Now, that's what I call Leadership & HR 2024
The best leadership development, HR and organisational behaviour articles of 2024
At Christmas my mum would always ask for that years ‘Now’ album. For those who are reading from outside the UK, the '“Now, that’s what I call music” series were a compilation album of the biggest hits from the year. There was no real flow, all killer no filler.
This blog is the ‘Now, that’s what I call a people blog edition’. This blog is about exploring various challenges leaders and HR practitioners face in workplace dynamics and offers solutions grounded in research and theory. With new subscribers and over 1000 visitors each month (welcome and thank you), below is a handy insight into what you the readers (and Substack’s algorithm) thought were the 6 most interesting explainers from 2024.
Just like my Mum loved to receive this annual compilation, who in your network might like to receive any of the insights from this series? This might be a fellow leader, manager or HR practitioner who is grappling with similar organisational dis-functionalities. Thank you.
In the interest of providing multiple means of engaging with this blog, below is the podcast style conversation, using our AI friends Johnny and Joanne who go into each blog post. I have also done a voice over of the original blog, or below is the usual written format.
Facts Over Fads: HR Decisions Grounded in Research: This blog addresses the problem of HR practices being based on fads, gurus, and untested ideas rather than evidence. Based on Rob Briner’s work, I introduce Evidence-Based HR (EBHR) as a solution, which involves basing decisions on the best available evidence, using evidence from various disciplines, critically evaluating evidence, and translating it into practice. The blog emphasises the importance of defining the problem before seeking solutions, and using four sources of evidence to understand the problem. I also highlight the need to assess the trustworthiness and relevance of evidence and to focus on the most effective interventions and their potential consequences. In this blog I recommend that HR practices should be proportional to the problem not the shininess of the solution.
The IQ Illusion: Why IQ Tests Aren’t Very Clever: This two-part blog discusses the problem of relying on IQ tests as measures of intelligence, positioning a view that they are not valid or reliable due to the complexity of intelligence. I break down a well researched argument from Dean McClure, setting out the limitations of measuring a complex system like intelligence with a single number. I explain how traditional IQ research is often model-driven rather than data-driven, leading to confirmation bias. I suggest that the reductionist approach of IQ tests does not capture the emergent properties of intelligence. The blog also critiques the use of linear models and normal distributions in IQ research, noting that nonlinear effects and equifinality are not accounted for. I conclude that more sophisticated approaches are needed to measure intelligence, and that decisions based on IQ scores should be critically examined.
Mindsets and Marmite: You Either Love 'Em or You Hate 'Em": With the highest open rate, this blog struck on something. This edition addresses the issue of how much to focus on influencing mindsets in the workplace. Have you noticed how the term ‘beliefs’ or ‘attitudes’ have now been replaced with the term ‘mindset’? The blog explains that while mindset theory is popular, its effectiveness is controversial. I explain the controversies around mindset theory including the reliability of predicting outcomes and the efficacy of interventions. Through this blog I demonstrate that the effect sizes of mindset interventions are often small, and that other factors like achievement goals and attributions may be more relevant. The blog warns against unqualified practitioners blurring the lines between occupational and clinical settings. It argues that practitioners should focus on addressing moderating and mediating factors that influence performance before focusing on mindset itself.
If your entire performance management and reward system is based upon visibly demonstrating performance, your growth mindset intervention will be the developmental equivalent of pissing into the wind.
Jurassic Park and the Fallacy of Control: Lessons for Change Management: In this blog I explore the limitations of traditional change management approaches, arguing that they are ineffective in complex and chaotic environments. I use the example of Jurassic Park to illustrate the challenges of managing complex systems. The blog explains that complex systems are characterised by emergence, nonlinearity, self-organisation, and universality, helping practitioners spot these 4 charateristics. I suggest that traditional linear change management methods are not suitable for these environments. The blog proposes the use of dialogic approaches found in Organisation Development as a more suitable alternative for managing change in complex systems.
The Relative Gender Effect: How Workplace Clothing & Gender Influences First Impressions: This blog explores a primary area of research I am involved in, the problem of gender bias in workplace perceptions, particularly concerning confidence and authoritativeness. I show that despite progress in gender equality, women are still rated lower in confidence and authority compared to men. I proposes that this bias is a socially constructed constraint that women are forced to adapt to, much like a physical constraint. I argue that women super compensate, developing skills to compensate for this bias, such as superior communication skills, but it can also lead to higher dropout rates compared to men, due to the higher bar set for these compensatory skills. The blog introduces the concept of the "relative gender effect", and suggests that organisations should provide support and training to women to overcome this bias much sooner in their careers. I suggest that men need to develop more trust in their interactions.
Understanding Social Affordances to Enable Workplace Behavioural Change: This blog addresses the problem of ineffective approaches to behavioural change in the workplace by focusing on social affordances, a concept from ecological psychology. I explain that affordances are relational, and that behaviour emerges from the interaction of an individual, task and environment. The blog introduces the concept of forms of life or culture as a key part of the social affordances that guide attention and invite behaviour. The blog suggests that undesirable behaviours often persist due to the affordances of the workplace environment. It argues that creating positive behaviours requires compatible social affordances in the workplace. The blog recommends that workplaces should engineer new affordances and adjust social norms to strengthen the behaviours they are trying to encourage. The blog suggests that leaders should focus on shaping the environment to encourage behaviour rather than trying to coerce individuals.
What subjects would you like to see covered in 2025? Leave a comment…