Former Director for Dublin Frank Kelly tackles HR in Conference

Limerick City, Ireland – It’s no secret that HR is under a fair degree of strain during these taxing times.

With staff morale suffering a three-pronged assault from cuts to pay, changes to working conditions and an increasing emphasis on doing more with less, there is undoubtedly an increasing need for a fresh approach.

HR expert Frank Kelly Dublin sought to address these issues as he chaired this month’s 16th Annual Local Government Human Resources Conference in Limerick.

Mr Kelly spoke authoritatively about the challenges faced by Human Resources given the current economic climate, drawing on his experiences as the former Director of HR at Dublin City Council.

He began by suggesting that the challenges for HR Managers were two-fold. Firstly, they would benefit by giving greater consideration to the therapy professions’ dictum “who cares for the carer.”

This relates to utilising principles of neuroscience and other resilience creating interventions for the benefit of their physical and mental health.

Secondly, the importance of the HR manager in relation to the wider staff was also discussed in great detail.

Mr Kelly outlined four key pillars that might help improve success.

These were: creating a culture of appreciation; allowing people to be heard; listening to people with respect and giving authentic leadership.

To illustrate his point, he gave an example of Network Rail, an employer of 34,000 people who have recently offered more coaching to front-line managers.

This has helped them to eradicate a culture of blame and replace it with a more positive approach of looking at what had happened and what might be learned from it.

He added that cultural change can happen through the language of coaching and that HR managers should be at the forefront of these types of conversations.

Mr Kelly said of the conference: “It was a great opportunity to take a wider view of the issues in our field and put forward practical solutions for enhancing organisations’ capacities for growth.

“A wide range of experienced voices were able to offer their contributions and the Q&As were as lively and thought-provoking as ever. I’d like to thank everyone involved in making the event such a success.”

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Frank Kelly (http://www.frankkellydublin.com) is a HR Business Consultant and coach from Dublin City. Throughout his coaching career he has worked with a wide range of leaders at all levels. These include both national and local governments, organisations operating within the Social, Cultural and Political stream and the commercial sector.