UNLEASH World Day 1 highlights: What you missed, from Peter Hinssen to Amy Webb

The wait is over! UNLEASH World 2024 is finally here, with Day One drawing to a close. 

We’ve seen some of the world’s most knowledgeable and inspirational HR leaders take to the stage, from businesses such as Microsoft, PwC, Coca-Cola, Heidrick & Struggles, and countless more.

We’ve had conversations about improving employee experience, talent acquisition, what the future of work looks like, and of course, AI – spanning many different facets. 

But in case you were (very sadly!) unable to make it, UNLEASH’s team of journalist have rounded up just a few of their favorite sessions of the day.

nexxworks’ Peter Hinssen – From the new normal to the never normal

As one of the most sought-after thought leaders on radical innovation and leadership, Peter Hinssen has the integral job of kicking off UNLEASH World 2024.

Getting the two-day event off to a flying start, Hinssen addresses topics that are top of mind for every HR leader; the evolving workplace narrative, managing cultural shifts, and shaping workforce development. 

Throughout the session, Hinssen discusses how to master the narrative of a rapidly evolving workplace, while also paying particular attention to emerging talents, leveraging AI and embracing digitalization to optimize tasks and ensure success.

“I’m here to talk to you about the never normal – the world in and where you as HR leaders need to try and navigate,” he opens.

I am fascinated by fundamental changes. I am a technologist and absolute nerd. 

“I love these fundamental changes where technology can really make an impact. And I think we’re in the very middle of one of those now.”

He offers the example of TikTok, and how highly addictive social media has become. Although when first introduced, the addiction was novel, slowly, over time, it became the ‘new normal’.

But this, Hinssen warns, is changing: “More and more, we live in the world of ‘unknown unknowns’, and that’s never normal. How can the world of HR leverage this?”

Throughout the rest of his session, he highlights the necessity of embracing this ‘never normal’, spanning the importance of trust, flexibility, and, of course, embracing the unknown.

HR as an advisor, advocate and defender

Leading the session as moderator, Dr. Charles-Henri Besseyre des Horts, Professor Emeritus at HEC Paris took to the stage to welcome this prestigious panel: Rami Baitiéh, CEO of Morrisons; Patrick Blethon, CEO of SAUR; and Delphine Maisonneuve, CEO of Groupe VYV. 

The three CEOs had a lot of ground to cover during their 35-minutes on stage – and they didn’t let a second go to waste!

Diving straight in after introductions, Baitiéh began by sharing: “My relationship with the HR is one of complete transparency. I need my HR to tell me where I’m not doing well and where I’m doing very well. 

I need HR to be my advisor, my advocate and a defender of the team.”

Baitiéh adds: “Train me well, because the higher the value of the employee, the higher the value of the company. When you speak to your employees, you retain them. When you don’t they leave.”

Following shortly after, Blethon shares that his recipe for HR success include “passion, emotion, and leadership”. 

“We need passion in jobs,” he adds. “I think we all need to bring this passion. Why? Because if we stop being emotional and passionate we will stop developing our managers.”

Maisonneuve continues to add her perspective on the best way to retain top talent. “The way we recruit, train and develop our leaders on behalf of soft skills is absolutely important to me. 

“My HR head is really interested in taking charge of the leadership culture. This is where the game is being played today.”

Throughout the session, the trio continued to tick off a number of hot topics, including the evolution of the HR-CEO dynamic, how best to foster a workforce aligned with organizational mission, and ways to create a mission-driven workforce in an ever-changing business environment.

‘Green smoothies aren’t the answer to better wellbeing’

Although many HR leaders glaze over the topic of wellbeing with perks – smoothies, gym memberships and resilience webinars, for example – Adecco Group’s Global Wellbeing Manager Maurice Wery and The Josh Bersin Company’s Senior Advisor Reka Deak took to the stage to dive into how to achieve systemic change.

Through the session, Deak and Weary share how to understand the deeper significance of a wellbeing culture beyond surface-level practices, by identifying real-life examples of successful wellbeing strategies.

Weary begins by asking the audience the all-important question: ‘What does wellbeing mean to you?’

After hearing from multiple members of the audience her message is clear – wellbeing means something different to everyone.

Weary then takes the mic to talk through the wheel of inclusion and wellbeing, commenting on the relationship between the individual and organization, which spans four segments: structural, leadership, activation, and behavior and mindset.

Concluding, he says: “Everyone wants to do something about it. But we usually put our energy and money into things that are not the priorities.

“How do you operate as an organization? What are the processes used, that’s where you can really impact your people, and improve your wellbeing strategy.”

Overall, the pair unearthed how to make wellbeing an enabler of employee engagement, while learning how to make it a catalyst for better business success. 

Startup awards winner announced!

At the Innovation Stage, the UNLEASH Startup Awards 2024 were also decided! Five HR startups went head-to-head in front of our industry judging panel and the crowd, with Dublin-based employee experience experts Welliba emerging victorious.

Welliba Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Katarina Coppe told UNLEASH: “This is recognition that what we’ve launched to solve business problems is actually resonating with industry experts.

It also shows that clients are actually sharing what they’ve learned and giving us their business. And this shows we’re on the path of helping customers solve key business problems: We’re very happy to have achieved that.”

You can read all about why and how they won here. The video of the winning startup sharing insights into their pitch will be shared here on unleash.ai soon!

Cisco: Where to start with recognition

$50 billion revenue tech giant Cisco took to the Workforce Solutions stage to talk about gratitude and recognition.  

For the past decade, Cisco has been on a journey in this area and has been experimenting with how to ensure recognition is super valuable.  

What the tech giant found was that people didn’t really care what dollar value came with the recognition, they cared about the fact their colleague or manager had taken the time to appreciate them and their hard work.  

In fact, “the ability to drive more [recognition] meant driving down the dollar value”, shared Amber Howe-McCarthy, Head of People Experience, on stage at UNLEASH World.  

Howe-McCarthy’s tips to the audience who are unsure where to start with recognition is to “keep it super simple”, embrace digital platforms wherever possible and bring HR business partners and business operational staff on board very early in the journey.  

Fosway: What really is HR’s role?

“So what is really happening in HR tech?” Asks David Perring, Chief Insights Officer, Fosway Group, as he opens the session.

Continuing, he address the five most significant business challenges HR is facing in 2024-2025.

He continues to explain that 97% of organizations share that the availability of skills is the most pressing challenge, followed by 92% focused on performance and profitability, 88% said reducing cost and 86% believe economic pressure. 

However, managing AI and automation sparked problems for 89%. 

Throughout his session, Perring discusses various different trends that are impacting the AI industry, while addressing the hype around new technologies, providing insights into making faster HR buying decisions, and forecasts for the next generation of HR practices. 

Perring adds: “Talent acquisition leads the charge in adopting AI in HR, but it’s really still early days,” with people analytics and workforce intelligence, learning and people development, and skills based organizations following closely behind.

What’s more, by 2030, half of HR professionals think that between 25-50% of HR’s role could be automated by AI and still be effective. 

Concluding he asks: “What is HR’s role? And what values will we drive in organizations in the future?”

Rolls Royce: Learning by encouraging experimentation

Rolls Royce may not be in the business of car manufacturing these days, but the British multinational aerospace and defense company is always looking to the future, particularly where it concerns effective leadership. 

Global Head of Learning & Leadership Development, Mary Glowacka, explained to a packed room of delegates that creating a culture where leadership is a mindset – rather than a “know-it-all” stance – is a crucial approach for Rolls Royce. 

One key enabler of this is experimentation – allowing the space and opportunity to try new things throughout the business.  

A big part of this is the desire to take Rolls Royce from a company that believes it “knows it all, done it all before” throughout its 120-year history, to one with a mindset of “actually, we have to constantly learn.” 

We invest in creating a systemic experience and giving people opportunities day to day to learn new things by doing new things,” Glowacka said. 

Diversifying the job market with Booking.com

A powerful trio of speakers take center stage to discuss DEI policies, while delving beyond traditional demographics to encompass a wider range of talent.

Jolie den Boer, Global Director TA at Booking.com shared how the business partnered with Jobs for Humanity to help diversify the job market.

Roy Baladi, Founder of Jobs for Humanity, said: “The hard part of recruiting for underrepresented groups is not necessarily from being in that community and accessing jobs – the harder part is on the recruiter’s side.

“This is because, for the most part, we don’t have the training to know how to read a resume that doesn’t look like a one-pager, or how to interview someone when they are speaking with a second language, or whether they have certain disabilities. So these are the areas that need more training.”

Ultimately, as the audience vacated the room, there was a feeling of inspiration from Booking.com’s case study, while leaving everyone questioning how they can do more to be inclusive.

Amy Webb: ‘Leaders have to ask ‘what if’ now, so you are never stuck in a situation asking ‘what now’ in the future’

Humans are “wired to fight against change” – the issue is whether or not we want it to, the future always shows up.

There is often a fight or flight response to uncertainty. Organizations and individuals need to move from ‘know it all’ culture, and embrace a ‘what if’ attitude, and embrace the unknown.

“Leaders have to ask ‘what if’ now so that you are never stuck in a situation asking ‘what now’ in the future”, adds Webb.

HR leaders deal with the most uncertainty, and they need to be a central of the organization’s response (one which is “all in” and constantly transforming).

Failure to plan is planning to fail” – the key is to “plan for the future you want”.

Webb closed out the keynote: “The future hasn’t happened yet, it is something we write with the choices that we make today”.

So Day One has come to a close – but don’t worry, there’s still much more to come from UNLEASH World 2024.

Join us again tomorrow to hear more!