An Interview with HR Director Orlagh Hunt
Summary
TLDROra Hunt, an experienced HR professional, discusses her journey from retail to becoming a Chief People Officer, emphasizing the importance of HR in fostering employee growth and organizational transformation. She highlights the need for diverse and passionate teams, the challenges of adapting to new business models, and the importance of aligning business and people strategies. Hunt also shares her thoughts on the future of work, including flexible employment and the push for diversity and inclusion.
Takeaways
- 😀 Ora Hunt has over 20 years of experience in HR, with expertise across retail, FMCG, and financial services.
- 🌟 Ora is passionate about helping organizations transform their commercial performance by tapping into the capabilities of their people.
- 📚 She started her career in general management in retail and later moved into personnel and training, where she joined the Tesco graduate management training scheme.
- 🔄 Ora has been involved in major business turnarounds, including at RSA and AIB, where she successfully helped the companies recover from significant losses.
- 🌍 Ora's leadership style is focused on building diverse, passionate teams and empowering them to perform their best without micromanagement.
- 💡 She believes in the power of leadership to create climates where individuals can flourish, with a focus on inspiring and coaching people within organizations.
- 📈 Ora emphasizes the importance of aligning business and people strategy, ensuring that both are working towards the same goals for sustainable success.
- 🌱 She highlights the need for organizations to adapt to challenges such as political instability, demographic shifts in the workforce, and the rise of data-driven companies.
- 🎯 Ora advocates for a talent scout mindset, where leaders actively seek the best talent both within and outside the organization to build high-performing teams.
- 🌍 She believes that HR functions should foster agile organizational cultures and support leadership in responding to changing economic and workforce dynamics.
- 👩💼 Ora is exploring going out on her own to help a broader range of organizations with transformation and leadership challenges while seeking more flexibility for her family.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of Ora Hunt's work in HR?
-Ora Hunt primarily works with organizations undergoing significant transformation, helping them improve their commercial performance by accessing the capabilities of their people.
What sectors has Ora Hunt worked in during her career?
-Ora Hunt has worked in retail, FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), and financial services sectors during her career.
What was the role of the Tesco graduate Management training scheme in Ora Hunt's career?
-The Tesco graduate Management training scheme provided Ora Hunt with an amazing foundation and was a pivotal point in her career, leading her to focus on personnel and training.
What does Ora Hunt believe is the key to individuals flourishing within organizations?
-Ora Hunt believes that having the right leaders leading in the right way within an organization is key to creating the climate and conditions that allow individuals to flourish.
What was the situation at RSA when Ora Hunt joined?
-When Ora Hunt joined RSA, the business was making significant losses and it was unclear whether the business would continue, requiring radical amounts of capital.
How did Ora Hunt contribute to the turnaround at RSA?
-Ora Hunt contributed to the turnaround at RSA by helping to stabilize the business and then focusing on organic growth, achieving an average annual growth of 8% during her tenure.
What is the leadership style of Ora Hunt?
-Ora Hunt is described as someone who likes building diverse and passionate teams, is clear about vision, instills passion and belief into her team, and gives them the freedom to work their magic without micromanaging.
What are the main challenges Ora Hunt sees in traditional industries?
-The main challenges Ora Hunt sees in traditional industries are the threats from data-driven organizations, political instability, and the need to create an agile organization and culture to respond to these challenges.
What does Ora Hunt think about the role of HR in creating a sustainable organization?
-Ora Hunt believes that HR can play a critical role in creating a sustainable organization by helping to create the climate and conditions that allow individuals to flourish and by aligning the business and people strategy.
What is Ora Hunt's stance on diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
-Ora Hunt is a big fan of diversity and inclusion, believing that a diverse group of people will be better representatives of the customers and the workforce, leading to better business decisions.
What advice does Ora Hunt have for people starting out in HR?
-Ora Hunt advises those starting out in HR to have a good grounding in all disciplines, build strong relationships across the organization, be willing to give honest feedback to leaders, and believe in the possibilities for the organization and its people.
Outlines
🚀 Career Journey and HR Transformation
Ora Hunt, an experienced HR professional with over 20 years in various sectors, discusses her career trajectory and passion for HR. She started in general management post-university and joined Tesco's graduate scheme, which solidified her love for working with people. Ora believes HR plays a critical role in creating environments where individuals can flourish. She has held senior roles across different countries and has been part of major business turnarounds at RSA and AIB. She emphasizes the importance of having the right leaders and a diverse workforce to drive organizational success.
🌟 Leadership Challenges and Talent Management
Ora talks about the challenges of leadership in a changing business landscape, particularly the need for agility and diversity. She stresses the importance of creating employment offerings that appeal to different generations and the competition for talent in data-driven roles. Ora believes that traditional leadership mindsets must evolve to foster a more agile organization. She also discusses the role of HR in inspiring leaders and aligning business and people strategies for sustainable success.
🌈 Embracing Diversity and Future Outlook
In this paragraph, Ora Hunt advocates for diversity and inclusion, arguing that they are essential for better business decisions and organizational flourishing. She supports the use of quotas or targets to drive change and discusses her involvement with the 30% Club to advance diversity. Ora shares her personal career transition from corporate HR roles to exploring independent consulting. She offers advice for aspiring HR professionals, emphasizing the importance of a strong foundation in all HR disciplines, building relationships, and believing in the potential for positive change within organizations.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡HR
💡Transformation
💡Leadership
💡Diversity
💡Agile Organization
💡Talent Scout
💡Workforce
💡Optimism
💡Capability
💡Sustainability
💡360 Feedback
Highlights
Ora Hunt has over 20 years of HR experience across retail, FMCG, and financial services.
She specializes in helping businesses undergoing significant transformation.
Ora's first year post-university was spent in general management in retail, where she discovered her passion for working with people.
She joined the Tesco graduate management training scheme, which provided a strong foundation for her career.
Ora believes HR plays a critical role in creating conditions for individuals to flourish within organizations.
She emphasizes the importance of having the right leaders leading in the right way.
Ora has been the group HR Director at RSA and the chief people officer at AIB.
She was part of two major business turnarounds at RSA and AIB, both of which were making significant losses when she joined.
At RSA, the business went from stabilizing to organic growth, achieving an average of 8% growth year on year.
Ora is described as someone who likes building diverse and passionate teams.
She is clear about her vision and instills passion and belief into her team, giving them freedom to work their magic.
Ora is driven, optimistic, and believes there's always a way to get things done.
She discusses the challenges traditional industries face from data-driven organizations.
Political instability is a significant challenge for businesses, according to Ora.
A diverse workforce with multiple generations presents an interesting leadership challenge.
Ora believes there will be a competition for talent, especially for data-driven roles.
She thinks leadership climate is crucial for creating an agile organization.
Ora advises HR functions to help create the right climate and inspire leaders to work in that way.
She believes Chief Execs get the HR Director they deserve, emphasizing alignment between business and people strategy.
Ora discusses the importance of accessing all the capability that exists within organizations.
She encourages different work patterns and paces, recognizing the need for flexibility in today's work environment.
Ora is a proponent of diversity and inclusion, believing it leads to better business decisions.
She is considering going out on her own to help a broader range of organizations with change and transformation.
Ora's advice for those starting out in HR includes having a good grounding in all disciplines and building strong relationships.
She emphasizes the importance of believing in possibilities and loving what you do.
Transcripts
[Music]
U my name is Ora hunt and I have over 20
years experience in HR um across retail
fmcg and financial services
organizations um I mainly work with
organizations undergoing significant
transformation where I love to help the
businesses transform their commercial
performance to accessing the capability
of their people
so I spent my first year Post University
in general Management in retail um and
discovered that I loved working with
people and that made me think about
going into personnel and training as was
I joined the Tesco graduate Management
training scheme which was an amazing
Foundation um and I have been lucky
enough to love what I do and progress
through increasingly senior roles and
lots of different sectors helping
organizations to help their people
flourish I have a deeply held belief
that it is possible for individuals to
flourish within organizations and I
think that HR can play a really critical
role in helping to create the climate
and conditions that make that happen um
I think that's fundamentally about
having the right leaders leading in the
right way in the organization and so
that's the kind of work I've sought to
do through um different sectors
I think it's really important to work
for great bosses who believe in the
possibilities for the people in that
organization and I've been lucky enough
to do that in in increasingly senior
roles across a number of countries um I
never had a formal career path I loved
doing what I did so I've maybe looked at
my boss's job and thought that looks
interesting and over time that's evolved
to me being the group HR Director at RSA
and more recently the chief people
officer at aib
so I've been part of two major business
turnarounds both at RSA and at aib uh
when I joined both businesses they were
making significant losses um in RSA it
wasn't clear whether or not the business
would continue it needed you know
radical amounts of capital added uh when
I joined aib it was 99.8% state-owned
and it doesn't get much more state-owned
than that um and I came me as part of
management team with a very clear plan
to turn around that business performance
and we did successfully in both uh cases
in RSA we went from stabilizing the
business to then looking at organic
growth and we managed to grow on average
8% over the the time uh year on year
that I was there so very significant
turnarounds and all done by accessing
the quality of the people that worked
within that organization so it was done
in a way that was sustainable and
involved the organization rather than
merely a financial
turnaround um well I've had the benefit
of lots of 360 over the years the gifts
of feedback so I am generally described
as somebody who likes building diverse
and passionate teams um I am very clear
about a vision and where I want to go
and I see it as my role to instill that
passion and belief into the team that
work for me um and then give them
freedom to work their magic so I'm not
somebody who likes to micromanage the
details I believe that's the gift that
those folks have come in to bring um I'm
hugely driven I'm optimistic I can
always see a path through no matter how
dark the day there's always a way to get
things done um and I hopefully inspire
people um and I'm quite irreverent so we
normally have a laugh along the
way so I think there are lots of uh
business challenges I think think in
traditional Industries there's the
threat coming in from um the datadriven
new organizations that are looking to
kind of eat the lunches of insurance
companies and Banks using data so
something like Airbnb coming from
nowhere to suddenly bigger than the
classic hotel chains um and so there
these group of organizations that are
described as exponential which I think
are big challenges to traditional
sectors and working out how that you can
respond to that and create that more
agile organization and that more agile
culture and Leadership is going to be a
big opportunity for traditional
businesses um I think the level of
political instability is very
significant and how businesses respond
to that and see that as challenges um
and I think having a very diverse
Workforce you're going to have multiple
Generations in the workforce that we
need to appeal to with us all needing to
work longer Unfortunately my dream of
retiring at 50 to the Caribbean is just
a dream
um and so how do we set ourselves up to
have um employment offerings that are
interesting whether you're a millennium
uh kind of millennial entering the
workforce or a baby boomer looking to
maybe work part-time and continue to to
earn for longer so I think that's going
to be a really interesting leadership
challenge for us
all well I think that at the heart there
there going to be a challeng and
capability question that comes up so
we're all going to be competing for the
the folks who are um able to work in
this data driven uh way so analytics is
a talent pool that's very uh shallow and
you know are you going to work for a
traditional bank or for Google so there
are some very significant uh challenges
but I think on a more macro level the
leadership climate that you need to be
able to create where you're trying to
have a more agile organization is a big
challenge if you've grown up up uh maybe
with a different leadership mindset and
that's going to be required whether
you're looking at dealing with um
economic conditions that are changing
very quickly if you're looking at
dealing with multiple um age groups in
the workforce or you're operating in an
exponential world where resources uh are
outside the organization as well as in
whether you're dealing with kind of
crowdsourcing Solutions so that way of
accessing the capability of those that
exist within and outside the
organization is a very different
leadership mindset so I think you know
some really Kick-Ass HR functions that
can help create that climate who can
Inspire leaders to work in that way will
be massively important um to the
organizations that they work in and I
firmly of the belief that you know Chief
execs get the HR Director they
deserve so I think it's about creating a
platform where the business and people
strategy is absolutely aligned um where
the chief exac and leadership team are
active sponsors of the people agenda and
see that creating sustainable cultures
and organizations are a you know are
part of creating sustainable businesses
um they're not something that you want
to do as as two separate pieces so I've
worked for very different characters
over my career but the most enjoyable
times have been when that they we've
been in a partnership with a chief exec
or a head of function and you're
absolutely side by side creating change
and making sure the people um are are
with you so I think that that's the
that's at the root of it
all um I think the there's a challenge
which is making sure that we're
accessing all the capability that exists
within organizations so I think that's
the first role of a leader when you
inherit a team is to truly look deeply
at the individuals within that team and
work at what it is that they can bring
because people may be being boxed into a
a smaller box based on a job title so um
as you arrive into a team understanding
what capability truly exists what magic
you could set free in that team um then
starting to look and think where are the
gaps and where are the people that maybe
aren't doing as good a job as I might
want helping them you know be coached to
be better or move on um and then looking
at where else could I get uh that
capability and having a mindset of a
kind of a talent scout whether that's
within the broader organization or
outside always knowing where where the
best people with particular skills are
and um you know as I said there are
going to be lots of rare skills that
lots of people are competing for so
having that kind of talent mindset
throughout the organization both within
the HR function but much more generally
across the board where leaders see that
as something that they're trying to do
they're trying to get the best talent
for both their team and the broader
organization as a core part of their job
um you know football managers are out
scouting all the time trying to find
great people they're not lying on the
people you know who whose job it is to
look at that solely and I think that's
the kind of mindset you want to have in
your
organization I think it's a no-brainer I
think you know if we're all going to be
working till we're we're 70 we need to
have different patterns and I think
there are different times in our lives
whether that's about you know having
lots of maybe interests in your 20s you
know being knackered and having young
kids in your 30s um and your 40s
potentially looking after aging parents
there you know lots of different points
in our careers when we need to be able
to work in a way that um measures the
output and you know um the bosses I've
worked for have generally been great
about that so I have a young family and
so long as I get everything done they're
less concerned about the areas in which
I'm I'm doing it and the flexibility to
go and do look at sports days and things
is really important and actually that
matters enormously to me so they will
get huge amounts back from me um because
of that flexibility and that's how I
seek to to lead um in in the department
I encourage people to do further
education to pursue their interests
because I know that that means that the
hours are working for me they're going
to be truly energized but as I said
again in a context of a career that's
going to span a much longer period of
time we need to be able to dip in and
out and work um at at different paces
and and different rates so I think
you're dead in the water if that's not
how you
operate this is one of these very thorny
subject um and I know that lots of women
are really anti- quter um but I think in
order to force change we either wait a
100 years um and hope that uh you know
natural selection will sort it out or
you actually have to force it so whether
it's by quotas or targets you know I
think the kind of comply or explain has
actually worked pretty well in in the UK
um my experience in Ireland is the
diversity agenda is much less Advanced
and therefore it's something that um I'm
actively looking at at at moving forward
with the 30% Club here um so yeah I mean
I personally think if you're going to
force change then there needs to be some
level um of uh support for that I think
there's a recent study through the 30%
club that talks about corporate
governance as the most effective way of
doing that rather than full-on uh quota
so again this kind of having to explain
from a governance standpoint but it
stands to reason that in diverse group
of people will be better representatives
of the customers that you're ultimately
serving and the people that work within
your organization so yes I'm a big fan
of diversity inclusion because I think
it comes from the same place about
flourishing it says we actually want
have an organization where everybody can
be at their best and bring all of
themselves to work and if you can create
that kind of climate and make sure that
comes up through the organization then I
think you will end up ultimately making
Better Business decisions and there's
lots of data that supports that
so in terms of my next phase I've been
in big corporate HR roles for the last
20 years um and I'm now experimenting
with um going out on my own um and
looking at how I might help um a broader
range of organizations with the kind of
change and transformation and Leadership
challenges than just working within the
boundaries of one um and the hope is
that that will also help with me having
increasing amount of time with my young
family um but check back in 12 months as
to whether or not that's actually come
to
pass my advice for people starting out
is that um I think it's really important
to have a good grounding in in in all of
the disciplines as you get increasingly
more senior things like reward are
incredibly important which maybe weren't
at the early stages of of my career um
build great relationships ultimately
we're a people business so making sure
that you have strong relationships
across all levels within the
organization and you know what's
actually Landing well and what is just
rhetoric is important um I think part of
that is your role as coach for the
leaders that you support um being
willing to be the one that tells them
when it isn't working being willing to
give them uh the feedback that says
their behaviors weren't brilliant and
being prepared to be the person who
stands um you know as the smelly kid in
the corner um for a period when they're
not that thrilled with that feedback is
pretty important um and I think believe
in the possibilities so I think we have
such an great opportunity in HR to
believe um what is possible for that
organization and the people that work
there so holding on to that optimism and
hope regardless of some of the stuff
that's going on dayto day and plowing um
that sort of future Furrow and making
sure that that's we're aiming for um is
incredibly important and just loving
what you do because it's a lot easier to
come in and work hard when you love what
you
do
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