PSD 28 Essex StreetLondon WC2R 3AT

Telephone+44 (0)207 970 9700Emaillondon@psdgroup.com

www.psdgroup.com

Meeting with Duncan Forbes - Interim HR Director

HR Contacts

Richard PlaistoweFinancial and Professional Services+44 207 970 9613

Daniel CooperTechnology and Property+44 207 970 9677

Marilyn Pollard-OdleTechnology, Oil & Gas & International+ 44 207 970 9615

Over the past 12 months, at PSD, we have continued to grow our HR Interim Practice and have had some considerable success working with a number of International and UK businesses to provide HR Interims for roles within HR Change and Organisational Development, HR Policy, Reward as well as introducing individuals into organisations to cover business as usual roles, whilst they are going through a period of change.

Whilst the permanent recruitment market has remained fairly stable over the past twelve months, we have certainly seen an increase in the amount of interim assignments we have been asked to manage.

Over this period, we have built our network of Professional HR Interims and can offer our clients a broad mix of experience. We have also built a deeper knowledge of the intricacies of the interim market and what it actually feels like to work as an interim.

We recently had a very interesting conversation with Duncan Forbes, who has been a Professional HR Interim since 2003 and has worked in a broad range of organisations, such as The Co-Operative Group, Balfour Beatty and WorldPay - he is currently working for AS Tallinna Vessi in Estonia advising them on building an HR Structure for the business. We are delighted to give an overview of our conversation and hope that it provokes further comment....

We first met Duncan nearly four years ago while he was in an assignment with Balfour Beatty. Duncan’s near continual record of employment during this period is something that he is proud of, especially as we see many Interim candidates who find getting their next assignment so much more challenging.

Duncan really looks to his early career to explain his success as an interim. “I spent my early days as a store manager at Asda before moving into operations and then into HR. I was lucky to work with great leaders and for a great senior management team. I had to learn to be courageous and to take that courage to challenge what was around me. As an interim you have to challenge. You have to be able to take yourself out of the situation, observe, evaluate and then recommend”.

Pushing further on this we wanted to understand why not just any candidate can turn their hand to interim work. In a market short of permanent opportunities what makes a good interim? Duncan takes his time to think this over “There is no easy answer and what makes a good interim in one scenario might not work in another. What I can say for certain is that as an interim you have to be sure that you are realistic on any assignment that you take on. The brief will almost certainly change throughout any spell you have with an organisation, it never sits still. You can’t worry too much about being completely right or having the correct solution for everyone. You need to be able to take the best decision at the time and be brave”.

In a recent assignment Duncan was engaged to build a platform for an incoming permanent HR Director. Interestingly this led us to a familiar discussion that seems to rage throughout the HR community today. “As an interim in any business it is important to discover what the business needs, what they have and what time frame you have. I have found the relationship between permanent members of staff and interims to be a good one, I am there to interpret need, effect change for the good of the business and then get out. Simple enough? The real question is normally about how credible HR appears to the business”.

PSD 28 Essex StreetLondon WC2R 3AT

Telephone+44 (0)207 970 9700Emaillondon@psdgroup.com

www.psdgroup.com

HR’s credibility and what HR people think about its image is something as a recruiter we often discuss . We put it to Duncan that often HR loses credibility by talking about itself too much. Duncan replied instantly “Yes!”

“HR has evolved so much over time. If you take a business area that started out really as a function to payroll people and keep an organisation out of court and then throw in recruitment, HRIS, OD & Change Management etc, you end up with a complex function”. The conversation quickly turned to how HR can improve and develop its image and Duncan quickly put forward a convincing argument about how it compares to finance.

“HR and Finance have a lot in common. HR does the same with people as Finance does with money, people data can be treated like accounts on a spreadsheet. HR needs to demonstrate how it can add value through analysis and attention to detail before it invests or grows. If you treat people with the respect most businesses treat their money then HR will always be credible”.

HR Contacts

Richard PlaistoweFinancial and Professional Services+44 207 970 9613

Daniel CooperTechnology and Property+44 207 970 9677

Marilyn Pollard-OdleTechnology, Oil & Gas & International+ 44 207 970 9615

“HR gives itself a hard time over its identity, HR does not own leadership in a business. That is an important thing to remember, HR is there to channel, direct and advise. It’s not HR’s sole responsibility to own an organisation’s structure and development”.

“Even good HR professionals waste time trying to change people too much. Culture in a business and the behaviour of it’s people follows fairly simple rules, so don’t expect too much from them and don’t get too frustrated.”

Duncan’s view is that behaviour is the cult of the individual and HR can’t, and should not, fight this. Business should focus on the individual goal of their customers. If you don’t focus on that then politics takes over.

Duncan’s Future

Duncan currently runs his own consultancy (QED) with his Partner . Is that it for him; is he a career interim? His answer is absolutely not, he just wants the next challenge and the next interesting organisation. It does not matter to him what the setting of the vacancy is, what the job title is, not even the location. He just wants to keep learning and keep moving.

“My thoughts on this are clear, go where the next challenge is regardless of the status of the role. It does not matter whether it is a contract or a day rate to me. Also, who really has a permanent job anymore? Keep moving and keep going where you can; as an interim you need to clearly show what you can add in commercial value. You have to be patient during the down turns but if you are brave the rewards of being a change agent are fantastic”.