Market View

Adaptive HR in a Dynamic World: Navigating Diversity, Jurisdiction, and the Modern Workforce

Interview with

Loyse Bonjour

Chief Human Resources Officer, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

About Loyse Bonjour

Loyse Bonjour is the Chief HR Officer at IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), which is an organisation headquartered in Switzerland. She has been in this position for 3 years and has over 20 years of global experience in HR, mostly in the non-profit sector. Loyse has held HR leadership positions in Europe, Africa, and the United States of America in humanitarian aid and human rights organisations. As Chief HR Officer at IUCN, she leads the people and culture strategy of the organisation. She particularly enjoys working with a multicultural and multi-location workforce and developing solutions at the global level.

How has the evolving nature of work impacted your HR strategies, technology and processes?

I see the evolution as a positive liberation that's broken boundaries and created synergies not possible before. We now develop our HR strategy much more collaboratively with stakeholders across the organisation. There's so much value in gathering diverse inputs from our global culture as we propose strategy, then incorporate stakeholder responses. I enjoy this participative approach - the wealth of perspectives from different cultures shapes our vision of work.

Technology has greatly enhanced HR's work and people management. But since the pandemic began, the sheer speed of change is overwhelming. In nonprofit, donor-based financial models, it's hard to keep up with infrastructure investments needed to leverage the latest tech opportunities.

Also, technology is changing how we create value, and how we work as we engage talent beyond traditional employees. But compensation remains transactional - pay for time. We need to better reward the value of work rather than the time spent at work. Rethinking compensation for diverse work forms is a big challenge HR professionals and executives must collaboratively tackle.

In what ways does your organisation address the challenges posed by a diverse and decentralised workforce?

I see more opportunities than challenges with our diverse, decentralised workforce. We actively increase representation and amplify voices across the organisation. It's not a struggle here - people want to participate from all over the world.

Our focus is creating opportunities and platforms for that participation to happen. As a membership-based organisation, our mandate is to represent our members. So diversity and decentralisation are core to the organisational DNA.

Technology enhances our ability to bring people together globally, while still connecting remotely to parts of the organisation. We're not very centralised. So technology helps us embrace the decentralised and diversified nature that is core to our structure and purpose. Ultimately, our workforce diversity drives innovation, not obstacles. By keeping the doors open for engagement, we gain fresh perspectives that propel us forward.

Can you share an example where taking an adaptive, collaborative approach to organisational change was key to success?

I believe constant change management and restructuring are ongoing challenges where an adaptive, co-creative HR approach is crucial to delivering successful outcomes.

For organisational transformation to succeed, we cannot dictate change from the top-down. Instead, HR must be adaptive and co-creative - proposing and discussing solutions with employees.

Adapting to a constantly evolving world is essential, rather than forcing a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach. HR must help the organisation adapt through agile, tailored solutions developed collaboratively. This mindset will drive successful transformation.

So how would you rate the adaptability and flexibility of your current HR solutions?

I would say it's a work in progress. We're trying to move beyond rigid policies and processes, but some remain entrenched in the culture, which takes time to shake.

There's strong interest across the organisation to become more agile and responsive to changing circumstances. We're working on fostering cross-team collaboration to allow for more fluidity.

While pockets of adaptability exist, overall I'd say we still have room to grow in terms of flexible systems and an agile mindset. But the appetite for organisational dexterity is there, so we're headed in the right direction. It's an evolution to build organisational muscle memory for adapting faster.

How is HR shifting its focus to better support employees and drive strategic impact?

HR is moving beyond issuing policies and ensuring compliance to being enablers of a workplace that embodies the values of the organisation and connects and aligns its people. We're forming deeper relationships with employees and managers that go beyond HR processes.

Now, it's about truly engaging teams to help them unlock potential and find better ways of working together. Technology allows us to provide much more personalised support. The focus is on being adaptive partners, not policy enforcers.

By building trust and understanding needs, HR can co-create solutions that allow both people and organisations to thrive. We're evolving to drive strategic value through empowering the workforce.

What are your top priorities when considering an HR solution or platform?

An HR system that is designed for the people in the organisation - a co-created solution. It should be extremely nimble in terms of process design, without requiring extensive expertise or training.

It's crucial that solutions are intuitive for all employees to access and use, not just HR. Onboarding and training should happen through the application itself as people complete processes. Systems that are too complex require extensive training for users, and this is just not feasible to train the workforce on complex systems. With frequent changes, ongoing formal training isn't feasible.

Overall, HR platforms should be adaptive, customisable solutions - that is absolutely needed. The system should enable HR agility without complexity for employees or constant retraining needs.

About IUCN

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was founded in 1948 as the world's first global environmental organisation. IUCN's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. IUCN has over 1,400 member organisations including governments and civil society organisations. IUCN's work is supported by over 16,000 scientists and experts from its six Commissions.