What have been your biggest challenges in your role?
How did I get to where I am today? Blood sweat and tears. Sometimes you have to do tough things, and sometimes fun things. You need to find the perfect balance. But in HR, it will always be a challenge. Not everyone will appreciate the tough side or soft side.
As HR Manager, you need to make sure the interests of the organization and the people who work there are taken care of. The objectives of company and of individuals are usually aligned on , but when there is a conflict of interest , HR gets stuck in the middle.
There is a saying – When 2 elephants fight, the grass suffers. I find that HR is like the grass a lot of the time.
A lot of times management will have the impression that HR is too soft on issues and employees will have the impression that HR is always on the side of management. You have to strike the perfect balance and the decisions will not always be popular.
What solution did you come up with to fix this problem?
My team is brilliant, so we came up with various initiatives. One such initiative is called Thank you Thursday. On Thursday, we choose one person in a team and send them a thank you email – thank you for coming to work today, thank you for smiling, thank you for your contribution. It’s not always the expensive things that matter. Sometimes it’s just recognizing someone right where they are and acknowledging what they give to the organization daily.
Or “Sticky Me” – With this activity, everyone takes a sticky note and you write someone’s name on the sticky note. Then, everyone in the department needs to write something positive – even one word – about that person. So you hang that up and look at it when you’re having a bad day.
We did it with our department, then we did it with the founders – and they were floored.
So it seems like Mode has grown from small company to large and you have been there to witness all the changes.
Absolutely. Initially, Mode 4 yers ago had more of a family feel. If one person was bereaved, we travelled as a team – the whole organization to go and comfort them. Coming from 35 to 168 – that was hard. As we grow, we won’t always know each other’s names and faces – that comes with growth..
The question is – How do we get that back? It has been a challenge. We don’t want to go back to years ago and little structure. But as we grow, there are certain things we want to keep.
Most importantly, we want everyone to feel like they are a core part of the company and pitch in together so they would feel like they are a part of it and their ideas are valid.
What does the selection process look like for you?
Recruitment for us is quite intense because we have a good working module. We can cut and paste our hiring system into another country now and it would work as long as due process is followed. But sometimes, that process is too slow for stakeholders. This is because of the dynamic nature of both the company and the tech space in which we play.
What do you look for when hiring?
I look for attitude, willingness to learn, and, this may sound strange – but willingness to fail. For me, a good leader should be able to make mistakes, own them, and learn from them and then succeed out of your failures. I personally believe that you are only as strong as your weakest link and if one of us fails, , we all fail.
I tell my team – I will cover you and your mistakes to heaven and back. But once I’m done, I will look at the situation, pick it apart with you, and build you back up. When I’m done taking the heat for you and covering you as your leader, you should also be able to take the heat and learn from it: because that’s the only way you will grow.
Also, I can’t deal with issues of dishonesty and integrity. Don’t tell me you can do something when you can’t. Integrity is really key. I guess it’s all about learning to manage expectations.
As we grow, I realize we are not going to get the same DNA in people. But we don’t need the same exact DNA – we need to work towards common goal with same attitude.
I understand that not everyone is invested at the same level: but while you are here, have fun, work hard and with integrity, work hard and have the right attitude. That’s how you will succeed.
Do you have any advice to job seekers coming in for an interview?
Come prepared – read over your resume before you walk in. Maybe you are nervous and you will forget what is in it or maybe you had someone write it for you and you don’t know how they worded it.
When I ask if you have any questions for me, I want you to engage and help me easily understand why you want to work for me.
Be willing to start at the bottom and move up but also know your worth. For salary ranges, find out going market rate because that way you have something to say when an employer asks you what you are expecting.
Also come early and smile! It makes all the difference. If it’s an interview panel, you don’t need to know everyone’s name. But if you can connect with me I will remember you because you looked into my eyes and smiled.
What do you think your next career step is?
My goal this year is to focus on learning and development – developing people. We have policies and procedures set up so now we can focus on the people side of things.
I was at a Strathmore event the other day and one of the questions asked was so eye opening – it was how to be a trusted advisor to CEO or business. I felt like that question was preparing me for the next level in HR.
Number one is speaking the language. A CEO wants to know about dollars and cents. A good CEO cares about people but realistically speaking, the numbers have got to make sense as well..
CEOs want to know that I understand business speak so if they were to put me on a board, I wouldn’t just be talking about the people, but also talk about the money we are generating to take care of people.
That message – that there is a certain language you need to speak to be relevant was so powerful to me.
A wise man once told me – “The way to make yourself relevant is to create the need and then fill it.”
I think for people going into HR, you need to think about the size of the organizations you are applying to. If you are looking for a role in a new company, understand that you will most likely be establishing all the HR systems and will have to do a bit of cleanup from previous months. If you are interested in joining a larger company, your role will expand to cover many different areas. Most likely you will wear many hats.
If you are the HR Manager, you will coordinate all those separate departments eg. travel, compliance, etc. If you are not in the management, you will probably specialize in one of those departments, and get little exposure to other aspects.
For people applying to jobs and want to understand how to improve your job interview, I think the tips are very apparent.