HR Leadership Conference

How do you move from reactive to proactive, in delivering a

people strategy that delivers for the business? 

James Henslowe

April 2015

Content

• What problem are we trying to solve?

• About me…context

• How might we do this?

• Expectations of others – non-HR colleagues

• Leadership Research findings

• Models of leadership – a quick glance

• Leadership in practice – the GE example

• Making Leadership stick and developing it in your organisation

• The last word from CIPD and some acknowledgements

• Questions and Debate

What problem are we trying to solve?

HR (leaders) must address leadership capability ….across the organisation and ensure that all areas of HR activity underpin and develop leadership capability. The CIPD’s Shaping the Future (2011b) report

PropositionHR leaders can only properly partner their non-HR client group, if they

adopt core behaviours and styles that build:

• personal credibility and influence with their client groups

• their knowledge and understanding of how the business operates and

what its striving to achieve

• their ability to set the leadership bar and then raise it

• Its about the leadership agenda…..

Something about me, for context

Group HR Director with c.25 years of HR Operational experience in

HR Roles in traditional, outsourced and in house shared services, remote services from overseas,

plus a Procurement role.

Reporting to HR and non-HR leadership from UK (London, Midlands) USA, France, Belgium

Lucas Industries – long dead UK-based equipment manufacturing behemoth

GEC Marconi Defence Systems – specialist defence contractor, recreated as

BAE Systems – national defence equipment conglomerate

Xchanging (both HR and Procurement Services) – commercially driven BPO services

provider, aggregating spend and simplifying processes

Imerys Minerals – part family-owned international commodity Mining company

GE Avionics – defence equipment and services, acquired from Smiths Industries

Severn Trent Water – strategic utility providing critical field based engineering services

to keep water that is good to drink and always on.

Stannah Group of companies – family owned manufacturing and engineering services

with a global brand and 5 generations of family leaders.

How might we do this?

HR (leaders) must address leadership capability ….across the organisation and ensure that all areas of HR activity underpin and develop leadership capability. The CIPD’s Shaping the Future (2011b) report

• defining what good leadership means

• developing leaders’ and followers’ skills

• creating systems, processes and policies that support good leadership

• creating the conditions in which the value of leadership is recognised.

• How do you get to the Leadership agenda, amongst everything else?

Expectations of Others – our non-HR colleagues

• The basics are right – flawless execution of Pay, Employee Relations,

Recruitment, Development, Talent Management, Conduct and Capability

Policies etc.

• Governance of the people agenda is ours, on behalf of the organisation

• We initiate/facilitate of Great Conversations about the people in the

organisation.

• We drive honesty in the (board)room and ethics outside the room – the wider

organisation.

• We are Authentic Leaders in their own right – because the Organisation is

watching.

• Great HR people are those who not only spot leaders who don’t demonstrate

the right behaviours but challenge them and either fix or remove them – in the

right way.

• Effective leadership and people management are core components

of high-performance working, linked to enhanced business

performance. UK Commission for Employment and Skills

• The manager’s role is vital to engagement.

• Trust in an organisation stems from the behaviour of line managers

and leaders.

• Managers’ actions are pivotal in shaping perceptions of and trust in

the organisation. CIPD research on engagement (Truss et al 2006)

• Leadership is in the eye of the beholder (the employee). (Kenney et al 1994).

• Ethical leadership has been shown to create positive outcomes in employees.

• Ethical leadership (measured in CEOs) was positively related to top

management effectiveness and employee optimism about the future. De Hoogh

and Den Hartog (2008)

• Good leadership needs to be distributed throughout all levels of the

organisation in order to achieve sustainable organisational performance. CIPD’s

Shaping the Future (2011b) report

Leadership research findings

Models of leadership – what would work for you?• Implicit leadership - the extent to which that leader represents what the employee

expects/wants the leader to say or do.

• Command and control - seen as a top down, tightly managed process that allows little

room for autonomy or free will. But when the pressure is on, (in the military environment

for example, facing external threats), it can provide a powerful tool for leading people in

difficult times.

• Ethical Leadership - emphasises shared values, fair treatment, integrity to

team and others, caring and principled, fair and balanced decisions,

communicates ethics and sets clear ethical standards.

• Ethical conduct inspires others to behave and act similarly.

• Authentic leadership - ‘those who are deeply aware of how they think and

behave, and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’

values/moral perspectives, knowledge, strengths, aware of the context in

which they operate and are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient and of high

moral character’ (Avolio et al 2004).

Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS) – a blueprint for HR?

Theme Management competency Description

Supporting employee growth

Autonomy and empowerment

Has trust in employee capabilities, involving them in problem-solving and decision-making

Development Helps employees in their career development and progression

Feedback, praise and recognition

Gives positive and constructive feedback, offers praise and rewards good work

Interpersonal style and integrity

Individual interest Shows genuine care and concern for employees

Availability Holds regular one-to-one meetings with employees and is available when needed

Personal manner Demonstrates a positive approach to work, leading by example

Ethics Respects confidentiality and treats employees fairly

Monitoring direction

Reviewing and guiding Offers help and advice to employees, responding effectively to employee requests for guidance

Clarifying expectations Sets clear goals and objectives, giving clear explanations of what is expected

Managing time and resources

Is aware of the team’s workload, arranges for extra resources or redistributes workload when necessary

Following processes and procedures

Effectively understands, explains and follows work processes and procedures

(CIPD - Brown et al 2005)

Authentic leadership – an alternative blueprint •Four components of authentic leadership as shown by the leader:

(1) objectively making decisions;

(2) being guided by internal moral standards;

(3) presenting the self openly by thoughts and feelings;

(4) demonstrating an understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses.

• The leader displaying self-awareness and belief, and then acting upon these beliefs, is

said to positively influence employee behaviour.

• The positive impact of authentic leadership:

• job satisfaction

• satisfaction with leadership,

• organisational citizenship behaviours,

• employee empowerment,

• perceptions of support,

• organisational financial performance.

Some perspectives on Leadership for discussion

GE measure and manage their leadership population through 5 Growth Values. External focus, Clear thinking, Imagination and courage, Inclusiveness, Expertise.

• The culture is fixed by the top leadership – everything else is secondary. Everyone

knows where they stand – enlightened autocracy.

• Counter cultural behaviour is not tolerated – the GE way, or the highway.

• HR leadership in GE starts with execution, attention to detail, breathtaking resources

and process adherence

• With the housekeeping taken care of, HR leaders concentrate on the GE leadership and

management population.

• Every management conversation is in the context of the Growth Values – they are

everywhere – on pens, on the walls, postively reinforced.

• Behaviours are categorised and people labelled as Development Needed, Highly

Valued, Exceeds Expectation and Role Model.

• Feedback is continuous – but mostly top down, sometimes sideways.

• HR function is very strong and transcends Divisional boundaries – compliance is King

Making good leadership behaviour stick

• The HR Leader has a key role to play in identifying and agreeing what good

leadership should look like in their own organisation.

• Talent Management or Appraisal processes can enable the debate about what

works and set expectations of leadership

• Skills and competence frameworks

• Behaviours that underpin the values of the organisation

• Organisations need a common language around leadership that business

leaders, HR and managers at all levels – and employees – understand.

• It will stick if people are measured by it – consistency and fairness are key.

• HR leaders should ensure its deployed throughout the organisation, rather

than in pockets – starting with HR!

Leadership Development

• Develop the next generation, but deal with the current cadre first

• Succession planning and talent management processes build ‘future-fit’ leaders

(CIPD 2010). More of the same is fine, if its working.

• To ensure distributed and shared leadership, develop and manage the first line

manager as much as the Functional Leaders .

• The literature suggests Long-term coaching and mentoring opportunities for

‘future leaders’ develops their ‘leader identity’ and accelerates their development

into current leaders.

• Experience suggests how they are managed and the examples set, by their

leaders has a big influence.

• Its not about programmes – its about people and their habits.

• Culture – what people do when you’re not watching…..

The last word from the CIPD….

• If HR is to be a truly strategic ‘insight driven’ function (CIPD 2010) then it needs to spend less time

• hand-holding managers,

• managing absence and conflict

• providing a shield for poor management

• and more time helping to build management capability.

• It needs to get to the point where managers are doing these leadership and people management roles for themselves

• engaging people,

• supporting well-being

• getting the most out of their employees.

Acknowledgements

• Friends, colleagues and great bosses in all the companies I have worked for.

• Great HR practitioners in my teams, who have kept me humble and honest

• Rachel Lewis and Emma Donaldson-Fielder - Affinity Health at Work

• CIPD Research papers from their bibliography

• Page Executive’s paper on leadership.

• Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit

• Other sources are acknowledged in the slides

• Opinions expressed are my own and not those of the Stannah family or

organisation.

Questions and Debate