Joining an HR community can help support your people career

HR director, author and executive coach Justine Figo joined The HR Leader on 14 October to discuss the benefits of connecting with like-minded professionals in the HR space.

Ms Figo created a community for HR professionals who meet both online and face to face. The group provides mentorship, support, education, and social connection.

Ms Figo talked about how lonely HR can feel at times: “HR is quite isolating ... We care more than anyone about our people, then we make the harder decisions than anyone else, and we’ve got to sort keep ourselves separate. So, we also have to really be constructive, role model a change often that the rest of the business isn’t necessarily showing, and we have to be ahead of the curve.”

“So, what I really wanted to do is just to create a safe space for us to come together to share, be constructive, and not feel as isolated,” she explained about her group.

By encouraging a sharing of knowledge and experiences among the members, Ms Figo has created a community of HR people that’s built on mentorship and support.

“So, when someone raises an issue, that’s what we collaborate around … And it’s really beautiful in terms of cross-mentoring … We’re values based, so we’re about support, connection, and belonging, and that really matters,” said Ms Figo.

“It [the group] is such a source of joy, support, and generosity. And just the practical stuff, we’re about 250-odd HR directors, heads of CPOs. We’re Australia/New Zealand-based. There’s a big group of us in Melbourne, so we tend to meet in Melbourne face to face. We connect online, we run Zoom sessions, and we’re really at pace.”

Communities like Ms Figo’s WhatsApp group can be created online and built upon through social media. At the time of recording (14 October), there were around 250 HR people sharing career expertise in Ms Figo’s group, which she built through a combination of social media and word of mouth.

“I invited people on LinkedIn initially, and now, it’s just referrals, because it’s just a nice thing to do to serve the community. So, we’re nomination only, but if you are an HRD, a CPO, or a head of HR and you want to genuinely support and be supported, feel free to reach out: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I can talk to you,” shared Ms Figo.

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full audio conversation with Justine Figo is below, and the original podcast article can be found here.