Coffee Break: Managing teams, robo recruiters and offices for introverts
This weekly roundup curates essential reads on team management, employee engagement, workplace design for introverts, and the impact of AI recruitment on job prospects. Topics span business strategy, nonprofit sector insights, and modern workplace trends including diversity initiatives and gender pay gap solutions.
Zero-hours contracts – friend or foe?
Zero-hours contracts, which guarantee no minimum hours of work, have faced criticism over misuse by some businesses. However, completely avoiding them may push employers toward less secure alternatives for workers. Used transparently to meet genuine fluctuating business needs, zero-hours contracts can be a legitimate flexible staffing solution.
How to avoid manager dependency
Manager dependency occurs when leaders struggle to delegate and team members become reliant on constant guidance. Build independence by identifying root causes—whether micromanagement, unclear expectations, or lack of confidence—then create a supportive culture that encourages autonomy while maintaining necessary oversight.
Culture, growth & milennial myths at Booking.com
Booking.com’s Global Manager of Learning and Talent discusses the company’s rapid growth from 3,000 to 10,500 employees, the importance of culture and strong leadership in scaling operations, and shares insights on workplace engagement and millennial myths.
Coffee Break: Brand engagement, exit surveys and the fall of holocracy
This weekly roundup covers key HR trends including the collapse of Zappos’ self-management model, employee engagement strategies, recruitment challenges for minority candidates, and why exit surveys often fail to provide actionable insights for organizations.
How is personality linked to performance in crisis management?
Research from Cubiks examined how personality traits influence crisis management performance by assessing 82 team members during simulations. The study identified key personality characteristics that impact decision-making and effectiveness when responding to emergencies, offering deeper insights beyond procedural compliance for training feedback.
Studying politicians: emotionally-intelligent leadership can be taxing
Emotionally intelligent leadership requires processing emotions transparently rather than suppressing them. When public figures like politicians fail to acknowledge and express their feelings, they create perceptions of insincerity that can damage trust and allow suspicion to grow among the public.
Coffee Break: Productivity, beanbag chairs & communicating in a crisis
This weekly HR roundup covers key workplace topics including productivity challenges, crisis communication strategies, talent acquisition trends, and the evolving future of work. Curated articles and blogs explore performance improvement, organizational culture, and emerging employment opportunities across industries.
VIDEO: Our time with Gareth Williams, Global HR Director, Travelex
Watch an in-depth interview with Gareth Williams, Global HR Director at Travelex, as he discusses leading HR across 30 countries and 8,000 employees. Topics include his approach to digital transformation, embedding innovation in HR operations, leadership style, and why HR leaders should hold executive committee seats.
Coffee Break: Co-working, CV photos, and the case for a three day week
A roundup of HR news and insights covering resume photos, leadership trends, teamwork dynamics, and workplace culture changes, including perspectives on co-working spaces and the case for shorter working weeks.
Breakfast Insight: The question of senior team effectiveness
Justin Hughes, Managing Director of Mission Excellence and former Red Arrows pilot, discusses the challenges senior leaders face balancing dual roles: leading their functional units while following the CEO to run the business. He explores how misalignment and incentive problems affect team effectiveness.
Coffee Break: Recruitment fixes, happy workplaces and the taboo of salaries
Discover curated HR insights covering recruitment strategies, leadership transparency, workplace culture, and compensation practices. This roundup explores how organizations can build better teams, improve hiring processes, and create happier, more engaged workplaces through practical workplace solutions.
What we’re looking forward to at HR Tech World Congress 2016
Explore the key sessions and speakers at HR Tech World Congress 2016, including insights on leadership, culture change, and innovation from industry leaders like Simon Sinek and Peter Hinssen.
Control to influence? Mahatma Gandhi on leadership
Explore Gandhi’s leadership philosophy and how self-control enabled him to influence millions through non-violence rather than domination. Discover what modern leaders can learn from his approach to achieving change through values and beliefs instead of traditional control mechanisms.
Unpicking Angela Merkel’s ‘connected’ leadership style
Angela Merkel’s response to the refugee crisis revealed her as a bold, values-driven leader willing to prioritize principle over short-term political gain. Her “connected leadership” style emphasizes authenticity, collaboration, and long-term purpose rather than opinion-poll calculations.
The Positive Organization: Time for HR to leave the ‘bandage business’
HR departments must move beyond reactive problem-solving and become strategic partners. This three-part series explores how organizations can leverage positive organizational research to develop leaders who balance profit, innovation, and employee engagement while building cultures where people thrive.
The Positive Organization: Two hospitals, two cultures – but why?
Two hospitals reveal starkly different workplace cultures: one fosters employee pride and alignment with leadership vision, while the other struggles with rigid policies and blame-focused management. Professor Robert Quinn explores how organizational culture fundamentally shapes employee behavior and patient experience.
The Positive Organization: Doing the impossible – Amy’s courageous story
A Chief People Officer transformed her business school’s culture by moving beyond reactive problem-solving to building a positive organization. Through emergent initiatives focused on learning and community engagement, she became a strategic partner and created an environment where staff flourished.
The ever-transforming role of the HR leader
HR leaders must balance personal authenticity with data-driven decision-making to drive strategic value. As organizations modernize their HR functions, leaders are shifting from administrative roles toward shaping company culture and employee experience through agile systems and real-time feedback.
Is your senior HR leader undervalued by the CEO?
Two-thirds of HR professionals believe their chief HR leader is undervalued by the CEO, according to the 2016 Harvey Nash HR Survey of 1,253 HR leaders globally. The research reveals that valued HR leaders focus more on employee engagement, build stronger cross-functional relationships, and prioritize culture as a strategic function.
