News

HR professionals in Russia want W. European knowledge and expertise: Rhema Group summoned to Moscow

An economy expanding at about 8% annually and a steady influx of investment and presence by European companies are encouraging businesses in Russia to seek more constructive contact with their professional neighbours in the West.

In November 2007 Eurobusiness Advisory, the London-based international trade and business relations promoters, organised their first high profile seminar for Moscow’s HR professionals.

Long-established and highly respected as a UK human resources expert, and training and development innovator, Rhema Group was exclusively requested to create and deliver a full two-day seminar programme in the Russian capital on HR: European Experience.

Rhema Group MD Jeremy Francis notes: “Russian HR professionals need to be abreast of the HR practices which Western European companies will bring with them as they set up operations in Russia; and in terms of culture they need to be conversant with the rather less formal and hierarchical way that European companies deal with leadership and change management issues.”

To meet those objectives his seminar programme covered:

• HR’s role in creating future success for an organisation – including HR’s role at each stage of the Corporate Success Cycle; the Corporate Life Cycle; and how the success of HR should be measured.
• Creating effective strategies for Personnel Management - including

thinking strategically; the impact of Corporate Strategies on the HR role; and creating and making Strategic Choices.

• Recruiting the right people.
• Talent Management and Development.
• Managing and Measuring Talent Development Processes.
• Motivating for Staff Retention.
• Developing Leader Managers.
• HR and Corporate Communications.

Eurobusiness Advisory promotes business relations between CIS, EU and other regions worldwide and helps commercial people fully employ their potential. Strongly supporting the thinking behind Eurobusiness Advisory’s activity in the area of organising seminars such as this one, and pointing to the potential benefits for HR professionals, Jeremy Francis adds: “A complementary issue is that European HR professionals need to understand the way business is conducted in Russia. Hence the need for learning and development forums which encourage new thinking, knowledge sharing and cultural exchange; and for offering opportunities for beneficial networking.

“I fully endorse these imaginative ways of accelerating interest among well-established and well-resourced HR professionals in Western Europe with their counterparts further East. And a practical demonstration of Rhema Group’s commitment to these ideas will be the Spring 2008 launch of the online Rhema Resource Centre, which will offer modern European HR tools and techniques, in any language”.

Sergei Tsivkach, Managing Director and Head of Consulting at Eurobusiness Advisory, affirmed the success of the Moscow seminar: “This was an excellent two days for the HR professionals who attended, and they gained great benefit from the experience and knowledge of a UK-based training and development consultancy of Rhema Group’s quality - as well as from Jeremy Francis’ own expert presentation of that knowledge.”

He confirmed that Russians also want to come to London to be trained more widely in European business practices, including quality (ISO 9000) and legal frameworks, corporate finance and governance etc. Hence more conferences are planned for London next year.