Navigating changes in the business, including mergers, new office moves and leadership changes, is one of the most pressing issues for HR executives, according to attendees at ReimagineHR, an event hosted in London last week for 350+ HR leaders by best practice insight and technology company CEB.
The typical organisation has undertaken five major enterprise change in the last three years, with 73 percent of organisations expecting to see even more change initiatives in the next three years. With HR teams being called on to take a bigger role in managing both external and internal change, the event looked at how HR teams can create a more ‘change-ready’ organisation.
Instant polls from the event revealed that the majority of people (32 percent) see managing change as the biggest single challenge that will face the HR function in the next 12 months. While 11.6 percent chose big data and analytics as the major challenge, the audience were least concerned about restructuring (1.9 percent).
In looking at the types of change HR is facing, over one third of attendees (33.3 percent) identified culture change as the biggest change expected in the next 12 months, including major shifts in the assumptions, values and beliefs within the organisation. Leadership changes, such as a new CEO or MD, was identified by 25 percent of attendees, while only 5 percent chose market expansion as the biggest change, including growing the business in new countries.
CEB advises HR teams to start seeing change as an ongoing part of today’s working environment and encourages them to help employees accept the reasons for change, even if they can’t immediately see the personal benefits.
At the end of the ReimagineHR conference, when asked whether people feel confident in managing and facilitating change within their own team, the majority of 87.2 percent said yes, while 12.8 percent admitted to feeling no confidence.
