Quentin Millington

Featured in: Favicon

hrzone.com

Articles

How to protect workplace relationships in an era of artificial intelligence (AI)

Dec 5, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

Many of us, not least in HR, are grappling with how to use artificial intelligence (AI) across the workplace. The mainstream belief, or hope, is that AI will make work easier and more efficient, and so increase productivity. But it’s also important to consider its impact (positive or negative) on workplace relationships.
Difficult colleagues: Relationships with people who act badly

Nov 7, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

Colleagues we find ‘difficult’ may simply hold values that differ from our own and yet which are equally valid. When motives clash, conflict feels personal and relationships are harmed. Still, as I wrote in Difficult colleagues: Relationships with people who think differently, self-awareness and understanding may restore order. It’s important to begin with the assumption that a person is acting according to his or her reasonable values.
Difficult colleagues: Relationships with people who think differently

Oct 24, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

We all encounter and must work with colleagues and external stakeholders whom we find ‘difficult’. In this article, I explore conflicts that arise from different ways of looking at the world. A second piece published on 7th November will consider situations where behaviour is toxic. The distinction matters. Experiences, mostly in early life, leave us with a core set of values. These play out in how we see the world, in our work and personal relationships, and in how we act.
Will you let them fire the doorman?

Sep 13, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

Think of the doorman, or doorperson, stationed at the entrance of your hotel. When guests or visitors arrive, he leans forward and opens the door. With eyes in the back of his head (or so it seems, to those creeping out at dawn), he also eases passage for anyone who leaves the building. Clearly, this business of opening doors for guests and visitors is ripe for automation: install two motion sensors and a rapid mechanism and, for a modest outlay, the hotel saves on people costs.
Better relationships, less red tape: The key to high work performance

Aug 29, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington |Rachel Phillips

We quietly adore rules and systems, for they are unambiguous and easy to manage. But these tools of the bureaucratic organisation cause many problems at work. To achieve high work performance, we must let the human organisation flourish, and connect workplaces through relationships rather than processes. Every business, charity and government comprises two internal organisations: the bureaucratic organisation of systems and processes, and the human organisation of individuals and relationships.
How culture brainwashes us into mediocre ambitions

Jul 18, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

As custodians of the employee experience, HR teams face tough and complex questions. A fundamental challenge is how to nurture an environment where team members thrive and also create value for customers and/or other stakeholders. The economy and work shape society and human lives, so this HR imperative is linked with broader questions of how to build a world where humans flourish, and with individual concerns of how we make the most of our lives.
An AI crossroads: Which path will you choose?

Jun 20, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that enables machines – computers and robots – to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving skills. But does the capacity of machines to attain desired goals make them intelligent? Just as philosophers debate, now managers wave their cheque-books. Will this technology advance our interests? Humans are divided. Some believe AI will solve the world’s problems while others are sure it will wreck society once and for all.
Division of labour: Is AI one cut too far?

Jun 6, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington |Holly Navarro

But for division of labour we should each spend life throwing rocks at fish and digging plants from the ground. Still, as artificial intelligence (AI) wrests work from us humans, fracturing personal and social systems further, we must ask: are we not breaking our world into too many pieces? Division of labour – whereby complex activities are broken into parts with each assigned to an individual or group – has been an engine of production and growth since the Neolithic Revolution.
Tech culture: On-site gym or layoffs by email?

May 8, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington

Layoffs in the tech industry continue apace into the second quarter of 2024. Anxiety amongst employees, even those who survive the cut, is causing strain at work and at home. Is the culture of tech for or against the people who work in the industry? Last weekend, a friend – Claire – learned, by email, that she had been fired from her job in tech.
Three cornerstones for influencing peers outside HR - HRZone

Apr 25, 2024 | hrzone.com | Quentin Millington |Thom Dennis

HR directors must enable colleagues to support investments in people. A recent coaching conversation shows how one HR head positioned herself to influence peers and champion a shared agenda. Vicky was the last of the executives to leave the boardroom. She held the door for Joanne, the finance director’s assistant, who squeezed into the lobby with an armful of papers. ‘A long one, that, wasn’t it? Fancy a drink?’‘Thanks, but I need to get home.