Tell us about yourself and your background. What is it that you currently do?
I’ve been in HR for around 27 years which has been a blend of mainly permanent roles, along with interim and short-term assignments as a consultant. I am married with two grown-up children. Both my wife and my son run their own businesses. My son is in animation, my daughter is in university. My wife is from Thailand, so family life has both British and Asian influences. My career started in logistics and distribution with Nestle in the UK. This introduced me to my first step into business transformation, leading a large-scale operational project across the UK. It also raised my profile within the Nestle HR senior leadership, and an opportunity in manufacturing within HR came along. I didn’t think my career would remain in logistics, even though I was on an upward fast-track trajectory. This background has allowed me to look at organizations with a more commercial lens when addressing people issues, taking me into senior HR roles in global leading organizations in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. As well as leading to consulting.
Why are you so passionate about HR?
People really do help drive the bottom line, sometimes in the wrong direction. My drive is going into organizations, and transforming HR to be more effective as well as working directly with the business on people matters to drive revenue growth. The main attraction for me with HR is that it has many pillars, which means variety is constant, I am a true generalist. HR has changed significantly over the last 20-plus years moving from an admin personnel function, to a true business partner. Although I’m biased, I believe those who have worked in other functions, as well as HR, tend to be those who can engage business issues faster and have a more effective impact.
What current HR trends do you see?
There are several trends that are reshaping how businesses manage their workforce, that aligned with strategic goals and challenges. AI and HR tech, Leadership Development, Global mobility, People data and analytics, as well as Employee Experience and wellbeing. We are also seeing ESG becoming central to HR strategies. To dive a little further into a couple of these areas:
AI- The integration of AI and advanced HR technologies is potentially a game changer. We see it in talent acquisition, but it also comes with challenges. TA specialists need to be aware of the potential pitfalls and ensure they are not discriminating or losing talent in the process. The other key action is ensuring a positive candidate experience, it helps build out your brand in the market.
Employee experience- Having a solid EX will ensure you improve retention, and brand reputation, with the goal of improving productivity. This is at the heart of your employee value proposition.
HR and people analytics are key to any HR delivery. I’ve always been a lover of data as it allows me to tell the story of what is happening within an organization, and create a strategy that is going to address and reduce any risk.
What interesting HR projects have you implemented?
I have conducted multiple global HR transformation projects, as well as working closely with businesses as they transformed their areas. One of the more interesting projects was working within a large global financial services business to create several “Centres of Excellence”. I was the HR lead working with business heads in transferring their global finance operations into India and at the same time creating and launching both analytics and technology centres. This included establishing a HR function, and all associated people matters including hiring the people, training, and ensuring all were delivered on time.
How do you approach a HR transformation project?
My approach to HR transformation will be different depending on the business. HR strategy is broader than just the function, although the focus is to ensure it is aligned with the overall business goals and objectives. When looking at the function, my approach has four pillars. Process and governance, HR structure and sizing, HR system and Tools, and HR capabilities. These pillars, along with other broader areas such as change management, performance, reward, development, communication, etc will drive the overall People Strategy. It is also essential to have business people, along with HR in the Steerco during a transformation project, you must have buy-in to be successful. However, no journey can start without first understanding exactly where you are. My first step is what I call Strategic Immersion, enabling me to fully understand the business, its people, pain points, and key challenges. From this phase, I then move on to design and presentations for approval and road map, timelines, and key deliverables. Finally, implementation, review and adjustment. I can’t stress enough how important change management is for any transformation to be successful, and this is where organizations tend to fail. Of course, the devil is in the detail, and there is a great deal of work involved, and there is no destination as such, the landscape changes and HR must be able to pivot quickly. I used this approach recently where several key people changes took place across the business. Key deliverables were:
1. Implemented a new HR system
2. New job family structure, more aligned to reward and benefits
3. New PDR process and bonuses scheme to drive delivery
4. Management training a developed launched
5. A more balanced approach to training covering digital and classroom
6. Improved communication across the organization by HR and visibility
7. Manpower planning and recruitment process
8. Succession planning and development plans
How can the role of HR be made more effective within an organization?
Ensure that the HR strategy and its initiatives are closely aligned with the organizational goals. This should cover the whole employee life cycle within the organization to drive success. Ensure the function is using analytics and data to help provide insights into what is taking place within the organization, including but not limited to employee turnover, engagement, and performance. Many organizations manage to attract great people, but they fail when onboarding and allowing them to shine, HR needs to play a key role in partnering and leading improvement in both recruitment and onboarding. As well as implementing programs and training managers in effective performance management systems and processes, to identify top talent and develop them, as well as identifying people problems and creating action plans. I’m a big believer in pre-onboarding as an approach to help people settle into their new roles faster, improve communication across the organization, and forge relationships outside. Finally, embrace HR technology and new ways of working. HR also needs to be a partner to business, not a police force or agony aunt. Those days are long gone.
Do you have a case study you can share for working with start-ups?
I have worked with a number of start-ups in the Fintech and Sports sector space. One company had aggressive global growth plans covering multiple locations. When moving at this level of pace you can’t wait to set up entities around the world. In fact, depending on your structure, that is not necessarily a smart business approach anyway. When faced with this challenge you have a few options. Clearly you could simply hire people in their country as consultants/freelancers, but this can bring along issues. The other option is to use an “Employer of Record” where a third party employs on your behalf. This allows time to let things settle and removes a lot of the potential employment liability should you need to pivot etc. Working with the business leaders to clearly map out the recruitment strategy, skill set, channels, and speed is crucial. Also, make sure there is a solid onboarding program to ensure a consistent approach and feel for those joining.
Why is leadership in organizations so important right now?
We’ve all seen or worked for bad managers; they’ll get the least output from their people. Great leadership is essential today for organizations to be successful. The bottom line is that good leaders really do add to the “bottom line”.
What are the differences between a leader and a manager?
utilizingIn simple terms, a manager is more operational and task-focused. A leader is focusing on how to improve that delivery through strategic approaches, utilising their people to the best of their ability and skills, and understanding what is required for the next level. Generally, a manager is a job title that ensures most people do as they are told, or they don’t have a job. A leader gives vision, focus, inspires, and gets the best out of people through knowing their skills and value, as well as providing air cover and support to their teams. People will willingly follow a great leader.
What are the traits of a successful leader?
Leaders come at all levels, shapes, and sizes. A good leader must build trust with their own people and those around them. Integrity is essential, as is holding yourself accountable, as well as others. You need to be a good communicator, ensuring you are bringing those along with you, as well as teaching those around you and passing on your knowledge and experience. Also, be resilient as it can be tough at times. And an ability to make a decision on the understanding it is ok to get it wrong, as long as it doesn’t break the company of course. I’ve worked with leaders in the past who struggle to make a call. Finally, a strategic vision is essential to lead at the top.
What are your top strategies for leading a successful team that is self-motivated to deliver?
Recruit the right people, develop the right people, appoint the right people, and reward them at the right level. Set clear goals and OKR’s, Be visible, approachable, and available, and share your knowledge with others.
Why is the culture of an organization so important?
Culture is the lifeblood of any organization. I could go off into HR speak here, but in simple terms, the culture of an organization is about how they get things done; it really is that simple. Of course, it touches everything from standard job descriptions, transparency, communication in meetings, email, and to each other, how they promote and reward to name a few things. Toxic cultures will ruin a brand. People talk, and social media has made that even easier as well as significantly impacting the output of a business, as well as the client and employee experience. I’ve seen organizations where one bad senior manager ruins the culture!
What makes a great organizational culture?
I’ve been lucky in my career to have worked in some of the best organizations in the world, as well as a few not so. The great ones all seem to have:
• Great leadership, vision and mission • Great communication and engagement, both ways – an open door policy is a saying, not always an action
• A clear set of values that are embedded across the business
• Clear goal setting, everyone knows what is expected of them • Growth and development opportunities – career progression
• Fair and transparent reward and recognition
• Wellbeing and work-life balance
• Positive work culture
• Community and Social responsibility- the brand is out in the marketplace for the right reasons
What are your top THREE tips for introducing a new culture within an organization?
1. Clearly agree and understand what culture you are looking to create
2. Plan the four stages carefully – Diagnose current culture, set target culture, actuate and embed, review and sustain
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate, and then some
How can readers find out more about you?
Contact Westow International Limited via email: simon.mennell@westowinternational.com
