Human Resources Today / HR Innovators Virtual Conference - September 2016
Today’s workplace is characterized by chaotic forces—low employee engagement and productivity levels, and declining employee well being.
HR Leaders have a critical role in defining the vision and strategy to transform and create a more productive and happy workplace. This session will focus on what that vision might look like, with particular attention paid to the issues of creating a high performance and productive work culture, while at the same time addressing the important questions of employee and management well being and motivation.
Sign-up at http://www.humanresourcestoday.com
3. About Ray Williams
Ray Williams
Ray Williams brings over 35 years of leadership experience as a CEO, HR Executive,
Management Consultant and Leadership Trainer. As President of Ray Williams Associates, in
Vancouver, Ray provides executive mentoring, coaching and leadership training services to
numerous companies in the Fortune 500 and Best Managed Companies in Canada, as well as
dozens of small and medium sized businesses and individuals.
Ray is also a frequent, speaker, author and guest, having written for, or been interviewed by
numerous publications and media outlets including, the Washington Post, U.S.A. Today, and The
Huffington Post. Today’s workplace is characterized by chaotic forces—low employee engagement
and productivity levels, and declining employee well being.
He has written books on leadership, including, The Leadership Edge, Systemic Change
(contributing author) and personal growth, Breaking Bad Habits, Ready, Aim, Influence
(contributing author) and published over 300 articles on leadership, organizational and behavioral
change and workplace issues. His new book, Eye of the Storm: How Mindful Leaders Can
Transform Chaotic Workplaces is a best seller and available throughout North America, Europe
and Australia.
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Structure for Today’s Webinar
• I’ll present my content, with provision for Q and A at
the end
• On the left hand side of screen, there is a chat option
where you can post questions as we go along. If there
is a question that would be better answered during
the webinar, I may address it then
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My Perspective On Workplaces
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
As an Executive Coach working with C-Suite Executives and
Young Entrepreneurs
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My Biases
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• There is a significant negative gap between what we
believe (and research tells us) constitutes good
leadership, and the people we actually choose and
promote into leadership roles
• There is a significant lag in public awareness vs actual
implementation of AI and robotics in the the
workplace
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My Biases
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• We continue to hold on to a workplace/work model
that better serves an economy of the past than the
future
• Leaders have insufficient awareness and an action
orientation regarding neuroscience, human
motivation and well being
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Question: How Would You
Characterize Workplaces Today?
Or
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
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Question: What are the
Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
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Question: What are the Signs of a
Chaotic Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Declining levels of employee engagement*
* According to AON Hewitt, a 56% decline since 2010
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Question: What are the Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
An Increase in incivility and bullying*
* Source Workplace Bullying Institute
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Question: What are the Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Increased levels of stress and burnout*
* Source: National Institutes of Health
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Question: What are the Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Employee Mental Health Issues*
* Source: Harvard Medical School
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Question: What are the Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Multitasking and Interruptions*
* Source: Stanford University study
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Question: What are the Signs of a Chaotic
Workplace?
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Leader Failures*
* Source: INSEAD Business School
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
* Source: Harvard Business Review; INSEAD Business School
Leader Failures*
• 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs have lasted less than 3 years
• At a global level, CEOs are lasting 7 yrs, down from 9.5
years in 1995
• 2 out of 5 new CEOs fail in their first 18 months
• New leaders have a 40% chance of demonstrating
disappointing performance
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
*Source: INSEAD Business School, Sidney Finklestein,
Why Leaders Fail*
• Hubris
• Narcissistic, sociopathetic or psychopathic personalities
• A focus on short term results
• Lack of emotional intelligence particularly empathy and
compassion
• Interpersonal conflicts
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Robots on the Workplace
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Robots on the Workplace
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
* Sources: Oxford University study and World Bank Development Report
Significant Loss of Jobs*
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Robots on Jobs
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Jobs in Jeopardy
• The financial industry
• Accounting Related Jobs
• Manufacturing Jobs
• Many health care jobs including physicians
• The transportation industry
• Aerospace and the military
• Agriculture
• The service industry
• The legal industry
• Traditional management jobs
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Robots on the HR Function
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• Employee monitoring systems for productivity and
wellness
• More extensive use of big data for talent management
• Designing and managing robot-human interface issues
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The Growth of the Contingent
Workforce*
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
* Source: McKinsey & Co. Report
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Robots on Education and Training
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
A Restructuring of Higher Education
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The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and Robots on Education and Training
HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• A movement away from education as preparation for jobs
• A focus on continuous retraining
• The development of “cities of learning”
• A larger and more significant role for employers
• A focus on collaborative learning and cooperative networks
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Leadership Development
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Leadership Development: What is
Needed
• A talent recruitment/promotion/development approach that focuses on
emotional intelligence
• A more aggressive on-boarding process for new leaders
• More extensive use of coaches for potential and current leaders,
particularly at the middle level of management
• Formalizing a rigorous mentorship program for millennial leaders
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Leadership Development: Why
Coaching and Mentoring Is Important
• Only 20% of organizations are investing in Millennial
leadership development and mentoring
• Millennials don’t want traditional classroom/seminar training
• CEOs say they want more coaching
Sources: Brandon Hall Group 2015 study; Deloitte 2016 study; Harvard Business Review; Stanford
University Study
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
How Neuroscience and Human
Behavior Research Can Help
• Most leaders are either not aware of or implement findings from
neuroscience with respect to managing people
• Example 1: Leaders/organizations still predominantly use the “carrot-
and-stick” approach to employee motivation despite research indicating
it doesn’t work
• Example 2: Most organizations still continue to use traditional
performance appraisals despite evidence that they don’t improve
productivity
• Example 3: Research on workaholism, regular breaks/downtime, worker
autonomy, mindfulness, and controlling multitasking isignored by most
organizations/leaders
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• Innovation to focus more on people
development rather than product development
• Helping design the human interface between
humans and machines
Redefining the Role of HR
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
• Innovation to expand collaboration and learning
• A shift to data-based talent decisions
• Shifting the locus of HR from a discrete function
to managers and teams
Redefining the Role of HR
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Key Questions for Leaders and HR
Professionals to Consider
• What can be an effective response(s) to the growing cancer of toxic
workplaces?
• How can talent management address the increasing problem of leader
failures?
• How will AI technology be used by HR?
• Given advances in technology, the displacement of workers by AI and
robotics, how will training and development be re-visioned?
• If many of the functions of HR could be replaced by Ai and line managers,
what then becomes of the HR function?
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Relevant Publications by Ray Williams
“What Will Happen When Robots Can Do Most Jobs?” Psychology Today
“Why We Need More Empathetic and Compassionate Leaders,” Psychology Today
“The Rise of Toxic Leadership and Toxic Workplaces,” Psychology Today
“Leaders: We Love Humble Leaders but Idolize Narcissists,” Psychology Today
“Carrot-and-Stick Motivation Revisited by New Research,” Psychology Today
“Why Leadership Development Fails to Produce Good Leaders,” Psychology Today
“Why Great Leaders Have a Coach Behind Them,” The Financial Post
“Why Do CEOs Fail and What to Do About It,” Psychology Today
For a list of Ray’s other 300 publications and books, contact him at ray@raywilliamsassociates.com
Website: http://raywilliams.ca
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HR’s Critical Role in Creating Productive and
Meaningful Workplaces with Ray Williams
Ray Williams’ New Book*
Available on Amazon in paperback
and Kindle form
Review these biases one at a time, this page and next page
Review points
Ask people to respond in Chat
Ask people to respond in chat
The issue of employee engagement has been an ongoing concern for leaders and HR practitioners.
Many organizations have launched both engagement assessments and initiatives to address the issue.
The first question to consider is : What is the cause for declining employee engagement. Research suggests the following:
Companies don't know what employees really want.
They don't know how to interpret data from employee surveys or how to act on it.
They do a poor job of setting and communicating expectations that inspire engagement.
They lack values that motivate employees to perform at their best.
They lack attractive career paths for good performers at all levels.
They assume engagement is driven by managers when in fact it may not be.
They're stingy with recognition.
Their leaders inspire mistrust.
They don't have a culture that encourages employees to thrive.
Recent studies show that the number of people experiencing incivility at work has doubled over the past two decades, an odd trend when you consider the increased focus many companies have placed on dealing with harassment and workplace bullying.
The term "workplace bullying" encompasses a pretty wide range of situations, but in general, it refers to repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more people that can include verbal abuse, offensive nonverbal behaviors, or interfering with someone's ability to get work done.
Over the last few decades, the number of people who've admitted to being the target of workplace bullying has increased drastically. In 2011, half of employees in one survey said they were treated rudely at least once a week, an increase of 25% from 1998.
recent poll by Weber Shandwick, reported that 65% of Americans say the lack of civility is a major problem that has worsened during the financial crisis and recession. What’s even more distressing is that nearly 50% of those surveyed said they were withdrawing from the basic tenants of democracy—government and politics—because of incivility and bullying.
A startling 37% of American workers—roughly 54 million people—have been bullied at work according to a 2007 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute. The consequences of such bullying have spread to families, and other institutions and cost organizations reduced creativity, low morale and increased turnover. According to the Institute, 40% of the targets of bullying never told their employers, and of those that did, 62% reported that they were ignored.
According to a 2007 survey by Zogby International, almost 50% of the U.S. workers report they have experience or witnessed some kind of bullying—verbal abuse, insults, threats, screaming, sarcasm or ostracism. One study by John Medina showed that workers stressed by bullying performed 50% worse on cognitive tests. Other studies estimate the financial costs of bullying at more than $200 billion per year.
More than half of Americans (53%) are burned out and overworked, according to an inaugural survey of more than 2,000 workers by Staples Advantage,
One reason workers may feel burned out is that they only use around half of their eligible paid vacation time and paid time off, a 2014 survey by careers website Glassdoor of 2,300 workers who receive paid vacation concluded. Some 61% of Americans work while they’re on vacation, despite complaints from family members, it found; one-in-four report being contacted by a colleague about a work-related matter while taking time off, while one-in-five have been contacted by their boss.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) stepped forward to report that because the nature of work is changing at whirlwind speed, perhaps now, more than ever, job stress poses a threat to the health of workers, and in turn, to the health of organizations.2
Ellen Galinsky’s nationally representative study called Ask the Children, when asked their one wish to improve how their mother’s and father’s work affected their lives, most children wished their mothers and fathers would be less stressed and less tired.4
A study on feeling overworked revealed that 1 in 3 U.S. employees experienced feeling over- worked as a chronic condition. We were also able to identify some of the factors that lead to being overworked and understand some of its consequences.
the World Health Organization reported that by 2020, clinical depression was expected to outrank cancer and follow only heart disease to become the second greatest cause of death and disability worldwide.
Many of the studies in this field have concluded that the indirect costs of mental health disorders — particularly lost productivity — exceed companies' spending on direct costs, such as health insurance contributions and pharmacy expenses.
Two-thirds of both men and women say work has a significant impact on their stress level, and one in four has called in sick or taken a "mental health day" as a result of work stress. (American Psychological Association, 2004).
• One-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives (Northwestern National Life).
• Workplace stress causes approximately one million U.S. employees to miss work each day
The High Cost of Multitasking: 40% of Productivity Lost by Task Switching
According to the American Psychological Association’s overview of multitasking research, there are threetypes of multitasking(1):
Performing two tasks simultaneously. This includes talking on the phone while driving or answering email during a webinar.
Switching from one task to another without completing the first task. We’ve all been right in the middle of focused work when an urgent task demands our attention; this is one of the most frustrating kinds of multitasking, and often the hardest to avoid.
Performing two or more tasks in rapid succession. It almost doesn’t seem like multitasking at all, but our minds need time to change gears in order to work efficiently.
It’s estimated that only 2% of the population is actually proficient at multitasking, and ironically, these people are the least likely to actually multitask. The problem is that we all think we’re part of that 2%, and use our perceived ability as justification to juggle too many tasks. In fact, recent research indicates that people who multitask the most often are likely the worst at it.
Multitasking Lowers IQ
Research also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ. A study at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they’d expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night. IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of an 8-year-old child.
According to Basex research, interruptions cost the U.S. economy $588 billion a year. If you’re tolerating the interruption culture at your company, you are jeopardizing your profits.
Further research by a workplace training company found that when employees are asked to formally calculate the time they lose to interruptions, they routinely come up with 40%-60% of their most productive time; that's about 3-5 hours every day.
Here’s some famous examples of prominent ceos who have failed in the past
Review points
Review points
One of the biggest single forces that is and will continue to have a transformational impact on our workplace is the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or use of robots.
Both the World Bank and Oxford University have looked at the impact of AI and robots on jobs in the future. Oxford University estimates that between 47-50% of current jobs in the workplace in the U.S. will be replaced by AI and robots. This will cause significant issues beyond mere unemployment, particularly for men.
And while we may think it will only affect blue collar or lower level jobs, the impact will be greatest for white collar jobs.
Various reports have identified the following sectors as being areas that are vulnerable.
We underappreciate the impact of The Internet of Things, Big Data and AI is developing—at lightning speed.
Let me use some examples:
IBM’s most advanced computer (which is really not a machine, but a network in the cloud) is now able to give more accurate medical diagnosis of certain serious medical conditions like cancer, has completed a creative, artistic movie trailer
A computer program has been developed that can read human emotions on the faces of people, and respond accordingly
A human like voice
Write a novel
A robot boss
More accurate investment strategies
Robots that can build an entire house
Review points
Mention employee monitoring systems---keystrokes, monitoring employees in meetings
30% of US workers are now contingent
More an more people are working 2nd and third gig jobs in the freelance economy
Contingent workforce brings problems of abuse of workers’ rights, benefits
etc
According to a study by Dartmouth College, the 10 fastest growing job categories require less than a college degree
Over 40% of the college graduates today are working in low wage jobs
Many college graduates never work in the field in which they have received an education