HR Leaders: Aurecon’s new Leadership Foundations Program

Kylie Speer [00:00:07] Hello and Welcome to HRD TV. I'm Kylie Speer. And we're delighted that you can join us for the latest installment of our inspirational HR leaders series. Joining me today is Liam Hayes, Chief People Officer at Aurecon. Aurecon is a leading design, engineering and advisory firm dedicated to bringing ideas to life and co-creating a better future. Their culture emphasizes trust and collaboration through there, believe it, say it, do it philosophy. Welcome to you, Liam, and thank you so much for being here today.

Liam Hayes [00:00:45] Thanks, Kylie. It's great to be here.

Kylie Speer [00:00:47] Well, firstly, Liam, can you tell us a little more about Aurecon where the company is based and what the typical working environment is like for employees?

Liam Hayes [00:00:58] Yeah, so Aurecon is a design engineering and advisory company with 7000 team members and a strong presence across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, we work in a hybrid environment, so our people can choose where to work based on the outcomes that need to be achieved. So this could be at an Aurecon office, a project site office at home or another space post pandemic, we simplified our flexible work policy into a flexible work philosophy, which is as simple as flex best for you and your work community, and work community we define as clients, team and stakeholders. Each team develops and maintains a ways of working team charter that captures the behaviors and practices that create the best outcomes for our clients, our people and Aurecon.

Kylie Speer [00:01:55] In August of 2021, Aurecon's leadership Foundation's program was launched. Can you talk us through the design of the program and how it aligns with your leadership strategy.

Liam Hayes [00:02:06] So the leadership Foundations Program is a 12 month blended learning experience targeted at our mid career team members. It includes learning delivered virtually in the flow of work through cutting edge leadership development platform adaption, the program has been strategically designed to align with the Aurecon leadership framework. Our leadership framework outlines the domains of leadership we need to invest in to strengthen the alignment between our business strategy and our leadership strategy, and guide the development of our leadership development initiatives. The framework stipulates three core domains of leadership, firstly, leadership mindsets, and that's associated with the complexity and ambiguity of the strategic questions, decision parameters, and cognitive and task complexity of the role. The second element is leadership practices, and that's about the capabilities required to lead and execute our business strategy. And the final element is leadership context, which is about the scope and systems we lead within. Consistent with this, the leadership Foundations Program has been orientated around the vertical leadership development principles, with a focus on growing the capacity of leaders within this cohort to think feel, and act in complex in and systemic and interdependent ways to lead effectively within their leadership context.

Kylie Speer [00:03:41] And Liam, how is the program implemented?

Liam Hayes [00:03:44] So the program has an onboarding experience and five theme modules based on the Aurecon principles. The leadership Foundations Program does have a consistent format throughout the 12 month experience. During each module, participants join facilitated workshops and peer coaching circles and complete a series of self-paced coaching workouts on the adaption platform that can be completed around clients and project commitments. Each workout provides the opportunity for participants to explore perspectives from leadership, thought leaders, or internal Aurecon leaders, clarify their own perspectives and explore those of other participants. This provides participants with the opportunity to leverage the diversity of thought amongst their colleagues to challenge and deepen their perspectives. After exploring AI recommended tools based on the insights shared from participants in the workout. Participants plan how they'll experiment with the new leadership behaviors and mindsets on the job to convert the insights into action. After this has been completed, participants reflect on the actions they planned and capture the Insights and share these with their coaches and peers. And the benefit is over time, their shared insights will allow future participants to access a rich and continuously evolving body of knowledge that is grounded in the Aurecon context.

Kylie Speer [00:05:14] Were there any key learnings or insights along the way that you can share with us?

Liam Hayes [00:05:20] Look, you're always with a program like this. There's a lot you learn, as you start to roll this out. And I think just starting with the strategic tend to the leadership Foundations program was to create a democratized flexible and sustainable leadership pathway to uplift the collective capability and capacity of our target population. And by October this year, we aim to have on boarded over 800 leaders to the experience, helping us to achieve our version of developing leadership mindsets and behaviors at scale. This approach has had a direct impact on organizational performance, given that the inherent nature of the program requires participants to constantly be planning on the job actions specific to their work context, so it makes it really real for them. And this then supports them to hide their leadership capacity, and continuously learn from these alongside their peers. These actions have direct application to our daily organizational opportunities and challenges. And participants frequently reflect on their leadership within the context of our business strategy, and organizational purpose.

Kylie Speer [00:06:33] That sounds fabulous. And Liam, what about pain points or challenges you've had to overcome?

Liam Hayes [00:06:40] Yeah, so the Leadership Foundation's program is being delivered at scale across our icon with large cohorts participating on the program at any given time. Since implementing the program, we have learned a lot about the balance required between delivering a development experience that is scalable, that can also be adapted to support the individual needs of each participant to help them develop as a leader within their unique work context. While this has been a new challenge for us to navigate, it has demonstrated the art of being able to deliver coaching at scale well, and we've been incredibly fortunate to have the support of our partners at adaption to work alongside us with the implementation of this program.

Kylie Speer [00:07:26] So Liam, how is the success of the program being measured? And what does success ultimately look like?

Liam Hayes [00:07:34] So through their involvement in the program, participants have demonstrated an increasing level of commitment towards driving their personal growth, and the greater awareness of their developmental blind spots. Since launching the program. Our participants have collectively responded to over 91,000 coaching questions on the adaption platform now, each providing an opportunity for them to deeply reflect on their leadership and clarify their thinking. Participants have also expanded their network and formed meaningful connections with a diverse peer group, providing the opportunity to practice operating within a networked organizational environment. There have also been over 36,000 interactions between participants on the adaption platform in which they have liked or commented or shared insights with their peers. These interactions are supported by conversations between participants during facilitated sessions, and their leadership circle interactions. Also, through analysis of performance assessments, it is evident that the leadership Foundation's program has improved or sustained high performance amongst this group. And we've been able to illustrate this by the proportionate number of participants who received our top two performance ratings. Additionally, we're also tracking the promotion pathways of this group. And these are metrics that we'll continue to track over time to measure the success of this program.

Kylie Speer [00:09:09] Their are amazing results. Congratulations. And finally, Liam, what has been the number one game changer for you from a career perspective? And what best advice would you share with emerging HR practitioners hoping to forge a successful career in the industry?

Liam Hayes [00:09:26] So for me when I first started my HR career, I started in a relatively small HR team, which meant I had the opportunity to work across most areas of HR from generalist HR business partner payroll, recruitment, revenue and reward and learning. This for me has been a game changer as I've moved into leadership positions as it's given me an appreciation of the value each area of HR brings and how they need to work collectively together to drive outcomes. I would encourage emerging HR practitioners to be curious, ensure they understand the company Short drivers of the business they work in, get involved in strategic projects, and look to work in different areas of HR or build an appreciation of those different areas through mentoring. I think we also are seeing that HR is continuing to evolve and change and by building a broad set of skills early in your career, you'll be best placed to navigate these changes.

Kylie Speer [00:10:24] Brilliant advice. Well, thank you so much once again for your time today. Liam, it was lovely speaking with you.

Liam Hayes [00:10:30] Thanks so much, Kylie. It's been great to join you today.

Kylie Speer [00:10:33] And thank you, of course to our viewers for watching the latest episode of HRD TV. We look forward to seeing you again soon.