01 March 2018 
Alex Killick, Interim HRD
Why You Should Enter the UHR Awards
Past UHR Award winner Alex Killick, Director of People at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), explains why you should enter this year’s awards and gives you his top tips for success.
I joined GCU six years ago, and was delighted and proud that in 2017 our People Services team won the UHR Award for Exceptional HR. When I shared our story at the UHR Showcasing Good Practice event last month, I compared the journey to that of John Naber. Who is John Naber, you might ask?
One second per year
I first heard about John Naber from Professor Damian Hughes, a previous keynote at the UHR Conference. John was a 16-year-old college student that had been drafted in to the US national swim team. He was there to support his more illustrious colleague Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. John vowed that he would not be the understudy at the next games. Instead, he set his sights on winning his favourite event: the 100m backstroke. The problem though was that his best time was 4 seconds off the pace. This was a monumental challenge.
Long story short, he worked out that what he needed to do was to shave off one second per year. This was subdivided into multiple fractions in months, week and days, so that the challenge was manageable. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, he went on to win gold and set a world record that stood for seven years. In fact, he was the most decorated US Olympian that year. (You can read the full story on p71 of the book Change Inspiration).
The GCU journey
What does any of this have to do with GCU? My focus in my first year was to develop and implement our People Strategy. The first I really knew about UHR was when I saw the call for workshop submissions. Why not, I thought? I thought we had a good story to tell and had done a lot in a short space of time.
I attended my first UHR conference in York, shared our journey and finished with a flourish: a slideshow set to ‘Proud’ (by Heather Small, for younger readers). It seemed to be well received and I remember Helen Scott, the UHR Executive Officer, saying that we should think about submitting for the awards the following year. So we did.
We were commended for our first attempt in 2014. In 2015, I, along with a professorial colleague, did a duet on the development of our values. We were again commended in the awards. In 2016, we took a year out from the awards and in 2017 I ran a workshop with my deputy where we played noughts and crosses with the audience. But this time at the glitzy conference dinner, we were declared winners. We had shaved the equivalent of four seconds off in four years to get the top spot!
Top tips for success
Now I hope you’re thinking, “Well, if they can do it, so can we.” And you can! Here are my top tips for success.
1. If at first you don’t succeed
Our journey was five years in the making – and we still believe the best is yet to come. Our first attempt was in the shadows of those mighty Olympians, Sheffield and Strathclyde. We took a close interest in their approaches and what seemed to work for them, and then began to steal with pride. It was important for us to fail and learn, rather than fail to learn. If you don’t make it first time, be patient and keep building for the next round.
2. Know the score
Telling a good story is important, but the narrative needs numbers or other evidence to demonstrate impact. For me the rule is always ‘baseline, action, impact’. What was the issue, what did you do and what difference have you made?
3. Focus, focus, focus
You are probably spoiled for choice. Which initiative will I use? What will the judges be most impressed by? In a recent article by David Cottrell on the real reason why the tortoise beats the hare, he suggests that Olympic rowers ignore rain, choppy waters or strong winds because they are outside their control. They just focus on what’s going on inside the boat. Focus on things you can control, focus on what you believe is the best thing and focus on telling people about it as best you can.
4. Make your own luck
The American golfer Arnold Palmer said, “The more I play, the luckier I get.” While there may have been equally (or more) deserving HR teams out there, by the third entry, we were getting good at writing them. So, while you need the right ingredients in the first place, how you bring the recipe together will make all the difference.
5. In it to win it
Just like the lottery, dreams can only come true if you buy a ticket - or at least know someone very well that has one. There are so many great examples in our sector of great ingenuity and creativity, and evidence of how we have changed our organisations for the better. It is no coincidence that if you look at the data from CAPITA (who run around a third of staff surveys in the sector), you’ll see that nearly 90% of staff think their university is a great place to work. This figure is much higher than in the public and private sectors. So don’t be shy, share your story and you might get the recognition that you deserve.
Winning the prize
While most of us are haring around just to keep the show on the road, it’s important to take a little time out to reflect on our achievements - and who knows you might even win a coveted prize.
I cannot begin to explain the pride you feel, the joy you generate and the reputational dividend you will create for your institutions.
We might have been a little late to the party at GCU, but we came out of our shell and we now need to order a bigger trophy cabinet.
Apply online now for the 2018 Awards. Closing date: Monday 19th March 2018.
