Governing Body Spotlight

I’m the Chief People Officer for SThree, a global STEM workforce consultancy.  We partner with companies to shape strategy, build expert teams, and deliver end-to-end project solutions through our seven specialist brands, which includes Computer Futures, Huxley, Progressive and Real. Prior to SThree, I was the CPO at Foxtons, a UK-based estate agency.  Both organisations focused on creating high-performance sales cultures, with talent at the heart of what they do.

Learn more about the UK & Ireland CHRO community here.
 

Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.

I studied psychology and then started my career in sales before moving across to HR. One of those sales roles was a Recruitment Consultant position, which then enabled me to move across into Talent Acquisition, before adding in responsibilities for L&D and employee engagement and then moving into more generalist roles. A big focus throughout my career has been managing change, so I completed a MSc in Organisational Change to learn more on the topic.  

I recently joined SThree as Chief People Officer, after starting my career there previously as a Recruitment Consultant, and it’s been great to return with experiences and insights from other companies. I volunteer as a mentor for the CIPD’s Aspiring HRD programme, as I’m passionate about developing people’s careers in HR.
 

What is one of your guiding leadership principles?

It’s key to understand the values and purpose that drive our behaviours. It helps to be clear on what’s important to each person and what their deal breakers are.
 

What is the greatest challenge CHROs face today, and how are you addressing it?

The greatest challenge is navigating change successfully, which is a very broad topic with a lot of complexity! All companies are experiencing a rapid pace of change given the global economic landscape and the advancement of AI. There are many approaches to successful change management, so it’s essential to evaluate the type of change context and select the right approach, as well as have effective collaboration across the different functions as change programmes span across all disciplines and teams.
 

What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CHRO?

Understand that there will never be enough resources to do everything so there will be a natural level of competition for this and that’s very normal in business. Prioritising resources to ensure the right department and projects get the right funding is a key business skill but this can often get politicised.
 

How do you measure success as a leader?

There are the more formal measurements linked to what outcomes they deliver and everyone has their own metrics and KPIs for this. But there are also the informal measurements that are important too; what people say about the leaders, the strength of their relationships and their influence at the boardroom table. I think people should pay attention to both types of measurements, as both will be considered by their peers, leaders and teams.
 

What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?

It’s often said that the role of a CPO is a lonely one! So, it’s really valuable to have a network of other CPOs to help benchmark against, to gain insight and fresh ideas and also for support.
 

Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.