Last week Heather Travis of Travis Research attended the EG 2011 event on behalf of UK Recruiter. Here is her review:
The Executive Grapevine hosted their annual conference EG 2011 on St Patricks Day, Thursday 17th March; it was held the very trendy Vinopolis, London.
There was an excellent agenda with very informative speakers, an impressive audience and David Fairhurst as Conference Chair a perfect recipe for a great day.
A cunning plan was implemented so speakers couldn’t overrun, when their time was nearly up the stage lighting flashed – which impressively didn’t put anyone off!
On arrival there was tea and coffee served a chance to network and to speak to the sponsors.
The day was split into 3 sessions:
Session 1 – Implementing the Strategic Vision
Presentations from Steve Newhall – DDI, Marc Noaro – Eurostar, Anna Lees – EDF Energy, Julian Sykes – AstraZeneca, Debbie Brenen – Merlin & Rachel Denning - TimeWarner
The speakers shared their visions and ideas on how HR impacts on business success and gave examples of how their particular organisations have executed plans to achieve their goals.
Anna Lees led a minutes silence to honour the people of Japan.
I was interested to hear Rachel Denning speaking about an “internal LinkedIn” system that TimeWarner have in place and how Merlin interacted with their employees from ground level up, acting on their feedback and ideas in such a positive way, with full backing from the Chief Executive.
The session ended with TimeWarner goodie bags being won and a question and answer session.
Tea & coffee plus donuts then followed (after several of us stopped to choose sweets from the pick and mix stand on the way out)!
Session 2 – Culture & Organisational Development
Presentations from Andy Lowe – Right Management, Daryl King – Citi, Sue Swanborough – General Mills, Caroline Rawes – Linklaters, Jackie Lanham – The Co-Operative & Linda Kennedy – Everything Everywhere
Presentations gave different examples of Organisational Development models and how they were being implemented within organisations. It was fascinating how many different varieties were given with the ultimate goal being the same.
The example which stood out for me was the merger of Orange & T-Mobile, the timeframe Linda Kennedy – Chief Change Officer and her team worked to was staggering and a great success - an excellent benchmark for any organisation in a similar situation.
This session also ended with questions and answers and was then followed by an amazing lunch.
Cleverly the starters were eaten standing up before entering the dining area where the rest of the meal took place, this meant additional networking time.
Immediately after lunch there was a key note address – A Strategic Perspective on Human Capital.
Session 3 – Engaging your People
Presentations from Stuart Fletcher – Diageo, Sue O’Brien – Norman Broadbent, Jim Richardson – RBS, Lyndsay Rockey – Lovefilm.com, Laurence Barrett – Prudential, Ann Pickering – O2 & Andrew Thompson – Serco.
This produced a number of different presentations which spoke about the use of social media to engage and attract talent, creating a culture of engagement, talent strategy and looking to the future, building a people strategy for the new era.
To sum up the day was one not to be missed and I would recommend to people to look out for next year’s event (taking place 15th March 2012) – I know I will!
Heather Travis formed Travis Research in 1992 which operates from offices in Tring, Hertfordshire. Travis Research has a team of 7 Researchers and business is gained through recommendation, many of their clients have used their research capabilities since the company began. Due to the demand from our existing clients requiring research training, Heather now undertakes training programs on a regular basis. She is also joint Chairman for the Executive Research Association.
Comments