In this episode, Sam Spurlin, an expert in implementing and scaling effective action meetings, joins Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans to discuss strategies for making meetings more productive. They cover topics such as engaging check-in rounds, metrics review, project updates, and the importance of metacognition in work meetings.

One of the toughest work tasks? Convince someone else to back your idea. And if you’re in HR, it’s exceptionally tough to get buy-in from other functions. Maybe your coworkers think they know better because you just handle “people” stuff—and how hard is that? Maybe the CFO will only open the company chest for something with ROI they can track. Or maybe the CEO is hyper-concerned with legacy or the company’s stock price and doesn’t see the value in engaging with your employee engagement survey results. If you’re wondering why so many HR change efforts fail before they even start, look no further than missing buy-in.In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.Today, on episode 2, they discuss why it’s so difficult for HR leaders to get widespread buy-in, how to make the case for change, and how to manage complex relationships with the CEO and CFO from the jump. Welcome to the Future of HR.-----------------Learn more about The Future of HR at our websiteCurious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.----------------00:00 Intro and Check-In: What is your most embarrassing injury?03:36 Why buy-in is so difficult in HR08:13 Building your case with business outcomes12:46 Convincing your HR team21:11 Getting the CFO and finance to the table27:50 Dealing with the CEO34:27 Hot take: Is Buy-in an excuse?36:41 Wrap up: Send us your burning hot HR questions!

The role of HR Business Partner is often a tale of two experiences. On the one hand, HRBPs are some of the most empathetic and passionate people you’ll ever meet. On the other hand, they’re stuck on the hamster wheel of busywork, bouncing from crisis to crisis without the authority to prioritize their energy—and without the respect from leadership to make a real difference. Look up “burnout” in the dictionary and odds are you’ll find a picture of an HRBP.In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.Today on episode 5, they explore how this critical role took a hard left turn from it’s intended purpose, what its future-of-work glow-up (hello, HR Business Coach) could look like, and how HR Business Coaches + Mission-Based Teaming = unlimited potential.References mentioned: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Episode 1481 "Talks about Competition" (1981). "How People Make Crayons" begins at 05:20. American Gladiators Dave Ulrich, of the Ulrich HR model --------------Learn more about The Future of HR at our website.Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.--------------00:00 Intro + Check-In: What was your favorite show to watch as a small child?04:05 Why the HRBP role isn’t working10:41 Why Future of HR requires rethinking the HRBP12:53 Skill overlap between HRBP and HR Business Coach21:03 Shifting from “service mindset” to “product mindset”25:07 HR Business Coach’s point of view27:20 Recap of Level 3 and what’s changed29:26 Who does the HR Business Coach report to?34:55 Wrap up: Send us your burning HR questions!

In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.Last week, Rodney and Sam teamed up with Future of HR team member Meg Saxby to explore our new maturity model, assessment, and the six key capabilities every HR department needs to learn, strengthen, and evolve to succeed in the future of work. Today, on episode 4, Rodney, Sam, and Meg finish that two-parter. Which reminds us: If you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode, do that first for a 101 overview of our maturity model.This episode focuses on the capabilities needed to succeed in Levels 3-5 (and our secret bonus level): Facilitation and Future of Work Coaching Solution Design and Market Management Data Literacy and Automation ---------------------------Learn more about The Future of HR at our websiteCurious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.---------------------------00:00 Intro and Check-In: What is a language you would like to speak (or speak better than your currently do) and why?03:03 Why these are Varsity 2.0 level skills04:31 Key Capability 4: Facilitation and Future of Work Coaching08:04 What Future of Work coaching looks like in practice11:34 Key Capability 5: Solution Design and Market Management15:31 Why solution design is such a big shift for HR18:18 Key Capability 6: Data Literacy and Automation19:56 Big potential wins for automation in HR right now23:32 Impact of AI on capacity planning24:58 Holding our predictions lightly26:51 Wrap up: Send us your burning hot HR questions!

It’s no secret things haven’t been working in HR for… a while. When you include the last few years of navigating a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, dysfunctional hybrid work policies, rounds of layoffs, and unprecedented economic churn, it’s easy to see HR has been pushed to a breaking point. Human Resources? They feel anything but human.Trapped between competing mandates to mitigate risk while also transforming office culture and the employee experience, it’s no wonder HR can’t steward the change it so desperately wants to. But what if there was a way out?In this new miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can actually become more resilient, efficient, and equitable.Today, on episode 1, Rodney and Sam talk about why HR’s time to shine is right now, what HR leaders around the world are telling us, and preview the goodies to come on in future episodes. Welcome to the Future of HR.-----------------Learn more about The Future of HR at our websiteCurious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out!Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com.Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com.-----------------00:00 Aaron and Rodney intro02:47 Welcome to the show & Check-In: What’s your favorite physical activity or exercise?06:19 Why HR and why right now?12:20 The Future of HR in a nutshell18:35 How to find and identify your first missions26:03 The pill in the hotdog - Mission Based Teams (MBTs) and new ways of working29:24 The right people, on the right team, in the right environment32:44 Developing the FoHR35:25 Rodney’s learnings from the development process38:27 What’s coming up in future episodes38:53 Wrap Up: Send us your HR questions!