2 mystarjob.com, Saturday 8 November 2014 karen Says WHEN PEOPLE GO PUBLIC Try This! IN a reflective mood, I sat down recently to think about life (while swimming, as it has always been my proverbial Bo tree – so I sat swimming if you follow my meandering train of thought). I have been fortunate to have freedom of choice in jobs, studies, where I wanted to live – very much in line with my life goals. Thanks Pa, thanks Mi! People who know me know I get (more than a tiny bit) peeved by sweeping generalisations. In my current role, I read about GenYs and Zs on pretty much a daily basis and like reading the hypotheses of these generalisations, as I can understand better why, for example, someone who has grown up in an environment of economic uncertainty and high rates of unemployment, as opposed to his/her parents where lifetime employment was the norm, might have different inclinations and views of the future. Employee engagement is a priority for many, and taking a step back to understand what might lead to employee disengagement brings us to at least one logical conclusion: a mismatch in expectations from both employee and employer. And related to this, missed opportunities for both when organisations fail to accurately and effectively convey their brand promise to potential employees. Roshan Thiran talks about writing a failure resume – why it is important for individuals to take the time to document past failures, as spectacular as they may be, and to pen down what was learnt. In light of this, and the high cost of employee turnover, organisations too might want to rethink the role of HR in the PR space. Millie Ong expertly addresses the notion of employer branding and its power beyond recruitment. Along the same lines, Amanda Chua takes up the discussion where last week’s focus on HR as a strategic partner left off, and delves into the emerging role of HR as a PR of sorts, espousing that forward-thinking HR teams should align themselves to the organisation in order to be internal spokespersons as well as external brand ambassadors. In The Leaderonomics Show, as if echoing the sentiment of GenYs and Zs everywhere, Robert Levitt shares with us his realisation that there are things more important than himself, and that people are far more important than money – going on to tell us how he has walked his talk and made an impact. On the topic of using our powers for good, we also spoke to Colin Kirton on how he has married his passion and skills with the desire to make a difference through theatre. Marking her debut contribution to Leaderonomics, best-selling author Morag Barrett shares some practical tips on how to retain talented employees. On engagement, Yi-Wen makes the case for women in the workplace, but cautions that efforts should not be at the expense of either gender, or just for gender parity’s sake. Do you have an opinion you’d like to share with us? Visit leaderonomics.com or write to us at editor@ leaderonomics.com Please provide your full name, occupation (designation and employer) and telephone number. Want more content sent directly to your email? Subscribe to our Leader’s Digest by emailing leadersdigest@ leaderonomics.com Riding in tandem By LIM LAY HSUAN layhsuan.lim@leaderonomics.com IN riding a tandem bicycle, all the riders need to find the right synergy and synchronise their pedaling to get the tandem to go forward. In the same analogy (and in my humble opinion), that is how the human resources (HR) department ought to be collaborating with its public relations (PR) and corporate communications (CC) departments. With global talent cloud gaining traction all around the world, there has been much discussion on how these departments need to collaborate with one another to establish a sustainable HR-PR-CC relationship that can move an organisation forward. I was initially quite oblivious as to how these departments are inter-related with one another. Since then, I have had the opportunity to communicate with several HR personnel on feature articles. It was then when I realised how important it was for HR to communicate with their PR and CC, and vice versa, to ensure similar and consistent message is relayed internally (among their employees) and externally (to the public). The HR-PR integration Internally, HR crafts memos, emails and newsletters while preparing for the latest policy change and developing the best method of communication strategy to educate employees on areas such as changes to a benefit plan, key performance review process, and diversity and inclusion programmes. Externally, HR writes advertisements and job scopes for onboarding, maintain corporate blogs, and work with universities and other corporate partners to fill up gaps and initiate talent acceleration programmes. At its core, HR is very much associated with communication and collaboration. In today’s interconnected world, it is highly likely that PR and CC departments are responsible in monitoring an organisation’s social media platform and managing media queries and press releases. Fundamentally, we see that their functions often overlap with one another. In a way, they are company brand champions, determined to maintain a positive corporate image which serve the organisation and the public. What say you? n How should your HR collaborate with your PR/CC to best align employees with an organisation’s communication efforts? n How should your PR/CC collaborate with your HR to best motivate employees or to choose the right candidates for the job in an organisation? Do share with us your views by writing to editor@leaderonomics.com Well, it is only wise for HR and PR/CC to ride in tandem, and be positioned strategically to work together and not as standalone silos. Have a fantastic weekend all! KAREN NEOH Editor leaderonomics.com The opinions expressed in this career guide are those of the writers or the people they quoted and not necessarily those of Leaderonomics. TUNE IN Want practical tips for success on your way home from work? We’re on Capital FM in the Klang Valley 88.9fm 107.6fm Join us! Editorial Adviser Roshan Thiran Editor KAREN NEOH in Penang every Friday from 6pm to 7pm. Contributing editors Prema JAYABALAN HYMA PILLAY LIM LAY HSUAN Sub-editor Lee Kar yean 01 “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” – George Bernard Shaw 02 03 04 “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” – Henry Ford “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” – Rollo May Layout, Art & Design Tung Eng Hwa Zulhaimi baharuddin ahmad fadzul yusof adznam sabri HAFIS IDZLA Shankar Mohd Khairul Muhd Hafeez RAzziah Writers & Contributors STEPHANIE HO MILLIE ONG AMANDA CHUA CINDY YAP MORAG BARRETT IAN CHEW HUI YI-WEN MAJURA PERASHOT If you have any suggestions or feedback on our content, get in touch with the Leaderonomics team at editor@leaderonomics.com For advertising and advertorials, please contact Pravin Kumar at pravin.kumar@leaderonomics.com or +6011 2377 7850