How does HR help in shaping a work ethos that support business agility and long-term growth?
PJ: HR is an agenda. HR is the function that is the steward of that agenda. In any business enterprise, talent, culture, leadership, and harder issues like organisation design and decision rights are key to growth as well as to risk mitigation. HR as a function must help co-visualise what it will take to ensure the organisation survives and thrives in BANI times. Much of an organisation’s history still pivots its future. It is sometimes suicidal as the context may be different or the aspirations have changed. HR must understand this future and help advise, push, evangelise, and support the company and its key stakeholders to recognise that need. It must then work at identifying key bottlenecks to agility as well as overall business growth, from structure and process to leadership and culture, and get the leadership to own that agenda. In many ways, it must coach, without fear or favour, the leaders and other partners to get future-ready. To...