What is the Impact of Virtual and Hybrid Working on Innovation? (Interview with Michael Arena)

There should be little doubt that human capital is a firm's greatest asset, however, this isn't enough. Organisations must also ensure that individuals are relationally positioned for success. In other words, bringing in the best people is only part of the solution. Firms must also bring out the best in people and that requires us to more intentionally leverage social capital. Those are not my words, although I wholeheartedly agree with their sentiment, but of Michael Arena, my guest for this week's episode of The Digital HR Leaders podcast.

Michael is the author of the brilliant book, Adaptive Space, How General Motors and Other Companies are Positively Disrupting Themselves and Transforming Into Agile Organisations. He is also a faculty member in Penn's Masters in Organisational Dynamics and he is currently the VP for Talent and Development at Amazon Web Services. He is also one of the world's foremost experts on Organisational Network Analysis.

In our conversation, Michael and I discuss:

• Why social capital is the next frontier for HR and how to measure it through the use of active and passive ONA
• Why the pandemic will likely fast forward the future of work by five or ten years
• The critical role that social capital plays in generating, incubating and scaling innovation
• The potential implications to bridge connections of a shift to virtual and hybrid work environments
• Some typical use cases and specific examples of how ONA can be used in relation to understanding collaboration, M&A, research and development, culture and employee wellness
• How to ensure ONA initiatives deliver value for the business and the workforce and properly address any concerns on ethics, privacy, and trust
• What HR can do to prepare their organisations for an increase in remote and hybrid working

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested or involved in Innovation, Culture, People Analytics, Employee Experience and Social Capital. So that is Business Leaders, CHROs and anyone in a Talent Development, People Analytics, D&I or HR Business Partner role.

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