Tell us a little more about yourself and your role

I qualified as a chartered occupational psychologist and worked in consulting before moving in house to head up occupational psychology and OD for Ford Europe. I’ve spent the last 10 years in professional services in various roles in resourcing, employee relations and HR. I’m now head of HR for Deloitte.

My role here covers all aspects of HR and talent management across the UK and Switzerland, working with a great team of HR professionals across central functions and imbedded in our service lines. We’ve got a very dynamic culture at Deloitte, very much focused on helping our clients win in their own markets. It’s a diverse business with large practices in the areas of management consulting, corporate finance, tax and audit. We’re hugely focused on developing and engaging our people in order to support and maintain our high levels of team and individual performance. This presents some great opportunities in work closely with the business to ensure that our people are best placed to serve clients.

Describe your leadership style

I’d describe my leadership style as open and collaborative. I like to encourage contribution from all members of the team and believe that by working together we can solve pretty much any problem presented to us. It’s good to have and give robust challenge and I hope that as a team we’ve created a culture where people can say what they think – without worrying too much about how they put their point across.

As a strong brand in the professional services community, what will Deloitte do to create a compelling employee proposition over the next few years?

A key part of our employer proposition is and will remain our ability to offer outstanding development opportunities for our people. However, this isn’t enough in itself and I believe that high levels of engagement are also essential. People need to be able to see how their skills and talent contribute to the overall success of the firm. People need to recognise and feel part of a highly successful enterprise – this sense of pride then radiates into the market and truly establishes a compelling employer brand. In support of this we’ve changed our method of communication to focus much more on personal direct contact with leadership. We’ve taken the opportunity to ensure that all staff share in the success of the firm through the distribution of reward. We have also increased our basic offer around well being through setting up outstanding gym and health suite facilities on our London campus and extending memberships to local facilities for our regional offices.

Structurally, how will HR meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of your employees especially given your international dynamic?

Fundamentally, HR needs to demonstrate direct relationships between talent management activity and key business priorities. Every aspect of the HR function needs to be commercially minded whether that is in terms of the provision of talent advisory services to the business, areas of deep specialism or the management of administrative services. As a function we are obligated to ensure that the services we provide are relevant, effective and delivered in the most cost effective manner. Building the capability to consult, challenge and bring insight on talent to the commercial advantage of the firm is key to meeting the needs of the future.

Can you characterise the ideal HR professional that Deloitte will recruit?

Simply put, the ideal HR professional is technically excellent, has the confidence and the skills to challenge senior people in the line, has a hard commercial edge but also a strong set of people oriented values. The ideal person also has to be up for a challenge and be prepared to take on (from time to time) the seemingly impossible.

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