Episode 41 with David D'Souza about WFH and the future of HR

The People Podcast

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the #ChatTalentPeoplePodcast where I was joined by the ever-youthful David D’Souza, Membership Director of the CIPD.

Throughout the episode, we get to know the man behind the curtain and find out if the CIPD is still as relevant as it was 30 years ago.

I started the episode with a few rapid-fire questions to find out more about David, the person, not David, Membership Director. What was his favourite wine, favourite song and who was his role model?

While doing my research for this episode, I came across a really interesting article that David wrote a while back called “Chasing the elephants out of the room”, I just had to find out more.

“THE CONCEPT BEHIND THIS IS THAT WITHIN BIG ORGANISATIONS, ROOMS ARE OFTEN FILLED WITH ELEPHANTS. IF YOU’RE A SENIOR LEADER YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON BUT YOU FIND YOURSELF AT A DISADVANTAGE IF YOUR PEOPLE ARE NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO OPEN UP – IF YOUR ROOM IS JUST FILLED WITH ELEPHANTS.”

Throughout the whole episode, David gave us some really amazing insight into what the future of HR looks like, but one point that really stood out for me was his views on remote working:

“IT SHOULDN’T TAKE A GIGANTIC CRISIS TO SHIFT THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT WORK. IT SHOULD BE A CONSTANT PROCESS. AND YET, WE STILL HAVE ORGANISATIONS SAYING ‘WOW, APPARENTLY PEOPLE DON’T SLACK OFF IF THEY ARE SITTING AT HOME’.”

I thoroughly enjoyed recording this episode. The time just flew by, I hope it does for you as well.

Enjoy!

DON’T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE EPISODE? HERE’S AN EASY BREAKDOWN

[2.19] David, what’s your favourite song and why?

[2.51] What’s your favourite thing to do on the weekend?

[3.22] What’s your favourite wine?

[4.02] Who is your role model?

[4.58] What’s one thing that nobody knows about you?

[5.40] You’ve worked in HR for a long time, what would you be doing if you weren’t?

[6.23] And how did you get into HR?

[7.02] And has your work strategy has changed over the years?

[8.07] A while back you wrote a piece about ‘Chasing the elephants out of the rooms’ which is about your professional approach and work style. Tell us a bit about it.

[11.07] Is the CIPD still fit for purpose? And are they ready to change with the times?

[12.43] What do you think is happening within the HR industry as a whole?

[13.50] What sort of things should we be doing within HR to remain relevant and drive the business forward?

[15.10] Clearly change management is key in all of this. What do you think we could do better within HR to be the guardians of this change.

[16.19] There are a lot of people talking about WFH or return to work, do you think there is a middle ground?

[19.57] From your perspective, apart from WFH, what do you think will be the biggest challenges for HR going forward

[21.14] If we are changing the way we think of HR, do you think the skills required and experience for a top HR position should also change?

[23.23] And organisations shouldn’t fear these changes, but embrace them?

[24.30] Do you think we should go back to the basics to solve our challenges?

This episode was sponsored by our buddies over at Frankli. Say hello to Ronan