Time to Grow

I live in Stockwell – an unprepossessing area of South London, which most people pass through en route to somewhere else, but to me it is home. As I suspect you already know, I am passionate about nature and our environment…perhaps partially inspired through osmosis from my parents and via the soil in my garden, whilst I tend my bees and plants.  I love my small patch of ground – an oasis away from the pollution, pace and pettiness out in the streets and office. I am sitting in the garden now, listening to a blackbird, perched on our neighbour’s chimney pot singing about its place in the world (as indeed am I in this blog). One of my mother’s lasting memories after my birth (she had a particularly gruelling time bringing me into the world, even though I only weighed 2.8lbs) is of a blackbird singing its heart out from a chimney pot, whilst she lay exhausted in bed, in what is now a defunct maternity hospital, less than 5 minutes walk from my current home. Perhaps this blackbird is a descendent of the one she listened to.  The connection and continuity appeals to me.

Part of the reason for my comment about osmosis is that my house is on land close to the original site of John Tradescant the Elder’s botanical garden. Tradescant, an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller, was an amazing man and can be credited as the father of modern English gardening, specialising in the garnering and nurturing of unusual plants.  He commenced his career as Head Gardener to Robert Cecil, 1^st Earl of Salisbury, and created the celebrated garden at Hatfield House (the place where Queen Elizabeth I spent much of her childhood) and eventually was retained by the King as “Keeper of his Majesty’s Gardens, Vines, and Silkworms”.

Hatfield House, Knot Garden

In 1610/11 Cecil sent Tradescant to the Low Countries to select fruit trees and Tradescant returned with trees, plants and bulbs never before seen in England. This was the start of his life as a botanical pioneer. He and his son (John Tradescant the Younger) travelled abroad, as well as requesting others to collect specimens, to add to his collection.  Tradescant assembled a miscellany of curiosities (of natural history and ethnography), which he housed in “The Ark” – his home in Lambeth.  This amalgamation of rare and unusual natural and man-made objects established what was the first English museum to be open to the public, the Musaeum Tradescantianum and demonstrates Tradescant’s passion for learning and his altruism towards his fellow men and the world around him. After Tradescant’s death, the collection was acquired by Elias Ashmole and he bequeathed it to Oxford University as the nucleus of the Ashmolean Museum, the world’s first university museum. I love seats of learning.

John Tradescant the Elder
(portrait attributed to Cornelis de Neve) 

Although I honeymooned in Oxford, I studied at “The Other Place” and it was a real treat earlier this month to share my alma mater, Cambridge, with some of my colleagues and exceptional professionals and friends during a pioneering leadership development event, designed and run in conjunction with the Judge Business School. We took advantage of the amazing locations around the University to run some inspirational sessions covering a range of key topics including self-awareness, leadership styles, coaching cultures, communication, team dynamics and the traits of high performing teams. On our final night we had the privilege of dining in Cambridge’s equivalent of the Ashmolean – The Fitzwilliam Museum. The former Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, stated that, “Like the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam addresses the history of culture in terms of the visual forms it has assumed, but does so from the highly selective point of view of the collector connoisseur. Works of art have been taken into the collection not only for the historical information they reveal, but for their beauty, excellent quality, and rarity…It is a widely held opinion that the Fitzwilliam is the finest small museum in Europe.” Standing, conversing with colleagues surrounded by exquisite works of art, it was impossible not to agree.

Entrance Hall and stairs leading to galleries
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

How fortunate am I to be able to learn from, share and enjoy such treasures and memories, and also to be able to select my own dream team with whom to make the event such a success? I don’t often get given flowers, like a prima ballerina, for putting on a great show, but I did this time and they are still gracing my kitchen table. They make me smile whenever I look at them. It’s funny how impactful a meaningful “Thank you” can be. The personal notes from attendees have been heart-warming and inspiring. Hardened corporate cynics have emailed and written by hand to say that it was the best learning event that they have ever attended, some called it life-changing. Younger members of the group stated that they now appreciate where we, as a business, are going and what they need to do to enable success both for themselves and for the firm.  I am indebted to the wonderful professionals who, far more than I, made such an impact – especially:

• Tim Bellis, and Mark de Rond – both inspirational speakers and men I am humbled to call my friends;
• Stacey Clifford and Hannah Winchester of Judge – without whom the seamless coordination of the event could not have happened;
• Des Woods of the Moeller PSF Group (who can bring case studies to life like no other I know);
• David Goddin and David D’Souza who really brought home the power of coaching, encouraged all to participate, and who demonstrated the need to be adaptive to become a great leader, as well as bringing together the key messages from the event:
• Ben Hardy – an engaging and authoritative communicator who is also a dab hand with Lego;
• Lord Wilson of Dinton – whose knowledge, wisdom and ability to engage with a diverse audience is a lesson to all would-be-leaders; and finally
• Simon Heath – who can capture the essence of an experience, through a few simple lines, so that people see things in a different way and the learning sticks. 

You are truly a group of high-flying professionals who are a joy to work with. Our shortlisting for this year’s HR Excellence Awards is due in part to you and your influence.

Thank you!

Drawing by Simon Heath
Summarising achievements at Cambridge

It is a genuine pleasure watching and helping people learn and grow – that is one of the reasons why I love being in HR.  There are similarities between HR and designing and tending a garden.  Good HR takes time, it is often hard work and a thankless task, but the fruits of your labours can be fantastic. Frequently the most apparently uninspiring bulbs or roots, with some care and support, suddenly sprout and blossom. Productivity can be found in unlikely places. Last week I had the felicity of attending the RHS’s Chelsea Flower Show – certainly the most famous UK show and probably the best known floral event in the world. It was delightful to wander amongst the different gardens and displays.  I am in awe at the skill true horticulturalists display in bringing together textures, colours, vistas, scents and contrasts, with an incredible eye for detail, to create exceptional spaces that evoke emotions as well as being visually stunning. Each exhibit had its own style and personality and, as many of my friends on Twitter now know, certain gardens and plants reminded me of friends. I find that having a connection to nature makes me feel more alive and helps me grow, so that I want to sing like a blackbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaSMROk-D-A

Beatles Blackbird, 1968 

(lyrics were inspired by the civil rights movement in America)

Gardens inspire many people, this poem, Lines Written in Kensington Gardens – was composed by Matthew Arnold in 1852: In this lone, open glade I lie, Screen’d by deep boughs on either hand; And at its end, to stay the eye, Those black-crown’d, red-boled pine-trees stand! Birds here make song, each bird has his, Across the girdling city’s hum. How green under the boughs it is! How thick the tremulous sheep-cries come! Sometimes a child will cross the glade To take his nurse his broken toy; Sometimes a thrush flit overhead Deep in her unknown day’s employ. Here at my feet what wonders pass, What endless, active life is here! What blowing daisies, fragrant grass! An air-stirr’d forest, fresh and clear. Scarce fresher is the mountain-sod Where the tired angler lies, stretch’d out, And, eased of basket and of rod, Counts his day’s spoil, the spotted trout. In the huge world, which roars hard by, Be others happy if they can! But in my helpless cradle I Was breathed on by the rural Pan. I, on men’s impious uproar hurl’d, Think often, as I hear them rave, That peace has left the upper world And now keeps only in the grave. Yet here is peace for ever new! When I who watch them am away, Still all things in this glade go through The changes of their quiet day. Then to their happy rest they pass! The flowers upclose, the birds are fed, The night comes down upon the grass, The child sleeps warmly in his bed. Calm soul of all things! make it mine To feel, amid the city’s jar, That there abides a peace of thine, Man did not make, and cannot mar. The will to neither strive nor cry, The power to feel with others give! Calm, calm me more! nor let me die Before I have begun to live. Luciano Giubbilei's garden for Laurent-Perrier Best in Show, RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 Be inspired and live life to the full - Don't waste time; we are surrounded by such wonderful things. A dandelion clock found in my garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LTZdZDEjTs Alexander Rybak – Song from a Secret Garden A perfect rose seen at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 A single flow’r he sent me, since we met. All tenderly his messenger he chose; Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet – One perfect rose. I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.” Love long has taken for his amulet One perfect rose. Why is it no one ever sent me yet One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get One perfect rose. (Dorothy Parker, of course)

Varsity Vistas

I have recently returned from an exceptionally productive, enjoyable and informative few days in Cambridge.  I was responsible for a leadership development programme designed in conjunction with the Judge Business School http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/ and not only was it very well received, but also I have no doubt that it will have a profound and long lasting impact on all involved.  There is little point investing time, money and effort on leadership development if you don’t want your leaders to develop and change.  Regrettably, many top level learning and development (L&D) initiatives are seen simply as “deserved” or “required” attendance by corporate executives and hence they participate either as a chore or for an easy break from normal routine; once “back in the day job”, it is all too easy to revert to the comfort and familiarity of accustomed roles and approaches.  Change demands effort and determination and works best when people support each other in achieving a shared goal. 

View through oculus window of Lecture Theatre 1, Judge Business School, Cambridge
Photo by Annie Galpin

 

It is usual, at the end of a learning event, for individuals to make a personal pledge that they will utilise their new-found knowledge and skills in the work environment.  Indeed, each of the attendees with me have been asked to select two things that they will do differently (or commence doing) going forwards and I will be supporting them to ensure that they achieve their goals, as well as measuring what change can be assessed.  I am confident that each individual who attended the event in Cambridge is committed to applying their learning.  However, their personal undertakings, to achieve singular and organisational change, are not what made the event exceptional.  There are few cities more beautiful than Cambridge and it was looking particularly attractive: soft spring sunlight on honey coloured stone and blossom and fresh leaves on the trees.  The verdant foliage, burgeoning after the long period of cold weather that the UK has endured, seemed to echo the eagerness of the attendees to learn and grow.  We were fortunate, we were joined by an inspirational collection of exceptional speakers and experts, who struck a chord with all attendees.  I confess that it was both a pleasure and privilege to share aspects of my alma mater with colleagues and friends, but that was not what made the event so good.



Queens' College, Cloister Court

The thing that made it different was the genuine sense of connection, in every aspect from the attitude of the attendees, their preparation, commitment and the event’s clear outcomes (both agreed and unexpected).  I am an experienced HR professional and have designed and run numerous L&D sessions over the years, some award winning and many life-changing for individual delegates, but this one was genuinely different.  Why did it stand out?  What did I experience and learn?  I think the essence of the differentiation is founded on unity.  There was an almost palpable level of engagement and a shared passion to define and commit to desired change.  Every attendee had come prepared and determined to benefit from the opportunity.  Nobody was there because they felt they had to be and, without exception, they wanted to learn, share, talk, discover and build a better future as a team.  There was a logical flow through the days so that knowledge was built upon and strengthened.  I was reminded of the value of physically bringing people together.  In our increasingly technology enabled world, e-learning has its place and I work for a global group, so, for ease and efficiency, we use webinars and video conferencing to enable people to benefit from shared learning.  However, humans are social beings.  Some of the attendees, despite having spoken with and seen each other from afar over a number of years , had never spent time together in the same location.  Genuine connections and understanding occurred.  We deliberately did not remain locked in a hotel conference suite or lecture theatre for the duration of the event, we used various university facilities (including museums, art galleries and debating chambers) and hence time was spent walking between venues.  People chatted en route.  So much was gained by spending time together, bouncing ideas around, exploring and gaining memories that we all now treasure.
 

Bridge of Sighs, seen whilst punting on the river Cam

People have returned to their respective offices and teams and have already started applying and sharing their new-found knowledge.  Attendees have designed and started delivering L&D sessions, to cascade their understanding and ensure that there is a shared language and approach across the Group.  We were fortunate to have the corporate artist, Simon Heath, with us in Cambridge ( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/simon-heath/16/75b/866 or follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/SimonHeath1 ) and he has drawn some excellent images that reinforce and remind, as well as capturing the main incidents and discussions.  I am already working on the next stage of our development and have the full support from the Chief Executive (who was an initial attendee) downwards.  It is exhilarating and rewarding to know that you are really making a difference that it will be measurable going forwards.

Simon Heath, corporate cartoonist in action, Cambridge Union Chamber

Having orchestrated and participated in such a positive L&D event, it was interesting to listen to the thoughts of Peter Cheese on Friday.  He has been the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) - the world’s largest Chartered HR and development professional body - since July 2012 .  Mr Cheese stated that he is determined to “help guide HR towards making a difference”.  I would like to state that there are many exemplary HR professionals who are already doing so.  But there are always grounds for improvement.  I was concerned by his comment that there is all too frequently a disconnect between HR and L&D, with each at times being keen to disassociate itself from the other.  How can individuals and organisations adapt, grow and improve if they are not prepared to learn and develop?  The world around us changes so swiftly, with new technology, products and requirements arising almost daily; change is now a constant of working life.  Each of us needs to be alert to the requirements of the future and to strive for continuous improvement.  HR has a key role in enabling people and organisations to become what they need to be, to ensure success and growth.
 



Onwards and upwards

Peter Cheese is right that HR must be commercial and pragmatic, demonstrating an understanding of the context in which a business operates, appreciating the financial drivers that enable its success and demonstrating in-depth organisational knowledge.  HR must be (and be seen as) a business function and bring the people knowledge to the commercial discussions.  One of the joys of working in HR is the ability to be forward thinking, looking at individuals‘ potential and helping employees to develop the skills and capabilities required to take them and the business to the next stage.  My team and I work closely with Finance and, by combining our knowledge and understanding, we are able to provide more effective support to the business than we if we operated in silos.  The accountants‘ ability to assess and review business performance is invaluable.  HR takes this down to individual contribution and capability and works with people to ensure that the business has what it needs to move forward.  In my opinion, it is harsh to view Finance solely as the rear view mirror in the car - looking back at what has been done.  However, there is immense value to be gained from understanding the path that was taken and spotting speeding vehicles that might wish to overtake.  Finance is expert at measuring performance against pre-determined KPIs, helping to identify issues as they arise and highlighting areas of decline or weakness.  All businesses need  faster responses to a changing world.   HR must be proactive, shaping and building businesses, turning insight into action.  Great L&D is a wonderful way to build future success and growth - when it all falls into place the feeling is amazing for all involved and the results speak for themselves.