On Friday, 20 October, EAPM Delegates were invited to attend the annual conference of APG – Associação Portuguesa de Gestão das Pessoas. Four of our Board Members, Even Bolstad, Berna Oztinaz, David Ducheyne and Solveiga Grudiene were invited to speak on a panel. David summarised the annual conference and highlighted the myriad of insights that speakers from various countries gave.

About Leadership

About HR

The European Association for People Management EAPM panel conversation with Even BolstadBerna OztinazSolveiga Grudienė and myself focused on societal challenges. Berna Oztinaz stressed the importance of leadership. Solveiga Grudienė stressed the importance of finding common ground. David Ducheyne stressed that we should focus on behavior as the essence of HR. Even Bolstad said that HR can be bigger than itself and has a contribution to society.

Anthony Ariganello and Leyla Nascimento from World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) discussed the global trends in HR.

About Technology

  •  Christof Schminke looked at the potential of technology to make work accessible for all. He also warned us not to forget about the people who do not have a white-collar job but deliver the foundation of our prosperity.
  • Martha Gabriel, PhD took us to the world of technology and explained how humans could work with technology and how they can prevail. It’s a matter of focusing on those skills that differentiate us from technology.
  • Careers in an AI-world will change, said Ricardo R2 Martins and Patricia Santos.

About Well-being

  • Daniela Lima talked about well-being and stressed that well-being and profitability go hand in hand. She did not oversimplify the problem of burnout and acknowledged the complexity of well-being.
  • A similar message came from Ricardo Sousa who gave examples of how an EAP can deliver value.
  • Rui Bairrada and Irene Vieira Rua debated the topic of financial literacy and well-being. We need to address this more.

Learning and Careers

A special moment was when the handball coach #paulopereira took the stage together with Bruno Osório to talk about what I would call overcoming challenges. I learned from Alexandra Andrade that organizations should trust people fast and give chances.

  • Roberta Medina of #rockinrio showed how an initiative of a few can have an impact on a society.
  • Mónica Sintra, who combines the musical and business worlds, and Paula Rocha illustrated the power of coaching
  • Our talent develops through the experiences, the mistakes we make and the chances we get. People trust us even without first experience, said Alexandra Andrade in her talk with Denize Dutra.

It’s a pity that #calema could not make it, but Carla Caracol and Pedro Ramos, PhD. did a worthy closure of a memorable conference.

Congratulations on this event, Vítor Carvalho and team.