'It's about not having all the answers but actually talking to your people to understand what they need and designing with them'
The employee experience (EX) design initiative started as a “small thing” at Assurity Consulting, but yesterday that small action culminated in Holly Gibson winning HR Manager of the year at the HR Awards New Zealand.
Speaking to HRD after the win, Gibson said, “It’s about not having all the answers but actually talking to your people to understand what they need and designing with them, and I’ve just been recognised for that which I can’t believe — it’s pretty surprising and amazing.”
The award nomination came from Gibson’s former employer Assurity Consulting after she applied her education in EX design to a team of consultants in a single branch at the organisation.
“The way that I learned was very much about learning about people and putting people at the centre,” said Gibson. “What’s incredible is there has been this shift towards people experience and and EX design so I went and did my certificate.”
Gibson explained that the team at Assurity Consulting was engaged but she felt there was a bit more work that could be done to connect them, so she set about applying her learnings.
“The idea is that the answers to the problems that you have generally lie with the people you’re supporting because they know. So, we listened, we co-designed, we worked together, and we trusted our people to come up with a better way of doing things,” she said.
“It took us a little while to get a new design, but the new design was what they designed themselves and it cost us nothing to do,” said Gibson, “and the transformation in the branch, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
During a year when tech companies have been struggling, the consulting team in the Assurity Consulting branch grew by 12 and they added half a million dollars to the bottom line.
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In a nod to its effectiveness, the initiative was rolled out nationally.
“What I feel proud of is that it doesn’t rely on any one person to do something, it’s a collective and very resilient culture and that’s because it’s created this trust between the people and leadership – they know they can come up with the ideas, and they know they can speak up. It seems like such a small thing to do, but it has had such a huge impact,” Gibson said.
When asked if she could change one thing about the HR industry, Gibson told HRD: “Throw away your performance reviews. They’re not designed for people, and they’re not designed for high performance.”
“I’ve yet to see anyone execute that successfully and create an experience for people that doesn’t feel like they’ve been put through a process,” she continued.
“If you really want your people to be high performance, give them meaningful work, speak with them regularly, recognise them, pay them fairly, but this idea of a performance review, particularly an annual one, it just needs to go on the bench.”