Stephen is Corporate Director: People, Policy and Law at Cambridgeshire County Council
Stephen's story
In most of my jobs the 'HR' title has masked the breadth and depth of responsibilities I’ve had. Essentially, I see myself as an HR professional who has increasingly taken on additional and diverse functions, with the result that my job has morphed into a general management role. However, I never wish to lose my line back to HR because its part of the role of any good manager.
The disciplines and knowledge of job evaluation and reward management gained in my first job as a ‘temporary’ job analyst with Lothian and Borders Police have stayed with me throughout my career. I was also fortunate to provide support for a range of broad and complex reviews and national HR policy development work for the Scottish Police Service – a great first job.
Becoming HR manager for Lancashire Constabulary after only four years working in HR was a major increase in responsibilities and my development there stood me in good stead for my first HR director role at South Tyneside Council. My two years there were a fantastic learning opportunity, focusing on organisational improvement and development, including the HR service itself.
I joined Cambridgeshire County Council five years ago, first as director of HR and then in broader roles until my current position with a portfolio of functions that include HR and OD.
The HR role has clearly changed over the course of my career. The function's enabling nature has become much more understood, and chief executives, directors and other key stakeholders have made it increasingly clear that HR has to make a contribution to 'the bottom line’. Focusing on whole system change, the people and performance dynamic, organisational development and employee engagement has helped the profession move from the ‘back room’ to a more 'front of house’ role.
My ambitions remain pretty much as they were when I started my career: to do interesting work, with interesting people and in interesting organisations and deliver real outcomes as a result – irrespective of the sector in which I operate.
Of course, part of that would be continuing to work closely with the HR profession and people management activities. Does that mean I’ll still be an HR director? So far the path to being a chief executive has not appealed to me, but where better to influence and shape the people management agenda in an organisation? So who knows what my next career step will bring.
Why HR?
I can’t think of a more interesting, stimulating or challenging profession than HR. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy: we analyse the profession to death and can easily be accused of navel gazing. And we can fail to talk to our customers and stakeholders in the language that’s meaningful to them. But I know that HR people can and do make a difference. Just about every day brings its own reward, whether it's being thanked by an employee for dealing with a sensitive issue well (yes, I still do some of this), to simply seeing the results that you’ve enabled on an organisational level.
An HR person needs to have natural curiosity, tenacity, resilience, the ability to influence and network, the ability to analyse data and information, coaching and challenging skills and, most of all, a real passion for the difference that people management and development can make to organisations. You also need to be able to see the big picture. Being aligned with and in tune with external drivers, as much as possessing a developed insight within an organisation, is key. To excel in HR you need to influence, sometimes without being seen to influence, to have political and organisational savvy and to know when to make things happen. It’s a real blend.
Career highlights
Helping to turn round South Tyneside Council, which I had joined as part of a new management team. The council had gone through a tough time with damning inspection results, poor leadership, low morale, poor performance and, worst of all, a dissatisfied public. Importantly, people issues, both employees and customers, were at the heart of the transformation that we achieved. From being rated by the Audit Commission as ‘fair’, the council went straight to an 'excellent' rating, making it the only local authority to do so without first being rated as ‘good’.
Being elected President of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA), which represents over 900 HR/OD professionals in local government and other public services. Being nominated and elected by my peers and people that I considered HR role models was an immense privilege, and it also opened up many new opportunities, leading ultimately to a role on the CIPD Board – something I’d never dreamed would occur in my career.