2014
HR’S INFLUENCE
GROWS
GOLD SPONSORS
LEADER HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
E
very year HR
compiles the HR
Most Influential
rankings: the
definitive lists of directors
and thinkers who have the
greatest influence in the
field of people strategy.
The lists are a culmination of four months’ work
to discover the movers and shakers in the world
of human resources.
These are the people whose thinking and work
is having an impact on HR practice, who are
influential in general business and who are
bringing the people agenda to the fore externally.
These people have many talents. They are
‘networked’. They are helping to grow the influence
of HR at board level and among other stakeholders.
They are the names that appear on the ‘in-demand’
talent list at executive level – or who are very much
on their way there.
The HR influencers listed in this special
supplement demonstrate the absolutely vital
role people strategy plays in developing
sustainable, future-proofed, growing businesses.
Their willingness to share, challenge and push
people strategy forward is influencing business
and policymakers, both inside and outside the
HR community.
HR magazine couldn’t deliver this annual
ranking without the help of our expert panel of
headhunters, associations, former HR directors
and leading commentators. I would also like to
thank our Gold Partners Ceridian and Open
University Business School, whose support
enables us to announce the lists at an exclusive
event at Claridge’s in London, as well as to bring
all the detail to our readers via this special
supplement, also available as a free download on
HR magazine’s app.
Full biographies, more information about the
HR Most Influential methodology, exclusive
thought pieces from our partners and the full
archive can be found on hrmagazine.co.uk’s
dedicated web channel. Do have a look and I
welcome your feedback.
Siân Harrington, publishing director
HR is transforming business
W
hat makes
the
HR
function
influential?
It’s a question HR magazine
has been trying to answer
for the past nine years, via
our annual HR Most
Influential rankings. From the HR directors using
the power of people to transform complex
organisations, to the academics changing the way
we think about the world of work, the rankings
and this supplement celebrate the best of HR
thinking and doing.
This year we believe the HR Most Influential
rankings are bigger and better than ever. Not only
have we ranked the top 30 Most Influential HR
practitioners (you’ll find the full list on p6), but
we’ve also recognised the top 92 HR practitioners
in the country by industry (see p10 to see who
made the cut this year). And for the first time,
we’ve added a Readers’ Choice voting element to
proceedings. Turn to p12 to see if our readers
agreed with our expert panel when it comes to who
hrmagazine.co.uk
are the most influential HR practitioners in the
industry today.
In another first this year, our research partner
Ashridge Business School has carried out
qualitative research with a select group of CEOs
across a variety of industries, asking them to share
what they believe makes an influential HR director.
With a focus on transformation and innovation, as
well as a feeling that HR directors absolutely should
have a seat at the top table and be as involved as any
other business function, it makes for interesting
reading. Enlightened CEOs, those concerned
about talent and culture and who understand the
importance of investing in people, know HR can
make all the difference in their organisations. The
challenge for the function is to get that message
across to the rest of the executive community.
I hope you enjoy reading this supplement and
exploring the new dedicated stream on the HR
magazine website. Next year is the 10th anniversary
of HR Most Influential, so 2015’s supplement
should be even better. Watch this space.
CONTENTS
05 An overview of
the 2014 HR Most
Influential rankings
10 The Most
Influential
practitioners by
sector, plus
Readers’ Choice and
Making Waves
14 My biggest
influence: five HRDs
reveal who has
influenced them
16 Dean Royles on
scoring a hat-trick
17 Cary Cooper on
his HR career
18 Sylvia Ann
Hewlett on talent
20 What makes HR
influential in the eyes
of CEOs?
Supplement editor
Katie Jacobs
020 7501 6776
Sub-editor
Thirza Tooes
Art director
VeeSun Ho
Senior advertisement
manager
Paul Barron
020 7501 6706
Advertising manager
Fenella Welham
020 7501 5454
HR magazine editor
Arvind Hickman
Publishing director
Siân Harrington
Email first.surname@
markallengroup.com
Katie Jacobs, supplement editor
November 2014 HR 3
Cover & illustrations throughout: Simon Brader
Letter from the publisher
As a provider of award winning cloud
As a provider of award winning cloud
As
a provider
of award
technology,
Ceridian
is winning
proud tocloud
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technology, Ceridian is proud to sponsor
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HR Most Influential.
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Most Influentual
List.
HR Most Influentual List.
HR Most Influentual List.
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Ceridian
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delivering
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MOST INFLUENTIAL OVERVIEW HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
HRMI winners
The annual HR Most Influential lists throw a spotlight on
the top practitioners and thinkers in people management.
KATIE JACOBS reveals who has made the list in 2014
W
ith
talent
and
innovation consistently
topping the wish list of
forward-thinking CEOs,
there has never been a
better time for HR to move
into the spotlight. And the
HR practitioners and thinkers
who make up our 2014 HR Most Influential (HRMI)
rankings are definitely the right people for the job of
delivering on HR’s golden opportunity.
This is the ninth year of HR magazine’s annual HR
Most Influential rankings, supported by our gold partners
Ceridian and Open University Business School, and our
research partner Ashridge Business School. We believe the
names on the lists, encompassing HR directors in highly
complex organisations, other functional heads, CEOs
hrmagazine.co.uk
who have made the move from HR and those academics
really pushing the boundaries of HR thinking, are stronger
than ever.
According to Ainé Hurley, head of HR practice at
executive search firm Odgers Berndtson and a member
of the HRMI expert panel, HR is becoming more and
more visible at the very top of organisations. “With the
importance of organisational reputation, the role of the
HRD has become much more important,” she says.
“Chairmen and non-executive directors are more
interested in HR than ever before.”
When it comes to what makes an influential HR
practitioner, our expert panel is looking for several things,
including personal influence, practical relevance,
commercial impact, visibility and working in a complex
organisation. As the UK economy continues to grow,
other qualities have also come to the fore this year.
November 2014 HR 5
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL OVERVIEW
For example, the importance of innovation and
transformation. But while change may be a constant,
there’s also a need to focus on the long term when it
comes to talent planning and wider business strategy.
“Businesses are now looking longer term at how to
develop talent,” says Anna Penfold, HRMI panellist and
client partner at Korn Ferry. “Post-recession, we are seeing
more positivity towards the HR function from CEOs
and more understanding of how talent impacts the
bottom line.”
As our gold partners Ceridian and Open
University Business School explore in their
columns on p9, sustainable businesses are
also beginning to realise the importance
of trust and authenticity. “It’s about having
real conversations with leadership,” says
Paul Devoy, head of Investors in People. “If
what they are saying isn’t authentic, it won’t
stick. Look at tools like Glassdoor; the
days of transparency are here to stay. If you’re not
practising what you preach today, you’re going to be
found out very quickly.”
Having an international outlook is also a necessity
in a globalised marketplace. Frank Douglas, CEO of
consultancy Caerus Executive and another of our expert
panel, believes the influential HRD of the future will
need to have lived and worked in another country. “You
can’t have credibility without that experience, and you
can’t do it from your desk,” he adds. “It’s
about understanding cultural differences
and drivers and using that to create truly
global HR.”
Other skills the panel was looking for
included the importance of ‘substance over
spin’ and being committed to raising the
profile of HR both inside the business and
more widely, inspiring the next generation of
HR leaders. So, to be one of the top 30 HR
Post-recession
we are seeing
more positivity
towards HR
HR Most Influential Practitioners
01 Dean Royles, director of HR & organisational development,
Leeds Teaching Hospital
17 Gillian Quinton, strategic director (resources and business
transformation) Buckinghamshire County Council
02 Neil Morrison, group HR director, UK and International
companies, Penguin Random House
18 Natalie Bickford, HR director Europe, Sodexo
03 Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth, director of HR, BBC
19 Althea Loderick, chief operating officer,
London Borough of Waltham Forest
04 Andy Street, managing director, John Lewis Partnership
20 Diane Herbert, director of human resources, Channel 4
05 Hugh Mitchell, chief HR and corporate officer,
Royal Dutch Shell
21 = Guy Eccles, HR director, B&Q UK & Ireland
21 = Dan Flint, global HR director, Simmons & Simmons
06 Jabbar Sardar, director of HR and organisational
development, Cafcass
22 Andrew McEachern, global director of people
and development, Norton Rose Fulbright
07 Louise Smalley, group HR director, Whitbread
23 Daniel Cloke, HR, property and internal
communications director, Vodafone UK
08 Geoff Lloyd, group HR director, Serco
09 Tracy Robbins, executive VP HR and group operations
support, IHG
10 Deborah Baker, director for people, Sky
11 Helen Giles, executive director of HR, St Mungo’s Broadway
23 Jan Woods, director, Lion Capital
24 Tim Jones, group head of HR, London Stock Exchange
25 Amanda Underwood, HR director, PizzaExpress
26 Lynne Weedall, group HR director, DixonsCarphone Group
12 = Sandy Begbie, chief operations officer, Standard Life
27 Helen Maye, chief human resources officer,
Smith & Nephew
12 = Jacky Simmonds, group HR director, TUI Travel
27 Andy Newall, group HR director, Imperial Tobacco
13 Mike Westcott, global HR director, National Grid
28 Des Pullen, group HR director, Associated British Foods
14 Ann Pickering, HR director, Telefónica UK
29 Geoff Tranfield, group HR director, IMI
15 Therese Procter, chief personnel officer, Tesco Bank
30 = Richard Smelt, HR director, McCain Foods
15 Claire Thomas, senior VP HR, GlaxoSmithKline
30 = Sheila Gupta, director of HR, University of Cambridge
16 Jennifer Duvalier, executive vice president, people, ARM
30 = Robert Potter, group HR director, Hays
6 HR November 2014
hrmagazine.co.uk
MOST INFLUENTIAL OVERVIEW HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
Most Influential Practitioners requires an awful lot, but
those on the list deliver.
Our top three practitioners – Dean Royles, Neil
Morrison and Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth – have one
important thing in common: not being afraid of a
challenge. Royles spent almost four years at the helm of
NHS Employers, during a time of turbulence and change.
He has recently joined Leeds Teaching Hospital (the
country’s biggest NHS Trust) as head of HR and OD.
Royles was praised by our panel as a “top performer in a
tough industry”. The experts also said he is “not afraid to
tackle difficult issues” and spoke of the “massive impact”
he has had on the HR profession over the past few years.
Morrison, group HR director, UK and international
companies, at Penguin Random House, played a leading
role in the merger of Penguin and Random House, and
last year was also voted HR director of the year at the HR
Excellence Awards. The panel praised him as “visible,
active and thought-provoking” and as someone who
wants to “shake the industry up”.
Completing the top three is Hughes-D’Aeth, who has
just taken on one of the most high profile, and some
might say risky, HR jobs in the country, as HR director
at the BBC. But our panel thinks she’ll be more than
capable of rising to the challenge. “She has the ability to
get things done even in tough environments,” was one
of the comments made about her.
Moving onto the thinkers, and we were looking for
strong views that offer something practical for business
leaders. Evidence-based work is becoming increasingly
important for HR professionals, and Rob Briner,
professional of organisational psychology at the University
of Bath and an evidence-based management champion,
has jumped from number 11 to number three in the Most
Influential UK Thinkers list. He was a described as a
“brilliant critic” and a “straight-forward thinker who
helps to put real issues into perspective”.
HR Most Influential
UK Thinkers
01 Cary Cooper, distinguished professor of
organizational psychology and health,
Lancaster University Management School
02 Peter Cheese, CEO, CIPD
03 Rob Briner, professor of organisational
psychology, School of Management,
University of Bath
04 David MacLeod, co-chair, Employee
Engagement Task Force
05 Adrian Furnham, professor of psychology,
University College London
06 Stephen Bevan, director of the Centre for
Workforce Effectiveness, The Work Foundation
07 Veronica Hope Hailey, dean and head
of school, School of Management,
University of Bath
08 Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge, founder, Quality &
Equality
09 Anthony Hesketh, senior lecturer, Lancaster
University Management School
10 Paul Sparrow, director of Centre for
Performance-Led HR, Lancaster University
Management School
11 Michael West, professor of organisational
psychology, Lancaster University Management
School and senior fellow, The King’s Fund
12 Paul Kearns, chair, The Maturity Institute
13 Andrew Campbell, director of the
Ashridge Strategic Management Centre
14 Wendy Hirsh, independent researcher,
Kingston Business School
15 Stephen Bungay, director, Ashridge
Strategic Management Centre
16 Simon Collinson, dean, Birmingham
Business School
17 Nigel Nicholson, professor of organisational
behaviour, London Business School
18 Chris Roebuck, visiting professor of
transformational leadership, Cass Business School
19 Geoff Bird, research fellow,
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience,
University College London
20 Anthony Hilton, financial editor,
London Evening Standard
hrmagazine.co.uk
November 2014 HR 7
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL OVERVIEW
In first and second place respectively in the UK Thinkers
list: Cary Cooper, distinguished professor of organizational
psychology and health at Lancaster University
Management School, and Peter Cheese, CEO of the
CIPD. Cooper is an HRMI stalwart, although this is the
first year he has topped the list. According to our panel, he
is “bold and ready to think differently” and is “pushing the
boundaries of research on people matters”.
Cheese, last year’s number one UK Thinker, was praised
as a “class act” who has “breathed life” back into the
CIPD. “He has not been afraid to take a stance and clear
position on HR matters, be that critical or supportive,”
said one commentator.
On the International Thinkers list, Americans dominate
the top three: New York-based Sylvia Ann Hewlett, and
The role of
the HRD has
become much
more important
Harvard Business School’s John Kotter and Rosabeth
Moss Kanter. Kotter, who is Konosuke Matsushita
professor of leadership, emeritus at Harvard, has made
the list for the first time due to his work on change
management; particularly relevant for HR directors in a
VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous)
world. His colleague Moss Kanter, professor of business at
Harvard Business School, is evidently still having an
impact, with one panellist saying she is “still a name to
conjure with”.
Hewlett, CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation,
jumped straight into the top spot. Known particularly for
her work on women’s leadership and innovation, she was
praised for being “one of those rare people who can give
practical ways forward based on evidence-based thinking”.
Read more about her on p18.
Space is limited, but there’s so much to say about the
HR Most Influential rankings. If you want to learn more
about the methodology, explore the rankings in detail,
or read profiles for everyone on the lists (including HR
practitioners from across 92 industries), you’ll find it all
on our brand new HR Most Influential website: www.
hrmagazine.co.uk/hrmostinfluential
Next year is the 10th anniversary of HR Most Influential,
and we promise it will be extra special. See you in 2015 to
unveil what, and more importantly who, is having the
biggest impact in HR. HR
HR Most Influential International
01 Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founder and CEO, Center for Talent
Innovation
02 John Kotter, Konosuke Matsushita professor of leadership,
emeritus, Harvard Business School
03 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L Arbuckle professor of
business administration, Harvard Business School
04 Edward Lawler, director, Center for Effective Organisations
and distinguished professor of business, University of Southern
California
05 David Rock, director of the NeuroLeadership Institute
06 George Yip, professor of strategy and co-director, Centre on
China Innovation, China Europe International Business School
07 Adam Grant, professor of management, Wharton School of
Business, University of Pennsylvania
08 Patrick Wright, Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentenial Chair,
Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina.
Director, Center for Executive Succession
09 Richard Boyatzis, distinguished university professor, Case
Western Reserve University
10 Stewart Friedman, practice professor of management, The
Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
8 HR November 2014
Thinkers
11 Vineet Nayar, former CEO, HCL Technologies
12 Shawn Achor, lecturer at Harvard University and CEO,
Good Think
13 Josh Bersin, principal and founder, Bersin by Deloitte
13 Amy Edmondson, Novartis professor of leadership and
management, Harvard Business School
14 Paul Evans, emeritus professor of organisational behavior
and The Shell chair of human resources, INSEAD
15 David Collings, professor of HR management, Dublin City
University
16 Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, partner, The Innovation
Architects
17 Rita McGrath, associate professor of management,
Columbia Business School
18 Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, senior adviser, Egon Zehnder
19 Herminia Ibarra, Cora Chaired professor of leadership
and learning and professor of organisational behavior,
INSEAD
20 M Amr Sadik, director of operations, IPE Management
School
hrmagazine.co.uk
MOST INFLUENTIAL OVERVIEW HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
Be yourself, be authentic, and communicate
When authentic
leadership is prevalent
within an organisation,
the entire business will
‘walk the walk’ and
‘talk the talk’, because
it genuinely believes in
what it does. Employees feel part of an
organisation’s journey, and they can relate
what they do to what a customer receives.
Authentic leaders ensure colleagues across
the company are honest and open with
themselves and others, and have a strong
sense of self. The key to this sense of self
and authenticity is consistency, regular
communication and openness to
conversation and debate.
Conversations enable learning across
the organisation at all levels. Those that
have open and honest conversations can
see the values of their organisation lived
and breathed on a daily basis. Employee
engagement can be heightened when
authentic leadership is truly taking place.
There is a strong correlation between
employees understanding the vision and
values of their organisation, the part they
play in the organisation’s long-term plan,
and their level of engagement.
Social media is continuing to transform
the way in which organisations work, and
better understanding of its power and
potential can play an important part in
confirming and supporting a leader’s
influence.
What employees want from their leaders
today is transparency, openness and
truthfulness. In other words: authenticity.
Social media tools can help facilitate this
if leaders do a degree of the heavy lifting
themselves and do not delegate their
communication to a function. What can
have more impact than knowing that there
is someone listening and acting on your
feedback? Leaders across business need
to think about how to incorporate these
tools into their communication style and
remember that the social networks are
being seen by the world, so honest
communication is a must.
The effect of the up-front and honest
communication that social networks have
created can further influence how we
communicate with colleagues overall.
Colleague communications, customer
communications and recruitment
communications are now blended together
into one set of solid market messages.
There is no difference in the internal and
external story, this helps with the
recruitment of the right colleagues and with
retaining staff who understand and believe
in the direction the organisation is going.
Leaders who participate in and enable
learning conversations across an
organisation at all levels, and who can
connect their organisation’s aims to its
customer and market, will have the most
effect in ensuring their company’s values
are lived and breathed each and every day.
Doug Sawers
is managing
director of
Ceridian UK
We need to talk about trust
“When we trust our
colleagues and we
enjoy their trust in
return, we enjoy work
more, which makes us
more motivated. We
make decisions more
quickly and we enable one another to
better realise our potential. This in turn
increases productivity and talent retention
– so it’s a win-win situation for employees
and employers alike.”
So says Ruth Sutherland, chief executive
of UK-based charity Relate, which provides
impartial and non-judgemental information,
support and counselling.
At the Open University Business School
we’ve worked with Relate to co-create a
new online open programme teaching
people the tenets of workplace-based
trust, and how to employ strategies that
will build trust in their own practice.
But why is it necessary? Trust has
become something of a Holy Grail concept
to business leaders since the toxic fallout
of the financial crisis of 2008.
hrmagazine.co.uk
As the newspapers (sometimes
gleefully) report scandals in banking, the
energy sector, politics and rival tabloids,
trust in the workplace, once a given, is now
recognised as something to be worked on
and developed.
But it’s not just the litany of scandals
eroding trust in our workplaces. Changes in
the way we communicate have had a
profound effect on levels of trust. Email
and social media have made
communication both more frequent and
more remote. A lack of face-to-face
communication disenfranchises employees
and can be corrosive to trust levels.
Another factor is the change in the
employment relationship since the
pre-1990s when continuous employment
was the norm. Now employment
relationships tend to be transactional as
people accept they won’t have a job for life
and businesses rely on outputs and KPIs
with less emphasis on building long-term
commitment, and subsequent trust.
The other side of this coin is the rise of
individualism. During prosperous times,
when the desires of output-focused
employers and self-seeking employees
align, this isn’t too much of a problem.
However, when a crisis hits the lack of
mutual trust and neutrality is thrown
into relief.
At the same time high levels of
organisational change, such as
globalisation, flexible labour relationships
and virtualisation through technology mean
interpersonal relationships are looser and
behaviours are harder to monitor.
As hierarchy is replaced by matrix
processes and team working and we
move to an ever more knowledge-based
economy, trust is vital to drawing
people together.
Diannah Lowry is
a lecturer in HR
Management at
Open University
Business School
and academic lead
of Developing High
Trust Relationships
November 2014 HR 9
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL PRACTITIONERS
HR Most Influential
Practitioners:
By sector
BANKING/FINANCIAL SERVICES
AND INSURANCE
Sandra Campopiano, chief people
officer, Thomas Cook
Sandy Begbie, chief operations officer,
Standard Life
Eugenio Pirri, VP, people and
organisational development,
Dorchester Collection
Amanda Brown, group HR director,
Hiscox
Tracy Clarke, director of compliance,
people and communications,
Standard Chartered Bank
Simon Lloyd, people and talent
director, Santander
Tim Jones, group head of HR,
London Stock Exchange
Therese Procter, chief personnel
officer, Tesco Bank
Caroline Williams, senior vice
president HR, ACE Group
CONSTRUCTION
Richard Latham, group HR director,
Persimmon
HEALTHCARE
Karen McCormick, group HR
director, Care UK
Marcus Powell, group organisation
development/HR director, Nuffield Health
Stephen Robson, director of people,
Virgin Care
HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE
Ben Bengougam, vice president
HR, EMEA, Hilton Worldwide
Natalie Bickford, HR director
Europe, Sodexo
10 HR November 2014
Toby Peyton-Jones, director
of HR, Siemens UK & North West
Europe
Des Pullen, group HR director,
Associated British Foods
Tracy Robbins, executive VP HR and
group operations support, IHG
Simon Nash, senior vice president,
HR, Reckitt Benckiser
Jacky Simmonds, group HR director, TUI
Andrew Newall, group HR
director, Imperial Tobacco
Louise Smalley, group HR director,
Whitbread
Amanda Underwood, HR director, Pizza
Express
Andrea Wareham, group director of
people, Pret A Manger
Nikki Rolfe, group HR director,
Rexam
Richard Smelt, HR director,
McCain Foods
Geoff Tranfield, group HR director,
IMI
IT/HI-TECH SERVICES
Sue Yell, HR director, Warburtons
Mary Alexander, senior director, HR,
PayPal EMEA
OIL/GAS AND MINING
Daniel Cloke, HR and property director,
Vodafone
Hugo Bague, group executive,
organisational resources, Rio Tinto
Jennifer Duvalier, executive vice president
people, ARM
Graeme Cook, group HR director,
EnQuest
Kelli Hughes, head of people operations,
Europe (Northern and Central), Google
Gordon Headley, chief HR officer,
Tullow Oil
Ann Pickering, HR director,
Telefonica UK
Hugh Mitchell, chief HR and
corporate officer, Royal Dutch Shell
MANUFACTURING
PHARMACEUTICALS
Quintin Heath, HR director, AB Sugar
Helen Maye, group director of HR,
Smith & Nephew
Joanne McAdam, group director,
JCB Corporate University
Rosemary McGinness, group HR
director, William Grant & Sons
Adrienne McFarland, head of centres of
expertise, Nestlé UK & Ireland
Gifford Tanser, head of corporate
organisation development,
Boehringer Ingelheim
Claire Thomas, senior vice
president HR, GlaxoSmithKline
hrmagazine.co.uk
MOST INFLUENTIAL PRACTITIONERS HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
PRINT, MEDIA AND
PUBLISHING
Moira Slape, global HR director,
Eversheds
Carol Kavanagh, group HR director,
Travis Perkins
Deborah Baker, director for people,
BSkyB
Jan Woods, director, Lion Capital
David Russell, group HR director,
William Hill
Paul Chesworth, chief people officer,
Perform Group
Derrick Crowley, group HR director,
News UK
Neil Foulger, managing director, HR,
Liberty Global Group
Diane Herbert, HR director, Channel 4
Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth, director of
HR, BBC
Neil Morrison, group HR director, UK
and international companies,
Penguin Random House
Mark Sandham, senior vice president,
organisational effectiveness and HR
operations, Thomson Reuters
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
(LEGAL/CONSULTANCY/
PRIVATE EQUITY)
Carol Ashton, international HR director,
DLA Piper
Stephen Dando, operating partner,
Bain Capital
Dan Flint, group HR director,
Simmons & Simmons
PUBLIC SECTOR
Andrew Dodman, director of HR,
University of Sheffield
Sheila Gupta, HR director,
University of Cambridge
Althea Loderick, chief operating
officer, London Borough of
Waltham Forest
Gillian Quinton, strategic director
(resources and business transformation)
Buckinghamshire County Council
Dean Royles, director of HR and
organisational development,
Leeds Teaching Hospital
Jabbar Sardar, director of HR and
organisational development, Cafcass
RETAIL
Pauline Best, group HR director,
Specsavers Optical Group
Jonathan Crookall, people director,
Halfords
Tanith Dodge, HR director,
Marks & Spencer
Guy Eccles, HR director UK&I, B&Q
Christine Lynch, global HR director,
Linklaters
Helena Feltham, global HR director,
Topshop Topman
Andrew McEachern, global director of
people and development,
Norton Rose Fulbright
Siobhan Forey, group HR director,
Arcadia Group
Robert Potter,
group HR director,
Hays
Andy Street, managing director,
John Lewis Partnership
Hayley Tatum, executive people
director, Asda
Lynne Weedall, group HR & strategy
director, DixonsCarphone Group
THIRD SECTOR/NOT-FORPROFIT
Helen Giles, executive director of HR,
St Mungo’s Broadway
Ria Goldby, assistant director HR,
One Housing Group
TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS
Mike Campbell, group director, EasyJet
Richard Doyle, director, HR,
Network Rail
John Evans, group HR director,
First Group
Darren Hockaday, HR director, LOROL
Julie Welch, HR director, Wincanton
UTILITIES
Robert Booker, executive vice
president, HR, BG Group
Shirley Campbell, director of people,
workplace and OD, Scottish Water
Janet Hogben, chief people officer,
EDF Energy
Mike Westcott, global HR director,
National Grid
DISTRIBUTORS AND SERVICE
PROVIDERS
Celia Baxter, director of group HR,
Bunzl
Geoff Lloyd, group HR director, Serco
Bob Morrison, group HR director,
Wolseley
hrmagazine.co.uk
November 2014 HR 11
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL PRACTITIONERS
Readers’ Choice
Readers see Eugenio Pirri as an
“inspirational” leader
While the HR leaders on the Most Influential
Practitioner and Sector lists are chosen by our expert
panel of headhunters, academics, former HR directors,
chief executives and journalists, we wanted to know
who the wider community is looking up to. So HR
magazine ran an online poll asking readers for their
choice from a shortlist featuring all the directors
appearing on the Most Influential Practitioner list.
Readers were invited to vote for the top five people
they have been influenced by in HR. Votes were only
counted if they were from an HR director or HR
professional from outside the nominee’s organisation.
Would readers have the same views as our expert
panel? The top 10 are listed below.
01 Eugenio Pirri, VP people and organisational
development, Dorchester Collection
02 Geoff Tranfield, group HR director, IMI
03 Tanith Dodge, HR director, Marks & Spencer
04 Jabbar Sardar, director of HR and
organisational development, Cafcass
05 Dean Royles, director of HR and
organisational development,
Leeds Teaching Hospital
MAKING WAVES
Who do we expect to see on our HR Most Influential lists in
the future? With a little help from HR magazine’s friends
across the profession we have identified the people, from
organisations big and small, that we will be keeping an eye
on. Some have wide experience and longevity in HR, others
are accelerating up the HR career ladder. All are making
waves in the world of HR.
Andrea Cartwright, group HR director, SuperGroup
Paula Jordan, HR director, McCarthy & Stone
Baljinder Kang, head of HR, Midland Heart
06 Therese Procter, chief personnel officer,
Tesco Bank
Simon Lenton, HR director, Jaguar Land Rover
07 Richard Latham, group HR director,
Persimmon
Liz McGivern, vice president HR, Red Carnation Hotels
08 Tracy Robbins, executive VP global HR
resources and group operations support, IHG
09 Neil Morrison, group HR director, UK and
international companies,
Penguin Random House
Tanya Lightbody, group people director, Skagen Services
David Morkeberg, vice president HR Europe, Rexam
Simon Nash, HR director, Carey Olsen
Ted Smith, group HR director, Medical Research Council
Lesley Sommerville, HR director, Trinity Mirror
10 = Darren Hockaday, HR director, LOROL
Rachel Stock, HR director, Hearst Magazines
10 = Natalie Bickford, HR director Europe
Sodexo
James Watts, vice president HR, KFC UK & Ireland
12 HR November 2014
hrmagazine.co.uk
[
A DIFFERENT SL ANT X X X X X X
58 HR January 2015
]
hrmagazine.co.uk
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MY BIGGEST INFLUENCE
My Biggest
The practitioners on the HR Most Influential rankings are
the wider industry. But who has had the biggest impact on them?
The first major
influence on my
career was my
father; he was
the son of
Eastern
European
immigrant
parents. He consistently advised
me I should always be able to look
after myself financially, and never
rely on anybody else. At times
when my children were young, I was
juggling like crazy. My husband was
enjoying a successful career in the
City, and it would have been
tempting to take my foot off the
pedal. But I never did, as I always
had my dad’s voice in the back of
my mind egging me on. I am always
grateful to him for his consistent
support and belief, and to this day I
like to succeed at work to make
him feel proud.
Alison Brittain, group director of
Lloyds Banking Group’s retail
division, has also had a major
influence on my career. She was my
boss at Barclays when we were
both under 30, later my mentor
and now my friend. Alison
epitomises the successful career
woman to me. She is brilliantly
successful in the business world,
a challenging but genuine leader,
great wife and mother, and allround very funny person. Watching
her has taught me that you can
succeed in the workplace as
a woman, without needing
to change who you are as
a person.
Natalie Bickford, HR director
Europe, Sodexo
14 HR November 2014
I believe every day is a learning opportunity, a
chance to develop and a way to improve
yourself, I have had lots of influences on my
career but three have had a profound impact.
Firstly: my upbringing and the values
instilled in me at an early age. I come from a
working-class background, which taught me
the values of respect, fairness, hard work,
honesty and a belief that you should never treat anyone in a way
that you wouldn’t want to be treated yourself. These might
seem straightforward but in practice and in the workplace they
are often missing. I use these values to inform my decisionmaking and how I treat people.
Secondly: working in three different sectors with four different
companies has also had a big influence on my career. You will be
a more rounded HRD if you spend time in different sectors
developing and refining your experience. I constantly draw upon
my time at all the companies I have worked in to help me
manage complex organisational challenges.
Finally, my current CEO David Nish has had a significant
influence on my career. He is a hugely motivational and
inspirational leader. He also has a rare quality in a leader: he
never stops trying to develop himself and seek feedback to
improve. He has influenced me significantly, and I’ve
had the pleasure of working with someone to whom
I can give honest feedback.
Sandy Begbie, chief operations officer, Standard Life
I’m at my best working with people who
are a little restless – those strategic
visionaries. And I’ve been very lucky to
work with a number of business leaders like that
who have influenced me. I was head of HR for
George Davies, the retail entrepreneur who set up
Next and George clothing at Asda, when he was
setting up the Per Una business that was sold to
Marks & Spencer. To have had the opportunity to work with someone
so incredibly creative and commercially focused during my formative
years was a huge privilege.
That role also gave me access to Stuart Rose, Marks & Spencer’s
CEO at the time. To get to spend time with and work for [Davies and
Rose], to understand commercial thinking and see how they approach
hrmagazine.co.uk
in
F
re
m?
MY BIGGEST INFLUENCE HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
Influence
influencing their organisations, peers and
Five HRDs share who has inspired them in their careers
My father always told me that once you
made a commitment, you stuck to it. It’s
a lesson that has served me well
throughout my career. He also taught me
life is too short to stuff a mushroom –
I’m not entirely sure what to take from
that. Dad had a career managing prisons
and I can’t think of many greater
leadership challenges, particularly during difficult times
such as after the Parkhurst escape in 1995. The thing
that always came through was how genuinely he cared for
his staff.
Since then, I’ve been lucky to work with a number of
amazing leaders: Terry Duddy, Kate Swann, Gail Rebuck and
Tom Weldon to name a few. While each has a unique
approach, watching how they led and ran successful
companies, and how they led their people, has been a huge
influence on me as a practitioner and as a leader.
Most of the influence from within HR comes from my
reaction to bad HR practice. When I talk to people and hear
about some of things our profession inflicts on employees,
it makes me more determined to do better. Not a week
goes past without someone telling me about another bit of
HR stupidity. Wanting to make the profession better for
employees and their companies is perhaps my
biggest driver and influence.
Neil Morrison, group HR director, UK and international
companies, Penguin Random House
matters was hugely developmental. Thanks to the real commercial
approach they used on everything they did, the people I work with now
think I’m an exceptionally commercially focused head of HR. I’ve been
able to take that with me.
I also spent five years working in advertising and media, alongside
industry veterans. And where I am now, the London Stock Exchange,
I get the pleasure of working with an established board, a strong
Remuneration Committee and a FTSE 100 CEO – Xavier Rolet – who is
a real strategic visionary.
In many ways, I feel privileged because I’ve had all these fascinating
jobs and I’ve been able to work with industry-leading figures in a
variety of sectors. I have learned an immense amount from them, and
it’s helped me become influential in my own roles.
Tim Jones, group head of HR, London Stock Exchange
hrmagazine.co.uk
I’ve been fortunate to
have lots of excellent
bosses, many of whom
have been fabulous
mentors. My most
recent boss Nigel Paul,
vice principal and
director of corporate
services at the University of Edinburgh, is
one of the best. He epitomised everything
that makes an outstanding leader:
inspiring, innovative and someone who
invested in people. He was visionary,
supportive, and gave you the autonomy to
realise your ideas. At his leaving do, all his
direct reports said he was the best boss
we’d ever had.
Some pivotal moments in my working life
have influenced me. When I began my
career, I worked for two local authorities
that were very different: one was extreme
left; the other extreme right. It was an
excellent experience of how to operate
successfully and drive transformational
change in a highly political environment.
Working in the education sector for most
of my life, an idea that was a ‘lightbulb’
moment was reading that leading
professional services staff in an academic
environment is not that different to leading
academics. You need to coalesce them
around a compelling vision, give them
autonomy, and continue to give key
messages to maintain engagement. The
minute you get that, you understand what
buttons you need to push.
Another influential idea came from a
friend of mine. She advised me to get
involved with professional networks and
engage in the world outside my
organisation. As a consequence, I ended up
involved in and even chairing several
professional HR groups. Some of the most
pivotal ideas are sitting next to you. We
work in people-based organisations, so we
should talk to people. They are the most
fabulous resource for inspirational ideas.
Finally, my most inspirational person is
Nelson Mandela. For me, his quote
‘Education is the most powerful weapon
you can use to change the world’
encapsulates all that I believe in and
provides my motivation to do what I can in
this dynamic and exciting sector.
Sheila Gupta, director of HR,
the University of Cambridge
November 2014 HR 15
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL PRACTITIONER
Dean Royles: People
issues are on the table
L
HR
Most
Influential
Practitioner
16 HR November 2014
“HR is a
vibrant
profession,
and that’s
something
we should
welcome”
eeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
must be feeling pretty pleased with
itself. The reason? Its new director
of HR and OD has just been
ranked the Most Influential HR
Practitioner for the third consecutive year. Dean
Royles, former CEO of NHS Employers, joined
Leeds just before the rankings were announced,
after nearly four years at NHS Employers.
Those four years have been a rough ride
for the NHS, with scandals such as MidStaffordshire hitting the headlines. So it’s no
surprise Royles says he’s learned a lot. “The NHS
does remarkable things every day, and many of
those who work in it thought all the brilliant
stuff could compensate for any bad stuff,” he
says. “Now we appreciate that if you didn’t get
great care, nothing could compensate you for
that. Reconnecting with trying to get it right
for everyone, all of the time, has been a really
important learning point.”
Then there’s the fact that HR has become
much more central to NHS performance. “It’s
becoming increasingly evident that staff
engagement has an impact on patient care,
and that has created a huge opportunity for
HR to change culture and the way we deal with
staff management,” Royles says. “We went from
questions about the role of HR on the board
to an absolute understanding by boards that
HR is central.”
Not too surprisingly, when reflecting on his
time at NHS Employers, he says the most
difficult aspect was the “endless” negative press
coverage. “Trying to cut through that and
provide hope about things getting better was
particularly challenging,” he says. “It has been,
and still is to some extent, relentless. I’m an
optimistic person, but looking at press cuttings
each day, I’d find myself thinking: What can
I do? And I’m in a position of influence; it’s so
much harder for a middle manager or frontline
member of staff.”
Why did he decide to move on? Part of his
decision was a desire to get back to the “core” of
HR in the NHS, he says. “You get national jobs
because you’ve got experience and expertise in
that area,” he explains. “The longer you do them,
the less relevant that becomes. It’s a good thing
to be reconnecting with your core point.” And
as Leeds has 15,000 staff, a £1 billion turnover
and is the largest NHS Trust in the country, he
is hardly taking a step back.
While some gripe that HR is led by fads,
Royles sees it differently, and puts a typically
more positive spin on things. “This is a
profession given to constant change, unlike,
say, finance,” he says. “It’s great seeing all the
thinkers, UK and internationally, shifting the
dynamics. It makes it a vibrant profession, and
that’s something we should welcome, rather
than thinking ‘here we go again’.”
He believes “everyone is tired of the debate on
the value of HR”, but points out at least that
means “people issues are on the table and
people are talking about them”.
Does he believe business is starting to take
people issues more seriously? “I do. When we
were trying to say HR is a key business function,
many interpreted that financially – as long as
the bottom right-hand corner of the balance
sheet was black, everything was fine. But that’s
not the same as a business function, which is
about providing the best products and services,
and getting our people aligned around that.
The recession has taught us that if you do that
well, you will make profit. That’s where your
emphasis should be, not on a balance sheet.
People issues are a lot more central to that.”
One of the reasons Royles has consistently
topped HR Most Influential rankings is his total
transparency and willingness to speak openly
about some difficult issues. His social media
presence – at the time of writing he has almost
9,000 Twitter followers – means he is accessible
to the wider profession. He’s also a regular
blogger for the HR magazine website.
“You’ve got to see social media as a fantastic
opportunity to engage with staff and customers,”
he believes. “It’s a key business skill of the future.
If you’re restricting people from using it, you’re
denuding them of skills that will be central for
jobs in the future. The other mistake is seeing it
as a broadcast medium; if people saw it as a
listening opportunity, they would start to see
the real benefits.” There’s little doubt that even
in his new role, the HR profession will be keen
to keep listening to what Royles has to say.
hrmagazine.co.uk
MOST INFLUENTIAL UK THINKER HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
Cary Cooper: I’m an
industrial social worker
s important as the HR Most
Influential rankings are, there aren’t
many people on it who have also
been honoured by royalty. Not
only
has
Cary
Cooper,
distinguished professor of organizational
psychology and health at Lancaster University
Management School, received a CBE, this year
he was also knighted, and recognised in the
2014 birthday honours list for his services to
social science (it’s been a pretty good year).
Cooper, the son of immigrants from Romania
and Ukraine, originally thought he was going
into the law. But a series of classes in workplace
psychology changed all that, and it’s HR’s gain.
Coming from a working-class background, he
was earning as he learnt at university, as a social
worker in Los Angeles. “I saw deprivation like
I’d never seen in my life,” he recalls. “I thought:
‘I’ve got to do something that helps people’.
When I came to England, I realised the way to
do that was to help them in the workplace, to
be an ‘industrial social worker’.”
Cooper has been helping people to thrive in
the workplace ever since, with a particular focus
on mental wellbeing. So, in his decades as an
observer of the world of work, how has he
seen HR develop? First, the good news. “By
encompassing areas like creating healthier work
environments and not just traditional talent
management, HR people have widened their
scope,” he says. “We have a better professional
body, with really talented people in it and a lot
more women in senior roles.”
But then there’s the bad news: in Cooper’s
view, HR directors actually have less influence
in many companies than they did in the past.
“When I was first involved in HR and
organisational psychology, HR directors were
stronger than they are now,” he says. “Almost all
of them were on boards, and I’ve seen that
withering away. Those that are on the board
often perceive they are the weakest link, and
that they are vulnerable and won’t have the
support of other more bottom-line focused
board directors. We should be campaigning
for a qualified HR director on every board.”
According to Cooper, HR directors often have
more power than they think; they just need to
hrmagazine.co.uk
use it – even if that means taking a risk. “Many
HRDs are reticent to exercise the power they
have with the CEO, for fear of losing their jobs,”
he says. “I would love to see more robust and
outspoken HR directors. We need people out
there who take more risks.”
Now is the time for HR to really fight its
corner and seize the opportunity to gain
influence, he believes. This is partly due to the
fact “a different breed of CEO” is coming
through – one which understands the
importance of good people management.
“HRDs should be more self-confident, because
it’s all about talent for companies today,” he says.
“The greatest resource companies have is their
human resource, and that’s something we hear
a lot of CEOs say. HR now has an opportunity,
because CEOs are worried about talent.”
And he firmly believes Britain’s woeful
productivity levels would shoot up if more
CEOs started listening closely to their HRDs.
“A lot more would be done in British industry,’
he says. “In terms of productivity, we are pretty
far down the list in the developed world.”
With the economy picking up and voluntary
turnover on the rise once more, another key
challenge for HR opinion is the selecting and
training of more “interpersonally skilled” line
managers. “The line managers of the future
can’t just be selected for their performance in
relation to the bottom-line; they need to be
good people managers,” Cooper says. “HR has
to get the right kind of manager for the next
decade, the decade where if you don’t manage
people properly, they will move – because
they can.”
The next step – although Cooper believes
he won’t see it become commonplace in his
lifetime – is for more HRDs to make the leap
to CEO. “The day will come when CEOs are
chosen from HR directors,” he predicts, before
making a final, rousing plea of the profession:
stand up to your CEO if they are making
poor, or damaging, people decisions. “I want
to see more HRDs being aggressive about
what they believe in,” he says. “I want to see
people prepared to lose their jobs on principle.
The role of HR is so critical to the business:
deep down it has more power than it thinks.”
“When I
was first
involved
in HR, HR
directors
were
stronger”
HR 1
Most
Influential
UK
Thinker
November 2014 HR 17
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 MOST INFLUENTIAL INTERNATIONAL THINKER
Sylvia Ann Hewlett: HR has
never been so central
G
HR
Most
Influential
International
Thinker
“We still
tend to
think of our
people as
part of a cost
structure”
18 HR November 2014
rowing up in a small town with
high rates of unemployment,
Sylvia Ann Hewlett has always
been aware how easy it is to waste
talent. The founder and CEO of
the Center for Talent Innovation is passionate
about bringing talent to the heart of business
strategy. And, as she jumped into the top spot
on the Most Influential International Thinkers
list this year, it seems her blend of hard data,
rigorous analysis and practical actions has really
hit home for the UK’s top HR directors, who
are especially inspired by her work on gender
and innovation.
Hewlett believes the challenge for HR today
may not be new, but it is more urgent than ever:
the need for HR to be a more central part of
business strategy and play a leading role in
business thinking. “Brain power is the engine
of the global economy and it does more than
anything else to determine competitiveness,”
she tells HR magazine, on the phone from New
York. “And yet there’s a tendency to see it as a
silo, not front and centre of business strategy.
The problem is we still tend to think of our
people as part of a cost structure, rather than
as our main asset.”
Of course that’s a problem many HRDs will
know all too well, but in Hewlett’s view this silo
mentality cannot continue, as global HR is a
“hugely complex reality” for organisations. “It’s
never been as central to whether you succeed
or not, and it’s never been as difficult as it is
now,” she says, citing global STEM (science,
technology, engineering and maths) skills
shortages as a reason for talent management to
be taken more seriously by organisations.
Where HR can play a trump card and increase
its influence is to harness the power of diversity
and innovation, she believes. “My work on
innovation shows that when you fully engage
the power of difference in decision-making, it
has a measurable impact on innovation and
market share,” she explains. “The full range of
human talent is critical to innovation; without
it, you’ll be dead in the water.”
And talking the language of innovation will
make HR much more interesting to CEOs, she
adds. “There isn’t a CEO in the world who
doesn’t see innovation as massively important.
If you can show how handling human resources
can transform innovation and growth, you will
have the CEO’s ear.”
Hewlett’s background as an economist means
she has long been interested in the “trade-off
between economic growth and social equality”.
“The Holy Grail of succeeding in a global
marketplace is making the connection between
humans flourishing in the workplace, innovation
and market growth,” she explains. “You cannot
delink HR from the bottom line, or you’ll lose
voice, agency and you get sidetracked.”
Now HR leaders need to develop their
‘executive presence’, to quote the title of
Hewlett’s latest book, published earlier this year.
Developing “gravitas” is particularly important
for women and people from ethnic minorities,
she says, as they “are trying to crack a leadership
culture that wasn’t designed for [them]”. She
even suggests that, much as she wishes it
wasn’t the case, one of the reasons HR isn’t
taken as seriously as it should be is the fact
it has traditionally been a female-dominated
function, and that female-friendly functions
are often “devalued”.
To help make organisations more diverse,
especially at the top, Hewlett is passionate about
the importance of sponsorship. She is the
author of perhaps the most influential book on
the subject, Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor. As
she puts it: “certain people are tapped up for
leadership, and others aren’t” – and most of
those people are “white, straight men”. By
making the process more transparent, and
showing people how to earn sponsorship, she
hopes we will see more diversity, which will in
turn drive more innovation. The growing
importance of attributes like emotional
intelligence and empathy in leadership today
should also serve to increase diversity.
Overall, Hewlett has a positive message about
the future of talent management and HR: its
time is very much now. “There’s a sense of
urgency and a sense that we are very close to
achieving that place in the sun where we
will make a massive difference to how
organisations are led,” she says. “It seems to
be so tantalisingly close.”
hrmagazine.co.uk
Leaders
are made
not born.*
*We’ve been making them since 1959
Learning to lead takes proven approaches designed to achieve
tangible results. All grounded in a deep understanding of today’s
organisational challenges. It’s how we develop the leadership
skills of hundreds of executives each year, and what makes
Ashridge one of the world’s most respected business schools.
See the difference we can make at ashridge.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1442 841026 Email: [email protected]
2014
• Full biographies of the Most Influential
Practitioners and Thinkers
• See the best HR directors across
the different industries
• Read about the ones to watch in the
Making Waves category
• Delve into the methodology behind
HR Most Influential
• Read the latest thought pieces
from our partners
• Who makes it into the HR Most Influential
Hall of Fame? And who did
HR magazine’s readers vote top?
• Video interviews
Find all this, and more, on
hrmagazine.co.uk/hrmostinfluential
HRMI 14 ad_half hori 158x112.indd 1
21/10/2014 13:06
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 CEO RESEARCH
CEOs on what makes H
What do CEOs think
makes an influential HR
director? ASHRIDGE
BUSINESS SCHOOL
interviewed key industry
leaders to find out
20 HR November 2014
W
hen it comes to what makes
an HR director influential,
who better to ask than the
CEO? That’s why, as part of
this year’s HR Most Influential,
HR magazine’s research partner Ashridge
Business School has completed a series of
interviews with CEOs, resulting in qualitative
research on what makes HR influential.
The six CEOs interviewed came from a
variety of industries including professional
services, hospitality and the public sector.
The whole report will be published as a
downloadable ebook soon, but to whet your
appetite here are some of the top findings.
HR as an equal
When you hear the word ‘equality’ in relation
to HR, it’s likely your first thought is about
diversity. But after talking to the CEOs,
Ashridge uncovered that to them equality also
means having HR at the same level as every
other business function, and at the heart of
the decision-making process.
One CEO put it like this: “HR is as much of
a change agent in this business as any other
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CEO RESEARCH HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014
s HR influential
CEOS ON WHAT THEY
WANT FROM HR
The following are direct quotes from
CEOs on the key skills they want from
their HR director:
Integrity, charisma and the ability to find the right person
for the job. It’s important they are emotionally aware and
understand themselves. I wanted someone who could help us
employ the right people. But it’s not simply the talent issue of
finding the best people; our HR director will advise on why one
new recruit might fit in better at a certain [location] but would
not be successful at another.
[An HRD must have] the ability to be a ‘driver’. We’re in a
situation where constant change is happening and this will not
stop. If we stand still and stop changing, we will go backwards.
We have to manage change well. There is no option. Therefore,
HR needs to not simply be a holder of procedures and policies
but able to drive and lead the change that’s necessary for us
all. That’s why the HR director must be on the senior team. You
need someone who can persuade others about new ideas.
One key issue for HR is its part in promoting the company
culture, strongly embedding the values we have and making
sure that our mission is totally understood. We want all
employees to see the benefits of our mission and so
communicating that and building trust is really important. If
we create an environment where we are always truthful with
our staff if there is bad news then they will accept that. They
know that they can trust us.
It’s someone who has the ability to get ‘great’ from ‘good’.
We may all know what ‘good’ learning and development looks
like – their skill is to move it to ‘great’. It also needs to be
framed in boardroom language. They have to speak the
language of the organisation, not only the language of HR. It
is a journey for HR, a challenge.
function. At its best I think HR is just as
important as any other part of the business.”
The same CEO added that HR needs to go
beyond business partnering to be “more active”
and “more challenging”.
Most CEOs interviewed said they believed
that the HR director must have equality with
other members of the senior team. This
directly undermines the view that it doesn’t
matter whether or not HR is on the board.
The CEOs Ashridge spoke to said HR must
be on an equal footing to have impact. As
one said: “HR is influential here and the
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Empowering people and adding support for colleagues are
important skills for HR. The people who work in our
organisation have to believe in our values. and so they are
special. HR has to live and breathe our values.
The biggest ask is authenticity. As an HR director, if you’re
not trusted then what use are you? [I want someone who is] a
good facilitator and influencer as it’s a difficult job. You’ve got
high ranking executives looking at you as an HR person and
you’ve got to be able to stand your ground. You mustn’t get
dumped with the technical stuff [and you need to take] a
strategic view.
November 2014 HR 21
HR MOST INFLUENTIAL 2014 CEO RESEARCH
director is a key, equal measure of our senior
leadership team.”
The lesson seems to be that if HR is not on
equal terms with other business functions,
then it is likely to be regarded as a junior
partner in the business and therefore will be
less influential and outside the magic circle
of key decision makers.
“HR should not get trapped in the
transactional stuff, like learning and
development or health and safety,” said one
CEO. “They need to be creative and an aid
to t he solution – a bit like technology.”
But overall, there needs to be a strong
relationship between HR and the CEO in
order for the function to reach its full
potential. As one CEO said: “When there is a
people strategy in the company, it has to be led
by the chief executive. If not, it won’t work.”
The message that HR cannot work in isolation
comes across loud and clear.
HR and innovation
Regardless of sector or area of operation, CEOs
are united in their desire for HR to showcase
innovation, by coming up with creative
solutions and new ways of working. According
to the respondents, they are looking for
radical new solutions that will bring significant
business benefits. One CEO described this
ability as “edge”. CEOs are looking for HR to
drive transformation and innovation.
According to the report: ‘If HR is not
innovating new ideas – which of course have
to be business relevant – then it is likely to be
seen as more of a ‘housekeeper’ and more
expendable… Being brave and striking out
with a new idea, or an HR director who
dares to challenge traditional ‘norms’ were
skills that were particularly admired by the
chief executives.’
The ability to take the lead in innovation
and transformation is what makes an HR
director influential. One CEO said that while
HR used to be seen as “a policeman” and “a
gatekeeper”, now it is seen as a positive force
of energy: “They encourage others, they are
problem-solvers and they are critical for us
in terms of modelling the behaviours we want
to promote across the organisation.”
Future demands on HR
The demands for HR are significant – but so
too are the opportunities. ‘In order to move
from good to great [HRDs] need to be
forward-thinking, business (or commercially)
driven and have the skills and insight to create
transformational results that will help move
the business forward,’ concludes the report.
‘These key HR appointments are certainly
not for the faint-hearted and in order to be
successful the individual needs to combine
strategic clarity with diplomacy and
extraordinary influencing skills.”
Of course, it’s not just about the operational
and keeping up to date with employment law
– although these mustn’t be neglected as HR
must be able to deliver on the basics. What is
more important than ever is creative thinking
and innovation: ideas that challenge the
business or change the established order.
In the traditional HR arena, the CEOs
Ashridge interviewed identified the following
as key areas for HR to focus on:
 Job redesign for high performance
 Redesigning HR policy and clearing away
processes that slow down organisational
effectiveness
 Understanding new recruitment trends,
particularly for engaging with younger
generations of talent
 Developing and improving learning and
development provision
 Focusing on diversity and the competitive
edge it can bring
 New ways of working
 Employee wellbeing and stress.
Reconfiguring HR and increasing
influence
HR teams have gone through a great deal of
change over the past few years. In fact, in two
of the organisations that Ashridge spoke to the
HR team has been almost completely renewed.
In one organisation, the CEO went so far
as to describe the scale of change as a
“revolution”. “With the exception of two
people left in the team we have had a complete
change of HR personnel,” the CEO explained.
“Some of them did not feel comfortable with
the new type of role they would have; others
felt defensive or could not change and decided
to leave.”
And when it comes to increasing the
influence of HR, the CEOs interviewed shared
a belief this will only happen if HR both
contributes fully to the business, and has the
ability and vision to come up with and
implement innovative ideas.
22 HR November 2014
CEOs said HR
must be on
an equal footing
to have impact
As for financial acumen: yes CEOs want
HRDs to be able to handle the numbers, but
it’s not necessarily about the detailed nuances
of ROI. ‘Rather, it’s the ability to put forward
broadly the same type of case – with costs and
probable returns – as would be expected at
the board level of any [other function],’ says
the report. HR
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