London-Based HR Leaders Discuss HR Innovation

The Chapman Consulting Group brought HR Leaders together on Friday, 20 March at the offices of GlaxoSmithKline in Brentwood, and AIG in Central London, to discuss the latest advances in HR innovation. The GSK session was hosted by Magnus Hibbert, Senior Vice President HR, and the AIG session by Brian McLoughlin, CHRO for EMEA. Both meetings were also attended by Matthew Chapman, CEO, and Tim Rayner, Director Europe, with The Chapman Consulting Group.

Some of the key observations on HR innovation were as follows:

1.) Learning and development strategies are being re-engineered for new age practices, made available by better technology. This includes:

• Better segmentation of programmes to specific groups;
• More training being delivered online by video and voice;
• Shorter, sharp sessions with real time feedback;
• Programmes being integrated with existing online platforms, as opposed to tailored platforms;
• Greater cost savings in reducing the reliance on physical training;
• Creation of multiple global ‘hubs’ for ‘flagship’ physical training, with a preference for participants to ‘live’ on site for a short time.

2.) Data analytics, as a trend, continues to sweep through the HR profession at a breath-taking rate. Key comments included:

• Younger HR talent is already equipped with better capabilities in this area;
• If you are weak at interpreting or organising data, ensure you hire a team around you that can do it;
• Most companies, if they have not already, are rapidly innovating data management systems to produce better data.

3.) Talent Acquisition strategies are taking into account multiple streams and are no longer relying on traditional techniques. Smart practices are incorporating:

• Innovative and lucrative employee referral schemes;
• Smarter integration of LinkedIn, Facebook and web tools to produce greater data points around future hiring talent;
• More dedicated focus of the recruitment team structure, to emphasise hiring different job families.

According to AIG host, Brian McLoughlin, “It was a well-attended meeting of senior HR professionals with good interactive dialogue on some of the key challenges facing the profession today.” Many thanks go to our hosts at both GSK and AIG for putting on such a productive and lively gathering. Our next European and Middle East HR Leaders groups will be held in Paris, Istanbul and Dubai later this week. Watch this site for future updates.