Speaking at Unleash London at the ExCel Centre yesterday, Holley focused his 'Disrupt or Die' talk on how taking risks in business can help organisations avoid becoming “victims” of a rapidly changing economic climate.
“HR should not just be about recruiting the best people; it’s about recruiting all sorts of people who can transform the workplace. To do that we need to actively encourage [taking] risks, and actively encourage the idea that failure and mistakes can be valuable,” Holley said.
He explained that by creating a culture where mistakes are accepted it's then possible to push ahead with new ideas and innovation.
He added that collaboration is a key factor in helping to change the workplace. “In HR we can spend too much time creating relationships that stop us from collaborating effectively. Collaborating is something we’re hardwired to do; it makes us feel good and helps us to perform at our best. But when we focus too much on what’s happening at the top we’re holding ourselves back,” he said.
Making organisational hierarchies flatter is key, said Holley. “Organisations like Netflix and Spotify are starting to realise the problems with ranking, and have reaped the benefits of introducing flat ways of organising their teams," he said.
“Zara has been successful through sourcing around 70% of ideas from people at the frontline of customer service rather than from those at the top. It's been able to get data on what its customers need through talking directly to its people on the shop floor, feeding this back to people in product design, and getting a quick turnaround of products.”
Dan Simpson, head of people and leadership for Europe at Siemens, added: “At Siemens we’ve completely rethought the way we organise our company. We know that hierarchy disenfranchises people. We’ve tried to eliminate levels completely and work within a holacracy – a system where everyone takes ownership of culture as if it was their own.”
