How do you ensure your HR policies and processes are innovative?
It’s important to check related market best practices, engage internal stakeholders and make use of new employees, as they’ll look at things from a fresh perspective. Agility is also important, as this often leads to a creative environment with few restrictions.
Use technology to your advantage and align the four Ps – your people, processes, policies and procedures. Our strategy can be summed up as “think globally, align locally”.
What examples of innovation have you introduced to Saudi Telecom?
We have introduced excellence awards to promote engagement and reward employees who have helped the company generate revenue or avert costs. Part of this has been recognising excellence in all departments, so we’ve also built an exchange programme between departments to share processes and encourage cross-departmental understanding, as well as opening an online forum for employees to offer new ideas or complain about problems. Transparency is very important to us.
How should HR be looking to innovate this year to drive growth and productivity?
It’s vital that HR leaders talk the language of business, not the language of HR. Alongside this, make sure you get the balance right between the interests of the company and the interests of your employees. This requires creative communication strategies.
What's your advice to HR leaders looking to create a culture of innovation?
Lead with agility and value the inputs of your employees. Build channels or tools for them to provide feedback and new ideas, but most importantly, act on those new ideas. Finally, think about introducing innovation ambassadors who can role model the behaviours you want and work on individual business cases.