The Commercial Added Value HR Association

Posted on April 12, 2005 by Bruce Lewin

There have been some recent developments amongst HR professionals and the shape of a body to represent them. The announcement of the "Commercial Added Value HR Association" outlined in this Personnel Today article highlights this new direction. I think this is an interesting and ultimately positive move, especially given some of the quotes below

Senior professionals are concerned they should be adding more commercial value, Griffin said. "There is a belief that HR is only taken seriously when the CEO is pro-HR. We are intent on setting the agenda to take HR forward."

Speaking at the inaugural meeting last week, Griffin – a fellow of the CIPD – said one of the main themes to emerge during his research was the need to move the reputation of the HR function away from 'pay and rations'.

Richard Green, senior HR business partner at HSBC and founding member, said: "The message here is let's do ourselves a favour and be better at what we do."

My only regret at the moment is that I can't find a website for the new group. Maybe this Google link will throw something up eventually?

Posted in Strategy | Leave a comment

Energisers

Posted on February 25, 2005 by Bruce Lewin

More from "The Hidden Power of Social Networks" by Cross and Parker, this time on Energy and Energisers.

When we have a choice, which is more often than we might think, we seek out energisers. As a result, these people often have a disproportionate effect on what a group learns. On the other end of the scale, the expertise of de-energisers often goes untapped no matter how relevant it might be... In light of the substantial performance and learning implications of energising relationships, we engaged in qualitative research to understand how energy is created in interactions with others... Two themes emerged. First, energising interactions are clearly influenced by people's behaviour, but they are also influenced by certain characteristics of the individuals and the relationships between them. For example, two people - one trusted and one not trusted - can exhibit the same behaviours in a conversation but with different results...

This extract makes me think of some of the diagrams our website. This diagram from the homepage shows how the energy flows between the group. Kate & Jim and Paulo & Susannah really do well here, whilst Ulrike & Jim could almost be seen as de-energisers.

This diagram from the Four Groups homepage shows how the energy flows between the group. Kate & Jim and Paulo & Susannah really do well here, whilst Ulrike & Jim could almost be seen as de-energisers.

I also can't help being reminded of a note from Joyce Wvcoff when she wrote about Butterfly Moments.

Do you ever think about moments that change your life? I’ve started calling them Butterfly Moments, from the chaos theory metaphor that states that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Chile, it causes a tornado in Chicago. In the same fashion, some small, seemingly meaningless moments change the entire trajectory of our lives.

How often do these apparently random connections and flows of energy start something in motion?

Keywords: Energy, Energisers, Relationships, Butterfly Moments

Posted in Psychology, Leadership | Leave a comment

Social Network Analysis

Posted on February 21, 2005 by Bruce Lewin

I've been brainstorming with Allan Engelhardt recently and one of his well received recommendations was a book called "The Hidden Power of Social Networks" by Cross and Parker. Bill Ives and Suw Charman have also posted reviews to this here and here.

Having made a start on Sunday morning, I was immediately struck by the opening quote from chapter 1 and how much it captured the spirit of management and its inherent difficulties.

It has taken us years, and I think we are still not sure if we are getting things right even after substantial reengineering projects, a move to teams, new HR practices, two acquisitions, and a ton invested in technology. By now, we should have reduced costs and created a more nimble company without a focus on hierarchy and fiefdoms. But it's tough to ensure that this is really happening. Most of us in this room have thousands of people we are accountable for stretched across the globe. It's impossible to manage or even know what's going on in the depths of the organization. I mean, each of us can fool ourselves into thinking we're smart and running a tight ship. But really the best we can do is create a context and hope that things emerge in a positive way, and this is tough because you can't really see the impact your decisions have on people. So you just kind of hope what you want to happen is happening and then sound confident when telling others. Executive Vice President, Commercial Lending.

Talk about a problem statement! I think what's so telling about this quote is that it clearly identifies with the fact that trying to manage people on a large scale is tough. There are just no hard and fast rules to measure and account for decisions and change. This of course is exactly the piece that Social Network Analysis addresses. Furthermore, whilst SNA gives a qualitative picture, Allan and I think that 4G can add to the quality of the relationships too. In other words, we're trying to make the unmeasurable, measurable and therefore manageable.

Keywords: Social Network Analysis, SNA, 4G, Change Management, Management

Posted in Intangibles, Strategy, Teams, Technology | Leave a comment

Relationships in Business

Posted on February 14, 2005 by Bruce Lewin

I came across this entry and article which seemed to chime quite nicely with some of our thinking at Four Groups. The article starts off with a great opener…

One secret to the success of many professional service firms is treating their business relationships the way that investors treat their stock portfolios. Successful investors look at the investments in their portfolio and decide which ones to buy more of, which ones to hold, and which ones to sell. You should do the same with your business relationships.

This chimes in with our own thinking around the central idea of the importance of understanding the nature of relationships in the workplace. The key issue here is how to place a value on relationships. Share prices are easy, as they are highly transparent, can be quickly compared and valued, This is far harder when it comes to business relationships. This is primarily because:

• There is no common currency to describe the nature or value of relationships
• Relationships are inherently subjective and different people will have different perceptions of the same relationship

This also reminded me of another post by Johnnie Moore, entitled Relationships before Ideas.

I’ve witnessed quite a few businesses doing brainstorming and other creativity sessions on awaydays/offsites. If they’re lucky, they have an exciting day… then they return to their offices, the adrenalin rush long past, and revert to their normal, much less inspired, ways of working together. Sure, they went somewhere and had a few ideas. But they haven’t really changed the way they relate to each other.

Both of these articles hit the spot but leave you with the question - how? How do I act on this? It’s these sorts of situations that allow 4G to excel and really make a difference. Because 4G makes it possible to predict the nature and type of relationship that two people will have, more valuable interventions and approaches are possible.

Keywords: Social Relationships, Business Relationships, 4G

Posted in Intangibles, Psychology, Teams | 1 Comment

First Post

Posted on February 8, 2005 by Bruce Lewin

Hello and welcome to the Four Groups blog. This is a place for us to share some of our ideas, talk about what interests us and hopefully build some meaningful conversations with people.

Our main area of interest is around people, Human Capital Management and the best means to manage this resource within organisations. There's a whole variety of different topics that fall within this, but one that is particularly relevant to our work at Four Groups is that of relationships and the value that they can bring to certain situations.

As our website outlines, we work with our own model of psychology, 4G, that focuses on predicting and articulating relationships and it is our belief that by introducing a methodical and systematic approach to managing relationships, it is possible for HR managers and executives in general to add more value, influence and efficiency to their businesses.

We look forward to engaging and working with you...

Keywords: People, Human Capital Management, Relationships, 4G

Posted in General | 2 Comments