Hello PPMA members and friends

The second in our series of ‘taster’ blog posts from some of the speakers at #PPMAHR24 is from Stella Chandler is Director at Focal Point – specialists in managing and preventing inappropriate behaviour at work. Her session, which is on Friday 26th April between 11:00 to 11:45 am, is about the effects of banter in the workplace. Below is a small taster of what she’ll be covering in her session.

---

I am delighted to be speaking at this year’s conference. Banter is a topic that is seldom discussed and yet regularly leads to shocking headlines about inappropriate behaviour and associated resignations

At Focal Point we conducted a survey amongst over 700 people about the effects of banter at work and the results were shocking.

97% of respondents said they had been made to feel uncomfortable by banter at some point. 40% of people said when banter was aimed at them it affected how they felt about themselves and, critically, people made to feel uncomfortable about banter felt it had impacted their ability to speak to their manager about their mental health.

These stats are bad enough, but what we hadn’t expected and what is so important for our HR community to address is that HR was highlighted as not doing enough to address banter in their organisations and in some cases, that they were actually responsible for perpetuating inappropriate banter and behaviour. Free text comments which respondents gave included

• HR often make it worse
• I’m not sure what HR actually do; I feel I am at risk of losing my job if I make a fuss
• A senior manager did not know where to draw the line, but you couldn’t do anything because he was friends with the HR Director

While this is uncomfortable feedback for HR teams everywhere, it is vital we hold a mirror up to ourselves and ensure we get our own house in order, if we are to in any way tackle the wider issue across our organisations

I will be discussing how, as HR professionals, we can go beyond the policies and the set of values displayed on our websites, to ensure the day-to-day culture in our teams is respectful and inclusive – while still maintaining the fun. And critically that we are role modelling within our own teams.

While this is not an easy area to navigate, it is possible to bring clarity through discussion and use of practical tools, to keep banter the right side of the line.

I look forward to seeing you

Stella Chandler is Director at Focal Point – specialists in managing and preventing inappropriate behaviour at work.

If you’ve not yet booked to attend Stella’s session or the wider conference then check out our website for more information.

 

Hello PPMA members and friends

In the final build-up to our Annual Conference in Birmingham on 26th to 28th April we’ll be posting tasters from some of our brilliant speakers to whet your appetite for their sessions. The first of these is from Steve Hargreaves who is Author of ‘The Compassionate Leader’s Playbook’ and the Founder and Director of The Compassionate Leadership Company – a coaching, culture, and leadership development company which specialises in helping organisations and their leaders to inspire, build and sustain a more compassionate workplace where everyone can thrive, achieve and stay well.

---

Strategies from The Compassionate Leader’s Playbook: How to lead with compassion and ensure your people thrive’

Awakening the power of compassionate leadership with The Compassionate Leadership Company

We have seen the positive impact on people’s performance, wellbeing, and engagement that a more compassionate, kind, and inclusive approach to leadership and workplace culture brings.

We know how important it is that people feel the things they need to at work for them to thrive, achieve and stay well whilst delivering what the business requires of them in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world. We believe that workplaces underpinned by compassion enable that to become a reality.

We believe that compassion is the oil greasing the wheels in the day to day running of our organisations and we believe that now more than ever we need to pour on more oil.

The reality is that it takes courage to lead with compassion. It is a bold call to action, and it takes a courageous organisation to be willing to shift its thinking and approach, to journey the road that might be less travelled and take the action required to awaken the compassion potential that already exists within it.

We believe that there is evidence of an increasing level of awareness within organisations around the need to build cultures characterised by empathy, inclusion, and kindness.

However, there is still a significant amount of work to be done. We believe that it is time for a shift from compassion within organisations and across leadership sometimes being seen as weakness, or a ‘nice to have’, to a new approach that positions compassion as a strength and an underpinning guiding principle and organisational value which enables the delivery of real business results.

“The compassionate leader strives every-day to role model the qualities of compassionate leadership at all times, in all situations, to inspire, build and nurture a high performing workplace culture of compassion where everyone can thrive, achieve and stay well”.

Steve Hargreaves

We care that the workplace should be a place where people thrive, achieve and stay well. Where people feel included, valued and seen for who they are, not just what they do. Where people feel they belong rather than merely fit in.

We care about organisations being places where high performance, engagement and wellbeing are the norm, for everyone.

We care about helping you to inspire and build workplace cultures of compassion.

This is a call to courageous action.

Join us in our mission to awaken the power of workplace compassion.

What will this fringe session cover?

In this session you will be introduced to the 360° of compassion framework and key aspects of compassion centered leadership. We will together explore:

– what is compassion?

– common myths and misconceptions – it’s not a hug and hope approach after all!

– why does it matter and how can leaders role model and enhance it?

-the importance of compassion at the individual, team, and system level.

– the return on compassion investment (ROCI) – how does enhanced compassion impact performance, engagement, connection, and wellbeing?

– a very practical focus on how you can bring it to life in your organisation, even when times are tough.

Attending the session will:

– help you to understand and identify the values, qualities and characteristics required of leaders and their teams to build and sustain a more inclusive, connected, and compassionate workplace.

– give you the information you need, to show how leading with compassion is great for business, culture, and the bottom line and how when we lead with compassion everyone benefits.

– enable you to consider the next steps your team/organisation needs to take to awaken and leverage the power of compassion.

– empower you to identify the next steps that you can take to elevate your management and leadership to the next level – a more compassionate level.

– introduce you to practical tools, frameworks (the 360° of compassion framework and accompanying 360 degrees of compassion self-diagnostic) and resources which you can use in your organisation to awaken, enhance, and sustain a more compassionate workplace.

Steve Hargreaves

Steve’s valuable and insightful session is running on Thursday 27th April, 12.00 – 12.45,  so don’t miss it. If you’ve not already booked for our conference it’s not too late – there are still day delegate places available here.