken to many HR professionals about all things employee relations or “ER.”

What stood out was the challenging nature of the role of those in ER.

The role of ER has never been more valuable to Australian employers, whose workplaces have never been more regulated.

Yes, compliance is a must, but meeting business objectives is also a must.

ER is at the pointy end of keeping a business out of trouble and getting things done.

The passion with which some very experienced HR leaders spoke inspired our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role (available upon request here). This is based on that feedback.

It’s built on four themes: mastery, judgement, strategy, and influence.

Off the back of our paper, Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role, I’m writing a series of five blogs. This is last in the series and it’s on “influence.”

You can have the best advice, but it’s useless if it doesn’t ‘land’. You can be right, but find yourself on your client’s “wrong” side. I’ve seen many examples of the same advice given but in a different way with vastly different outcomes for the advisor-client relationship. Indeed, when called upon to second guess an advice given by another law firm, I’m looking for how that advice was conveyed as a clue to why a second opinion has been sought.

The starting point is about building context. It’s about filling the void which otherwise sees you advising in a vacuum.

Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role recommends adopting the “clinician mindset.”

You are embarking on a diagnosis. The diagnosis can only follow a solid understanding. Questions and the power of inquiry are your best friend here.”

– Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role (point 39)

Great ER professionals listen well, address emotions, and deliver advice with empathy. There is the inevitable urge to “tell” early in the conversation. You are the advisor, after all. But the best advisors are great listeners first.

Decision-makers often seek a quick and binary answer: “Can I do this or not?” or “When can we do this?” Or they seek an inherently problematic pathway: “Tell me how I can do this.”

If your advice is counter to the stated need, you had better demonstrate your understanding of the problem first. If you don’t, your client will assume that your advice is flawed out of a lack of appreciation of what’s needed. This is why empathy is critical. Your client only has so much headcount, only has so much budget, is expected to deliver more with less, and is facing tougher competition in the market. Then you say, “Yes, we have to allow this flexible work request”, or “No, we can’t remove this poor performer,” or “No, the Award won’t allow you to roster in this way.”

Your advice may be right. But it’s ripe for challenge on the basis of “whose side are you on?”

As this blog series has highlighted, ER advisors are delivering complex advice. If there is a decision tree, the tree has branches whose pathways call for a degree of speculation about outcomes. It’s often difficult for managers who run operations built on clear and well-defined processes to understand the ambiguous and nuanced environment in which you advise. For example, it’s a legal environment where “reasonableness” is often the touchstone for what can or cannot be done. Reasonable minds can differ about where a decision ought to lie based on such a nebulous concept.

The complexity is compounded where: (1) you don’t understand the need, (2) they don’t understand the ambiguity, and (3) the balance of consequences is ill-defined. Point three takes us back to risk (see part three of this blog series).

Remember, empathy is key because emotions are involved. And in the most challenging advisory situations your relationship is fundamental. If they trust you, life is easier for you and your stakeholders. Build trust to be a better advisor.

This concludes our series aimed at the “ER” community looking to grow in their role. We hope you gained some valuable insights. Remember, if you would like a copy of our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role or to learn more about our ER Mastermind program, please click here.

Read the rest of the blog series here.

Subscribe to receive the next Workplace Law & Strategy blog direct to your inbox.

In recent months, I’ve spoken to many HR professionals about all things employee relations or “ER.”

What stood out was the challenging nature of the role of those in ER.

The role of ER has never been more valuable to Australian employers, whose workplaces have never been more regulated.

Yes, compliance is a must, but meeting business objectives is also a must.

ER is at the pointy end of keeping a business out of trouble and getting things done.

The passion with which some very experienced HR leaders spoke inspired our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role (available upon request here). This is based on that feedback.

It’s built on four themes: mastery, judgement, strategy, and influence.

Off the back of our paper, Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role, I’m writing a series of five blogs in five weeks.

So here’s blog four in our ‘5 of 5’.

One of those themes is “strategy”. Strategic thinking is essential for ER Professionals because it involves looking beyond the immediate, to develop optimal, long-term solutions. Observations on “strategy” and “strategic thinking” are ubiquitous. Formulas abound, very much context driven. Fundamentally, the many takes on “strategy” reveal some core elements: where are we, where do we want to be, and how will we get there?

Being “strategic” is often synonymous with “big picture’’ thinking. It’s the ability to see patterns, themes or connections. It’s the ability to ask: is this a trend, or what can we be doing to guard against this in the future? It’s factoring in company-wide implications for the issue at hand. It’s balancing the long term with the short term. It’s also ensuring that a problem is examined from various perspectives. It’s about looking ahead.” 

– Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role

But how do you develop strategic thinking? Strategic thinking requires understanding the broader context, including organisational goals, stakeholder interests, and the interplay of various factors. It’s a skill that can be developed.

It involves asking insightful questions, balancing short-term and long-term implications, and considering different perspectives to make informed decisions. Judgement is key here (see our previous blog – Part 3 – about judgement here).

To enhance strategy, models like SWOT and GROW can be leveraged to guide decision-making and ensure that advice aligns with organisational objectives and values. They are the very type of models that build skill as a strategic thinker. They can provide a lens through which to think about a problem.

Great advisors excel in the skill of “inquiry” by asking insightful questions at the right time to uncover deeper meaning and needs. Advisors are called upon to provide advice. So, it’s natural to want to ‘tell’. But great advisors excel at asking questions first. They are not afraid to ask “why”, “what else”, “how do you see…”, or “what matters most here?”. This is where the advisor turns coach.

Asking questions leads to a better understanding of reality (the current situation) which can provide reason for reconsidering a goal (desired outcome), as can consideration of alternatives (options). It’s about getting clarity. From our paper, comes this basic example to illustrate the point:

Manager: I really want to sack my head of sales (Goal)

You: Okay, why is that?

Manager: Just not performing. Sales are down. Direct reports are complaining about his attitude. I don’t think his head is in the right place. I’m having to pick up the slack. (Reality)

You: Why do you think that is?

Manager: I don’t know. He’s been grumpy, and I don’t think he’s happy with anything.

You: Why is that?

Manager: Don’t know – he’s hard to talk to.

You: What’s the impact of losing him now?

Manager: Terrible. He’s been good in the past. He’ll be tough to replace.

You: So, ideally, he stays, but improves? (Options)

Manager: Yes (New Goal)

I look forward to sharing the last part of this five-part series with you next week.

If you would like a copy of our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role or learn more about our ER Mastermind program, please click here.

Read the rest of the blog series here.

Subscribe to receive the next Workplace Law & Strategy blog direct to your inbox.

In recent months, I’ve spoken to many HR professionals about all things employee relations or “ER.”

What stood out was the challenging nature of the role of those in ER.

The role of ER has never been more valuable to Australian employers, whose workplaces have never been more regulated.

Yes, compliance is a must, but so too is meeting business objectives.

ER is at the pointy end of keeping a business out of trouble and getting things done.

The passion with which some very experienced HR leaders spoke inspired our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role (available upon request here). The paper is based on that feedback.

It’s built on four themes: mastery, judgement, strategy, and influence.

Off the back of our paper, Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role, I’m writing a series of five blogs in five weeks.

So here’s blog three in our ‘5 of 5’.

This week’s theme is “judgement”.

Judgement calls for what’s “right” in the moment having regard to the principles that matter.

Effective judgement involves a complex process of gathering, assessing, and weighing facts. Judgement involves applying knowledge within a particular context. It is the proper filtering and weighing of knowledge and facts. Therefore, the context needs to be understood, be it internal (the organisation) or external (environmental factors). It’s the cornerstone of moving from an “expert” to an “advisor.”

Our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role applies a five step model aimed at flexing the judgement ‘muscle’ being:

1.   Gather the facts

2.   Generate options

3.   Balance the consequences

4.   Apply what matters (or ‘values’)

5.   Review by learning from what happens next.

Good judgement calls for good questions. A mix of closed, open-ended, and evaluative questions will bolster a judgement call.

  • Do we do a deal or not?
  • What is the balance of consequences here?
  • Do we terminate the employment or not?
  • Did this actually happen?
  • What’s the impact here?
  • How likely is this?
  • How do we know?
  • What is missing here?
  • What’s the opportunity here?
  • What matters most here?

Judgement often calls for weighing “strategy” (making progress in line with organisational needs) with “risk” (the downside of things going wrong). These can be difficult to measure in a balanced way. A typical example is the benefits of removing a poor performer on team culture (intangible but certain) versus the risks associated with a claim (more tangible but uncertain).

There are times when risks are overestimated, with the path of least resistance as the preferred course. Conversely, there are times when risk is underestimated with the consequences of not appreciating them at the outset magnified. To quote the Stoic philosopher Seneca:

What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and the unexpectedness adds to the weight of the disaster.”

There are short term risk impacts and long-term impacts with the human condition prone to averting the former (industrial action) despite the bigger consequences of the latter (doing a deal that undermines the capacity to manage). Accepting voluntary redundancies is easy in the short term but hard in the long term when we are left with poorer performers.

Risk can be evaluated in terms of exposure (what could happen), impact (the harm), and prospect (or likelihood). In the ER context, there is a menu of typical risks. These are, in no particular order:

  • a legal claim
  • the costs of the defence to a claim
  • reputational impact
  • employee disengagement
  • stakeholder impact
  • employee harm
  • union agitation
  • industrial action
  • productivity impact
  • delay e.g., implementing change
  • business confidence
  • customer discontent.

Understating risk is important, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean becoming obsessed with its avoidance at any cost. Again, judgement is about doing what’s right having weighed all relevant factors. And, the ER advisor needs to be solutions-oriented asking and answering “what can we do” to balance “what can’t we do”.

I want my ER managers providing options, ideas, solutions, they need to do more than present the problems.”

– HR Director, University sector

I look forward to sharing part four of this five-part series with you next week.

If you would like a copy of our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role or learn more about our ER Mastermind program, please click here.

Read the rest of the blog series here.

Subscribe to receive the next Workplace Law & Strategy blog direct to your inbox.

In recent months, I’ve spoken to many HR professionals about all things employee relations or “ER.”

What stood out was the challenging nature of the role of those in the ER.

The role of ER has never been more valuable to Australian employers, whose workplaces have never been more regulated.

Yes, compliance is a must, but meeting business objectives is also a must.

ER is at the pointy end of keeping a business out of trouble and getting things done.

The passion with which some very experienced HR leaders spoke inspired our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role (available upon request here). This is based on that feedback.

It’s built on four themes: mastery, judgement, strategy, and influence.

Off the back of our paper, Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role, I’m writing a series of five blogs in five weeks.

So here’s blog two in our ‘5 of 5’.

This week’s theme is “mastery”.

The ER Professional is highly skilled, the depth of which is not always well recognised. First and foremost, they are subject matter experts. This expertise draws upon an extensive knowledge bank. Knowing the law and how to apply it has become key. Indeed, the role demands that the ER Professional has the type of knowledge expected of a specialist workplace lawyer without the level of training a lawyer benefits from. To think that the recent changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (also known as “Secure Jobs, Better Pay” and “Closing Loopholes” reforms) comprise 56 areas of amendment and more than 1,000 changes to existing law with 156 references to “reasonable” or “reasonably”. But this is dwarfed by the existing body of law that ER Professionals traverse day in and day out.

Many ER professionals I’ve spoken to of late wish they had a grounding in psychology as well; not surprising given the need to deal with individuals in often challenging circumstances. The ‘how to deal’ has become as important as ‘the what’.

The ER Professional also wears many hats, including coach, counsellor, mediator, negotiator, advocate, and stakeholder manager. For this reason, there is a need to combine a breadth and depth of knowledge, combined with a diverse skill set. It’s not an easy journey. But nothing worthwhile achieving comes easy.

“Make no mistake, this is a hard journey. So passion is a necessary ingredient. You need to have a passion for the subject matter or be intrinsically interested in the content to muster the curiosity and drive needed to thrive. As with any calling, your intrinsic motivation is fundamental. Knowing what you enjoy about what you do is essential.” 

– Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role

Mastery is achieved through finding ways to learn, consistent practice, and reflection. “Maps” of knowledge are developed which are deepened over time as new experiences create new opportunities to learn and grow. Mentors are also key, as with any field of endeavour. Good mentors provide pathways and shortcuts.

A strong and diverse network of professionals also significantly contributes to success. The more senior you become, the more this becomes obvious.

“If I look back on my career, there are individuals who, for me, made all the difference. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

– Director of People, Manufacturing industry

I look forward to sharing part three of this five-part series with you next week.

If you wish to get a copy of my paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role or learn more about our ER Mastermind program, please click here.

Read the rest of the blog series here.

Subscribe to receive the next Workplace Law & Strategy blog direct to your inbox.

In recent months, I’ve spoken to many HR professionals about employee relations (ER).

The challenging nature of the role for those in ER was a common theme.

The role of ER has never been more valuable to Australian employers, whose workplaces have never been more regulated.

Yes, compliance is a must, but meeting business objectives is also necessary.

ER is at the pointy end of keeping a business out of trouble and getting things done.

The passion with which some very experienced HR leaders spoke inspired our paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role. That paper is based on that feedback.

It’s built on four themes: mastery, judgement, strategy, and influence. We will publish a series of five blogs in five weeks based on these themes.

So, here’s our first blog of our ‘5 of 5 series’ in which I provide an overview of the four themes.

Mastery

The role of an ER Professional is demanding and nuanced, requiring a depth of expertise akin to that of a specialist workplace lawyer. The role encompasses a wide range of responsibilities and skills, including, but not limited to, understanding complex legal frameworks and acting as a coach, mediator, and risk manager. It also requires balancing detailed analysis with strategic thinking.

Mastery is achieved through finding ways to learn, consistent practice, and reflection. “Maps” of knowledge are developed and deepened over time as new experiences create new opportunities to learn and grow. It’s not an easy journey, so passion for the subject matter is critical. Mentors are also crucial, as with any field of endeavour. Good mentors provide pathways and shortcuts.

A strong and diverse network of professionals also significantly contributes to success.

Judgement

For an ER Professional, judgement starts with gathering, assessing, and weighing facts, often in situations where conflicting stories emerge, such as during workplace investigations.

Judgement calls for balancing strategy with risk. Invariably, a preferred path carries risk. So, understanding risk is key. There are short-term and long-term risks, with the more immediate risks often overestimated and the longer-term risks underestimated, given the human tendency to say, “We will cross that bridge when we get there.”

Judgement is also required in the ‘how’ of advising internal stakeholders.

Strategy

Judgement and strategic thinking are closely intertwined, with strategic input adding significant value to decision-making by focusing on optimal solutions beyond immediate concerns.

Observations on strategy and strategic decision-making are ubiquitous. Formulas abound, and they are very much context-driven. A fair reading of the various takes on strategy reveals some core elements: where you are, where you want to be, and how you will get there.

Being “strategic” is often synonymous with “big picture” thinking. It’s the ability to see patterns, themes, or connections. It’s the ability to ask: is this a trend, or what can we be doing to guard against this in the future? It’s factoring in company-wide implications for the issue at hand. It’s balancing the long term with the short term. It’s also about ensuring that a problem is examined from various perspectives. It’s about looking ahead.

Influence  

You can have the best advice, but it’s useless if it doesn’t land. Unclear advice can lead to frustration or even risk. 

It’s hard advising someone you barely know. It’s like advising in a vacuum. So, a degree of connection is required. Let’s call it rapport. Indeed, professional coaches are trained in the need for rapport before advancing a client discussion. This can take time to develop. At its heart, rapport has two ingredients: likeability (people like to work with people they like, and usually, this is people like them) and trust (credibility + reliability).

Advisors need to explore what’s below the surface. There are, or may be, various contexts that you cannot afford to miss: emotional, political, environmental, and situational. There are needs and motivations at play. So, “dig deep” by flexing your curiosity muscle. A manager frustrated with a direct report’s performance demands your understanding. They deal with the employee day to day. They or others in the team are picking up the slack. As you are being told this, it’s natural to start playing the tape in your mind about “valid reason,” “procedural fairness,” “unfair dismissal,” “warnings,” etc. Launch at your peril, especially if you raise the legal hurdles (as is inevitable) without empathy. If the manager feels you need to understand the depth of the issue, your advice will be easily dismissed as not appreciating the gravity of the situation. The advice someone doesn’t want to hear (it’s ‘too hard to dismiss now’) is better received in an atmosphere of understanding and empathy.

If you wish to get a copy of my paper Navigating Employee Relations: The Advisor’s Role or learn more about our ER Mastermind workshop series, please click here.

Read the rest of the blog series here.

Subscribe to receive the next Workplace Law & Strategy blog direct to your inbox.