INTERVIEWERS & PHOTOGRAPHY: ALIA FARAMAWI & MAHMOUD MANSI
1- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Recently in November 2016 you were a speaker at the EMEA HR Summit in London (Europe, Middle East and Africa HR Summit). What was the most important piece of knowledge that you gained from this experience? And how do such conferences and summits support leadership development within individuals?
Gyan Nagpal: I loved the diversity of the summit and the fact that we had participants and speakers from both the economically developed and developing world. Personally, I loved Tom Griffin’s perspectives on storytelling. My wife is a professional storyteller, and I have seen how moving a well told tale can be. Inspired by her, in my speeches too, I now consciously weave complex Talent Economics data around compelling real life stories.
2- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Advise HR professionals with other fields to study aside from human resources.
Gyan Nagpal: There are three in particular.
- Many of us in HR tend to be too insular and inward looking. I would encourage better understanding of market dynamics, particularly what is happening with changing consumer trends and digital enablement. This is the number one constituent shift in motion, at the moment.
- Secondly, we can all use data better. In particular, I feel there is scope for improvement in evidence based decision making at all levels. This is what prompted me to write my first book four years ago.
- True process facilitation, as opposed to advisory expertise. The world is moving so fast, we only have experts on yesterday. No one is a true expert on tomorrow.
3- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: From your point of view what are the qualities of a clever public speaker?
Gyan Nagpal: If I focus on the best speakers I have seen, there are four things that really get me to sit up and listen:
- They have a deep and immersive passion for the subject. And assuming they have spent a few years with it, are credible professionals, as opposed to having just read a few books to build passable commentary.
- They are humble and willing to show their true self. This makes them relaxed and easy in their skin, while up on stage.
- I am wary of the theatrical speakers, who have rehearsed their speeches down to pauses. They deserve to be viral on YouTube, rather than in front of a live audience. Great talks are about connecting with the audience, pausing for an unscripted query and going back and forth a bit. In short, following the broad tenets of a live conversation, rather than a one way presentation. The best ones are also those with a sharp wit, who can bring in some off-the-cuff humour.
- They always end it with the audience craving more. Nothing is more excruciating than seeing a speaker keep a topic on life support, after the audience has switched off.
4- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: From your expertise what are the common HR problems in Singapore? What are your suggestions to excel further with HR in Singapore?
Gyan Nagpal: Singapore as an economy is at a crossroad. For decades, Singapore was a trading and manufacturing hub par excellence, but a shift in cost economics and the rise of China has forced a total reboot towards financial services, knowledge work and tourism. This means brand new skillsets are required within a single generation. To add to this, Singapore’s collective citizenship is one of the fastest ageing groups globally. This makes redeploying older workers into new and revitalized careers, absolutely critical for survival.
I think not just HR, but even the Manpower Ministry and educational industry are doing a great job in Singapore. It is reassuring to see the ageing and reskilling issues being tackled with seriousness, focus, funding and a long term perspective.
5- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Many fresh graduates, middle age employees and professionals consider career shifting? What do you think about this move? And from your personal opinion why do you think the reason behind the increase in career shifting?
Gyan Nagpal: This is a good thing, and critical for our future success. We live in an age where it is guaranteed that employment based careers will be disrupted at least once or twice, if not more, over the next 30 years. Many current jobs will disappear too. This means two things:
- Talent must be able to demonstrate the commercial impact of their effort. Noncommercial roles will disappear with greater frequency in a digital world.
- Talent must have the ability to monetize their capability as entrepreneurs, freelance professionals or independent contractors, and move seamlessly between one contractual arrangement to another.
6- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: During this era a lot of HR people agree that the performance appraisal system hasn’t been strongly effective. In your opinion what kinds of evaluation can be used or implemented instead? Or other ideas to make the performance appraisal more effective?
Gyan Nagpal: This is one of my favourite topics, so allow me to explain what I think is needed in some detail.
While researching Talent Economics, I interviewed employees about what really motivates today’s workforce. I discovered a disconnect between the performance conversations my interviewees wanted versus how managers recounted their contribution to these conversations.
Over the last 20 years the employee mindset has evolved faster than has the art and science of management, and nowhere is this starker than in the area of performance management. Particularly the annual review. In both the developed and developing world, employees report that this “end of year” activity breeds stress, anxiety and mistrust. I can’t get over the irony that a process aimed at improving organizational performance, is itself underperforming!
Using an IT analogy: It’s time to “reboot” our performance management operating system, installing two specific system updates:
The first is what I call “The Democracy update”. As much as we try to make the performance appraisal a two-way dialogue, we cannot run away from the fact that at its core, the conversation today is often a top-down review. My research shows that many 21st century employees are rejecting conversations that are one-way. In hot skill markets today, managers must realize “who is appraising whom”. With other offers readily available, many employees enter a performance dialogue privately considering if this particular manager is worth another year, or not. The Democracy update implies that managers only gain the right to give feedback when they first genuinely seek the same on their own performance as leaders. Not just through 360o reviews, but also through authentic conversations asking, “How am I performing as your manager?” and “How did I help you succeed?” Only then can the conversation logically shift to, “How you can improve?” and “This is what you should focus on.”
Let’s call the second one “The Success module”. Greater employee autonomy and empowerment also changes the meaning of management. We have gone from a “supervisor of task and outcomes” to an “enabler of collective success”. To make this shift, we must give up the judge’s robes for the coach’s uniform. If employees don’t succeed, managers are on the hook too. What if, instead of making the heart of a performance conversation the appraisal or evaluation, it became a vehicle to improve success of the individual, the team and the business? What if performance feedback was paired with dialogue about transforming the business, the product, or customer experience? This genuinely reboots and upgrades performance management to focus on things that matter in the future.
7- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: As a professional you have been through several job interviews until you have reached your current position. What was the most difficult interview question you were asked, and what was your answer to it?
Gyan Nagpal: I don’t think there has been a question so tough that I would remember it in isolation. I have had my share of great interviews (and a few painful ones), but I always respect the interviewer’s time and desire to find the right candidate. Often, halfway through a dialogue I have realized I am not the right person for the job, or the job isn’t right for me. In such situations: honesty and the ability to walk away amicably is my definition of success, rather than just being selected.
It isn’t without reason that recruitment expert Claudio Fernandez-Araoz from Egon Zehnder, once said “A typical job interview is a conversation between two liars”. I do believe being honest is a mark of success for both people involved.
8- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How far do you think Human Resources Management processes can go flexible with the millennials and the new digital era? Do you think the overall company system should totally yield to millennials working standards?
Gyan Nagpal: Can I say 101%. If we agree that loyalty has eroded on both sides of the employment equation, then several tenets of employment must change. Not just millennials, but people of all age are rejecting indentured obedience of organizational dogma.
If the company is to survive, it must change and change fast. I think my answer on performance management exemplifies how the social contract between employee and employer is changing.
9- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How did being an author help you in your daily career life? And what advice do you have for authors who want to market their books and become bestsellers as yourself?
Gyan Nagpal: It taught me a whole new level of rigour. Writing a compelling business book is a very rigorous process: from ideation, conceptualization, research and finally articulation. My book took me two long years.
During my speaking engagements, I meet tons of people who want to write a book, yet very few manage to get beyond 60 or 70 pages. This is the point where most books die. Usually, if the pace isn’t right or if the research isn’t deep enough. I would encourage aspiring authors not to rush things, be prepared to rewrite large chunks, to get attached to ideas rather than words and finally not to lose hope if publishers turn them down. Few people know that Agatha Christie’s first book was rejected multiple times over five long years, or that JK Rowling’s first manuscript was rejected 12 times till the 8 year old daughter of a Bloomsbury editor got her hands on it.
10- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: In your book “Talent Economics: The Fine Line Between Winning and Losing the Global War for Talent” you were able to “navigate the talent markets of the future” as Dr. Martin Moehrle stated, how were you inspired to write this book? And how do you advice HR professionals to create new talents?
Gyan Nagpal: Three things in particular: 1. Be commercial. 2. Think in terms of capabilities rather than headcount 3. Recognize that today some of the smartest people, who can really grow your business, sit outside your office walls and will never work for you. Yet it is your job to help access their skills at the right time.
11- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: If you are to create your own HR Summit, which country will it take place in, and what will be the theme you would like to choose? Why?
Gyan Nagpal: It would be virtual or hosted simultaneously on five continents, all connected live on giant screens. And the theme would probably be “Beyond Employment: Cultivating Capability and Curating Contribution”.
THANK YOU
http://www.talenteconomics.com/