Tell us a little more about yourself and your role

I’ve been Group HR Director at Lloyds Register since February 2005. Formerly Lloyds Register of Shipping, we now offer independent assurance to companies operating high risk assets in many more capital intensive industries than just marine; we also offer validation, certification and verification services through our Management Systems business unit. Previously I was the Group HR Director at MyTravel prior to the merger with Thomas Cook. Also in my background I was SVP for HR in Alstom Power based in Zurich and Head of HR in Europe for Canon. I’ve been in HR now for 13 years, with my early business career being in sales, marketing and what used to be called ‘business re-engineering’.

Lloyds Register operates in more than 200 territories through 7500 permanent staff and about another 1000 temporary contractors at any one time; therefore the role is truly global in its outlook. Following discussions with the business managers we introduced a new Group HR Strategy in summer 2008. It has created a better underlying people structure and function to help build our business for the future. Our main areas of focus over the next couple of years centre on Leadership Development, Technical Excellence and Performance. Our regional HR teams are also being up skilled to deliver operational service excellence to the Group. The Group HR team is 20 strong and includes subject matter experts developing and monitoring the global remit. The size of the team reflects the scope and size of the agenda we are following.

Describe your leadership style

I’d like to think I am quite open and collaborative in what I do and how I like to operate the team. I believe that if you have the right people working with you then you need to trust that they know what they are doing and therefore I tend to let them get on with the job in hand and manage by exception. However, I do like to retain a hands-on approach with very key issues for the Group and work very closely with the CEO. I’m more involved in the longer term strategic development of people and teams than I am with, for example, managing payroll. I always make sure I have a team around me with complementary skills to my own so this way we work synergistically.

Lloyds Register is one of the oldest City institutions, what can you do to make sure that tradition is tempered with a contemporary business approach?

In 2010 we will be 250 years old. As a result we have huge brand equity with our employees and customer base which has recently resulted in us achieving record results despite the recession around us. At the heart of this is a dedicated workforce, highly skilled and well motivated. As we move into our next 250 years we have to continue to develop our operations and maintaining our ability to retain people by being their employer of choice. We cannot rely on tradition alone to keep our workforce motivated and retained; we need to make sure they have the technology to enable them to be efficient and the development activities available to them to increase their capability and job enrichment. We now have development interventions in place to make sure that whether colleagues want to pursue a technical career path or a managerial one, both are possible and proactive. Increasing capability and competence will help us to make job roles more interesting and will ensure sustainability and growth for the organisation well into our next 250 years.

Structurally how will HR meet the increasing sophisticated needs of employees?

We have a transformational plan covering the next period of our growth and development. In HR this means having the operational excellence teams locally to support this growth and we are increasing numbers globally in line with the strategic plan. In terms of focus on the leadership, performance and OD aspects we are building our Business Partner population across the Group. These BPs will have a clearly defined role profile; be attached to Business Managers not HR; and will solely concentrate on helping to create our future leaders. These local BPs will still feel part of the regional HR structure but will be monitored and developed by the Group HR team from the centre to ensure consistency of capability. This is a significant investment by the business in our sustainability as an organisation and our ability to grow.

Can you characterise the ideal HR professional for the future?

As well as being technically competent they will undoubtedly need to be commercially savvy, able to grasp the business and its strategy easily and translate this into both explicit and implied people initiatives. For business partners we are looking for a significant ability to influence managers and educate them in leadership and change programmes. We place a lot of emphasis on the EQ of the teams; being able to interface naturally with people is a pre-requisite for us.

I’m amazed in the HR profession at how little confidence and ability to challenge exists at almost every level. If HR wants to take more of a lead in the business then say so. Then they have to build trust and credibility – that’s what we’re aiming for in Lloyds Register.



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