Comment The HR hot seat
Every Saturday morning, alongside
several hundred others, I line up
The HR team should be able
to explain with total clarity
the unwritten constitution
for my weekly Parkrun around Sherwood
Forest. Parkrun organises free, weekly, timed,
five-kilometre runs open to all abilities.
Participants run, jog, walk, crawl with a
hangover, or even get pushed around parks
worldwide, from San Francisco in the West
(surprisingly flat) to Singapore in the East
(unsurprisingly humid).
While taking part one thing always strikes
me. Despite being completely operated by
volunteers, taking place in totally different
environments, having an inconsistent set of
runners and a multitude of languages to deal
with, every Parkrun worldwide somehow
‘feels’ the same. They’re inclusive, welcoming,
non-judgemental, encouraging and
engaging. Everyone competes individually
then collectively gets together to celebrate
their result.
There’s also the post-Parkrun coffee ritual,
carried out at every event all around the
world. Whether in a local café or the nearest
Starbucks the routine stays the same. It’s as
much a part of the concept as the weekly
celebration of people completing their first
run; or those finishing their 50th, 100th or
250th run receiving coloured T-shirts. The
colours dotted throughout the field act as
powerful symbols that create a sense of
identity within the Parkrun community. This
is added to by other coloured shirts showing
people’s ‘home’ run in vivid apricot.
of the organisation
Those of you who have got this far may
have noticed that what I am describing is the
culture of a Parkrun.
Rituals, routines and symbols are key
parts of the cultural web, my favourite
academic model for looking at and changing
an organisation’s culture. Developed by
Johnson and Scholes in 1992, it provides a
toolkit for understanding the assumptions
and practices that sit intertwined within
any people strategy, based on the six
elements of stories, rituals and routines,
symbols, organisational structure, control
systems and power structures.
It is easy to populate the entire cultural
web with an unambiguous description of
Parkrun that is familiar to every one of the
millions of runners taking part. Despite a
‘workforce’ that is deployed each week in a
completely self-selected way the control
systems, organisation and power structures
are passed from volunteer to volunteer, week
to week, ensuring the consistency of
experience at every event.
As HR professionals we are the guardians
of culture at our organisations and so
we too should be able to describe our
culture in a way that is familiar to all
employees. But too many just say we’re
‘proud’ of our culture.
Proud we may be, but we must understand
exactly what it is we are proud of. Whether
by using the cultural web or another
preferred methodology, the HR team should
be able to explain with total clarity the
unwritten constitution of the organisation.
Our workplaces are subject to complex
ongoing change and yet in far too many
organisations HR is not involved in change
projects. And when they are it’s only to
deliver the technical people changes around
contracts or hours.
Every change programme – whether
it be IT, marketing, legal or financial – will
affect the culture of the organisation. Which
means HR must be at the heart of the
conversation highlighting exactly how the
programme will affect the culture.
This is one of those often-overlooked
opportunities that helps HR demonstrate
tangible value and moves us from functional
to strategic. It is a piece of work that gets our
cross-functional colleagues knocking on our
door for help rather than us needing to force
our way in.
Once we have a clear view of culture our
organisations will be full of engaged, highperforming,
willing participants who will
help each other over every bump in their
career journey; just as Parkrun participants
help each other over the physical bumps and
stumps along the route.
So go to Parkrun this weekend. And while
you’re there compare the culture to your
own. Is your organisation as amazing? Do
you even know?
And if you’re at Sherwood Pines I’ll see
you for a coffee… HR
Andrew Stephenson is former people director at Lookers and
DFS Furniture and a trustee of Citizens Advice
12 HR November 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk