Delivering results
Where did you go to university?
I’m from the north east and went to Huddersfield University to study history and politics. I chose subjects I enjoyed and was interested in to gain my degree and then did a post-graduate diploma in human resources – a more vocational qualification.
Why did you choose human resources?
I had a naïve fascination with people and what makes them tick. My father was a shop steward so, from an early age, I built up an interest in industrial relations and how to motivate and engage a workforce.
You joined the Royal Mail straight from university, why do you think you have stayed so long?
Every time I have needed a new challenge (about every two to three years), I’ve been given one. I spent a few years in industrial relations in the letters business and I spent a few years as a general manager, which is good experience for HR professionals generally. When you’re pontificating about the policies that govern people’s lives, it’s good to get in there and manage a couple of thousand of those affected – it is a very sobering experience. I’ve also worked in at least three business units, so there has been a lot of variety and the challenge has always been there.
How proactive has the Royal Mail been in channelling employee talent?
Historically, there was not a particularly strong talent management strategy at the Royal Mail. But with this sort of organisation there are huge challenges and if people want to find a challenge they can. What I found was that you were in charge of your own career development – if you want a challenge you can find it. That is the only way to guarantee success. Now, as director of talent management, of course there is always more to be done.
How much has business generally, and the Royal Mail specifically, changed in recent years?
First, there is technology and the move from paper to electronic communication. Even in the last couple of years, the advent of the Blackberry technology has made a significant difference to how we work, usually for the best; for example, as an aid to support flexible working. But there is also the risk that individuals start to rely on their Blackberry instead of face-to-face discussions.
The other big change I see is behaviour generally. There is now an understanding that how you treat people and how you achieve results is as important as the result itself. Leaders are more prepared to demonstrate recognition and reward a diversity of talent.
As far as Royal Mail is concerned it is a much more competitive marketplace in the face of recent deregulation of the letters market. There has also been a focus on corporate social responsibility [CSR], not just in HR but in sales and marketing and group procurement. The consumer wants to see your CSR credentials.
How has this age of paper-saving – for example, internet usage, electronic bank statements and environmental factors – affected the Royal Mail’s business?
There has been significant change. Although there is business we used to do that can now be done over the internet, there are also growth areas, such as the physical distribution of packets and parcels from internet shopping. Other growth areas would be unaddressed mail items – though the UK has nowhere near the quantity of these as the US.
Has the Royal Mail had to revert to a different strategy with your employees in light of these changes?
There are different customer requirements for e-shopping. Generally it’s not about next day delivery, people want a more tailored service. We have to be much more flexible with when we deliver items. Society’s expectations are much higher so our employees have had to become more customer-focused. HR can certainly play its part in this, whether it be looking at resourcing, employment policies or employee relations.
You worked your way through the company. Do you think this gives you a better ability in spotting talent throughout the organisation?
I’d like to think so, but I’m not too sure. I think you can have a general level of awareness or skill in understanding the competencies that are required for the future. Although my experience does give me a broad overview, I think you have to be aware enough to know you need help with this. Historically, it might have been because a leader saw some potential in someone, but leaders tend to recruit in their own image. This may have been a legitimate activity but it needs to be supplemented with a more measured approach. Increasingly we build up a picture of someone through psychometric tests, through what colleagues think, using 360-degree feedback, and customer feedback.
It’s not all down to a subjective good feeling.
Do you have a transparent talent strategy for your leadership pipeline?
We try to make it as objective as possible. The thing that gives an individual a ticket into the talent game is your year-on-year performance. If they’re performing well or exceptionally well then they get a ticket. This is important, because while performance might be an indicator of future success, it is certainly not a guarantee. Chances are, though, if you’re going to do well in the future you will be doing quite well, or very well, now. Once we’ve identified high performers we talk to the individual about their aspirations and if they are interested in further career development. Then we assess their potential for the future. We look at things that leading HR writers and academics have identified as the key differentiators: such as emotional agility and learning agility. We ask our high performers to undertake an independent development test with occupational psychologists and then put the jigsaw pieces together to make an overall judgment. This puts us in a position to discuss with these potential high performers what their future profile looks like. What I’m interested in is giving these people the relevant development to take them to the next stage. This can be about all sorts of experiences: working on a business problem for a charity; being a non-executive director for another company; personal development around coaching; having a mentor in the organisation; or learning to be more innovative. These individuals will receive a tailored development plan. The challenge for the organisation is to follow this through. I think that ideally the company identifies the top 20 challenges it faces and then ensures the most talented people are working on these challenges, being stretched and developed but adding the best commercial value they can.
Parcelforce won the BitC award in 2006 for its commitment to creating a safer workplace and healthier workforce. Was this in response to the 2002 turnaround strategy which, despite being financially successful, resulted in high absence and low employee satisfaction?
Employee satisfaction had taken a dip, but it was still higher than we expected. When you are moving from an organisation with 12,500 employees to one of 4,500 employees, actually we expected employee satisfaction to be lower than it was. But, of course, when you go through that amount of turmoil and employee change, there is bound to be an unsettled air. Once we had been through the infrastructure change the company needed to make sure that people in the local unit felt engaged with and wanted to perform for the company. We wanted to know what their concerns were. Safety and well-being was an important issue and we did a lot of work in terms of health and accident prevention. We started to move away from dealing with absence and instead invested in preventative measures, such as healthchecks for employees. This element of the programme probably did more for the management’s credibility than anything else because it was about people’s lives and well-being. It changed the level of engagement and raised respect levels because our employees appreciated the investment.
Parcelforce introduced a ‘storytelling’ strategy in 2005. How involved were you and how much convincing did it take to persuade the senior levels of management to become actively involved?
It certainly didn’t feel like the cold commercial thing you take into the boardroom. Companies tend to cascade their business plans through levels of management down to their employees. The test that came through storytelling for me was, rather than using business and consultant speak, can we put that into words in a way that would engage our people. Can we tell it as a story? Then we threw the challenge out to our employees and we did it in comic strip form, which was extremely popular. Then we said, given what we’ve articulated in a business sense, what does that mean to you, if you put it in human and personal terms? And people came back with some really evocative stories. Connected to this strategy, we hired a huge venue and invited anyone in the organisation who felt they had a strong view. We had a fantastic representation of both managers and employees from the shopfloor. We knew those that had strong opinions were in the room as we were discussing strategies and, what worked really well, was that instead of information cascading down through management, we were assured it would be at grassroots the following day.
Do you think it contributed to exceeding the Parcelforce 2005/06 and 2006/07 profit target by £1m?
It was a critical part of it, without a doubt.
You have taken part in two major charity fundraisers recently. You obviously enjoy exercise and, with small children, it must be difficult to find the time to train. Is exercise part of your own stress-relief programme?
Last year I did the coast-to-coast walk with pneumonia. I knew I had it and had been in bed for two weeks prior to the walk. But then a couple of days before the walk I thought, perhaps I would just go and support a couple of friends who were also taking part. Before I knew it I was changing into my walking gear, then I was walking the first mile or two, and before I knew it I was going the whole way – though slower than most. It’s probably testimony to my stupidity or stubbornness – you judge.
