‘Right environment for career growth should be organisations’ priority’
LEANNE WOOD, Global HR Director, Diageo Plc in this interview with Patrick Atuanya and Kelechi Ewuzie speaks on issues ranging from talent management in Africa and the need for organisations to create the right environment for growth across all levels of employment. Excerpt
Do you think we have great talent in Africa and how would you identify such talent?
When I was HR director in Diageo Africa about 7 to 8 years ago, we started our first graduate programme in Africa. Since then, we have hired several hundreds of graduates into the business. I can absolutely say there is great talent here in Africa and it is good to be back here to see the talents we hired about 5, 6 years ago taking on bigger roles in the business.
You talked about how we identify talent and I have to say that we do this to a very high standard because we have a lot of people who want to join us.
To do this, we get to meet people and we get to ask them what their aspirations are. We know that people who are just starting their careers don’t have much experience to talk about so we ask them other questions like their drive and their desire to make a difference and that helps to identify the talents that we desire. When we bring them in, we also develop them by giving them real jobs to do and make sure they develop other skills.
We also provide opportunities for our talent to move around the world – it is part of what having a big global market presence means. I benefitted from this. Young graduates get the opportunity to move across our regions. Someone joining the Nigeria team could have the opportunity to spend some time in Kenya or one of our other markets in the region, for example.
We have other programmes to further people’s career like the Future Leaders’ Programme, for more experienced employees, where we try to give them a different experience in a different country and in a different part of the business as much this is possible. Diageo is also very good at exporting Nigerian talents to other countries to take up management roles; the Managing Director for the Ethiopian business is a Nigerian for example. We truly believe in growing talent that have the skills and capabilities to work anywhere across our business.
Unemployment is a big problem here in Nigeria and other emerging markets. As a leader in the beverage alcohol industry, what can Diageo do in this regard and how does the issue in Nigeria compare with other emerging markets?
We are looking to grow our business which means we have to grow our people too. We recently went on a huge recruitment drive as part of our overall business growth plans and the impact of that goes beyond our business directly – impacting our third party suppliers, our farmers etc. As a responsible corporate citizen, I feel this is one of what we can do to make a contribution in this area. We are also passionate about bringing in young talent through our Graduate Management Training programme and developing them into leaders for our business in the future.
How do you ensure that your employees are happy in their jobs?
We absolutely look at how we retain our people and we believe that the best way is to invest in their development as well as making sure we are rewarding people competitively. People don’t only look at their roles; they also look at what is coming next for them. They ask questions like: what kind of experience am I getting? Am I growing? So we put a lot emphasis on that.
Of course people do move, but our retention level is generally higher than other companies in the same industry in our markets and we continually try to improve on it and we feel that people should always have the right environment to grow their careers in our business and should not be looking elsewhere for their next steps. That is what we are always working towards.
How do you manage the challenge of running the HR function for a multinational like Diageo with so many varying dynamics, from brands to cultures to geographies?
For me, I see that actually as an opportunity. That is why I do what I do. I see that as the possibility to grow the business. We have a very clear ambition in Diageo to be the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer Products Company in the world and that drives us in everything we do, from how we manage our distribution network, to how we innovate with new brands, how we grow our existing brands and how we grow our people. Everything is about delivering that ambition. And yes, there are challenges but I think that is what makes this such an interesting business. We have great brands that have been around for hundreds of years and great innovation in products like Orijin and I think it is a special combination to have so many iconic brands that have been around for such a long time and be growing big brands for the future as well. When you have such great raw material to work with it makes the challenge more interesting and creates more opportunities for the future.
What makes working for Diageo different to working with other companies in the same or other industries?
To start with, I believe we have the best brands in the world. I don’t think any other company has a portfolio of iconic and historic brands like we do, with such a wide spectrum of categories from spirits to beer to non-alcoholic beverages. There is real magic with our brands. At Diageo, we often talk about standing on the shoulder of giants because we are building on great foundations but we are also clear that we have incredibly fantastic opportunities for the future as well.
Another reason is the great career opportunities that are available at Diageo – probably more than most people can access in a lifetime. I have moved around different continents and different functions within the business. Those are the kinds of opportunities that our people can access. So for me, it starts with the brands but the brands don’t do it by themselves, it’s also about the people and the opportunities we give our people.
I think the other thing is that there is a very strong culture within Diageo. I already mentioned about our performance ambition but alongside that is our purpose which is to celebrate life everyday everywhere. So imagine coming to a job where the whole reason we do what we do is to celebrate life every day, everywhere. If that is the reason you are working, then that is a pretty good reason. Another thing to note is that celebrating life means different things to different people and we like that. For some people that means to have a party but for others it’s about recognising them or making an impact in our communities via our work in sustainability whether we are building skills for people, giving access to drinking water, or empowering women with our programmes in Asia. It is all about celebration and that is done in the context of life and the importance and value of life.
So when you have the purpose and the set of values that we have which include things like valuing each other, being the best, proud of what we do, that is the personality of Diageo. So when you take that personality, add to that the great brands and fantastic colleagues – I think that is hard to beat!! I have been here 15 years so it works for me!
How do you motivate your employees in Diageo?
My experience around the world has taught me that people are more similar that they are different. Everybody is unique individually, but one of the things that I think is common to everyone is that we appreciate people getting to know us. At Diageo, we believe that managing people is about getting to know them, really understanding what is important to them in their life. When we talk to people about performance, we don’t just start by asking people what they have done; we try and find out what the individual is trying to do in their life, what is important to them? What are your hopes? We feel that it is a great starting point to a great relationship – the better you know people the easier it becomes to focus on what they need to do in their role and in their careers to be successful. We don’t just talk about what you are doing today but also what you might want to do in the future.
The third part is about valuing people which is one of our values. Whether that is through how we reward people, or how we think about opportunities for them or how we think about some of our work practices or how are we making it easier and safer for people to work because we put a huge amount of focus on health and safety. It all starts with knowing the individual and I think that is something that is universally important to everyone. So that is how we really think about it – the three areas of know me, focus me and value me are at the heart of how we think about motivating and engaging our people.
The final point is that we also ask our employees to let us know what they feel about their experiences. So, we don’t sit in a room thinking that we have all the answers. Every year we have something called our Values Survey that goes to every employee within Diageo and this year, a record 94 percent of our people completed that survey which is fantastic because it means that they know we listen and so they are taking the time to do it. That survey tells us how people are feeling about working at Diageo. We take that feedback seriously by tasking the teams to come up with their own implementation plans on the feedback they have provided.
We really want Diageo to be the place where people can do the best work of their lives and have the best time of their lives and we can only do that by engaging them in what that means for them not by trying to come up with the answers by ourselves.
Can you shed more light on why Nigeria is so important to Diageo?
Nigeria has an important role to play in Diageo and we are very proud to be part of Guinness Nigeria. It always has been – I had the opportunity to work with Diageo Africa and it was important to us then and it is important to us now. We are committed to continuing to invest here and grow the business.
You recently won an award for leadership in diversity, tell us how that happened?
Yes. That specific award was for the level of female representation on our board which is the highest in the UK. At the executive committee level which I am a part of, we have 40 percent of the group being women and that is still unusual in the UK. It is something we are very proud of but more important for us is the fact that that talent has grown through the business. Of the 6 women in the group, 5 of those including myself came internally through the business. I think that is just an example of our commitment to all kinds of diversity for more than 10 years. We first started to think about diversity in Diageo globally about 10 years ago and we don’t treat it as a separate “thing” we make sure that all our people management strategies include diversity because we are conscious of the environment that we are trying to create as one that is inclusive.
So it is great to win these awards but what is more important is the work we do every day to try and create an environment where everyone has an opportunity to be successful. It is something that we deeply believe in and not just an initiative that we take part in and I think that shows when we achieve the results that we do.