APAC HR Leaders Gather in Singapore at the Offices of International SOS

The Chapman Consulting Group held its first APAC HR Leaders gathering for 2013 at the offices of International SOS, who kindly co-hosted the group. The room was near to capacity with an impressive mix of regional HR leaders from a wide range of industry sectors, all eager to discuss the latest trends, challenges and share their experiences as we head into the New Year.

Organisations represented included: Abbott Laboratories, Pacnet, Oracle, McGraw Hill, Aspentech, Wiley, Osisoft and Dart Energy. Following an introductory presentation from the host, International SOS, which outlined their continued growth, success, diversity of the business and what they have been doing in terms of HR transformation, the group discussion was then driven by three case studies, as presented by HR Leaders from Stepan, Gemalto and Gazprom.

1) The first topic covered Social Media. One HR leader shared how their organisation has used LinkedIn to great success, not only as a networking and recruitment tool, but also as a highly effective way of advertising and employer branding. This has allowed the business to build awareness in a community of industry specific professionals who would not have otherwise known the name and have since become part of their network. This will be essential in the ongoing 'war for talent'.

Always a hotly debated subject, other social media platforms and their value and effectiveness were also discussed, with key points raised around navigating privacy laws, company intranet models and internal communication and incorporating this into employee engagement.

2) Next was a unique HR strategy which has proved to be extremely successful and award-winning in 'sustainable innovation leadership'. Focused around three crucial pillars - geography, industry and function, the philosophy has been to ensure the best way to retain and develop talent to prepare for future leadership is not only to promote from within, but to challenge and move people out of their comfort zones - i.e. swap a country/region or role function (or a mix of the three). The theory being that you will return stronger, more skilled and will be able progress more quickly. This has to have support from the top of course, you need to attract the right talent in the first place, have a clearly defined program in place and the business needs to be flourishing.

3) The final discussion focused around being an HR business partner and if you are to be a truly effective and trusted advisor, then it's crucial to be commercial and on top of the 'numbers'. As an integral part of the executive team, an HR Leader must know the market, the competition, margins and be well networked, not only inside the company, but across the industry in general (outside of HR), only then can you make the important decisions. Overall an excellent thought provoking and informative session and we will be bringing the group together again soon.