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The Human Resources Institute of New Zealand

CEO for a Day

Presented by the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand
Led by John Laurent AFHRINZ, Action Learning

Introduction

There is a strong need for HR Professionals to improve their personal strategic capabilities through being able to “know the business” and understand the issues faced by business leaders. On attendance at this workshop HR practitioners will become more capable at the senior level as they will be able to understand the financial drivers of their organisations. This workshop would suit mid level HR managers, HR advisors or HR managers in medium sized organisations.

Level: General

Course Description

This one day workshop will be highly experiential using an adult learning process of “enquiry leading to discovery”. This means that participants will work on their own (including pre-workshop preparation) and will then work in groups of five workshop participants as a senior executive team, making the decisions of a CEO. They then compare their own and team conclusions with the opinions of subject matter experts. This is not only fun but participants learn at a deeper level than simply experiencing a lecture.

The material on which the workshop is based has been developed by leading universities in the USA and widelyused for the development of managers around the English speaking world. It has academic rigour and withstands the scrutiny of the most experienced and senior managers who take part in this kind of programme. Information on the material is attached to the proposal in Appendix A.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this workshop participants will:

  • Be able to guide a senior team in their use of a decision making process

  • Be able to advise line managers how the principal theories on human motivation apply in an organisational context

  • Be able to describe the important drivers of business performance and use these to develop a business strategy

  • Be able to guide a CEO in the implementation of a strategy to improve business performance with specific reference to change management and the human dimensions of an organisation

HRINZ HR Competencies Include

    • Business Knowledge (Value Chain, Value Proposition & People Value)
    • HR Delivery (Staffing & Recruitment, Performance Management, Development, Remuneration & HR Measurement)
    • Personal Credibility (Effective Relationships, Achieving Results & Personal Communication)
    • Strategic Contribution (Change Management, Strategic Decision Making & Market Connection)

Who Should Attend

This workshop would suit mid level HR managers, HR advisors or HR managers in medium sized organisations. It is not intended as an advanced programme for, say, MBA qualified senior HR managers.

Workshop Content

Morning 9.00am

Introduction and outline of programme

Decision making scenario
This is a highly interactive simulation which teaches the value of good interpersonal skills and a process for rational problem solving and thinking strategically. It is based on a survival situation where the participants are shipwrecked in the South East Pacific ocean and have to make choices based on their problem solving and team skills. The decision making model provided as part of the debrief forms the template for strategy development during the rest of the workshop. The model can be used by participants back in the workplace to guide teams in decision making sessions.

Turnaround exercise- Assumptions and Values about the motivation of a workforce
Participants have to make choices about the best approaches to leading people and motivation of workers. These choices are compared with the body of academic research on human motivation. HR practitioners will find some of the answers provided by the “experts” will challenge their own assumptions and provide greater insights for advice to line managers back at work.

12.30 pm Lunch

Turnaround exercise- strategy implementation
Participants must make decisions to effectively implement the strategy they developed to turnaround the performance of this business. The lessons learned in this section include:

  • How to initiate and drive a change programme
  • How to make some tough decisions and which decisions to make
  • How to achieve a commercial objective through the engagement of people
  • What management style will ensure long term performance improvement
  • How to communicate the plan, monitor progress and provide feedback.

Review of learning
Participants will identify best practice actions identified in the Turnaround “expert” answers which they did not agree with personally. They will discuss the practicality of applying the new actions back in their workplaces and form a personal action plan.

4.30pm Conclusion

Presenter

John Laurent has a Bachelor of Laws degree and Diploma in Psychology. In addition to 15 years experience in search and selection consulting John worked as an organisation development consultant with Human Synergistics NZ Ltd, the publishers of the LSI and OCI and the Turnaround exercise. He now works as the owner of Action Learning Ltd as a licensed user of their materials. He has around 15 years experience with the type of programme he has proposed.

In addition to culture change and productivity improvement facilitation John has experience in coaching senior executives and middle managers. These include the directors of major public corporations and partners of national law firms. John was also the coordinator of special interest groups, through the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, on change management and leadership development and was made an Associate Fellow of the Institute on the basis of this work. He is currently a coordinator on the Strategic Human Resources SIG.

Most of his training and consulting over the last 15 years has been with manufacturing companies in New Zealand where he has worked from CEO to factory floor levels. Clients have included Cryovac Sealed Air, ABB Kinleith (maintenance outsourcing), Healthcare Manufacturers, Amcor Flexibles, Fletcher Building, James Hardie, Ford Alloy Wheel plant, Montana Wines Ltd, WHK, Kensington Swan to name a few. The prime focus of this activity has been to increase employee engagement leading to increased profitability. He has also run workshops in Australia and China.

2012 Date and Venue

12 September 2012, 9.00-4.30pm (Register Now)
Venue: Auckland TBC

21 September 2012, 9.00-4.30 (Register Now)
Venue: Wellington TBC

Registration fees

HRINZ Members $700.00+gst
Non Members $895.00+gst

Your course fee includes morning and afternoon tea and lunch

Cancellations

Please see the cancellation policy.

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