The company's HR leaders spoke at the Dayforce Summit about managing change and user implementation
Streamlining HR practices across functions is one of the biggest challenges facing people managers – especially with the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI). But how can you best prepare and manage this change in workforce practice and help encourage users to embrace it?
Chief People Officer, Hayley Nuttall (Pictured left), and HR Systems Lead, Rebecca Ford (Pictured right), of Ingenia Communities, said the key is leveraging positive relationships and ensuring systems are constantly evolved.
“We had really strong relationships with our frontline leaders, so they were heavily involved in the assessment of any system changes and success factors. We got them to vote to confirm features they liked and what was going to make their life better,” Nuttall said.
“70% of our workforce is on-site, so it wasn’t just about how to make our corporate teams’ lives easier, but also for the people we serve – our guests and residents of our aged care communities.”
Speaking at the Dayforce Summit, Nuttall also outlined the necessity for employees to be open to change to help drive impact – saying a “growth mindset” is pivotal.
The event, held in Melbourne, looked at how technology such as AI can solve challenges in business agility, performance, and growth, and held discussions with business leaders on practical advice.
“We’re actually in the process of developing success profiles – a job description on steroids – which looks at accountabilities and competencies which make you effective in your role. This is another example of how you can match things like recruitment to your future change. It’s about hiring people that are prepared to go on the journey.”
Managing change through review
Whilst planning change can be difficult, ensuring the new systems and ways of working are up to standard is equally as critical – with Ford noting that sometimes change is first implemented as an incomplete product because “done is better than perfect.”
“Change, especially when it comes to AI and streamlining our tech stack, it’s a bit of a sink or swim approach and you learn on the job. I ended up leading training after three weeks – that’s an example of the growth mindset – but also means that things aren’t always going to be perfect.”
The key, Ford said, is ensuring “Evolution at all times” to make sure change is effectively implemented. “We’re uncovering things all the time and thinking ‘why didn’t we use that? How can we use this better?’, and that’s what drives change – being able to see where you are, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there.”
With Ingenia ensuring constant monitoring of their staff, too, through reviews and compliance training – they are not only reviewing their systems, but making sure their employee practice is reviewed as well.
The need to educate during change management
Ford highlighted the need to train Ingenia’s managers, because of the nature of the business being mostly on-site, noting they “relied heavily on upskilling and getting their buy-in and taking them on the journey of change. We kept it quite close touch because of the nature of our business.”
“We had what we call super users – our on-the-ground advocates that helped drive change. They were our guinea pigs, but that was so important to make sure managers were on board to be able to drive this company-wide change,” she added.
Ingenia say they conduct six sessions a month, offering staff the chance to learn more about the tech systems they use – to enforce the importance of education and compliance when driving a large change project.
“When you have an older workforce, with some not even having smartphones, it’s imperative that there’s as much training and guidance as possible,” Ford emphasised, “because you need to bring everyone on that journey of change, regardless of how difficult that could be,” she jovially added.
