Flow

This is the first in a series of blogs discussing the concept of motivation and what its sources might be. Its prompted by a conversation I had with Bee Heller, from The Pioneers.  Bee asserts that there are seven different sources of motivation, and is writing about each of them on The Pioneers website.

We decided I'd write a commentary piece about each one on my own blog, and look at what's happened in organisations I've worked in and with - whether the source of motivation Bee's blog discussed has been used to good effect or been neglected; what's worked well in terms of creating an environment that enhances that motivation; and what's not worked so well or undermined that motivation for people?

Here's the first of Bee's blogs - on the subject of FLOW.  Flow is described as "the mental state of being completely absorbed in a task or activity, otherwise known as being 'in the zone'".  Bee suggests that most workplaces do a poor job of creating an environment that encourages flow, and suggests there are five things organisations can do to ensure flow happens:

1. Make sure goals are clear.
2. Give people access to immediate feedback
3. Balance people's strengths with the challenge of their activities
4. Create an environment that allows for deep concentration
5. Support people to be in the present and in control

I recognise the concept of Flow very well. In my sporting endeavours I've experienced Flow many many times. When you're in the zone, you tend to have no concept of the passing of time, and pretty much everything you try comes off. Although I have had it in my triathlons, I experience it more in my crown green bowls career - and that's not such a mental leap because the need for concentration and coordination of physical and mental activities is greater in that sport than any other I've taken part in.  But when I am in the zone in bowls, I am a different person. I feel alive, like I could win my game with my eyes shut and standing on my head, and in fact when I become conscious that I am in the zone I find it amusing and baffling in equal measure. I can't figure out how it started or what caused it, and there's no prompt for it finishing either (even, surprisingly, the act of becoming consciously in Flow doesn't make it suddenly stop). 

But this echoes my experience of Flow in the workplace. I've experienced it. I've seen others experience it. But can anyone pinpoint a cause for it or say how long Flow will last? I'm not so sure. 

I know Bee has said the five things help. And I can see that they would help anyone to feel more motivated, but would they create Flow?

Again, I'm not so sure. 

The best example of Flow I have experienced in the workplace is on my final day before a significant period of annual leave. On that day, because I know I'm not around for a week or more, I'm at my most productive. Work comes easy. I do some of my best work too. I waste no time, I am assertive, completely in control, and able to perform to the very best of my abilities without much effort. 

But, at the end of the day, I am tired and often I get a cold when I go on annual leave. Always did when the school holidays came around too. 

So what does that say about Flow?

That Flow must involve considerable adrenaline. The ultimate fight or flight reaction. 

That Flow, containing adrenaline, can only be sustained for short bursts but that in those short bursts it produces extraordinary results. 

That Flow, in short bursts, must end and when it does, the individual is vulnerable to a range of things that may stretch to illness but most commonly will be no more serious (?) than underperformance. 

So to return to Bee's questions to me - I think Flow is neglected as a source of motivation, but not necessarily because organisations don't want to, more because many don't know how to, and many don't want the consequences. 

But - have I seen instances where the five criteria Bee outlines have been present?

Yes. But I wouldn't call that Flow in the way Flow was earlier described. 

Would those things help performance though?

Yes. And I have worked in places where they've been present, but not for everyone. And not all the time. 

Some are brought about by good leaders. I worked for a fantastic Chief Executive who encouraged all of those five things for me, and I did some of my best work as a result. The whole organisation had some element of Flow as described by Bee, but without the adrenaline I'd associate with it. But when that Chief Executive departed, so did the sense of Flow for me and I suppose for much of the organisation. But even then not everyone performed, as there were some individuals for whom even the presence of the five factors made no difference. 

I call such people wrongens.

I've also worked for an organisation where, from looking at the five factors Bee mentions, I know I had 4 out of 5 regularly and on some occasions all 5 but not once did I feel in the zone in that organisation, not once did I feel motivated and in fact I felt completely demotivated.  Was I a wrongen?  Maybe I was.  My demotivation stemmed from some past event where I felt completely devalued having given my all for the organisation and had it thrown back in my face.  So no amount of the 5 factors would change that for me.

So Flow is not dependent on the 5 factors being present, but its doubtful it could be present unless the 5 factors were there.  I think what I'm saying is that there is probably a 6th factor, that differs for individuals, and is the key to unlocking motivation.

I guess all organisations can do is as Bee says - ensure the five factors are present, for as much as possible and for as many people as possible. 

Basically, as I've said before, create the conditions where people want to, and can, go the extra mile. 

Is that Flow? 

You tell me. 

Till next time...

Gary

PS in other news, Xmas was fantastic and I had a fortnight off work completely, something I've not done even for paternity leave, wedding or honeymoon or any holiday. I enjoyed the rest, and, much like in Julie Drybrough's recent post, I didn't actually rest at all, just took a complete break from professional life and threw myself into other things at home and in my training. Really really enjoyable and highly recommended. 

HR lessons from...The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Recently I've been reading The Tiger Who Came To Tea every evening before bed to my youngest daughter. It strikes me that this tome may masquerade as a childrens book but, beneath the childish facade, there lies many serious messages for HR and our role in making organisations better places to work.

Here's my analysis.

This book is a searing commentary on cultural deficiencies, process inefficiencies and gender inequality in the workplace, and also the dangers on getting the wrong person into your organisation via a recruitment process gone awry.

It starts with Sophie and her Mummy receiving an unexpected guest at their house, and wondering who it could be.  This is teaching us to be ready for the unexpected and basically the importance of business continuity planning, as you never know what challenges your business might face, especially when Daddy isn't at home.

It then describes how they invite this random stranger into their house with little regard for their own personal safety, or hygiene in the workplace - its telling us how organisations often onboard people without really doing background checks and assessing suitability, so its a lesson to get these things right first.

 Then, to Sophie and her Mummy's horror, the tiger proceeds to eat them out of house and home, basically taking the piss out of their whole approach to inducting new staff and running roughshod over their attempts to slowly integrate this new starter into their culture.

Here, then, is an important lesson on assessing cultural fit during the selection process and making sure expectations and behaviours are made clear during the important induction process.

Its also a lesson on how to handle addictions in the workplace, because the tiger is seen to be addicted to alcohol and other drinks, and this behaviour is encouraged by Sophie stroking him when he does this - does your organisation subtly encourage and reinforce drinking alcohol in the workplace at Xmas time?  Is this considered gross misconduct?  Do you help people to manage any addictive behaviour they display?

 And then the tiger leaves, effectively resigning his position in the workplace, and leaves without serving his notice period and leaving a trail of disruption and destruction in his wake. When YOUR employees leave, how is that exit process managed?  Its important to get it right.

Finally, the boss returns (and the boss here is male, wrongly reinforcing gender stereotypes in the workplace, as it is assumed the females are incapable of resolving the situation and require the male to give them instructions on how to problem solve) and helpfully suggests that the answer to their problem is to outsource food production to a local cafe.  Have you explored outsourcing as a way of managing your flexible workforce?

The book ends by showing Sophie and her Mummy learning their lesson about not planning ahead, and beginning to work on their business continuity plan and have things in place for if the tiger should come to tea again.  This is very good advice.

But he never did.

And there ends the lesson.

Basically, get the basics of HR right and you can't go wrong.

Till next time...

Gary

PS Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Independence Day

I've been reflecting on a decent number of my connections leaving the corporate world and setting up as self employed, and I've been wondering whether there's some pattern emerging.

So this blog is me trying to make sense of this, and "thinking/working out loud".

I've noticed a good number of my connections going independent. Very recently, at least three or four have all made this leap, for their own different and very valid reasons. Earlier this year one or two did the same, and so did a couple of colleagues who left my last employer around the same time I did.

I wish the very very best to all who do this, and part of me is slightly jealous as I almost went self employed this time last year, getting as far as setting up my own business and beginning to build my portfolio of activities over a long lead in period before reversing course when I got an unexpected job offer. But I was within a couple of months of doing it. I don't know if I will in the future, at the moment I'm still happily employed and with things I want to achieve in employment too. 

I've mentioned a few Twitter-based connections who have gone self employed, but it's not a new phenomenon. In fact I belong to a networking group of L&D practitioners who have met informally for at least 15 years (how long I've been in the group, but it probably started much earlier than that) - and I remember how back in 2001/2002 most, almost all in fact, of the group were in employed positions but now, as we enter 2017, I'll be one of only two who are in employed positions. The rest have, one by one, gone self employed. Maybe that was an influence on me. 

Of course, I've had a little bit of self employment for over ten years, working occasional/regular evenings delivering CIPD (and other) qualifications for a variety of providers, but now and again fitting in freelance work on a range of HR issues or training on behalf of organisations. But this is only part time work although I do get a lot of enjoyment from it.

I do wonder though whether these things could be enough to sustain a full time equivalent income, and this was part of my reasoning for doing my 180 last year, although I was doing well in building up these income streams and adding more.

I also had an insightful but brief chat with one self employed person who really challenged me about whether I was ready to go self employed last year. They said that there are plenty of people who seem like they're having really successful self employed careers and really promote themselves well, but in reality they're struggling and it was a crowded market.

And this does seem to ring true with some people I've seen now winding up their self employed businesses and going back into employment. I've seen three or maybe four people do this in the last year, almost as many as I've seen go the other way.

But I wondered as well whether there's something about life stage and career stage that prompts some of this. For example I'd just turned 40 when I had my self employed vision clearly, and many years ago I remember two well known L&D consultants telling me they had a similar view at that age and went self employed. And many of the networking group I mentioned were of a similar age when they went self employed.

I'm not sure. But maybe it is career experience related. I've heard some people say they've had enough corporate experience (some called this corporate BS) and want to work for themselves. 

I think this says a few things. One, that there comes a point when your employed experience is optimised enough to get enough momentum behind your "run" that you can "fly". Two, that there also comes a point where one tires of being in an organisation - in HR, we often know instinctively what makes a great workplace and, if we can't work as an employee in one and shape it, we may get frustrated and go and set up our own. And Three, there comes a point where you realise what you're really great at, and want to do more of that and less of other things, and going self employed is the best way to achieve it.

And maybe Four, when you're around the age of 40, your financial situation makes it an easier thing to contemplate. Although in my case when I was contemplating it I had just moved house and took out a new mortgage, got engaged and had a third child so I was perhaps stacking the deck against myself there.

So it's no wonder I'm not contemplating self employment any more. Based on those four things, I'm not there. On one, I've got a lot more to offer my current and any potential future employer and there's things I want to achieve whilst employed there yet. On two, I was definitely there last year, frustrated at not having a voice or influence any more and needing to shape things again, but I've got those back now at my current place so it's different again. On three, I'm halfway there maybe, as I know I'd STILL make a really awesome WWE wrestler just as much and maybe more than anything else I could do, but I'm also pretty good at my HR stuff too and getting better so if it ain't broke, why fix it? And on four, nothing's changed for me.

So what does this mean for the people who have gone self employed, either this year or previously?  Well, they've been able to satisfy themselves with answers to each point and they're making a go of it. And all power to them. I hope they all make it work.

And maybe those who've gone back the other way found not that they'd failed in any way, but that their answers to the points had changed and they needed to return to employment to achieve something different. And again, all power to them and I hope they make it work too.

I say find something you're awesome at, and do it. If that's self employment, or employment, it doesn't matter. Only the awesomeness matters. 

Till next time.

Gary

PS in other news, our holiday saga is over. We gave in and compromised on a regular family holiday, again possibly our last one as a complete family. We've booked a week in Turkey in August but hope to supplement this with a couple of short breaks here and there. My favourite place to look at for a short break at the moment is Switzerland or Austria, can anyone recommend either place?

#cipdace16 - Reflections...

This time last week I was at #cipdACE16 covering the event as part of the Blogsquad. And my, how quickly a week has gone.

Now that a week HAS passed though, its given me time to reflect on what was a superb event and learning experience.

The event, as mentioned, was superb. Each year the Annual Conference and Exhibition seems to surpass itself and deliver something unique and special, and this year was no exception.

The choice of keynote speakers and the choice of conference session speakers was very good, with my only complaint being that it was genuinely very difficult to choose which session to go to as often, with four options, at least three were things I really wanted to go to. I don’t know if its possible to do anything about this but I had a feeling that I missed out on as much as I got to.

The exhibition was lively this year and the use of space continues to improve. I like the informal networking area at the end which works very well. The free sessions all seemed well-attended but because I was in the Conference itself it made it impossible to get to any of these, and I did want to. Again I’m not sure what can be done but perhaps the sequencing and overlaps could be looked at.

I was disappointed by the lack of engagement by many of the exhibitors, who had presumably paid a lot of money to exhibit. As already pointed-out in THIS POST by Inji Duducu and in the comments on that post by Gemma Dale, most of the exhibitors were not active on social media and missed a trick in terms of sales and overall engagement with attendees. Hardly any really tried to sell me anything (not that that’s easy) and many had no interest in me once they saw my Blogsquad/Press badge, which was a shame because I could have done stuff for/with them.

And the swag haul was a bit same-y too – pens, chocolates, stress toys. Where were the standout offerings to get people to come along? Its more than just a box of Celebrations surely?

There were a LOT more fringe and social activities this year and that was a very good thing, and some took place the night before avoiding EVERYTHING happening on the Wednesday night, but even then there were far too many things happening at the same time on the Wednesday evening and it was impossible to get to more than 1 or 2 of them. Again, sequencing and overlap could be looked at to enable people to make the most of the social aspect of the Conference. Those that I did go to, and those that other people told me about, really seemed to go down well.

To be honest though I’ve lost track of the number of conferences where delegates have told me they get as much from the breaks as they do from the conference sessions, and this was also true at #cipdACE16. A slight criticism is that there weren’t enough long breaks to really get around the exhibition inbetween conference sessions, attend some of the free learning sessions, grab a drink, nip to the toilet, check your phone and do all of those things before heading back into the conference. Not to mention actually talking to people you want to talk to (and exhibitors). From a timings perspective I wonder whether its worth looking at the conference going back to THREE days again like it used to – that way things could be more spread out and you’d not feel like you were sacrificing one thing to get to another all the time. If that’s not possible, I’d look to extend the two days – no reason why the Exhibition couldn’t open at 08.30 and close at 17.30 both days, giving a clear hour either side of the conference to get stuff done.

Manchester itself remains a top location, and the event is really starting to grow into Manchester after 7 years there. This year it felt like we had almost taken over the city in the same way we used to pretty much rule Harrogate back in the day. It gave the whole experience a really nice feel (helped by the Xmas markets starting too).

I enjoyed being part of the Blogsquad again and feel lucky to have been asked. It gives me a very different perspective on the event that few get to experience, and enables me to share my own learning to a wider audience aswell as promote the event.

I enjoy blogging (yes, really) and particularly live blogging from events because it’s the best way for me to ensure the learning is recorded and sinks in.

I also managed to put out 120 tweets of my own across the 2 days along with numerous retweets, and this year added Instagram into my social media output. I ALMOST got Periscope up and running but a medical emergency in one session as I was about to go live distracted me, and I never got chance again.

But, by crikey, being part of the Blogsquad is tiring – with very long days and constantly being “on” even late into the evening. I am not sure I’ve recovered since, although my 2 year old daughter is not one to let me rest or recuperate.

From a personal perspective I learnt loads, as you can see from my blogs, which to be honest only capture perhaps half of what I will take away from the event:

Blog 1 – covering Peter Cheese’s introduction and Margaret Heffernans’ keynote KN1 speech

Blog 2 – covering Steve Head and Matt King’s motivation speeches A1

Blog 3 – covering Neil Morrison, Sukh Pabial and Claire Thomas on recruitment rebooting B2 and a Panel Debate on the Future of Work C4

Blog 4 – covering Lynne Weedall and Valerie Hughes-D’Aeths’ speeches on organisational transformation D3

Blog 5 – covering CJ Green and Amanda Oates’ speeches on rethinking performance management E3

Blog 6 – covering Gianluca Petriglieri’s keynote KN2 speech (partly)

I met so many nice people, many of whom I’d met before, and many of whom I hadn’t seen for ages or was meeting for the first time. In particular it was nice to put a face to the name that is Mark Hendy, to finally meet my mentee Lisa Snell in person, and to spend time chatting with Rachel White, who I’ve known on a personal level for many years but never bumped into at an HR event before. All the rest of the Blogsquad were superb company and did a great job throughout the two days, and the staff at CIPD events/comms were both hard working and very friendly too – thanks to them for getting me involved.

I also enjoyed catching up with, separately, no less than five people who have worked for me in a previous organisation. It was genuinely nice to see them still progressing their HR careers and to see how they are doing now that we no longer work together.

I’ll end by telling you about my most bizarre experience of #cipdACE16, which still doesn’t rival being chatted up by a CIPD Researcher on their stand about 5 years ago, but is still bizarre.

I was in one of the conference sessions and sat on a table with a group of 7-8 others. The woman next to me glanced at my badge partway through, and I later noticed her tapping away on her iPad. I figured at the time that she noticed I was part of the Blogsquad and was looking up my Twitter feed, so I was pleased.

At the end of the session she turned to me and apologised for staring at my badge but explained that she recognised my name and thought she knew me. She further went on to say that she did indeed know a Gary Cookson, and was friends with said person on Facebook, but having looked at their profile during the session and then looked back at me, she realised we looked COMPLETELY different (eg he had hair) and therefore I was not the person she knew.

And not once did she say she knew me from Twitter, or this blog.

I wasn’t sure what to say and said as much. At that, she smiled and left.

Till next time…

Gary

PS in other news, we’re approaching a point in our house where we’ve been there just over 2 years and it needs a fair bit of work doing to it. We have a choice whether to do this and commit to staying there for the long-term, or move. It’s a tough choice!

#cipdace16 blog 6 - KN2

And here we are in the final keynote speech. I shamelessly ducked out of the penultimate session so that I could spend enough time giving attention to the Exhibition, both talking to suppliers and filling my swag bag. I also spent time talking to old and new contacts and had a blast. 

But boy am I tired now. 

And no one was giving neck and shoulder massages. Time was when you could get 3/4 in one afternoon at this conference. Now there's none. 

Bad times. 

In general though the Exhibition had a good vibe about it this year. There was a lot of variety in providers and not so many pushy ones as last year, with many being happy to chat in general terms without necessarily trying to sell. The breakout spaces around the hall were well used and there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere. 

I wonder though when suppliers will start to realise that pens are not a good, modern gift. I hardly use one nowadays. And when they'll find a more modern way of entering their prize draws than leaving a business card? I've not had a business card for six or seven years as social media and other electronic media have passed them by. 

So I'm in the keynote from Gianluca Petriglieri who came with a huge reputation and didn't disappoint. 

His talk was about competence not being enough, and that's something that has been a bit of a theme in sessions I've attended. He also mirrored some themes explored by Peter Cheese in the opening speech yesterday about a lack of trust in the workplace too. 

He asked us to discuss a time when we were well led. Both Ian Pettigrew and I, when discussing this, talked about people we used to work for who were good leaders but who we only came to fully appreciate after they or we had moved on, when someone less good took over and we experienced poorer leadership styles. 

Gianpiero asked us all how we knew we were being well led and some of the audience struggled to answer this. I know I did. I suppose I didn't know at the time what a good leader they were, but having experienced others since I now know how good that person was. And I do struggle to really define what he did that was different. 

His point was that we struggle to really know whether leadership exists, in the same way we can't say for certain that love exists. 

Someone pointed out that they do exist in how they make us feel and act, even though they are not tangible things. Gianpiero agreed with that, and added that you see it (both leadership and love) when someone does something to benefit you without any obvious gain for themselves. 

He said that leadership is a cocktail of skills that get another person to do something that they wouldn't do of their own volition. Therefore leadership is the exercise of influence. 

At this point I needed to run for a train but I was enjoying this speech and would encourage you to catch up with the rest of it via Ian Pettigrew's blog and storify. 

I'll do a summary blog post on #cipdace16 in a few days time when I've had chance to reflect properly, but right now I'm shattered and missing my family. 

Till next time...

Gary

#cipdace16 blog 5 - session E3

I've finally been round the Exhibition, or at least two thirds of it. My bag is steadily filling up with swag, so my family may be happier tonight when I get back. 

And now I'm in session E3 about rethinking performance management, something I'm currently giving a lot of thought to in my day job. 

CJ Green from Servest opened up, highlighting their huge growth over the last seven years, with rapid change. When she came into Servest she had an efficient appraisal process but it was cumbersome at times and her success was measured on how many appraisals she could get done. 

She asserted, and I agree, that it's the quality of the conversation that matters, not the process. In her review of the appraisal process with a mixed group of staff, trying to move to a more continuous improvement culture, there was a split room and no consensus amongst them. 

She noted that much of her desire for replacing the appraisal process with something else was her own view that she disliked appraisals and wanted something else, irrespective of anyone else's preferences, so this was a wake up call for her. 

I think I'm guilty of this too. 

She talked about people being uncomfortable with the removal of the appraisal process, but if that's people's belief then let them keep it as long as they can show the performance data that highlights their performance management processes Inc appraisals are working. 

This is a good idea. But it's also about relinquishing control and trusting managers to manage performance in a way that works. There are worries that managers may do nothing, but they found that this worry was unfounded. If you have adult-adult conversations then people will work out a process that works for them, it doesn't need to be driven by HR. 

Amanda Oates from Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust then took over. She explained some of the cultural and service delivery challenges that the trust faces. All the trusts main challenges were workforce related, and required organisational transformation beyond a mere restructure. 

Much of her barriers stemmed from within the HR team, in that the systems didn't help, the skills weren't right, the reputation was poor, data was non existent and more. And she used these as themes to redevelop the HR function and by extension the organisation. 

This talk was very good and I haven't been able to capture all the detail of it. Amanda did ensure that what she did had a direct link to service improvement and listed a fair list of HR and organisational measures that improved as a result of her retooling of the HR functions. 

My main observation though was that the two talks didn't really fit with each other. Both talks were very good and probably deserved a longer session each, but this session had the feel of two talks bolted together without a great deal of thought. 

But right now, my thoughts are turning to lunch, and a full wander round the Exhibition. 

Till next time...

Gary

#cipdace16 blog 4 - session D3

Here we go again. Day two of #cipdace16

Last night was good, although there were perhaps too many things all happening at the same time which spread me pretty thinly. 

I also live too close to Manchester to justify staying over so I got the train home, only to find it diverted because of a fallen tree, so I got home very late. Daughter then decided to get up minutes after I fell asleep, and two further times in the night before getting up just five minutes before my early start alarm. 

So I'm knackered and about as much use as an out of date chicken goujon (see Inji, I did it). 

My first session today is D3 about organisational transformation, headed by Lynne Weedall and Valerie Hughes D'Aeth, both of whom I've heard speak separately before so it was interesting to see them interact with each other. 

Lynne was integration lead in the Dixons/Carphone merger and talked about the need to recognise emotion in any change process. I've been through an M&A process in recent years and will be going through another in the near future so it's a topic I've reflected a lot on and I can understand the emotion involved in the process. 

Lots of merger type processes involve loss, and so people go through the usual cycle of reactions to any loss. People willl struggle to let go of issues and emotions whilst they are still dealing with their loss and organisations often fail to address this. 

I suffered and saw a lot of loss in my most recent merger type experience and I struggled to let it go, and it wasn't helpful that there were multiple losses and I was expected, and told to, just get on with it and somehow expected to be an ambassador and advocate for the new organisation despite all that loss and emotion. It's hard. I couldn't do it. 

Lynne then talked a lot about the comparisons between mergers and marriages. I've written and spoken a lot about this and it was nice to see some of my own ideas coming out on stage, reassuring that some of the big hitters in HR think the same as me!

She talked about the need to do cultural due diligence before the merger, and build change capability by looking at culture and looking at desired post merger culture before the merger happens. Let frontline staff work together delivering services rather than sending them on change and transformation workshops. 

Lynne finished by saying that whatever your role in a merger or integration you will learn from it, emerge stronger and with greater skills. This is very true and apt for my own situation. Whilst I enjoyed the pre integration stuff and was totally on board with everything, something happened at the point of merger and switched me off completely so that the trust was gone and I hated my post merger experience, but what I can't deny is that I emerged stronger and with a greater skill set and range of knowledge that has served me well since and will do in the future. 

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, quoted Lynne from Victoria Beckham of all people. 

Valerie, from the BBC, then took over, looking at the transformation that has taken place to develop a leaner BBC. She outlined the challenges facing the BBC from a financial and service delivery perspective, which are vast. 

She set out some organisational design principles that have helped them transform. In an organisation of 21,000 people they have only 7 layers of management and a maximum span of control of 1:10. I wonder how many organisational restructures begin with and hold true to these kinds of design principles?

The BBC also did a professional services review with the aim of minimising back office services, which is something many public sector organisations have had to do, and they had an aim of reducing spend on back office services from 10% to 6%, which considering the BBCs budget is a big reduction in spend. 

She talked about the need to manage stakeholders, both internal and external, in managing change and transformation. The BBC have a range of mechanisms to help them handle this, which were sensible options covering a range of media and channels. 

Interestingly, Valerie talked about the HR transformation that was part of the wider change. More areas came into HR such as internal Comms and apprenticeships. The HR budget had to reduce by £60m and also the entire team had to move from West London to Birmingham. 

And 60% of the team left and were replaced by new HR staff, which is a very high percentage and suggests that some of the change either wasn't understood by the original HR team or impacted them too negatively. I think this is inevitable and doesn't mean the change is wrong, but it needs careful handling to ensure people are bought in and, if they're not, that they know that that's ok and they can opt out and leave the organisation with their heads held high. 

That wasn't always the case in my own personal experience but it's good advice nonetheless. 

This was an interesting talk about lessons learnt from organisational transformation and it would be interesting to learn more about the detail involved. 

Coffee beckons. 

Till next time...

Gary