Ms. Nabok, can you describe yourself as a person in a few words?
As I see it, both on organizational and personal level I can inspire and encourage further development. I can inspire to achieve more.
I believe that everyone has their special talent. All the obstacles and limitations are created in our mind. In most cases, they are caused by our attitudes, fears, social restrictions, no the lack of opportunities. As a business coach and organizational change expert I endeavor to create the environment which achieves full potential of the organization and its employees. In other words, we reinforce the process of ‘internal scaling’ through optimization and application of strength.
As for my character traits, I am optimistic and I advocate for result-focused work. I value openness and trust. I enjoy learning something new and gaining new experiences. The process of learning and its results truly bring me joy. I can go through a difficult strategic session, improve and enhance the culture and structure of the organization, achieve the results that have not been achieved without my assistance. I can also set new goals and synchronize the values of a team. This is very inspiring.
I have been working for more than 20 years in the boards of directors and as a consultant I’ve been helping organizations recruit, build and motivate efficient like-minded teams, in which people develop in the same direction and are willing to achieve great results together. I am also capable of designing a dynamic system of efficiency metrics (key performance indicators) for the team and creating the system of evaluating and meta competences development.
In your opinion, how can HR professionals improvise, adapt and innovate in an ever-changing world?
I am convinced that the analytics of team involvement and constant interaction with employees and the labor market are necessary to be taken into consideration. A lot of fruitful ideas are already present in teams but it is necessary to implement them on time. To achieve this goal, regular mechanism of consolidation of new ideas for the constant process improvement in the organization and prompt change implementation are needed. It is crucial to attract supporters within the team and its ecosystem and look for decent solutions which will eventually benefit the organization as well as its employees. A great deal of ideas can be implemented by the team provided that its members are willing to develop in the sphere. In this case, people come up with ideas of their own and eagerly realize them, thus implementing their creativity & help further competencies development.
The edutainment (education + entertainment) format facilitates the process of improvisation. People enjoy playing and it also helps them think outside the box, decreases the formality level and increases team engagement in projects and other activities.
There are many digital tools nowadays that help to assess ‘team mood’, engagement and loyalty. These tools promptly gather opinions and eliminate routine, providing HR with more time to communicate and generate new ideas.
It’s crucial to remember that various target audiences, groups and generations coexist within the organization, so the culture should be open and focused on omnichannel communications and diversified social projects.
The synergy of resources and timely organizational synchronization are important. This is where transparent areas of responsibility and internal communications with all stakeholders and dynamic KPIs come to help. Like any other tools, metrics should be created considering current & strategic objectives. They should then develop and adapt together with other organizational processes. This topic is extremely relevant now and we have been researching its issues with the experts of the Train Your Brain agency for many years.
One of the results we have achieved is a new methodology for measuring productivity indicators — the SAPI Indicator Globe. I’ve recently presented it at the International Conference on Innovation, Management and Technology in Dubai. This is a multi-dimensional, dynamic and flexible efficiency map which includes priority qualitative and quantitative indicators depending on the tasks of stakeholders. The globe allows to evaluate the metrics from different perspectives: within a specific task or the work of a department; at the intersection of several processes; from the point of view of the organization itself and its external processes; from top to bottom and from bottom to top. And, most importantly, it is able to consider dynamics, instantly reacting to the changes, which enables us to forecast the future of the organization, make long-term and short-term predictions in order to choose the optimal measures that are to be taken.
Which are the main trends that shape the HRM sector these days?
Corporate culture is what comes to the fore. It’s a set of behavioral models, attitudes, beliefs and values that are formed within the team and which are implemented by the team when taking actions or decisions.
The atmosphere in the team determines its engagement, as well as productivity and the desire to gain new experiences. The innovations take root better when the team is ready to change and develop. On the contrary, even the most advanced innovative solutions do not work if they do not meet the principles and norms shared by the team.
At the same time, it is important to work proactively: teams should be encouraged to change in advance. A necessary ‘mood’ must be formed beforehand if we don’t want to struggle with the consequences. In this respect, the development of meta-competencies among employees (along with soft and hard skills) becomes relevant: consciousness and mindfulness, emotional stability and intelligence, proactivity and creativity, resistance to stress and uncertainties, etc. This help to build a strong team in which members reinforce each other’s ideas and cooperate for personal and organizational benefit.
At the same time, the process of learning and developing should be continuous. The concept of lifelong learning is yet another trend which determines modern technologies improvement. It’s therefore necessary to develop in the rhythm of current changes in order to remain on the top. And this applies not only to analytics and strategy, but also to the team. The team is the ‘engine’ that makes change possible.
We’ve come back to the issue of productivity. To implement innovations and digital solutions, it is important to take into consideration operational models, competencies, structure, decision-making process and critical thinking.
It’s crucial to eliminate daily routine and reinforce hidden potentials, enhancing the capabilities of people and organization as well as their abilities for learning and self-developing. Train Your Brain strategic sessions offer a variety of tools that help to assess the internal potential of the organization, form a roadmap for team development, increase efficiency and create a culture of innovation, thus implementing the above mentioned strategies.
Can you give us advice on how to overcome multicultural differences in the workplace?
It’s important to understand each other and take a genuine interest in the colleagues’ opinions. Communication remains the most important competence. By communication I mean the ability to ‘walk in someone’s shoes’ and look at the situation from different perspectives, as well as building relationships in large systems, understanding the relation between the processes within organization. And in this sense, common tasks arise that begin to prevail over cross-cultural differences, provided that mutual respect for different opinions and traditions is preserved.
The boom of freelancing and working from home have changed organizations in terms of geography. Nowadays multinational networks of teams are being formed more easily. Such limitations as location, language or lifestyle are not applied to them. Quite the opposite, they manage to cooperate effectively. It’s a great opportunity to support each other on a new level.
How do you define the successful HR specialist? What qualities should he/ she have?
First of all, HR team must be a real business partner. They should follow the mission of the organization and try hard to realize key objectives. They should conduct a dialogue within and outside the organization, facilitate the implementation of internal potential and project scaling through the talents of the team. They should help the employees unlock the potential, find interesting and relevant tasks and at the same time focus on priorities and achieve results.
It is important to be the ambassador of your organization and actively build relationships with the labor market, create a positive brand image, attract new talents and help to form an organizational design & culture of flexibility and innovations in which projects can be delegated taking into account competencies & potential.
The system should be well-balanced and ready to develop further. It is necessary to create a complementary team, maintain the key talent pool and form the common values and traditions of the organization.
To summarize, the key goal of HR nowadays is to take an active part in building corporate culture which should be based on the company’s mission and values and therefore contribute to better productivity and sustainable success even under uncertainties. At the same time, the company should be ready to change in respect with current innovations and trends.
