The Phelps 101 Guide to Effective Remote Workplace
The Phelps 101 Guide to Effective Remote Workplace
#PhelpsSupportingCommunities
As we’ve all pivoted quickly into remote workplace environments, we wanted to share some practices that have worked for our colleagues at Phelps so other teams could benefit from these accelerated learnings.
Jill Birch | National Director, Leadership and Strategy
Never stop learning about how your role and industry are changing in the face of COVID-19. It’s easy to fall into the trap of streaming COVID-19 news 24/7. While keeping up-to-date is important, it’s just as vital to scan for trends and news directly impacting your sector. Explore themes that rise to the top and ask yourself, how can I use this information to contribute to my organization? Join future “virtual water-coolers” at work and share what you have learned and hear what others are sharing. If we all do our part to keep current, it not only helps our own work but can provide innovative ways to respond to upcoming workplace challenges.
Jayson Phelps | Partner
Fluidity – as our professional lives blend with our personal lives more during this period of isolation, fluidity is an important consideration. Keep your patterns similar to going into the office every day, but take advantage of no commute or leaving to get a coffee during the day and integrate your schedules more openly. Look at your day as a fluid period between personal and professional. Work a few hours, take a bit of a break and spend some time with family and then work again for a few hours and take a break. The traditional work day of 9-5 can be flexed. Maybe it means working until mid-afternoon and taking a break for an hour or two (get outside and do some yard work or a walk) and then sit down again in the evening to work for another 1-2 hours.
Diana Rucchin | Research Coordinator
For me, keeping my home office in the same manner as when I’m working in the office really helps. I use 2 screens when working at the office, my laptop and my monitor. Bringing both of them home with me was a really good decision as it keeps me working at the same speed. As well, keeping my area free of distractions is important because it’s easy to get sidetracked when working from home by the news, chores or others who are at home with you. Overall, I think maintaining routine and best practices as if you were in the office including getting ready for work adhering to a dress code, being punctual and ensuring some breaks away from the computer throughout the day.
Margie Peskin | Senior Research Consultant
We have four people all working from home so we try to huddle in the morning to figure who needs quiet at what points of the day (exams, video calls, etc.) and then agree where that person will work undisturbed. We also are trying to stick to routines and plans for the day as much as possible.
Shanaya Dheda | Social Media Strategist
Not being in the physical space of my regular work environment that I am used to has been the biggest adjustment. I find there can be many distractions when working from home – sometimes it is even too quiet. Our new ritual of early morning huddles every day of the week are quite refreshing – they help us to all stay connected and on top of priorities. As a team, we outline our daily agenda identifying any areas we need cross-collaboration and additional expertise. Many times throughout the day, we will “video” call each other to discuss a project – again this is a great way for us to collaborate and share ideas.
Nayely Figueroa | Marketing and Operations Manager
Because working remotely is now the norm, being aware of phishing and other cyber security threats out there is essential. If something sounds fishy, it probably is. Check the validity of a suspicious request directly with your IT experts before opening a questionable link, running an unknown program or forwarding sensitive information to someone. Stay alert and keep your team’s and organization’s digital work space safe.
These are challenging times and our Phelps team are here for you. One of our core values is ‘Nimbleness’, and with our bespoke and virtual model of doing business, we are agile and able to pivot to meet your evolving human capital needs.
#PhelpsWhateverItTakes #PhelpsIgnitesLeadership #StayAlertStaySafe
Professional Services Trends
Phelps 2020 Professional Services Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1 Competitors are becoming increasingly digital and agile.
Human Resource Implication: Professional leaders need to ensure they have a long-term yet flexible vision that allows them to adapt as required to transformational changes being brought by the speed of technology adoption and innovation in the market.
Trend #2 Disruptive change inside this sector will require organizations to retain the best resources available to help them succeed in this ever-changing market.
Human Resources Implication: The need for leaders with unique skill-sets is on the rise, therefore, organizations need to adapt their business models to attract these scarce talent and ensure they have the right leaders in the right positions at the right times. Organizations powered by the best human capital available will be the ones who stand out from the rest.
Trend #3 AI will continue to deliver value to every industry, enabling new business models, streamlining service offerings, but also increasing customer knowledge and unearthing new needs and demands as digital and technological change continue to unfold.
Human Resource Implication: Greater investments will be required to support leaders to formulate best-in-class service offers that are transparent and efficient. Future-facing, multidisciplinary teams will be needed to ensure every touchpoint of the customer journey is meeting and exceeding client’s expectations. Clients will be drawn to organizations that offer transparency and true care for their needs.
Human Resources Trends
Phelps 2020 Chief Human Resources Officer Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1 The majority of organizations require more preparation to respond to the human resource concerns in the age of complexity and disruption.
Human Resource Implication: The need to understand different kinds of change, the implications of that change and how to integrate practice, policy and process are key requirements for human resource leaders.
Trend #2 The ability to compete for top talent continues to dominate the human resource agenda.
Human Resources Implication: The ability to understand the drivers and motivations of multiple demographic groups of employees, develop holistic quantitative and qualitative measures and nurture (and share) the organization’s ethos are essential to preserving competitive advantage.
Trend #3 Holding others accountable for behaving in accordance with organizational values emerged as the leadership attribute that will become most important in the next 5 years..
Human Resource Implication: Developing an accountability and values-based framework that facilitates stronger communications amongst team members will be vital to building happier, healthier and more vibrant workplaces in the future.
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Technology Trends
Phelps 2020 Technology and Digital Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1
Continuous, adaptive risk and trust assessment (CARTA) will emerge as a key focus for business leaders.
Human Resource Implication:
Tech leaders will want to adopt the concept of “people-centric security” empowering team members to take personal responsibility for security. Enabling risk and security management leaders to adopt a CARTA strategic approach, facilitates real-time, risk-and trust -based decision making with adaptive responses.
Trend #2
Interactions with technology will change drastically including everything from conversational platforms, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality.
Human Resources Implication:
Because leaders will spend less time exploring data and more time acting on the most relevant insights, they will need to become more aware of working without the bias that may be present in manual approaches to analysis. Analytics, process and user experiences have the potential to transform the nature of work and structure of the workplace.
Trend #3
AI will continue to deliver value to every industry, enabling new business models particularly in customer engagement, digital production, smart cities, self-driving cars, risk management, computer vision and speech recognition.
Human Resource Implication:
Greater investments will be required to support leaders to formulate coherent questions and define “problem domains” – avoiding the good plow, wrong field syndrome. New skills on how to “train the system” will be important.
Public Sector Trends
Phelps 2020 Public Sector Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1 Public sector organizations are continually faced with budget constraints, often needing to find new and creative ways to deliver results.
Human Resource Implication: Public sector leaders need to embrace digital transformation, adaptive approaches and remain agile in order to experiment, fail fast and adjust in order to keep moving the organization forward.
Trend #2 Partnerships and collaboration are essential and are an effective way to improve outcomes and service delivery.
Human Resources Implication: In order to make progress, the best public sector leaders are working together and ignoring traditional boundaries. This has changed their approach from ‘direct’ organisational leadership to ‘networked’ leadership.
Trend #3 Amplified complexity needs leadership styles that embrace uncertainty, ask the challenging questions, and don’t look for easy answers.
Human Resource Implication: Organizations require leaders who have risen through a technical or specialist route, who likely have a far broader set of skills and mindsets.
Not For Profit Trends
Phelps 2020 Not for Profit Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1
There is a greater need to pay attention to developing a human resource strategy.
Human Resource Implication:
Organizations are focusing on risk management and are thinking more strategically about succession planning. This includes identifying high performers earlier in their careers and providing them with opportunities to develop experiential learning.
Trend #2
The relationship between technology and membership engagement is expanding.
Human Resources Implication:
Associations need to attract and recruit employees who are tech savvy and ahead of the curve. Members now often look to their association to learn about the latest trends in technology. Hiring people who are extraordinarily service driven is a key capability as associations look to virtual memberships while ensuring an authentic member experience.
Trend #3
There is an increased governance focus on sustainability.
Human Resource Implication:
The Canada Not-for-Profit Act is clear about a Board’s fiduciary and other responsibilities. As a result, associations need leaders who can think well beyond the current and next budget. Leaders who have strong scenario planning and strategic thinking will be rewarded by Boards.
Health Trends
Phelps 2020 Health Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next health care human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1
The effects of technology and virtual health means health leaders will need to prepare for the invisible.
Human Resource Implication
From securing the internet of things and risk mitigation against threats of cyberattacks to harnessing AI to supplement health workforces and decision-making, health leaders will be engaged in enhancing protocols, policies and procedures around the many connected devices in electronic health records; protection of privacy will be of paramount importance.
Trend #2
Workforce transformation will have broad impact requiring leaders and team members to anticipate the scale and pace of change.
Human Resources Implication:
If not considered strategically, and holistically, employees may feel overwhelmed, demoralized and not as engaged as they might be.
Trend #3
Nine factors are affecting health-related social needs outside of the health care system and that are beyond an individual’s control. These are: housing instability; food insecurity; transportation; education; utility needs; interpersonal violence; family and social supports; employment; and, income.
Human Resource Implication
Know how to lead in a time of vulnerability will be a critical capability. It means health leaders will need to strike a delicate balance between harnessing the shifts now being made from treatment to prevention and wellness and from individual to population health.
Municipal Trends
Phelps 2020 Municipal Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1 Municipalities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate efficient resource allocation while continuing to meet the evolving needs of their communities
Human Resource Implication: Municipal leaders are required to diversify economies, moving away from single sector reliance while maintaining continued accountability to the communities they serve.
Trend #2 Taking the municipal sector by storm, traditional approaches are being displaced by creative and innovative experiments and techniques.
Human Resources Implication: Leaders need to embrace new technologies and iterative, agile approaches to change, not least in digital transformation where success can depend on the courage to experiment, fail fast, and adjust in order to keep a project moving forward.
Trend #3 Leadership can no longer rely on past practices to new problems and the search for solutions.
Human Resource Implication: In the age of disruption, the new economy, changes in fiscal environment and extreme weather incidents, leaders are rethinking their approach to fiscal planning, economic development and taking practice measures to manage the impact of climate change.
Financial Trends
Phelps 2020 Finance Trend Check
Here are the top 3 trends that should be influencing your decision on who to work with when choosing your next human capital partner. Whether you are embarking on a search, seeking new ways to harness change management strategies or identifying and working with emerging talent, we have deep expertise to ensure your goals are not just met, but exceeded.
Trend #1
A greater emphasis on strategic leadership will fuel and accelerate decision-making.
Human Resource Implication:
Reshaping the operating model within financial domains will be required to bring this new decision-making to life.
Trend #2
Evidence-based decision making will grow in influence throughout organizations and will facilitate collaboration as finance partners with key divisions to implement strategies.
Human Resources Implication:
Financial leaders will need to proactively develop learning cultures that support evidence-based decision making. This will take time and effort on behalf of all team members.
Trend #3
Finance leaders will emerge more strongly as change agents and coaches, working alongside peers and colleagues to enhance processes, systems and ways of doing business.
Human Resource Implication:
Creating much closer alignment and engagement with the business will be required in order to effectively lead in ambiguity and develop more resiliency in the organization.
Infrastructure Trends
Trend #1
Energy: The pace of change in Canadian and global energy markets, policy, and technology trends suggests that the need for timely analysis is greater than ever.
Human Resource Implication:
In this environment of change, the sector will require leaders who can distill, analyze and interpret meaningful long-term projections in three areas: falling costs of renewables like wind and solar; determining the resilience of oil and gas under challenging market conditions and continuous improvement in energy efficiency that cause energy use and economic growth to decouple.
Source: https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/nrg/ntgrtd/ftr/2018/2018nrgftr-eng.pdf
Trend #2
Infrastructure: Canada’s infrastructure is about 70% through its useful life and is in need of a significant upgrade; it’s estimated an immediate investment of $250B is required.
Human Resources Implication:
The Canadian construction industry employs 1.2 million people, over 7% of all working Canadians. Larger firms have the advantage here as projects are now “bundled”. Small to medium size firms will have to become more competitive or risk being shut out of large construction projects. Contracts are more onerous and complicated requiring sophisticated negotiation and risk assessment skills. Skilled labour shortages will continue to jeopardize our ability to complete work, increase cost and put additional pressure on hiring more skilled workers.
Source: https://www.trisura.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Trisura-Infrastructure-WP-English-Update.pdf
Trend #3
Resources: New technology, social license and regulation of natural resource development and management is becoming more complicated, creating more work for the private sector to both navigate and comply with regulation.
Human Resource Implication:
There is a growing demand for professionals with certifications and designations; more associations and educational institutions are now increasing their education in areas like Agronomy and Forestry.
Source: https://www.eco.ca/wp-content/uploads/ECO-Canada-Careers-in-Natural-Resource-Management.pdf