This week's top HR stories in brief

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Approaching work with an athlete's mindset can help employees have better 'performance moments' and function at higher levels. Former athlete and coach Andrew May recommends taking time after each performance moment to replay, recharge and refocus to help "make a difference not only to the way you show up for what is important, but also to how you manage your energy".

An approach to collaboration, change and problem-solving that's widely used in North America is quickly catching on among Australian employers. Cortex Consulting founder Kirsten McKenna explains the 'appreciative inquiry' model and how it is transforming the way employers manage workplace change and collaboration.

Employers are increasingly embracing agile ways of working, but many fail to go beyond the surface-level rituals to achieve the full benefits, says The Agile Eleven's head of growth Bia Affonso. She recommends organisations start out with agile working via a pilot project within HR.

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In the wake of investigations slamming the core organisational capability of SafeWork SA, a major culture transformation program has already made significant progress. "We had three pretty big reviews relating to our investigations. All of them said, 'you're really bad at your job,'" says executive director Martyn Campbell.

An employer has come under fire for its unclear and poorly communicated policies, after it sacked a worker for not complying with them. The Fair Work Commission ordered reinstatement after it found the employer failed to establish clear breaches of conduct and treated the employee inconsistently "on a range of issues".

Employees often view resilience programs with scepticism, expecting increased workloads and tight deadlines to follow, Bulletproof Performance founder Rhett Morris warns. Overcoming resistance requires incorporating resilience into an organisation's culture, and that starts with benchmarking, he says.

The Fair Work Commission has criticised an HR team for failing "at numerous points" to intervene and resolve a rostering dispute before it escalated to an "intractable situation". In the circumstances, dismissing an employee who had failed to "properly engage" with managers was unfair.

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